Thomas Paine in French: Translations, Transfers and Circulations in the Age of Revolutions (1776–1793)

Abstract

This essay looks into the publishing history of three major works by Thomas Paine in French, Common Sense (1776), the Letter to the Abbe Raynal (1782) and Rights of Man (1791–92). Although it is often taken for granted that Paine’s writings circulated to a great extent in the Atlantic world, the translation of these writings in French has not been studied in depth. These translations appeared at three key moments of French, American and Atlantic history. The strategies used by the translators and those who commissioned these translations will be studied in an approach combining book history, the history of print culture, as well as political and diplomatic history. By relying on new archival material, especially manuscripts of translations and letters, I intend to offer a new insight into the translation and circulation of Paine’s writings in French and in France before and after he settled there in 1792.