Certain ideas of France : essays on French history and civilization
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Certain ideas of France : essays on French history and civilization
（Contributions to the study of world history, no. 98）
Greenwood Press, 2002
- Other Title
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Vele ideeën over Frankrijk
Available at 5 libraries
Note
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The title of this book is, of course, inspired by the famous opening words of General de Gaulle's Memoirs of the Second World War: All my life I have thought of France in a certain way. Wesseling brings together his essays dealing with a great variety of subjects such as culture, society, politics, and diplomacy, with one section devoted entirely to French historians.
The first section contains an chapter on the famous painter Ary Scheffer and the France of his time, that is to say the first half of the 19th century. The second chapter continues this theme and deals with Emile Zola and the Paris of the Second Empire. Two other chapters discuss aspects of the Third Republic, sports and students, respectively. The second section is devoted to French intellectuals. It offers the first in-depth analysis of the group of intellectuals that supported Zola and Dreyfus. Chapter six deals with one of the great literary figures of the interwar period-and later a notorious collaborator-Robert Brasillach. Chapter seven contains a vivid sketch of the life and work of the famous French intellectual Raymond Aron. The third section is devoted to politics and diplomacy. French foreign policy is discussed both in its long-term perspective as well as more specifically in the period of Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle's idea of France is compared with that of an author by whom he was greatly influenced, Charles Peguy. Finally, there is a section on French history writing, including two biographical essays, one about Gabriel Hanotaux, the once famous but now nearly forgotten historian who became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and another on Fernand Braudel, the great contemporary French historian and close friend of Wesseling. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and other researchers involved with French history, the history of ideas, and European historiography.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Eugen Weber Preface Culture and Society Ary Scheffer and His Time The Paris of Emile Zola Pierre de Coubertin: Sport and Ideology in the Third Republic, 1870-1914 Commotion at the Sorbonne: The Debate on the French University, 1910-1914 Intellectuals and Politics Reluctant Crusaders: French Intellectuals and the Dreyfus Affair Robert Brasillach and the Temptation of Fascism An Intellectual in Politics: Raymond Aron, 1905-1983 Politics and Diplomacy Constants in French Foreign Policy Was de Gaulle Right? Charles de Gaulle and Charles Peguy: A Certain Idea of France History and Historians Gabriel Hanotaux: An Historian in Politics The Annales School and the Writing of Contemporary History: The First Fifty Years Fernand Braudel: Historian of the "Longue DuREe" Index
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