The New (Emotional) Regime

Abstract

The fifteen months between April 1814 and June 1815 brought multiple regime changes, military defeat, and foreign occupation to France. This article examines this period of confusion through the lens of lived experience, using correspondence exchanged among a small circle of family and friends to consider how they reacted to events as they were happening. The author argues that these men and women used letters and the emotional expressions voiced in them to develop a sense of shared experience and to strengthen bonds among their allies. However, those emotional expressions remained subdued, suggesting that a new emotional regime of bourgeois restraint was emerging to replace the sentimentalism that had dominated public and private discourse during the previous decades. A “keep-calm-and-carry-on” mentality reassured the letter writers and their readers that they could rely on each other as they persevered.Pendant les quinze mois s'étalant d'avril 1814 à juin 1815, la France a subi de multiples changements de régime, des défaites militaires et deux occupations. Cet article examine cette période trouble à travers l'expérience vécue en utilisant la correspondance privée d'un petit groupe d'intimes. Ces hommes et femmes racontent leurs expériences et expriment leurs réactions émotionnelles pour souder les liens avec leurs parents et amis, mais ces expressions restent restreintes, en contraste avec le sentimentalisme visible des années précédentes. Une mentalité de calme persévérance rassure les correspondants en donnant l'impression que leurs ami(e)s feront tout le nécessaire pour les soutenir.