"Il y a dans ce moment de grands mouvements littéraires":
Literature and Culture in Post-Revolutionary Paris

Constance de Salm (1767-1845) a French writer, salon holder and the composer of hundreds of letters, shares the same fate as many of her fellow writers: Her name was known in the Paris of her day, her writings were printed, read and discussed and writers, artists, scholars and politicians met at her soirées. After her death, her works were no longer read and the duchess fell into oblivion. It was only in 2007 that her epistolary novel "Vingt-quatre heures d'une femme sensible" (Twenty-four hours in the life of a sensitive woman) was re-published for the first time since its publication in 1824. Alongside the essays, plays and poems she wrote, above all Constance de Salm, whose second marriage was to the Rhineland prince Joseph Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck, wrote letters. During the summer months, which she spent at the Dyck castle in the Rhineland, the princess continued the conversations begun in her salon in Paris in the form of a wide-ranging correspondence.

The production of literature, art and culture in Paris during the time of the Empire and the Restoration is currently being intensively studied by (French) historians. A research group and several single projects focussing on various themes of French history in the first half of the 19th century have been set up at the German Historical Institute in Paris in order to transfer the French research to Germany and vice versa. The conference planned for April 2011 at the German Historical Institute in Paris is to locate the life and work of Constance de Salm in the context of literature and culture in the Paris of the Empire and the Restoration. The focus is the investigation of the conditions, locations and practices of authorship (of both women and men) in the areas of literature, scholarship and journalism. Constance de Salm serves as a starting point while the focal point of the conference is Parisian literature, culture and scholarly life in general: journals and magazines, the theatre, academies and learned societies, networks and correspondence…

Contributions from the areas of history as well art, literature, music, theatre and the history of science are welcome, both on overarching questions, as well as on the individual or topics involved. Young academics are strongly encouraged to submit their proposals.

Presentations on the following topics are envisaged:

Parisian literary and scholarly enterprises:
- Academies and learned societies
- The Parisian press
- The Parisian publishers and ways of publication

Parisian cultural life in general:
- Theatre and opera
- The visual arts
- Poetry and "Belles Lettres"

Reading and writing women:
- Individual female writers, journalists and essayists
- Letter-writing women / correspondence from women
- Journals and magazines by and for women

Networks and influences:
- Artists' and writers' groups
- Salons, or informal "cercles" and "réunions"
- Relations between Paris and the Rhineland

The conference will take place in Paris from 27–29 April 2011. Travel expenses and accommodation can be covered. Conference languages are German, French and English. Those interested are requested to submit a short summary (max. 5,000 characters including spaces), a CV and a publication list, if available, by no later than 10 September 2010. These should be sent in electronic form (as a pdf document) to the address below.