The Mutations of high society Sociability reflected in the epistolary Networks of a financial Nobility

The correspondance of emigre nobles illuminates the development of the sociability of high society between the Old Regime and the First Empire. The epistolary conversations of the Countess of Pontgibaud with her Parisian friends reveals the financial difficulties encountered by the nobility of the sword in their efforts to maintain the practices of high sociability, and with that, the evolution of the material conditions that formal organized receptions entailed. This correspondance further documents the recreation of a social life between Trieste and Paris, thanks to literary and scientific discussions. The perspective of the emigre nobility and of the Parisian nobility on this evolution of "moeurs" and high French society fostered a nostalgia of a lost time and a dichotomous vision of high society.