The New (Emotional) Regime: Bourgeois Reactions to the Turmoil of 1814-1815.

REIGN of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1799-1815; BOURBON restoration, France, 1814-1830; FRENCH history sources; FRENCH letter writing; EMOTIONS; EXPERIENCE; FAMILIES; LETTERS; HISTORY

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-andcarry- on" mentality reassured the letter writers and their readers that they could rely on each other as they persevered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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