MODERN HISTORY 3

Voltaire-Zola, Round trip: the legacy of the Enlightenment and the long 19th century.
Public opinion, secularization processes and political struggle in France in the name of the Patriarch of Ferney (1660-1900)

Through the political and intellectual experience of Voltaire, historian, philosopher, man of letters, "universal man", "inventor" of modern public opinion, the themes and basic lines of the profound transformation of identity generated in the West during the course of the Age of Enlightenment (1689-1789); their persistence, transformation and mystification in the aftermath of the Restoration age (1815-1848) especially in the literary field; finally, the crystallization of the Enlightenment-Revolution teleological nexus along the first three decades of the French Third Republic (1870-1900) and its controversial aspects.
Examining issues related to religion, secularization processes, the emergence of the concept of civil coexistence in a regime of tolerance and consent of the governed, the birth of public opinion and their transformation in the aftermath of the age of Revolutions. The roots of 'our' modernity of rights in the ideal of a secular and inclusive civil society will be brought to light, defining its paths, adaptations and deviations.

The course is structured on the learning needs of students of the "political-international" curriculum, but deals with topics and arguments that could be of particular interest and usefulness for students in French languages of the "literary-cultural" curriculum; the course can therefore be attended as a free choice exam by all students enrolled in the CdS LCSL

at the end of course the student will have to demonstrate:
a) to be able to articulate a coherent historical picture of the events and debates that are at the origin of the birth of modern secular and democratic Western societies based on the consent of the governed and on the appeal to public opinion between the Calas case and the Dreyfus affair.
b) ability to recognize the different types of historiographical research in relation to the different historical and literary sources examined, therefore
c) to be able to adequately comment on the complex of historical sources (visual and written) analyzed in class,
d) to show a conscious use of the historiographical categories used during the lessons;
e) the ability to autonomously initiate insights and reflections on specific cases related to the topic of the course.

The course is structured around the learning needs of third-year students of the "political-international" curriculum of the Triennale, but deals with themes and topics accessible to students of all degree programs with a purely historical and historical-cultural methodological slant and which they could be of particular interest and usefulness for students of French in the "literary-cultural" curriculum; the course can therefore be attended as a free choice exam by all students enrolled in the CdS LCSL.

The value of Voltaire's political and public battle will be detailed before and after the "panthéonisation", by highlighting his role as advocate of the scientific spirit, founder of modern historical science, defender of secular society of rights. The themes of tolerance and natural religion and their developments in opposition to the vision of revealed religions will therefore be considered in a historical perspective, their legacy in the secularization processes of the full nineteenth century in contrast to the revolutionary and romantic traditions, dedicating particular attention to the transmission of those issues in a controversial and conflictual key in the journalistic and literary fields of social communication.

a) the lecture notes and b) some readings which will be indicated at the beginning of the course.

Students who for various reasons intend to agree on an alternative exam program to the (compulsory) attendance of the course, must contact the teacher during office hours, keeping the following indications as a general point of reference:

a) the volume of V. FERRONE, Lezioni Illuministiche, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010 [ed. ingl.: The Enlightenment. History of an Idea, Princeton University Press, 2017; ed. ted.: Aufklärung - Philosophischer Anspruch und kulturgeschichtliche Wirkung, Bon und Gottingen, 2013], b) a volume of your choice from list A, + a volume of your choice from list B

LIST A

* - DIAZ, F., Filosofia e politica nel Settecento francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1962
* - POMEAU, R., La réligion de Voltaire, Paris, Nizet, 1969
* - GAY, P., Voltaire politico. Il poeta come realista (trad. it.), Bologna, Il Mulino, 1991

LIST B

* - FAYOLLE, R., Sainte-Beuve et le XVIIIe siècle, ou Comment les Révolutions arrivent, Paris, Collin, 1972
* - COMPAGNON, A., La Troisième République des lettres. De Flaubert à Proust, Paris, Seuil, 1983
* - WINOCK, M., La febbre francese. Dalla Comune al Maggio ’68, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1988 [ed. fr.: La fièvre hexagonale. Les grandes crises politiques 1871-1968, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1986]
* - FURET, F., Il secolo della Rivoluzione. Dall’Ancien Régime alla Terza repubblica, Milano, Rizzoli, 1989 [ed. fr.: La Révolution, de Turgot à Jules Ferry: 1770-1880, Paris, Hachette, 1988; ]
* - NORD, Ph., The republican moment. Struggle for Democracy in Ninetheent-Century France, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1995 [ed. fr.: Le Moment Républicain. Combats pour la démocratie dans la France du XIXe siècle, Paris, Colin, 2013]
* - THOMAS, C., Le mythe du XVIIIe siècle au XIXe siècle (1830-1860), Paris, Champion, 2003
* - STERNHELL, Z., Contro l’Illuminismo. Dal XVIII secolo alla Guerra Fredda, Milano, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2007 [ed. fr.: Les Anti-Lumières, Paris, Fayard, 2006]

The oral test, with an average duration of about 20 minutes, will focus on at least two topics covered during the lessons and aims at a transversal verification of the student's preparation and his ability to explain and coordinate the topics covered by the course, his ability to connect between different topics.

During the oral exam, the student will have to demonstrate:
a) to be able to articulate a coherent historical picture of the events and debates that are at the origin of the birth of modern secular and democratic Western societies based on the consent of the governed and on the appeal to public opinion between the Calas case and the Dreyfus affair.
b) ability to recognize the different types of historiographical research in relation to the different historical and literary sources examined, therefore
c) to be able to adequately comment on the complex of historical sources (visual and written) analyzed in class,
d) to show a conscious use of the historiographical categories used during the lessons;
e) the ability to autonomously initiate insights and reflections on specific cases related to the topic of the course.

15 frontal academic lessons, with the aid of iconography; source commentary

Italian

NB: Attending students will be required to print and bring to class a paper version of the texts that will be read during the lessons, which can be downloaded in pdf from the Moodle section on this page.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development