French Intellectuals Against the Left

French Intellectuals Against the Left

Author: Michael Scott Christofferson

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9781571814289

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Christofferson argues that French anti-totalitarianism was the culmination of direct-democratic critiques of communism & revisions of the revolutionary project after 1956. He offers an alternative interpretation for the denunciation of communism & Marxism by the French intellectual left in the late 1970s.


Book Synopsis French Intellectuals Against the Left by : Michael Scott Christofferson

Download or read book French Intellectuals Against the Left written by Michael Scott Christofferson and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christofferson argues that French anti-totalitarianism was the culmination of direct-democratic critiques of communism & revisions of the revolutionary project after 1956. He offers an alternative interpretation for the denunciation of communism & Marxism by the French intellectual left in the late 1970s.


In Search of the Liberal Moment

In Search of the Liberal Moment

Author: S. Sawyer

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1137581263

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This book explores a series of challenging new perspectives on the origins, development, and legacy of France's 'liberal moment' during the second half of the twentieth century. It surveys a significant shift in interest regarding socio-political philosophy and culture, with the 1970s emergence of a blossoming French curiosity about liberalism and liberal thought. While liberalism had played an important role in French political debate prior to this period, liberal voices were often disregarded. It was not until this newfound fascination with liberalism by French intellectuals—spanning from the second left to the new right—that a French liberal revival truly occurred. In Search of the Liberal Moment addresses this revival, its resultant resuscitation of nineteenth-century authors like Tocqueville and Constant, its relationship with the contemporary rise of neoliberalism in Britain and the US, and how its adherents used liberalism to rethink the past, present, and future of modern democracy.


Book Synopsis In Search of the Liberal Moment by : S. Sawyer

Download or read book In Search of the Liberal Moment written by S. Sawyer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores a series of challenging new perspectives on the origins, development, and legacy of France's 'liberal moment' during the second half of the twentieth century. It surveys a significant shift in interest regarding socio-political philosophy and culture, with the 1970s emergence of a blossoming French curiosity about liberalism and liberal thought. While liberalism had played an important role in French political debate prior to this period, liberal voices were often disregarded. It was not until this newfound fascination with liberalism by French intellectuals—spanning from the second left to the new right—that a French liberal revival truly occurred. In Search of the Liberal Moment addresses this revival, its resultant resuscitation of nineteenth-century authors like Tocqueville and Constant, its relationship with the contemporary rise of neoliberalism in Britain and the US, and how its adherents used liberalism to rethink the past, present, and future of modern democracy.


Arguing Revolution

Arguing Revolution

Author: Sunil Khilnani

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780300057454

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He then addresses the period between 1968 and 1981, when the idea of revolution came under attack, and the impact of Francois Furet's revisionist historiography of the French Revolution, which decisively undermined the very idea of revolution in France.


Book Synopsis Arguing Revolution by : Sunil Khilnani

Download or read book Arguing Revolution written by Sunil Khilnani and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He then addresses the period between 1968 and 1981, when the idea of revolution came under attack, and the impact of Francois Furet's revisionist historiography of the French Revolution, which decisively undermined the very idea of revolution in France.


Intellectuals and the Left in France Since 1968

Intellectuals and the Left in France Since 1968

Author: Keith A. Reader

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1987-03-02

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1349185817

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Lacan, Althusser, Derrida, Foucault - the currency of these names in the world of modern thought is widespread. But all too often in the English-speaking world their work and ideas are considered without reference to the context in which they were produced, and this is the gap that this new study sets out to fill. The major revaluation of what constituted the 'political', set in train by the 1968 events is a key theme here, and the work of the best-known French intellectual figures of the time both illuminates and is illuminated by it. But it is not just a new reading of already familiar figures that the reader will find in this work. Writers little-known in the English-speaking world, or hitherto not extensively treated in English, receive similar contextualising attention, so that the recent upsurge in sociology or the impact of a dissident Marxist such as Henri Lefebvre take their place alongside better-known figures in the first book-length English-language survey of one of the most exciting, and often bewildering, periods in European intellectual history.


