Realms of Memory: Rethinking the French Past

688 Pages·1996·65.667 MB·English

by  Pierre Nora et al.

CONFLICTS AND DIVISIONS
I
MEMORY
REALMS OF
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE FRENCH PAST
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
PIERRE NORA
EnglishLanguage editionedited&withaforewordbyLawrenceD.Krit\man • TranslatedbyArthur Goldhammer
Realms ofMemory is a monumental collec-
tive endeavorby France's leading intellectu-
als, exploringthe cathedrals and palaces, the
rituals, legends, and episodes that form the
landscape ofFrenchconsciousness. The first
volume, Conflicts andDivisions, reflects on
symbols ofpolitical, religious, regional, and
generational difference that structure
France'sself-definition.
Thebookbeginswith thepolitical clashes
that have carved a path through French his-
tory and memory, between Franks and
Gauls, French and foreigners, Vichy and all
otherregimes. Contributorsexplore shifting
conceptions of political meaning over cen-
turies, fromtheoftenirreverentportrayalsof
Gauls in such popular media as the Asterix
comics to nostalgic reimaginings ofpre-rev-
olutionary France by modern ultranational-
ists.
A secondsectionanalyzessites andevents
of the religious conflicts that underlie
French identity. The authors chronicle the
manufacture of remembrance, as seen in the
Protestant festivals held each September to
commemorate the persecution of
Huguenots in the sixteenth-century Wars of
Religion; and of the processes of forgetting,
witnessed intheassimilative traditionamong
French Jews that has hindered, if not pre-
vented, rediscovery of a distinctively Jewish
past and acknowledgement of the French
legacyof anti-Semitism.
Conflicts andDivisions concludes with a
sectionon issuesoftime andplace, an analy-
sis of the cleavages that separate Paris and
province, north and south, and human gen-
erations as demarcated by such transforma-
tiveyearsas 1789 and 1968.
(continuedonbackflap)

I
REALMS OF MEMORY
European Perspectives
REALMS
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
MEMORY
Rethinking the French Past
OF
VOLUME CONFLICTS AND DIVISIONS
i:
Under the Direction of Pierre Nora
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDITION EDITED AND WITH A FOREWORD BY LAWRENCE D. KRITZMAN
TranslatedbyArthur Goldhammer
To honor CliffordE. Rybolt,Jr. andMary GraceRickertRybolt,friendsofFrance,
Edwin IV.Rickerthasmade agiftto the Presstowardthe costs ofpublishingthis book.
Columbia UniversityPress wishes to expressits appreciationforassistancegivenby the
governmentofFrance throughLeMinistere de la Culture in thepreparation ofthe translation.
ColumbiaUniversityPress
Publisherssince 1893
NewYork Chichester, WestSussex
Copyright(c) 1996 Columbia UniversityPress
All rightsreserved
LesLieuxdeMemoire (c) Editions Gallimard, 1992
Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
LesLieuxdememoire. English
Realmsofmemory: rethinkingtheFrenchpast / underthe
directionof PierreNora Englishlanguageeditioneditedandwith
;
aforewordby Lawrence D. Kritzman translatedbyArthurGoldhammer
— ;
p. cm. (Europeanperspectives)
Revised and abridged translationof theoriginalworkinFrench.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Contents: v. 1. Conflictsanddivisions.
ISBN 0-231-08404-8 (alk. paper)
— —
I.France Civilization Philosophy. 2. Memory—. 3. Symbolism.
4. Nationalcharacteristics, French. 5. NationaHsm France.
I. Nora, Pierre. 11. Kritzman, LawrenceD. iii. Title.
IV. Series.
DC33.L6513 1996
—
944 dc20 95-49349
CIP
CaseboundeditionsofColumbia UniversityPressbooksareprintedonpermanentand
durableacid-freepaper.
DesignedbyLinda Secondari
Printedinthe United StatesofAmerica
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EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES
ASeriesin Social ThoughtandCulturalCriticism
Lawrence D. Kritzman, Editor
EuropeanPerspectivespresentsEnglishtranslationsofbooksbyleadingEuropeanthinkers. With
bothclassicand outstandingcontemporaryworks,theseriesaimstoshapethemajorintellectual
controversiesofourdayand to facilitatethetasksofhistoricalunderstanding.
JuliaKristeva, Strangersto Ourselves
TheodorW.Adorno,NotestoLiterature, vols, i and 2
Richard Wolin, editor, TheHeidegger Controversy
Antonio Gramsci,PrisonNotebooks, vol. i
JacquesLeGoff,HistoryandMemory
Alain Finkielkraut, Rememberingin Vain: TheKlausBarbie TrialandCrimesAgainstHumanity
JuliaKristeva,Nations WithoutNationalism
Pierre Bourdieu, TheFieldofCulturalProduction
PierreVidal-Naquet,AssassinsofMemory:Essayson theDenialoftheHolocaust
Hugo Ball, Critiqueofthe GermanIntelligentsia
Gilles Deleuzeand Felix Guattari, IVhatIsPhilosophy!'
Karl HeinzBohrer, Suddenness: OntheMomentofAestheticAppearance
AlainFinkielkraut, TheDefeatoftheMind
Elisabeth Badinter,XY: OnMasculineIdentity
GillesDeleuze,Negotiations, igyz-iggo
Pierre Vidal-Naquet, TheJews:History, Memory, andthePresent