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European Perspectives: a Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism Ser.: Realms of Memory : The Construction of the French Past, Volume 1 - Conflicts and Divisions by Arthur Goldhammer (1996, Hardcover)

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Product Identifiers

PublisherColumbia University Press
ISBN-100231084048
ISBN-139780231084048
eBay Product ID (ePID)94750

Product Key Features

Number of Pages642 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication NameRealms of Memory : the Construction of the French Past, Volume 1-Conflicts and Divisions
SubjectHistoriography, Europe / France, Cognitive Psychology & Cognition
Publication Year1996
FeaturesRevised
TypeNot Available
AuthorArthur Goldhammer
Subject AreaPsychology, History
SeriesEuropean Perspectives: a Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism Ser.
FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.9 in
Item Weight51.4 Oz
Item Length10.3 in
Item Width7.4 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN95-049349
ReviewsPierre Nora has always insisted that he intended his project to be a sort of counter-commemorative history, de-constructing, as it were, the myths and memories it records. But as he ruefully concedes in his concluding essay in the final volume, the work has had a strange destiny: commemoration has overtaken it and it is now a sort of scholarly lieu de mémoire in its own right. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, Nora is a very powerful figure in French intellectual life and for his magnum opus he secured the services of some of France's best scholars; their essays are small masterpieces, classic contributions to their subject.....Are these distinctively French characteristics of Les Lieux de mémoire --the book and the things themselves--not an insuperable impediment to translation? No: the English-language version...is a major publishing event in its own right. It is as copiously and beautifully illustrated as the original, and the translation, by Arthur Goldhammer, is wonderful--sensitive to the different styles of the various contributors and superbly confident and learned in its grasp of a grand variety of technical and historical terms. The books are a pleasure to read, in English as in French., Provides arresting genealogies of a number of the major cleavages in French history, with chapters on the embattled relationship of Jews to the French republic, the peculiar affinities of Gaulism and Communism, and... Paris' haughty condescension toward la province.... Without resorting to polemics, the volume reminds us that the image of the French past is confected as much out of amnesia as out of memory., The original French edition of Realms of Memory, which appeared in three installments during the presidency of Francois Mitterrand, was the intellectual equivalent of the period's monumental public architecture....the essays selected for inclusion here (roughly one-third of the total) are the high carat jewels of the project and some of the best France in historical writing produced in this century. And, far from losing anything in translation, some of the essays have gained considerably more lucidity than they have in the original French. Arthur Goldhammer deserves a medal..., "This unusual book deals fascinatingly with everything from the creation of the rousing anthem "La Marseillaise" to the changing role of Joan of Arc in France's collective memory. Even the Eiffel Tower shines forth in surprising new facets." -- Chicago Tribune, This unusual book deals fascinatingly with everything from the creation of the rousing anthem "La Marseillaise" to the changing role of Joan of Arc in France's collective memory. Even the Eiffel Tower shines forth in surprising new facets., French-Jewish historian and publisher Pierre Nora is renowned for editing the monumental series of volumes "Lieux de Mémoire" for the French publisher Gallimard. Literally, the title means, "Places of Memory," and the series is the ultimate repository of modern Gallic concepts of national identity. Its brilliant scholarship was recognized by Columbia University Press, which, from 1996 to 1998, released a plushly appointed threevolume translation by Arthur Goldhammer as 'Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past.', This is an indispensable guide to understanding France and the French. As usual, Arthur Goldhammer's translation is superb., "A magnificent achievement.... [The essays included] are the high-carat jewels of the project." -- The New Republic, "Provides arresting genealogies of a number of the major cleavages in French history, with chapters on the embattled relationship of Jews to the French republic, the peculiar affinities of Gaulism and Communism, and... Paris' haughty condescension toward la province.... Without resorting to polemics, the volume reminds us that the image of the French past is confected as much out of amnesia as out of memory." -- Lingua Franca, "This is an indispensable guide to understanding France and the French. As usual, Arthur Goldhammer's translation is superb." -- Foreign Affairs, But in "Realms of Memory," the general level is uniformly high, the scholarship accessible, lashings of information are invitingly presented and the approach is superficial but never shallow; just as it should be in accounts of dead folk and events from a past that is even less penetrable than the present. Most specialists will prefer to read the essays in the original French. For the average reader, what "Realms of Memory" offers is an unusual look at the French looking at themselves, at France and at their historical memory being simultaneously made and unmade.
