The Belle Epoque An analysis of its literature and history - Essay Example

But it ws the rurl electorte tht ws now in control. Following the politicl consolidtion of the Third Republic in the lte 1870s, nd resurgence of ntionl confidence fter the success of the exposition of 1878, new epoch begn in the history of Pris. Republicnism developed long with universl suffrge nd, in the fce of n initil roylist thret, into brod colition of the Third Estte. Tht colition united the "new socil lyer," s Gmbett clled the middle clss, nd the rurl msses. Thus it not only ended the "Frnce of the notbles" but finlly eliminted the specil politicl sttus tht Pris hd held for lmost century.

In republicn Frnce the city lost its former revolutionry sovereignty nd its bility to mke nd brek regimes. s of 1880 the government nd Ntionl ssembly once gin hd their set in Pris, nd the city ws still the epicenter of the tremors tht uninter ruptedly shook the Third Republic (Weber, 1986: 105). . In the Belle Epoque, s the yers between 1880 nd 1914 cme to be known, Pris developed into the world cpitl of fshion, rt, nd literture, nd of life's plesures (Shttuck, 1999). This ws no coincidence but rther the result of vrious developments tht colesced, strengthened, nd enriched one nother.

Belle Epoque Pris ws gigntic ctlyst for the shrill excitements, the somber fers, nd the optimistic expecttions tht were so chrcteristic of the fin de sicle, nd were expressed by multitude of views nd competing rtistic schools nd cliques. The effects of Hussmnn's redevelopments on the chrcter of Pris becme pprent only fter 1880, when Frnce begn to recover from the consequences of its defet nd the suppression of the Commune.Destruction of the Commune completed Hussmnn's plnned expulsion of the clsses lborieuses to the ghettos of the ceinture rouge.

It left n overwhelmingly middle-clss socil milieu in the cpitl, with conservtive voting pttern in its twenty rrondissements.The socil leveling of the popultion ws complemented by democrtizing process of dily life, s exmplified by the success of the grnds mgsins. Under the uspices of the Republic nd universl suffrge, which strengthened nd ensured this development, life ws lived in public-something tht stonished mny contemporries. It ws ccompnied by wht the vicomte d'venel described s the nivellement des jouissnces -the dwn of consumer society nd mss culture.

In this wy the mteril foundtions were lid for the fscinting mgic displyed in Pris during the Belle Epoque.Two phenomen were lrgely responsible for the nivellement des jouissnces : the cf-concert nd the music hll, nd the expositions. Though the trdition of the former dtes further bck, they hd never before, nor hve they since, experienced such success. t the turn of the century