The Language Question Under Napoleon (war, Culture And Society, 1750-1850)
by Stewart McCain /
2017 / English / PDF
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This book offers a new perspective on the cultural politics of
the Napoleonic Empire by exploring the issue of language within
four pivotal institutions - the school, the army, the courtroom
and the church. Based on wide-ranging research in archival and
published sources, Stewart McCain demonstrates that the
Napoleonic State was in reality fractured by disagreements over
how best to govern a population characterized by enormous
linguistic diversity. Napoleonic officials were not simply
cultural imperialists; many acted as culture-brokers, emphasizing
their familiarity with the local language to secure employment
with the state, and pointing to linguistic and cultural
particularism to justify departures from which what others might
have considered desirable practice by the regime. This book will
be of interest to scholars of the Napoleonic Empire, and of
European state-building and nationalisms.
This book offers a new perspective on the cultural politics of
the Napoleonic Empire by exploring the issue of language within
four pivotal institutions - the school, the army, the courtroom
and the church. Based on wide-ranging research in archival and
published sources, Stewart McCain demonstrates that the
Napoleonic State was in reality fractured by disagreements over
how best to govern a population characterized by enormous
linguistic diversity. Napoleonic officials were not simply
cultural imperialists; many acted as culture-brokers, emphasizing
their familiarity with the local language to secure employment
with the state, and pointing to linguistic and cultural
particularism to justify departures from which what others might
have considered desirable practice by the regime. This book will
be of interest to scholars of the Napoleonic Empire, and of
European state-building and nationalisms.
