Volney: ‘The Ruins' and ‘Catechism of Natural Law'

Fresh, modern translation of a major French Revolutionary text, which argues for popular sovereignty in the form of a dream-tale.

Constantin Volney (Author), Colin Kidd (Edited and translated by), Lucy Kidd (Translated by)

9781108493109, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 February 2024

270 pages
22.2 x 14.5 x 1.6 cm, 0.47 kg

Volney was once as influential as Tom Paine, and the author of one of the most popular works of the French Revolutionary era. The Ruins of Empires makes an argument for popular sovereignty, couched in the alluring and accessible form of an Oriental dream-tale. A favourite of both Thomas Jefferson, who translated it, and the young Abraham Lincoln, the Ruins advances a scheme of radical, utopian politics premised upon the deconstruction of all the world's religions. It was widely celebrated by radicals in Britain and America, and exercised an enormous influence on poets from Percy Bysshe Shelley to Walt Whitman for its indictments of tyranny and priestcraft. Volney instead advocates a return to natural precepts shorn of superstition, set out in his sequel, the Catechism of Natural Law. These days Volney enjoys a high profile in African-American Studies as a proponent of Black Egyptianism.

Translators' preface
Introduction
Chronology of Volney's life
Further reading
Biographical notes
The Ruins
Catechism of Natural Law
Appendix I. Volney's endnotes and sources
Appendix II. Volney's Black Egyptianist passages
Appendix III. Significant textual variants
Index.

Subject Areas: Miscellaneous items [WZ]