Lafayette in Two Worlds : Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions

Lloyd Kramer offers a new interpretation of the cultural and political significance of the career of the Marquis de Lafayette, which spanned the American Revolution, the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830, and the Polish Uprising of 1830-31. Moving beyond traditional biography, Kramer traces the wide-ranging influence of Lafayette's public and personal life, including his contributions to the emergence of nationalist ideologies in Europe and America, his extensive connections with liberal political theorists, and his close friendships with prominent writers, many of them women. Kramer places Lafayette on the cusp of the two worlds of America and France, politics and literature, the Enlightenment and the Romantic movement, public affairs and private life, revolution and nationalism, and men and women. He argues that Lafayette's experiences reveal how public figures can symbolize the aspirations of a society as a whole, and he stresses Lafayette's important role in a cultural network of contemporaries that included Germaine de Stael, Benjamin Constant, Frances Wright, James Fenimore Cooper, and Alexis de Tocqueville. History/Biography Kramer Examines How Lafayette Influenced The Politics And Culture Of His Day. Introduction: Lafayette And The History Of Two Worlds -- America's Lafayette And Lafayette's America: A European And The American Revolution -- Was Lafayette A Dumbbell Or A Shredded Text? : Political Conflict And Symbolic Meanings In The French Revolution -- Lafayette And Liberal Theorists: Intellectuals, Politics, And The Legacy Of The French Revolution -- Lafayette And The Romantic Culture, 1815-1834 -- Lafayette And Women Writers: Germaine De Stael, Fanny Wright, And Cristina Belgiojoso -- Lafayette, Tocqueville, And American National Identity -- Lafayette In 1830: A Center That Could Not Hold -- The Rights Of Man: Lafayette And The Polish National Revolution, 1830-1834 -- Epilogue: Lafayette And Postrevolutionary Political Culture. Lloyd Kramer. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 327-339) And Index. Offers an interpretation of the cultural and political significance of the career of the Marquis de Lafayette, which spanned the American Revolution, the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830, and the Polish Uprising of 1830-31. The book traces the influence of Lafayette's public and personal life.