FRN3890

The making of modern Paris, 1760- 1860

W Kirsop

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Through close examination of the transformation of Paris from Louis XV to Napoleon III the subject aims to bring students to an understanding of important facets of the modern world and to reinforce their capacity to read French and to gather information independently. Recourse to maps, illustrations, slides and videos in classes will emphasise the significance of another skill, that of `reading' the built environment.

Synopsis During the century between 1760 and 1860, Paris was transformed from a `walking city' of narrow, winding streets into an economically integrated metropolis with wide, tree-lined boulevards, advanced public health and sanitation, and the world's first public transport system. The subject studies the course and causes of this transformation, the impact of economic change and revolution, the effect of new medical theories and new ideals of beauty, and the role of the state. It concludes with an evaluation of theories of urban development in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Assessment Analysis of an article (1500 words): 20%
* Essay (3000 words): 50%
* Class test (1.5 hours): 30%

Prescribed texts

Recueil de textes Monash U
Chevalier L Classes laborieuses et classes dangereuses à Paris pendant la première moitié du 19e siècle Hachette-Pluriel
Mercier L-S Le tableau de Paris La Découverte
Restif de la Bretonne N Les nuits de Paris Gallimard, Folio

Recommended texts

Green N The spectacle of nature: Landscape and bourgeois culture in nineteenth-century France Manchester U P
Ménétra J-L Journal de ma vie Montalba
Pinkney D H Napoleon III and the rebuilding of Paris Princeton
Roche D Le peuple de Paris Aubier