Huguenot memory, 1689-1757: Narratives of imprisonment, enslavement and exile

Their production can therefore be said to constitute a pivotal moment in the development of subjectivity.

This book engages in a close reading of three distinct sub-genres of Huguenot writing, adopting a theoretical framework inspired by trauma theory and by developments in the history of emotions.

After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), an estimated 150,000-200,000 French Protestants left their homeland, seeking the freedom to practise their religion without molestation from the state. Having settled abroad, Huguenots could assert their status within their community by recounting their departure from France, highlighting obstacles encountered along the way. In these narratives, pain was often framed as a mark of honour. It was understood that God had chosen the Calvinist community to suffer in his name. These memoir texts thus function as tools for the consolidation of group identity.

However, the stories in question also feature moments of humour, and raw expressions of mental anguish. This book argues that Huguenot memoirs, therefore, served a personal, emotional function in addition to a purely pragmatic one, with writing allowing for the processing of difficult experiences. Their production can therefore be said to constitute a pivotal moment in the development of subjectivity.

This book engages in a close reading of three distinct sub-genres of Huguenot writing, adopting a theoretical framework inspired by trauma theory and by developments in the history of emotions. It asserts that, as a genre, the post-Revocation memoir is integral to our understanding of early Enlightenment interiority.

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