ABSTRACT
This book does not claim to be a study of psychology, or of political history. It is rather a discussion of the history of an idea and of the impact on this tradition of the contribution of a thinker and proponent of the nature of the self in nineteenth-century France. The works of Jean-Thomas Nordmann and Eric Gasparini have looked, in detail and from a modern perspective, at Taine's critical method and his political standpoint. Various problems attend the handling of Taine manuscripts, not the least of which is his minute and spidery hand-writing. Certain contemporary conventions, such as abbreviations and the use of capital letters, can lead to confusion, and the numbering of months on letter headings has given rise to some chronological errors in the ordering of the correspondence. In addition, Taine has a tendency to condense quotations with no indication that parts have been omitted, and rarely gives any references.
