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Dr. James Hanrahan

Associate Professor (French)
ARTS BUILDING
      
Profile Photo

Dr. James Hanrahan

Associate Professor (French)
ARTS BUILDING

 hanrahaj@tcd.ie

 3531896 1841


  18th Century intellectual history   18th Century literature   18th century philosophy   critical editions   Cultural History   Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire   Enlightenment   european enlightenment   French enlightenment   French thought   history of ideas   history of intellectuals   Intellectual History   Literary History   Literature and cultural history of the Enlightenment   ORIGINS   PUBLIC OPINION   PUBLIC SPHERE   publication history   Voltaire
Project Title
 Voltaire historian: Constructing contemporary history in the Enlightenment
From
1/01/2013
To
31/12/2015
Summary
Principal Investigator: Professor Nicholas Cronk (Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford) The aim of this project is to come to a better understanding of Voltaire's overall philosophical project, by focusing on a neglected aspect of his work: his determination to write "modern" history. Much of his historical writing, especially in the earlier years, is devoted to the modern world. Voltaire first explores the defining characteristics of the modern world (the benefits of trade, the scientific revolution, religious toleration) in a book about England (Lettres philosophiques), before studying the flourishing culture of France during the previous century (Le Siècle de Louis XIV). He then extends this exploration, forwards into modern France (Précis du Siècle de Louis XV), and outwards into the recent history of the whole world (Essai sur les moeurs). My role is as co-editor (with Janet Godden, Voltaire Foundation) of a critical edition of the Précis du Siècle de Louis XV, which will be part of the Complete Works of Voltaire.
Funding Agency
Leverhulme Trust
Programme
Research Project Grants

Details Date From Date To
Trustee - Board of Directors of Alliance française Ltd. 2017 ongoing
Member of the Digital Voltaire Advisory Group, Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford 2022 ongoing
Member of the Advisory Board of The Complete Works of Voltaire 2018 2022
President of ADEFFI (Association des études françaises et francophones d'Irlande): http://www.adeffi.ie 2017 2019
Vice-President of ADEFFI (Association des études françaises et francophones d'Irlande): http://www.adeffi.ie 2016 2016
'Membre ordinaire' of the committee of ADEFFI (Association des études françaises et francophones d'Irlande): http://www.adeffi.ie 2009 2011
Secretary of ADEFFI (Association des études françaises et francophones d'Irlande): http://www.adeffi.ie 2012 2015
James Hanrahan, Voltaire, de la satire au pamphlet, Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 125, (3), 2025, p603 - 616, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Reimagining the cri public: Voltaire and Public Opinion before Calas in, editor(s)Gillian Pink and Thomas Wynn , L'écriture est la peinture de la voix: Essays in honour of Nicholas Cronk, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2024, pp216 - 232, [James Hanrahan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, L'édition critique et l'intention de l'auteur dans les Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Revue Voltaire, 23, 2024, p35 - 46, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, Paris blows its top, The Irish Times, 2024, p24 - 24, Notes: [A review of Robert Darnton's The Revolutionary Temper.], Review Article, PUBLISHED  URL
James Hanrahan, Les Remontrances (Europe, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle), by Ullrich Langer and Paul-Alexis Mellet , French Studies, 77, (2), 2023, p304 , Review, PUBLISHED  DOI
James Hanrahan, Les Hystériques: en attendant Freud. Par Jean-Christophe Abramovici, Review of Les Hystériques: en attendant Freud, by Par Jean-Christophe Abramovici , French Studies, 77, (4), 2023, p24 - 24, p668 , Review, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
Political Turmoil in Voltaire's Vision and Revision of the Fronde in, editor(s)Síofra Pierse and Emma Dunne , Turmoil: Instability and insecurity in the eighteenth-century Francophone text, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2022, pp63 - 79, [James Hanrahan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  URL
Voltaire: Histoire de la guerre de 1741, The Literary Encyclopedia, 1.5.2.04, The Literary Dictionary Company Limited, 2022, [James Hanrahan and Janet Godden], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, PUBLISHED  URL
Voltaire: Précis du siècle de Louis XV, The Literary Encyclopedia, 1.5.2.04, The Literary Dictionary Company Limited, 2022, [James Hanrahan and Janet Gooden], Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, PUBLISHED  URL
James Hanrahan, Voltaire et son lecteur: essai sur la séduction littéraire, by Sylvain Ménant , French Studies, 76, (4), 2022, p663-664 , Review, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

