French Literature Reviews - 2026
Tocqueville and Literature
History, Politics and Society
Edited by José-Luis Diaz and Françoise Mélonio, Tocqueville et la littérature, Presses de Paris-Sorbonne, 2004, 250 p., 20 euros.
Preface, by Françoise Mélonio
Fabienne Bercegol
Tocqueville and Democratic Passions
Antoine Compagnon
Tocqueville and Chateaubriand: Two Anti-Moderns?
Gérard Gengembre
On Literature in America, or from Madame de Staël to Tocqueville
Pierre Gibert
Religion in the Second Democracy
Laurence Guellec
Tocqueville as a Writer
Sophie Marchal
Aristocratic Values in Democracy in America
Claude Millet
The Detail and the General in Democracy in America
Pierre-Louis Rey
Tocqueville and Gobineau: The Impossible Dialogue
Francesco Spandri
The Role of Imagination in the Egalitarian Ideal
Anne Vibert
Tocqueville and Eloquence
Catherine Volpilhac-Auger
Tocqueville and Montesquieu: Rewriting History?
Fabrice Wilhelm
The Democratic Sentiment of Envy: Equality or Death
Book awaiting a reviewer for Acta Fabula.
Alexis de Tocqueville remains central to nineteenth-century intellectual history, particularly through his analysis of democracy, equality, and modern society in works like Democracy in America. This collective volume, edited by José-Luis Diaz and Françoise Mélonio, is titled Tocqueville et la littérature and was published by Presses de Paris-Sorbonne in 2004. The book includes a preface by Françoise Mélonio and contributions by Fabienne Bercegol, Antoine Compagnon, Gérard Gengembre, Pierre Gibert, Laurence Guellec, Sophie Marchal, Claude Millet, Pierre-Louis Rey, Francesco Spandri, Anne Vibert, Catherine Volpilhac-Auger, and Fabrice Wilhelm.
The volume includes chapters on Tocqueville and Chateaubriand, literature in America from Madame de Staël to Tocqueville, religion in the second democracy, Tocqueville as a writer, aristocratic values, the detail and the general, Tocqueville and Gobineau, the role of imagination, eloquence, Montesquieu, and the democratic sentiment of envy. Readers interested in nineteenth-century French literature, intellectual history, and the intersections between politics and letters may find this collection relevant.