Friday, February 11, 2022
A Sound, a Light, a Shadow
Georges Lefebvre (1874-1959), The Great Fear of 1789: Rural Panic in Revolutionary France, tr. Joan White (New York: Pantheon Books, 1973), p. 50:
Newer› ‹Older
Now when an assembly, an army or an entire population sits waiting for the arrival of some enemy, it would be very unusual if this enemy were not actually sighted at some time or other. It is the excitable individuals who respond to this sort of atmosphere, especially when placed in isolation or on guard duty, or when they feel particularly exposed or else when some responsibility suddenly lies heavy on their shoulders. A suspicious character, a cloud of dust, less than this even: a sound, a light, a shadow is enough to start an alarm. Auto-suggestion plays an even greater part and they imagine that they see or hear something.