Book Synopsis Intellectuals and the Left in France Since 1968 by : Keith A. Reader

Download or read book Intellectuals and the Left in France Since 1968 written by Keith A. Reader and published by Springer. This book was released on 1987-03-02 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lacan, Althusser, Derrida, Foucault - the currency of these names in the world of modern thought is widespread. But all too often in the English-speaking world their work and ideas are considered without reference to the context in which they were produced, and this is the gap that this new study sets out to fill. The major revaluation of what constituted the 'political', set in train by the 1968 events is a key theme here, and the work of the best-known French intellectual figures of the time both illuminates and is illuminated by it. But it is not just a new reading of already familiar figures that the reader will find in this work. Writers little-known in the English-speaking world, or hitherto not extensively treated in English, receive similar contextualising attention, so that the recent upsurge in sociology or the impact of a dissident Marxist such as Henri Lefebvre take their place alongside better-known figures in the first book-length English-language survey of one of the most exciting, and often bewildering, periods in European intellectual history.


The French Exception

The French Exception

Author: Emmanuel Godin

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9781571816849

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The notion of French exceptionalism is deeply embedded in the nation's self-image and in a range of political and academic discourses. Recently, the debate about whether France really is "exceptional" has acquired a critical edge. Against the background of introspection about the nature of "national identity," some proclaim "normalisation" and the end of French exceptionalism, while others point out to the continuing evidence that France remains distinctive at a number of levels, from popular culture to public policy. This book explores the notion of French exceptionalism, places it in its European context, examines its history and evaluate its continuing relevance in a range of fields from politics and public policy to popular culture and sport.


Book Synopsis The French Exception by : Emmanuel Godin

Download or read book The French Exception written by Emmanuel Godin and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The notion of French exceptionalism is deeply embedded in the nation's self-image and in a range of political and academic discourses. Recently, the debate about whether France really is "exceptional" has acquired a critical edge. Against the background of introspection about the nature of "national identity," some proclaim "normalisation" and the end of French exceptionalism, while others point out to the continuing evidence that France remains distinctive at a number of levels, from popular culture to public policy. This book explores the notion of French exceptionalism, places it in its European context, examines its history and evaluate its continuing relevance in a range of fields from politics and public policy to popular culture and sport.


Resentment and the Right

Resentment and the Right

Author: Sarah Shurts

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2017-06-05

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 1611496357

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Resentment and the Right: French Intellectual Identity Reimagined, 1898-2000 examines a century-long struggle between cultural spokesmen on the extreme right and left to dominate and define the concept of “the intellectual.” This struggle began with the introduction of the “intellectual” during the Dreyfus Affair of 1898 and continues even today among the intellectuals of the Nouvelle Droite. This struggle to monopolize the public perception of intellectual identity, and the status of moral and political guide the title conferred, consumed the intellectual leaders of the extreme right and left and saturated their engagement in political affairs. Because the left was the first to claim the title of intellectual in 1898, they defined the concept according to their own values and experiences. Hereafter, when intellectuals of the extreme right felt called to engage in public affairs, they portrayed their struggle for recognition as one of an oppressed and ostracized minority against a hegemonic left. Their resentment of this perceived repression became integral to their linguistic tropes, professional trajectories, cultural practices, and their self-conceptualization as intellectuals. The book is organized around the argument that at each perceived national crisis throughout the century, when intellectuals felt called to engage, the right-wing struggle to define true intellectual identity for the public followed a similar cycle: self-identification as intellectuals, perception of exclusion by the intellectual left, resentment of this ostracism and development of linguistic tropes of left-wing hegemony and right-wing repression, differentiation, revaluation, and reappropriation of cultural values, self-imposed segregation of social networks and professional trajectories, internalization and revaluation of their perceived role as intellectual pariahs, and eventual isolation, alienation, and radicalization from the mainstream intellectual and political world. All together this has resulted in a very different experience of intellectual life and a distinctive understanding of what it means to be an intellectual over the century.


Book Synopsis Resentment and the Right by : Sarah Shurts

Download or read book Resentment and the Right written by Sarah Shurts and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-06-05 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resentment and the Right: French Intellectual Identity Reimagined, 1898-2000 examines a century-long struggle between cultural spokesmen on the extreme right and left to dominate and define the concept of “the intellectual.” This struggle began with the introduction of the “intellectual” during the Dreyfus Affair of 1898 and continues even today among the intellectuals of the Nouvelle Droite. This struggle to monopolize the public perception of intellectual identity, and the status of moral and political guide the title conferred, consumed the intellectual leaders of the extreme right and left and saturated their engagement in political affairs. Because the left was the first to claim the title of intellectual in 1898, they defined the concept according to their own values and experiences. Hereafter, when intellectuals of the extreme right felt called to engage in public affairs, they portrayed their struggle for recognition as one of an oppressed and ostracized minority against a hegemonic left. Their resentment of this perceived repression became integral to their linguistic tropes, professional trajectories, cultural practices, and their self-conceptualization as intellectuals. The book is organized around the argument that at each perceived national crisis throughout the century, when intellectuals felt called to engage, the right-wing struggle to define true intellectual identity for the public followed a similar cycle: self-identification as intellectuals, perception of exclusion by the intellectual left, resentment of this ostracism and development of linguistic tropes of left-wing hegemony and right-wing repression, differentiation, revaluation, and reappropriation of cultural values, self-imposed segregation of social networks and professional trajectories, internalization and revaluation of their perceived role as intellectual pariahs, and eventual isolation, alienation, and radicalization from the mainstream intellectual and political world. All together this has resulted in a very different experience of intellectual life and a distinctive understanding of what it means to be an intellectual over the century.


