ALLEGORIES OF COMMEMORATION by SARAH BONNEMAISON B.Sc., Concordia University, 1985 B.Arch., Pratt Institute, 1983 S.M.Arch.S., Massachussetts Institute of Technology, 1985 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Geography) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 1995 © Sarah Bonnemaison, 1995 in presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives, it is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. (Signature) Department of e c a>& a The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date g f) J i 9 DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT In analyzing the 1989 bicentennial in Paris, my point of departure has been that the French government, faced with the cool reception to the memory of the Revolution of 1789, was trying to make revolutionary heritage relevant to contemporary concerns, by using allegorical techniques of spatializing and visualizing history while consequently (yet paradoxically, since it ran against their intentions) effecting a smooth passage for this heritage into the world of commodity and spectacle. To analyze this dilemma, I investigated the mechanisms of representation and the tension between spectacle and politically engaged imagery. Drawing from the work of Water Benjamin, the thesis proposed to use allegory as a mode of political criticism and redemptive interpretation. The analysis of the programming of events, for example, revealed that it contained a moral tale of sacrifice, and praised the power of the memory of the Revolution to form a community, not based on ethnicity or shared history but on shared ideals. The analysis of the use of collage in the Bastille Day Parade revealed that it reworked Republican notions of ‘fraternity in a post-colonial era to reflect contemporary discussions of métissage and take a position on its relationship to democracy. By looking at this commemoration allegorically, the double meanings inscribed in the bicentennial program, exhibits, monuments and parade can be unpacked. But the allegorical critique is violent, it does not carefully excavate layers of meaning through a gentle and constructive hermeneutic circle, it requires that the objects that are being contemplated be in fragments. As the allegorist reassembles the fragments into new meaningful constellations, the constructions remain open, driven by the impossibility of recovering what has been lost, always pointing to the instability of meaning. The analysis of the commemoration recognized that commodification and spectacularisation happen, but through reversal it also showed that the 1989 bicentennial draws from a constantly evolving relationship to memory which allows for investment on the part of the public. Because the commemoration is a powerful form of visualizing and spatializing history that occurs in public spaces, many provocative images were taken up by the press and written about, which ultimately reconfigured present-day discussions about democracy and citizenship. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Table of Contents iii List of Figures vi Acknowledgments viii Chapter One Introduction 1 Redeeming commemorative spectacles 1 History, memory and the crisis of meaning 8 Allegory as a critical tool 15 The major movements of allegory 18 The role of images in allegory 20 The spatialization of history in allegory 22 Description of the chapters 24 Chapter Two The Programme as a Moral Fable 7 Sacrifice for the Nation 32 Distanciation from the social drama 34 Reflection on the ‘lessons of the Revolution’ 36 Commemoration as a rite of re-enactment 39 A symbolic society, visible and invisible 44 Chapter Three Revolution and Narration .9 ‘La Revolution Française et 1’Europe’ 53 Who organized the exhibit? 53 Where was the exhibit? 55 In what context did the exhibit take place? 58 Historical Narratives and the Exhibit 62 Original art objects on display 62 ‘Social context’ and the Annales School 66 Common objects as art(ifacts) 69 Fragments in the Exhibit 74 The rhetoric of fragments 74 Fragments as an undercurrent of the exhibit 80 Ruins speaking of the cycle of destruction and creation 84 Fragments of revolutionary mythology 86 The storming of the Bastille as a mythical origin 87 Destruction as an allegory of the fall of Communism 93 111 Chapter Four The Architecture of Memory 96 The Amphitheatre and Memory 100 The political context of the amphitheatre 102 The first memory: the construction of the amphitheatre in 1790 104 The second memory: the Fête de la Fédération 110 The third memory: the execution of Louis XVI 121 The Amphitheatre in 1989 130 The guests in the amphitheatre 131 Chapter Five The Black Marianne on Bastille Day 136 Jessye Norman sings the National Anthem 138 Deconstructing the moment of the National Anthem 144 Reading the Black Marianne 149 What is being done with it? 150 What is it doing for its users? 