Grade FromCollege Graduate Student
IllustratedYes
Edition DescriptionRevised edition
Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional
Table Of ContentIntroduction, by Pierre Nora Part I: Emblems 1. The Three Colors: Neither White nor Red, by Raoul Girardet 2. La Marseillaise: War or Peace, by Michel Vovelle 3. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, by Mona Ozouf 4. Bastille Day: From Dies Irae to Holiday, by Christian Almavi Part II: Major Sites 1. Lascaux, by Jean-Paul Demoule 2. Reims, City of Coronation, by Jacques Le Goff 3. The Louvre, Royal Residence and Temple of the Arts, by Jean-Pierre Babelon 4. Versailles, the Image of the Sovereign, by Edouard Pommier 5. The Pantheon, The Ecole Normale of the Dead, by Mona Ozouf 6. The Eiffel Tower, by Henry Loyette 7. Verdun, by Antoine Prost Part III: Identifications 1. The Gallic Cock, by Michael Pastoureau 2. Joan of Arc, by Michael Winock 3. Descartes, by Francois Azouvi 4. Paris, A Traversal from East to West, by Maurice Agulhon 5. The Genius of the French Language, by Marc Fumaroli 6. The Era of Commemoration, by Pierre Nora Notes Index of Names Index of Subjects
SynopsisArchives, monuments, celebrations: there are not merely the recollections of memory but also the foundations of history. Symbols, the third and final volume in Pierre Nora's monumental Realms of Memory , includes groundbreaking discussions of the emblems of France's past by some of the nation's most distinguished intellectuals. The seventeen essays in this book consider such diverse "sites" of memory as the figures of Joan D'Arc and Decartes, the national motto of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", the tricolor flag and the French language itself. Pierre Nora's closing essay on commemoration provides a culminating overview of the series. Offering a new approach on history, culture, French studies and the studies of symbols, Realms of Memory reveals how the myriad meanings we attach to places and events constitute our sense of history. A monumental collective endevour by some of France's most distinguished intellectuals, Realms of Memory explores how and why certain places, events, and figures became a part of France's collective memory, and reveals the intricate connection between memory and history. Symbols , the third and final volume, is the culmination of the work begun in Conflicts and Divisions and Traditions .Pierre Nora inaugurates this final volume by acknowledging that the whole project of Realms of Memory is oriented around symbols, claiming "only a symbolic history can restore to France the unity and dynamism not recognized by either the man in the street or the academic historian." He goes on to distinguish between two very different types of symbols - imposed and constructed. Imposed symbols may be official state emblems like the tricolor flag or 'La Marsaillaise', or may be monuments like the Eiffel Tower - symbols imbued with a sense of history. COnstructes symbols are produced over the passage of time, by human effort, and by history itself.They include figures such as Joan d'Arc, Descartes, and the Gallic cock.Past I, Emblems, traces the development of four major national symbols from the time of the Revolution: the tricolor flag, the national anthem (La Marsaillaise), the motto Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and Bastille Day. Far from having fixed identities, these representations of the French nations are shown to have undergone transformations. As French republics rose and regimes changed, the emblems of the French state - and the meanings accosiated with them - were also altered.Part II, Major Sites, focuses on those cities and structures that act as beacons of France to both Frenchman and foreigner. These essays range from the prehistory paintings in Lascaux - that cave which, though not originally French in any sense, has become the very symbol of France's immemorial national memory - to Verdun, the site of the terrible World War I battle, now a symbol of the nation's heaviest sacrifice for the "salvation of the fatehrland" and the most powerful image of French national unity.Identifications, the final section, explores the ways in which the French think of themselves. From the cock - that "rustic and quintessentially Gallic bird" - to the figures of Joan of Arc and Descartes, to the nation's twin hearts - Paris and the French language - the memory of the French people is explored.This final installment of Realms of Memory provides a major contribution not only to study the French nation and culture, but also to the study of symbols as cultural phenomena, offering, as Nora observes, "the possibility of revelation.", A monumental collective endevour by some of France's most distinguished intellectuals, Realms of Memory explores how and why certain places, events, and figures became a part of France's collective memory, and reveals the intricate connection between memory and history. Symbols , the third and final volume, is the culmination of the work begun in Conflicts and Divisions and Traditions .Pierre Nora inaugurates this final volume by acknowledging that the whole project of Realms of Memory is oriented around symbols, claiming "only a symbolic history can restore to France the unity and dynamism not recognized by either the man in the street or the academic historian." He goes on to distinguish between two very different types of symbols - imposed and constructed. Imposed symbols may be official state emblems like the tricolor flag or 'La Marsaillaise', or may be monuments like the Eiffel Tower - symbols imbued with a sense of history. COnstructes