Jacobin topoi, Jacobin trope
What happens when we examine the connections between revolution and imagination in English fiction, 1775-1820. How did the prevalence of “imagination” coincide with “revolution” in English fiction in the age of revolutions? Mapping the two alongside each other reveals a twofold increase and decrease at corresponding historical moments.
Timeline of Jacobinism:
1760-61
Tacky’s revolt, Jamaica
1500 Black enslaved people revolt against White plantation owners in Jamaica. This is the first of numerous revolts throughout Jamaican history, followed by revolts in 1798, 1831, and 1865
Key Literary Texts: Amelia Opie, Adeline Mowbray (1801)
1765-1783
American Revolution
Responding to what they viewed as unjust policies of taxation and oppressive colonial rule, the American colonies rebelled, organized armies, and defeated British troops, ultimately drafting a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution.
Key literary texts: Charlotte Smith, The Old Manor House (1793)
1789-1799
French Revolution
Following unsuccessful efforts at economic reforms, popular revolts lead to the storming of the Bastille, imprisoning and execution of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and a new constitution. The revolution ultimately led to the rise of Napoleon Buonaparte, and successive revolutions leading to the modern French republic.
Key texts: Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790); William Wordsworth’s Prelude (1805)
1791-1804
Haitian Revolution
Over 100,000 enslaved Black people, led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, resisted French forces. Although L’Ouverture was captured and died in a French prison, Haitian independence was declared in 1804 and a constitution ratified in 1805.
Key literary texts: John Thelwall, The Daughter of Adoption (1801)
Mapping Global Jacobinism
