The Dream of Absolutism examines the political aesthetics of power under Louis XIV.

What was absolutism, and how did it work ? What was the function of the ostentatious display surrounding Louis XIV at Versailles ? What is gained—and what is lost—by approaching such expressions of absolutism as propaganda, as present-day scholars tend to do ?

In this sweeping reconsideration of absolutist culture, Hall Bjørnstad argues that the exuberance of Louis XIV’s reign was not top-down propaganda in any modern sense, but rather a dream dreamt collectively, by king, court, image-makers, and nation alike. Bjørnstad explores this dream through a sustained close analysis of a corpus of absolutist artifacts, ranging from Charles Le Brun’s famous paintings in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles via the king’s secret Mémoires to two little-known particularly extravagant verbal and textual celebrations of the king. The dream of absolutism, Bjørnstad concludes, lives at the intersection of politics and aesthetics. It is the carrier of a force that emerges as a glorious image ; a participatory emotional reality that requires reality to conform to it. It is a dream, finally, that still shapes our collective political imaginary today.

Table des matières

List of Illustrations
A Note on Translations and Spelling
Preface
Introduction
1. The Problem with Absolutism
2. Beyond Mere Propaganda
3. Approaching Absolutism Differently : Royal Glory and Royal Exemplarity
4. The Dream of Absolutism
Chapter 1 : The Grammar of Absolutism
1. Introduction : The Dream of a Book Like No Other
2. Taking Louis XIV’s Mémoires Seriously
3. Absolutism, Explained to a Child : “The first and most important part of our entire politics”
4. The Utility of “These Mémoires”
5. The Paradoxes of Absolutist Exemplarity
6. Conclusion : “So many ghastly examples”
Chapter 2 : Mirrors of Absolutism
1. Introduction : Our Body in This Space
2. An Age of Mirrors
3. A Gallery Celebrating Greatness
4. Making the King See What He Felt
5. A Mirror for One
6. In Lieu of Conclusion : Mirrors for a Future without a Past
Chapter 3 : Absolutist Absurdities
Exhibit A : The Royal Historiographer and the Unparalleled Greatness of Louis XIV
Exhibit B : Absolutism from the Cabinet of Fairies to the Cabinet of the King
Conclusion : Seven Theses on the Dream of Absolutism
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index