Paris, pinnacle of civilization: A study of three nineteenth-century guidebooks.

In the developing tourist culture of the nineteenth century, hundreds of guidebooks to Paris were published for both newcomers to the city and long-time inhabitants. Changing political structures, physical transformations, social and economic restructuring, and a continual influx of new city inhabitants all contributed to a climate of uncertainty and rapid change. The familiar was no longer readable, and therefore required a map, or code, to allow the Parisian or visitor to negotiate the Parisian labyrinth. The result was a display mentality that labeled and categorized the visible elements of society, applied this strategy to all of life in the capital, and was epitomized in the World's Fairs which took place there. This study examines how the image of Paris as the best and most advanced model of culture and civilization is present in literature and guidebooks from three different time periods. Literary texts by Zola, Sue, Feval, and Balzac provide an introductory understanding of how the city was perceived. Walter Benjamin's characterization of Paris as the capital of the nineteenth century is reflected in my title, as well as in guidebooks to the city. Three guidebooks in particular portray apparently different images of the city while actually confirming the image of Paris not only as capital, but as civilizer of the universe, and conferring upon the city a responsibility to fulfill its destiny toward the world. La Grande ville by Charles de Kock (1843); Paris-Guide, with contributions from over 125 prominent authors, historians, architects, and philosophers (1867); and Louis Ulbach's Guide sentimental de l'etranger dans Paris (1878) form the core of my analysis. World's Fairs and large-scale exhibitions of culture are central to my study, as I demonstrate how these displays feed and support Paris' image of supremacy. The guidebooks uphold and at times undermine the position of Paris as cultural capital of the world, both mirroring and affirming the predominance of the developing bourgeois society in mainstream French culture.PhDRomance Languages and Literatures: FrenchUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/105027/1/9624731.pdfDescription of 9624731.pdf : Restricted to UM users only