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James Hanrahan, The dark side of history, Review of The Race Makers: A History of the Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Legacy, by Andrew S. Curran , The Irish Times (Ticket Magazine), 2026, p26 , Review, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, Benoît de Maillet - Nouveau Système du monde, Review of Nouveau Système du monde, by Benoît du Maillet and Geneviève Artigas-Menant , French Studies, 80, (2), 2026, p351-352 , Review, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, Equality: a self-evident truth?, Review of Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea, by Darrin McMahon , Irish Times, (10 August 2024), 2024, p16 , Review, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, Reason and unreason, Review of Dark Brilliance: The Age of Reason from Descartes to Peter the Great, by Paul Strathern , Irish Times, (1 June 2024), 2024, p17 , Review, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, Vincent Cossarutto, Voltaire au service du roi, Review of Voltaire au service du roi. Un pamphlétaire politique au temps de la Révolution Maupeou, 1770-1775, by Vincent Cossarutto , Revue Voltaire, 21, 2023, p419-420 , Review, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan, Figures du moi et environnement naturel au XVIIIe siècle. Par Jean-Luc Guichet, Review of Figures du moi et environnement naturel au XVIIIe siècle, by Par Jean-Luc Guichet , French Studies, 76, (4), 2022, p24 - 24, p671-672 , Review, PUBLISHED
James Hanrahan and Janet Godden, Voltaire's Précis du siècle de Louis XV , Enlightenment Workshop: Voltaire's Précis du siècle de Louis XV (2019-2020), Oxford, 8 March 2021, 2021, Voltaire Foundation, Notes: [Public Event on the recent publication of Voltaire's Précis du siècle de Louis XV: https://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/enlightenment-workshop-voltaire-precis-du-siecle-de-louis-xv-2019-2020/], Invited Talk, PRESENTED
James Hanrahan, Thinkers of our Time: Voltaire, Thinkers of our Time: Voltaire, The British Academy, London, 3 March 2020, 2020, British Academy, Notes: [Panel discussion at British Academy on Voltaire as part of Thinkers of our Time series: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/thinkers-our-time-voltaire/], Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Manu Braganca and James Hanrahan, ADEFFI 20th Anniversary Annual Conference 2018: 'Etats présents, états futurs', 19-20 October 2018, 2018, University College Dublin, Meetings /Conferences Organised, PUBLISHED
Geneviève Guétemme and James Hanrahan, ADEFFI Annual Conference 2017: Ecritures des mobilités, 26-28 October 2017, 2017, Université d'Orléans, Meetings /Conferences Organised, PUBLISHED

  


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Award Date
IRCHSS CARA 3-year Post-doctoral Fellowship June, 2010
Voltaire Foundation Visiting Scholar, Linacre College, University of Oxford Jan-Feb, 2008
Leverhulme Trust PhD Studentship, University of Edinburgh 2003-06
My research focuses on the literature, history, politics and culture of Enlightenment France. My doctoral research focussed on Voltaire and his relationship with the supreme courts of ancien régime France. I contribute as an external editor to the Complete Works of Voltaire, published by the Voltaire Foundation, Oxford. As well as having written critical introductions to Voltaire's pamphlets on the pays de Gex, I was part of a team of academics annotating the definitive editions of the Essai sur les moeurs. I am also interested in and have published on the concept of public opinion and its impact on politics and society, from the eighteenth century up to the present. I have co-edited a critical edition of Voltaire's Précis du siècle de Louis XV and Histoire de la guerre de 1741 and I'm currently researching the concept of origins in Enlightenment thought.