French Crossings

Iii. The Smile of the Tiger

Bibliographic Data

ID11004387
AuthorsColin Jones (0000-0001-8283-3134, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume22
Pages3-35
Publication date2012-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Royal Historical Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0080-4401 • E-ISSN: 1474-0648
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0080440112000047
PMID27630376
OpenAlexW2103396642
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited26

This paper continues the theme of ‘French Crossings’ explored in other Presidential Addresses by focusing on the border zone between the human and the animal. The focus is on the allegedly tiger-like character attributed to Maximilien Robespierre, particularly after his fall from power and his execution in 1794. This theme is explored in terms of Thermidorian propaganda, French Revolutionary historiography and the ancient discipline of physiognomy, which was reactivated by Johann-Caspar Lavater in the late eighteenth century and was still influential through much of the nineteenth. Robespierre's animal rather than human status was also held to emerge in his inability to smile or laugh, a significant point also in that the meaning of the smile was changing in the same period

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Character (mathematics · Historiography · Literature · Meaning (existential · Period (music · Physiognomy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Presidential system · Sociology · Theme (computing · Tiger · Anthropology · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy

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