A Fine "Romance" with No Sisters

Everyone seems to want to talk about Lynn Hunt's bold, interdisciplinary The Family Romance of the French Revolution-and to say some strong things. It is an event when a new book produces such a very wide range of critical responses, often trumpeted above the level of the habitual book review. Even enthusiastic reviewers (for example, Gary Kates) have had their reservations, while responses have also included the carping and defensive (for example, literary critic Philip Stewart), the baffled and blankly uncomprehending (for example, William Doyle), and the downright hostile (for example, Dorinda Outram).1 In accepting the invitation to join the chorus line, I should declare at once that though I found the book immensely stimulating, I too think it problematic. Some problems may, indeed, be due to its approach, but some derive from the fact that this is a short bookless than two hundred pages of text-which tries to do a lot, and maybe too much: the author has not allowed herself enough space to elucidate the methodological and conceptual areas she is opening up. The book's somewhat fragmentary structure-several of the chapters work better as free-standing pieces-complicates matters too. I regard the space given over to this debate in the pages of French Historical Studies as an opportunity to engage in constructive debate and to allow Hunt to elaborate on her demarche. I should also say, to open, that the book-written with the au

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