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A State of Social Discourse
- The Yale Journal of Criticism
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 17, Number 2, Fall 2004
- pp. 255-261
- 10.1353/yale.2004.0015
- Article
- Additional Information
Besides being a unique compendium of fin-de-siècle French culture and civilization, Marc Angenot's 1889 raises important issues regarding the rationale and methodology of historical reconstruction. The choice of a single year rather than a larger period, the choice of an exhaustive study of discursive possibilities, the refusal of traditional hierarchies between genres, styles, and printed sources: these are ways to create an entirely new perspective on the nineteenth century as well as new tools for research, so many significant advances that also have some limitations.