The History Of Tears: Sensibility And Sentimentality In France Histoire Des Larmes, Xviiie-xixe Siècles. English

"In which societies," Roland Barthes asked, "and at which times, have we cried? Since when have men (and not women) ceased to cry? Why, at a certain moment, did sensibility sink into sentimentality?" These are just some of the questions which Anne Vincent-Buffault sets out to answer. Concentrating on 18th and 19th century France, she traces the curious evolution of the function of tears, from the public effusions of the 18th century through the more introspective sobbing of the Romantic period and on to the Victorian era's relegation of tears to the status of a feminine, and therefore reprehensible, weakness. Dr Vincent-Buffault draws on a wealth of sources: novels, diaries and letters, theatre reviews, medical reports and books of etiquette. The picture which emerges is a subtle and often paradoxical one. Intensely private and yet highly demonstrative, seemingly spontaneous and yet - as this study shows - historically determined, tears function as a complex and highly variable "discourse". And the changes in their meaning have mirrored key movements in society: changes in the role of privacy and emotion, changes in the place of women. Front Matter....Pages i-x Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Crying and Reading....Pages 3-14 The Exchange of Tears and its Rules....Pages 15-37 On the Polite Code of Emotion....Pages 38-53 Tears in the Theatre....Pages 54-76 Tears during the Revolution (1789–94)....Pages 77-96 Front Matter....Pages 97-97 Towards a New Sensitivity....Pages 99-132 The Discreet Charms of Suffering....Pages 133-149 Moral Studies....Pages 150-168 Front Matter....Pages 169-169 Against the Sickness of the Emotions....Pages 171-182 The Disturbing Strangeness....Pages 183-202 The Tears of the Popular Novel....Pages 203-215 The Social and Political Codes of Emotion....Pages 216-225 The Misfortunes of the Melodrama....Pages 226-240 Conclusion....Pages 241-247 Back Matter....Pages 248-284 The author draws on different sources: novels, diaries and letters, theatre reviews, medical reports and books of etiquette. Private and yet demonstrative, seemingly spontaneous and yet - as this study shows - historically determined, tears function as a complex and variable "discourse". Anne Vincent-buffault. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 266-275) And Index.