The Wind From the East

The Wind From the East

Author: Richard Wolin

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-11-14

Total Pages: 442

ISBN-13: 0691178232

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Michel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Phillipe Sollers, and Jean-Luc Godard. During the 1960s, a who’s who of French thinkers, writers, and artists, spurred by China’s Cultural Revolution, were seized with a fascination for Maoism. Combining a merciless exposé of left-wing political folly and cross-cultural misunderstanding with a spirited defense of the 1960s, The Wind from the East tells the colorful story of this legendary period in France. Richard Wolin shows how French students and intellectuals, inspired by their perceptions of the Cultural Revolution, and motivated by utopian hopes, incited grassroots social movements and reinvigorated French civic and cultural life. Wolin’s riveting narrative reveals that Maoism’s allure among France’s best and brightest actually had little to do with a real understanding of Chinese politics. Instead, it paradoxically served as a vehicle for an emancipatory transformation of French society. Recounting the cultural and political odyssey of French students and intellectuals in the 1960s, The Wind from the East illustrates how the Maoist phenomenon unexpectedly sparked a democratic political sea change in France.


Book Synopsis The Wind From the East by : Richard Wolin

Download or read book The Wind From the East written by Richard Wolin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Phillipe Sollers, and Jean-Luc Godard. During the 1960s, a who’s who of French thinkers, writers, and artists, spurred by China’s Cultural Revolution, were seized with a fascination for Maoism. Combining a merciless exposé of left-wing political folly and cross-cultural misunderstanding with a spirited defense of the 1960s, The Wind from the East tells the colorful story of this legendary period in France. Richard Wolin shows how French students and intellectuals, inspired by their perceptions of the Cultural Revolution, and motivated by utopian hopes, incited grassroots social movements and reinvigorated French civic and cultural life. Wolin’s riveting narrative reveals that Maoism’s allure among France’s best and brightest actually had little to do with a real understanding of Chinese politics. Instead, it paradoxically served as a vehicle for an emancipatory transformation of French society. Recounting the cultural and political odyssey of French students and intellectuals in the 1960s, The Wind from the East illustrates how the Maoist phenomenon unexpectedly sparked a democratic political sea change in France.


How the French Think

How the French Think

Author: Sudhir Hazareesingh

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2015-09-22

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0465061664

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An award-winning historian presents an absorbing account of the French mind, shedding light on France's famous tradition of intellectual life Why are the French such an exceptional nation? Why do they think they are so exceptional? The French take pride in the fact that their history and culture have decisively shaped the values and ideals of the modern world. French ideas are no less distinct in their form: while French thought is abstract, stylish and often opaque, it has always been bold and creative, and driven by the relentless pursuit of innovation. In How the French Think, the internationally-renowned historian Sudhir Hazareesingh tells the epic and tumultuous story of French intellectual thought from Descartes, Rousseau, and Auguste Comte to Sartre, Claude Lé-Strauss, and Derrida. He shows how French thinking has shaped fundamental Westerns ideas about freedom, rationality, and justice, and how the French mind-set is intimately connected to their own way of life-in particular to the French tendency towards individualism, their passion for nature, their celebration of their historical heritage, and their fascination with death. Hazareesingh explores the French veneration of dissent and skepticism, from Voltaire to the Dreyfus Affair and beyond; the obsession with the protection of French language and culture; the rhetorical flair embodied by the philosophes, which today's intellectuals still try to recapture; the astonishing influence of French postmodern thinkers, including Foucault and Barthes, on postwar American education and life, and also the growing French anxiety about a globalized world order under American hegemony. How the French Think sweeps aside generalizations and easy stereotypes to offer an incisive and revealing exploration of the French intellectual tradition. Steeped in a colorful range of sources, and written with warmth and humor, this book will appeal to all lovers of France and of European culture.


