TheShapingofFrenchNationalIdentitycastsnewlightontheintellectualoriginsofthedominantand’official’Frenchnineteenth-centurynationalnarrative.FocussingonthehistoricaldebatestakingplacethroughouttheeighteenthcenturyandduringtheRestoration,MatthewD’Auriaevokesatimewhenthenation’soriginswerebeingquestionedanddiscussedandwhentheyacquiredthemeaninglaterenshrinedintheofficialrhetoricoftheThirdRepublic.HeexamineshowFrenchwritersandscholarsreshapedthemyths,symbols,andmemoriesofpre-moderncommunities.Engagingwiththemythof’ourancestorstheGauls’anditsideologicaltriumphoverthecompetingmythof’ourancestorstheFranks’,thisstudyexploresthewaysinwhichthestruggledeveloped,andthevaluesthatthetwodiscoursesenshrined,thecollectiveactorstheyportrayed,andthememoriestheyevoked.D’Auriadrawsattentiontothecontinuitybetweenethnicdiscoursesandnationalnarrativesandtothecompetitionbetweenvariousgroupsintheirclaimstorepresentthenationandtodefinetheirpastasthe’true’historyofFrance.