154 In the shadow of French slavery 157 The limits of the Declaration come to light 164 Did ‘public opinion’ share this view? 167 Chapter Six A New Landscape for the Capital 7.1 The commemorative monuments 176 The Louvre and its Pyramid 186 Napoleanic transformation of the revolutionary museum 189 The Louvre renovation 192 The Grande Arche 197 Opéra de la Bastille 204 A Socialist Style? 208 The power of the prince 210 What does the president really think? 211 The power to choose those who will decide 216 The power of representation present in architectural monuments 217 Chapter Seven Cosmopolitan Tribes 220 The Bastille Day Parade as carnival 221 Topsy-turvy metissage 229 Métissage brings fraternity into the political imagination 233 iv Fraternity within the Nation 237 Fraternity during the Revolution 238 1989 recalls the Rousseauist sentiment of 1790 243 The dark side of brotherhood 245 Cosmopolitanism 247 Kant and cosmopolitanism 251 The ‘Family of Man’ 253 Solidarity with the former colonies 256 The Senegalese float 256 The “Universal Exhibition” of 1889 259 Women in tricolour turbans 261 The unbrotherly summit 264 Fraternity across races 267 Metissage and the anti-racist movement 268 Métissage as a reaction to cultural relativism 269 Metissage as a raction to nationalism 270 Multiple identities 271 Towards a pluralist universalism 272 Chapter Eight Conclusion — the ‘paysage moralisé’ 74 Postscript 282 Bibliography 285 Appendix 300 Brief chronology of revolutionary events V LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 “The National Guard of Paris leaves to join the army.” 33 2.2 The Elephant of Memory in Lille. 37 2.3 Descendants of the revolutionaries hold images of their ancestors. 47 3.1 “Habitation” from Larousse du XXeme Siècle. 51 3.2 Reconstruction of the ‘Bastille’ and the ‘Faubourg Saint-Antoine.’ 57 3.3 “Old Shoes with Laces” by Van Gogh. 71 3.4 Revolutionaries toppling a statue of Louis XV. 76 3.5 Fragments of royal statues exhibited in the Grand Palais. 77 3.6 Severed head of Louis XVI. 78 3.7 “A Family of Sans Culotts refreshing after the fatigues of the day.” 81 3.8 “May you be free and live!” 89 3.9 “Awakening of the Third Estate.” 91 3.10 “Destruction of the Bastille.” 92 4.1 Wooden amphitheatre built on the Place de la Concorde. 97 4.2 The Federation Festival on the Champs de Mars. 98 4.3 “To the good citizen workers of the Champs de Mars.” 105 4.4 La Fayette taking the oath. 112 4.5 Federative Pact of the French. 112 4.6 Television image of the amphitheatre on Place de la Concorde. 113 4.7 “Bird’s eye view of the French Federation.” 113 4.8 “The Martyrdom of Louis XVI, King of France.” 124 4.9 “Something for crowned jugglers to think about.” 125 4.10 Execution of Louis XVI. 127 4.11 Deputies gather at the altar during the Fête de la Fédération. 133 4.12 The ‘Tribes of France’ form a circle at the Bastille Day Parade. 133 5.1 Jessye Norman sings the National Anthem. 145 5.2 Toussaint Louverture. 158 6.1 Masonic pyramid in Parc Monceau. 172 6.2 The three commemorative monuments. 177 6.3 Bird’s eye view of the Champs Elysees, mid-l9th c. 180 6.4 Plan des Artistes. 181 6.5 “La grande traversée” of Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin. 183 6.6 The Group of Seven in front of the Louvre Pyramid. 185 6.7 The Louvre Pyramid. 187 6.8 La Defense in 1954. 199 6.9 La Defense in 1970. 199 vi 6.10 The Grande Arche at La Defense. 200 6.11 Interior of the Bastille Opera. 207 6.12 Opera on the Place de la Bastille. 207 6.13 Caricature of President De Gaulle as a builder-monarch. 212 6.14 Mitterrand looking at a model for the Très Grande Bibliotheque. 215 6.15 Official portrait of Mitterrand. 215 7.1 The Nation. 222 7.2 Folkloric musicians under their departmental flags. 222 7.3 Valseuse with child. 224 7.4 Dancers with wooden clogs. 224 7.5 Senegalese float seen from the back. 225 7.6 British float with punk dancers and footmen. 225 7.7 Paraders enter the circus. 226 7.8 Russian float. 226 7.9 Steel drummers on the locomotive float. 228 7.10 Break dancer at rear of the American float. 228 7.11 Caricature of fraternity at the turn of the century.