Book Synopsis How the French Think by : Sudhir Hazareesingh

Download or read book How the French Think written by Sudhir Hazareesingh and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An award-winning historian presents an absorbing account of the French mind, shedding light on France's famous tradition of intellectual life Why are the French such an exceptional nation? Why do they think they are so exceptional? The French take pride in the fact that their history and culture have decisively shaped the values and ideals of the modern world. French ideas are no less distinct in their form: while French thought is abstract, stylish and often opaque, it has always been bold and creative, and driven by the relentless pursuit of innovation. In How the French Think, the internationally-renowned historian Sudhir Hazareesingh tells the epic and tumultuous story of French intellectual thought from Descartes, Rousseau, and Auguste Comte to Sartre, Claude Lé-Strauss, and Derrida. He shows how French thinking has shaped fundamental Westerns ideas about freedom, rationality, and justice, and how the French mind-set is intimately connected to their own way of life-in particular to the French tendency towards individualism, their passion for nature, their celebration of their historical heritage, and their fascination with death. Hazareesingh explores the French veneration of dissent and skepticism, from Voltaire to the Dreyfus Affair and beyond; the obsession with the protection of French language and culture; the rhetorical flair embodied by the philosophes, which today's intellectuals still try to recapture; the astonishing influence of French postmodern thinkers, including Foucault and Barthes, on postwar American education and life, and also the growing French anxiety about a globalized world order under American hegemony. How the French Think sweeps aside generalizations and easy stereotypes to offer an incisive and revealing exploration of the French intellectual tradition. Steeped in a colorful range of sources, and written with warmth and humor, this book will appeal to all lovers of France and of European culture.


What's Left?

What's Left?

Author: Diane Rubenstein

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9780299125646

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A non-ideological, non-rhetorical, non-deconstructionist description of the politics of writing in France during the 20th century. Focuses on the signifying forms that produce a political subject or agent, particularly in relation to educational institutions. Assumes a familiarity both with French literature (but not language) and modern literary critical terminology. Paper edition (unseen), $19.75. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Book Synopsis What's Left? by : Diane Rubenstein

Download or read book What's Left? written by Diane Rubenstein and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A non-ideological, non-rhetorical, non-deconstructionist description of the politics of writing in France during the 20th century. Focuses on the signifying forms that produce a political subject or agent, particularly in relation to educational institutions. Assumes a familiarity both with French literature (but not language) and modern literary critical terminology. Paper edition (unseen), $19.75. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Neither Right Nor Left

Neither Right Nor Left

Author: Zeev Sternhell

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 9780691006291

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"Few books on European history in recent memory have caused such controversy and commotion," wrote Robert Wohl in 1991 in a major review of Neither Right nor Left. Listed by Le Monde as one of the forty most important books published in France during the 1980s, this explosive work asserts that fascism was an important part of the mainstream of European history, not just a temporary development in Germany and Italy but a significant aspect of French culture as well. Neither right nor left, fascism united antibourgeois, antiliberal nationalism, and revolutionary syndicalist thought, each of which joined in reflecting the political culture inherited from eighteenth-century France. From the first, Sternhell's argument generated strong feelings among people who wished to forget the Vichy years, and his themes drew enormous public attention in 1994, as Paul Touvier was condemned for crimes against humanity and a new biography probed President Mitterand's Vichy connections. The author's new preface speaks to the debates of 1994 and reinforces the necessity of acknowledging the past, as President Chirac has recently done on France's behalf.


Book Synopsis Neither Right Nor Left by : Zeev Sternhell

Download or read book Neither Right Nor Left written by Zeev Sternhell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Few books on European history in recent memory have caused such controversy and commotion," wrote Robert Wohl in 1991 in a major review of Neither Right nor Left. Listed by Le Monde as one of the forty most important books published in France during the 1980s, this explosive work asserts that fascism was an important part of the mainstream of European history, not just a temporary development in Germany and Italy but a significant aspect of French culture as well. Neither right nor left, fascism united antibourgeois, antiliberal nationalism, and revolutionary syndicalist thought, each of which joined in reflecting the political culture inherited from eighteenth-century France. From the first, Sternhell's argument generated strong feelings among people who wished to forget the Vichy years, and his themes drew enormous public attention in 1994, as Paul Touvier was condemned for crimes against humanity and a new biography probed President Mitterand's Vichy connections. The author's new preface speaks to the debates of 1994 and reinforces the necessity of acknowledging the past, as President Chirac has recently done on France's behalf.