Emile Souvestre: Breton, Christian, and Republican in nineteenth century France
Title of Document: EMILE SOUVESTRE: BRETON, CHRISTIAN, AND REPUBLICAN IN NINETEENTH CENTURY FRANCE Cara Anne Gadel, Master of Arts, 2007 Directed By: Professor Donald M. G. Sutherland, Department of History While scholars of French history tend to divide nineteenth century French intellectuals into two camps anti-clerical leftwing Republican Revolutionaries versus rightwing Catholic traditionalists, Emile Souvestre represented a middle ground, and perhaps better represented the average French person as well. Souvestre, a prolific nineteenth century Breton writer, was a devout Christian and a Republican. This thesis explores the forces of regionalism, religion, and politics on Souvestre and his writings. EMILE SOUVESTRE: BRETON, CHRISTIAN, AND REPUBLICAN IN NINETEENTH CENTURY FRANCE.
Populism in the Novel Before Naturalism
The affinity of modern Populism to certain aspects of the Naturalist school in France has found general acceptance. Few critics, however, have attempted to trace this line of descent further back into the nineteenth century. Zola himself saw no precursors in the field of the proletarian novel beyond the confines of his own school, and cited Germinie Lacerteux as the first work bringing to the novel a sympathetic treatment of the humbler classes of society. Mr. Felix Walter has shown that the famous preface to the first edition of this novel constitutes a variety of pre-populist manifesto. Yet the claim of the Goncourt brothers to have produced “un roman vrai”—like their boast: “ce livre vient de la rue” —strikes no new note in the literary history of France. Almost a century earlier Rétif de la Bretonne had advanced substantially the same claim for his Pied de Fanchette, further noting that this seeming originality belonged to still another before him.
Early Cretaceous Feathers from Victoria
Unusually well preserved fossil feathers from Lower Cretaceous (VaIanginian-Aptian) claystones at Koonwarra, Victoria, are the oldest (c. 110-125 million years) bird remains yet found in the southern hemisphere, They are among the oldest bird remains known in the world, being antedated only by the toothed Archaeopteryx from the late Jurassic of Bavaria, and being more or less the same age as Gallornis from the Lower Cretaceous of France. The Victorian fossil feathers are evidence for essentially worldwide distribution of birds soon after the beginning of the Cretaceous, if not before. The feathers could conceivably have come from toothed birds.