symbols are produced over the passage of time, by human effort, and by history itself.They include figures such as Joan d'Arc, Descartes, and the Gallic cock.Past I, Emblems, traces the development of four major national symbols from the time of the Revolution: the tricolor flag, the national anthem (La Marsaillaise), the motto Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and Bastille Day. Far from having fixed identities, these representations of the French nations are shown to have undergone transformations. As French republics rose and regimes changed, the emblems of the French state - and the meanings accosiated with them - were also altered.Part II, Major Sites, focuses on those cities and structures that act as beacons of France to both Frenchman and foreigner. These essays range from the prehistory paintings in Lascaux - that cave which, though not originally French in any sense, has become the very symbol of France's immemorial national memory - to Verdun, the site of the terrible World War I battle, now a symbol of the nation's heaviest sacrifice for the "salvation of the fatehrland" and the most powerful image of French national unity.Identifications, the final section, explores the ways in which the French think of themselves. From the cock - that "rustic and quintessentially Gallic bird" - to the figures of Joan of Arc and Descartes, to the nation's twin hearts - Paris and the French language - the memory of the French people is explored.This final installment of Realms of Memory provides a major contribution not only to study the French nation and culture, but also to the study of symbols as cultural phenomena, offering, as Nora observes, "the possibility of revelation.", Offers the best essays from the acclaimed collection originally published in French. This monumental work examines how and why events and figures become a part of a people's collective memory, how rewriting history can forge new paradigms of cultural identity, and how the meaning attached to an event can become as significant as the event itself., Archives, monuments, celebrations:there are not merely the recollections of memory but also the foundations of history. Symbols, the third and final volume in Pierre Nora's monumental Realms of Memory , includes groundbreaking discussions of the emblems of France's past by some of the nation's most distinguished intellectuals. The seventeen essays in this book consider such diverse "sites" of memory as the figures of Joan D'Arc and Decartes, the national motto of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", the tricolor flag and the French language itself. Pierre Nora's closing essay on commemoration provides a culminating overview of the series. Offering a new approach on history, culture, French studies and the studies of symbols, Realms of Memory reveals how the myriad meanings we attach to places and events constitute our sense of history. A monumental collective endevour by some of France's most distinguished intellectuals, Realms of Memory explores how and why certain places, events, and figures became a part of France's collective memory, and reveals the intricate connection between memory and history. Symbols , the third and final volume, is the culmination of the work begun in Conflicts and Divisions and Traditions .Pierre Nora inaugurates this final volume by acknowledging that the whole project of Realms of Memory is oriented around symbols, claiming "only a symbolic history can restore to France the unity and dynamism not recognized by either the man in the street or the academic historian." He goes on to distinguish between two very different types of symbols - imposed and constructed. Imposed symbols may be official state emblems like the tricolor flag or 'La Marsaillaise', or may be monuments like the Eiffel Tower - symbols imbued with a sense of history. COnstructes symbols are produced over the passage of time, by human effort, and by history itself.They include figures such as Joan d'Arc, Descartes, and the Gallic cock.Past I, Emblems, traces the development of four major national symbols from the time of the Revolution: the tricolor flag, the national anthem (La Marsaillaise), the motto Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and Bastille Day. Far from having fixed identities, these representations of the French nations are shown to have undergone transformations. As French republics rose and regimes changed, the emblems of the French state - and the meanings accosiated with them - were also altered.Part II, Major Sites, focuses on those cities and structures that act as beacons of France to both Frenchman and foreigner. These essays range from the prehistory paintings in Lascaux - that cave which, though not originally French in any sense, has become the very symbol of France's immemorial national memory - to Verdun, the site of the terrible World War I battle, now a symbol of the nation's heaviest sacrifice for the "salvation of the fatehrland" and the most powerful image of French national unity.Identifications, the final section, explores the ways in which the French think of themselves. From the cock - that "rustic and quintessentially Gallic bird" - to the figures of Joan of Arc and Descartes, to the nation's twin hearts - Paris and the French language - the memory of the French people is explored.This final installment of Realms of Memory provides a major contribution not only to study the French nation and culture, but also to the study of symbols as cultural phenomena, offering, as Nora observes, "the possibility of revelation."
LC Classification NumberDC33.L6513 1996