First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Antoine de Baecque is Professor of History at the University of Saint Quentin in Yvelynes, France and author of several studies of France during the Revolution, including The Body Politic: CorporealMetaphor in Revolutionary France . He serves as editor of the Cahiers du cinemaand is co-author of the biography, Truffaut, published by Knopf (1999).

Introduction Sublime Abjection: The Ascendancy of Corpses Mirabeau ; or, The Spectacle of a Public Corpse Voltaire ; or, The Body of the Philosopher King Louis XVI ; or, The Sacred Remains Geffory ; or, The Fear of Others Robespierre ; or, The Terrible Tableau Madame Necker ; or, The Poetry of the Corpse Author's Acknowledgments Notes Index