The French Revolution and Enlightenment in England, 1789-1832

by Seamus Deane

Book by Deane, Seamus

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 22, 1988

About the author

Seamus Deane was a Northern Irish poet, novelist, critic, and influential intellectual historian whose work left a lasting mark on Irish literature. He earned international recognition with his debut novel Reading in the Dark, a multilayered story that won several major awards and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Although he began as a poet, Deane built a distinguished academic career, teaching in Ireland, the United States, and at the University of Notre Dame, where he became a leading voice in Irish Studies. A founding director of the Field Day Theatre Company, he also shaped critical discourse as editor of the Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing and other landmark projects.

Reviews

[Differengenera · Rating 5 out of 5]

comprehensive study of the reaction of English political philosophers to the French Revolution. The villain of the piece is Edmund Burke, for trafficking in conspiracy theories suggesting the revolution was a coup planned for decades by Enlightenment writers and philosophers, though he is given credit for his astute criticisms of the Protestant ascendency in Ireland, who he regards as responsible for the regnant brittle and fragmented system of political authority.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge also doesn't come out very well here, for his misreading of both Kant and Rousseau as well as for his lack of commitment to Republicanism even before his supposed recantation. Shelley is the hero, for engaging seriously with French Enlightenment philosophers, exploring these and similar issues in his poetry, his continuing commitment to the principle of revolution, even in the face of revolutionary excesses in France and his left recuperation of Enlightenment disinterestedness against Burke, regarding its posture of objective benevolence as an important vehicle of social progress.

[Sam Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.25 stars

This was a well-argued and well-organized exploration of English literary reaction to the French Revolution and the French Enlightenment. Much of political philosophy talk went right over my head, but otherwise this book allowed me to gain a much better understanding of English opinion and critique of the French Revolution/Enlightenment. Deane's arguments certainly hold up today, and have very much influenced my comprehension of the relationship between France and England during the French Revolution and ensuing European political chaos.