Louis XVIII

Summary

Dominique Pagani speaks of Louis XVIII only in passing, and always for the same reason: he uses him as the marker of the Restoration. He does not dwell on the man or on his reign. He presents him as the king who is put back on the throne1, and specifies that this return is the work of the counter-revolutionary coalition2. He thus ties his name to the period of the counter-revolution, which follows the Revolution and the Empire3. Speaking of this return, he takes up the phrase aimed at those who had "learned nothing and forgotten nothing"4: what comes back is an old order that events have not transformed. In 2026, in a session devoted to the return of fascism, he speaks of this "first return of a king"5. He then treats the Restoration as a case of historical return, to be set against other forms of return. From one session to the next, from 2015 to 2026, what he says about him stays the same.

1. 1Michel Clouscard, the paths of praxis (1/2)8 Dec 2015 · 29:55
2. 2Napoleon, or the reasons of cunning2 Dec 2024 · 25:13
3. 3Introduction to the upcoming workshops23 Mar 2020 · 1:13:38
4. 4#3.3 From Ulysses to Daedalus1 Aug 2017 · 40:58
5. 5The return of fascism4 Feb 2026 · 28:18

Summary produced automatically from 5 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.