Bébé has kept me up at night and busy during the day, thus little extra time for blogging. That, and I have become hopelessly addicted to Dead like Me. We did, however, have a great day at the Eastern States Exhibition (aka, the Big E). Unfortunately, I have a backlog of things I would like to post. So I’ll mention a few things briefly
- Perry Anderson has an article in the London Review of Books, “Depicting Europe“, that looks quite dilectible. (HT: Chapati Mystery)
- Robert Darnton’s essay, “Bohemians before Bohemianism“, on the lifestyles of libellists of 18th century France, is available to read from Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (as well as offerings from other great speakers).
- Since I pushed him in a previous post, let me mention this interview of French philosopher Jean-Claude Michéa in Le Point. (Given time, I might extract a few passages and translate them.)
- The website, A Letter to the Stars (English not yet available), tracks the fates of Austria’s Jews during the Holocaust.
- Le Monde offers a detailed review of a collection by American historian if France and why France attracts them as a subject (via H-France).
- Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine reopened over the weekend. [ETA:] The New York Times has a report and description.
The writing goes well, but I feel to cooped up in Germany right now. Too much Frankreich, not enough of la France. I’m compensating by making my non-diss related reading relevant to France. Currently, I’m enjoying (to my surprise) Huysmans Against Nature. After that I’ll consume some brief works by Virilio, Badiou, Marcel, Maritain, Rancière and Rosanvallon. But I didn’t find what I really wanted: French thought, preferably political or social, from the post-Bergson, pre-Sartre era. Any suggesttions? (Yes, this is a bleg.)
[ETA:] I notice from the stats that the resources are getting some attention. It’s still a work in progress, but if anyone has anything that belongs there, please let me know.
September 23, 2007 at 10:10 pm
What do you count as post-Bergson? If we measure from Two Sources, it’s about 11 years until Being and Nothingness was published (basically the 1930s). You probably have a better general idea of the period than I do, but I’ve read bits and pieces from that era that would fit your criteria; it’s largely a mess, just judging on my (rough and not very thoroughly informed) general impression. Maritain’s Humanisme integral would fit, as would his De la justice politique and Les droits de l’homme et la loi naturelle. The dispute over Action Francaise was at that time boiling over again, so at least some of the works of Charles Maurras in this period, as well as Francois de la Rocque’s Le Service Publique, would probably be interesting as well. But the Action Francaise furor can be a bit nasty in parts(particularly in Maurras, who is not a likable person), being partly composed of debates between racist and anti-semitic fascists and racist and anti-semitic anti-fascists, so it isn’t always very pleasant to read. Still, there are interesting issues, like whether La Rocque’s Croix-de-Feu party was fascist or something else entirely.
September 25, 2007 at 8:52 am
Well, I was thinking, à Winnoch and others, of the “ages” of Bergson and Sartre, so the late 1910s to the mid 1940s. It seemed so much of my knowledge of this period is dominated by minor figures and surrealists, and you’ve reminded me why. So many extremists! I’ll be content with the Maritain I checked out. Thanks.