This book retrieves conceptions of national identity and ways of feeling French that competed against each other in the 19th century. By distinguishing between two groups of French writers, three who experienced the 1789 revolution as adults (de Gouges, de Chateaubriand, de Staël) and three who did not (Stendhal, Mèrimèe, Sand), it captures evolving understandings of the nation, as well as thoughts and emotions associated with national belonging.