French Life Research Articles

The Political Transfer of English Parliamentary Rules in the French Assemblies (1789–1848)

France has often been perceived as the most resilient country to political transfers from abroad. This view does not withstand close scrutiny and political realities tell a different story. This article argues for a reinterpretation of the role of political transfers in modern French political life (since 1789). Through the study of the introduction of rules inspired by the British parliamentary system, this article seeks to show that transfers did take place and gave rise to controversy. The July Monarchy represents the best example. There was an effective transfer but the resistance to this transfer was also very effective. This resistance shows the structural specificity of the French parliamentary system. Political transfers are thus double edged: it is simultaneously an import into a system and a way of reorganizing the system that modifies the nature of the transfer (in this instance the ‘recipes’ of the British parliament). Résumé La France a souvent été vue comme le pays du refus de toute importation politique venue de l'étranger. Mais, une telle idée appartient plus au monde des représentations (que les Français ont abondamment nourri) qu'au domaine de la réalité politique. Cet article plaide pour une réévaluation du rôle tenu par les transferts politiques dans la vie politique française moderne (à partir de 1789). A travers l'étude de l'introduction de règles inspirées du modèle parlementaire britannique, l'article tente de démontrer que les transferts ont été à la fois effectifs et sujets à de très fortes controverses. La période de la monarchie de Juillet, de ce point de vue, offre un exemple remarquable. Le transfert eut bien lieu (la publicité des votes principalement) mais la résistance opposée à ce transfert fut elle aussi très efficace. Cette résistance est un révélateur des spécificités structurelles du parlementarisme français. Un transfert politique se révèle donc ici ambivalent: il est à la fois un phénomène d'importation à l'intérieur d'un système d'accueil (ici, la monarchie de Juillet) et une forme de recomposition de ce système qui vient modifier à son tour la nature initiale du transfert (ici, les ‘recettes’ du parlementarisme britannique).

Les Pièces à Conviction: Perception in French Crime Fiction and its Literary Influence

Questions of perception have for a long time held a central place in French intellectual life, from investigations into perception and consciousness by Bergson and Merleau-Ponty, through a psychoanalytic focus on self-image, to more recent preoccupations with photography and the moving image.1 This interest has been echoed by several writers of literary fiction, and the relationship between visual theorists and literary writers has been a topic of critical interest. The author's argument here, though, concerns popular fiction. The author claims that the treatment of perception in the detective story is a special case in literature, that the perception of the physical world in crime fiction is qualitatively different from that usually represented in other literary forms. It is also the author's contention that crime fiction's unique approach ranks it among the influences that have informed the representation of perception in French literary fiction of the later twentieth century.

Music in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune

ABSTRACT The years 1870–71 marked the beginning of dramatic changes in French political and cultural life. A few short months witnessed defeat to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War and the fall of the Second Empire, as well as the rapid rise of the Paris Commune and its subsequent violent suppression through the establishment of republican government. The Parisian musical world, while severely affected by the events of war and deprived of performers and audiences, did not come to a standstill. Indeed, these years ushered in a remarkable increase in the number of institutions and concert societies dedicated to supporting French music and to making what would become the standard repertoire more accessible to the average citizen. Music heightened reactions to the turmoil of war and revolution in Paris at this crucial moment in France's history. Because of their stringent governmental control and largely middle- and working-class audiences, entertainments organized initially by wartime concert societies, and then under the aegis of the Commune, provide us with the greatest opportunity for understanding the political and social contexts in which music operated. Through investigation of the contemporary French press it can be shown that: (1) the perceived function of musical performance was adjusted to suit the practical and symbolic needs of a besieged city; (2) all the factions competing for power during the war and the post-war insurrection in Paris appropriated the connotations of civilization, social stability, and good taste that surrounded “art music”; (3) the Commune's sudden rejection of the Austro-German musical tradition marked a brief but significant moment in which nationalistic preoccupations supplanted historically cosmopolitan attitudes toward foreign art. The study concludes with a meditation on Alfred Roll's painting of the execution of a Communard trumpeter, in which we find one of the strongest images relating war and rebellion to music in the France of 1871.

Déconstruire d'Indy

In this article, I throw new light on Vincent d'Indy's reputation before 1900 by examining what his disciples have ignored, including little-known works, and by deconstructing attitudes accumulated over time. In fact, d'Indy was much less marginal and removed from republican institutions and their ideologies than we have been led to believe. His actions and works reveal a man who built alliances that served the State as well as the composer. Winning the City of Paris prize taught d'Indy early in his career the power of his difference. In the 1880s and 1890s, the State recognized that d'Indy could help it confront those controlling the conventions impeding musical progress, particularly the monopolies of the Academie des Beaux-Arts over major prizes and the Conservatoire over advanced musical education. His differences also helped bridge conflicts within Republican institutions : within the « family » of the Conservatoire (e.g. Franck vs. Massenet); between the Conservatoire under the musically conservative Thomas and the government under the politically moderate Ferry; then between Thomas and a Ministry determined to change the Conservatoire's curricula. At the Schola after 1900, while he conducted the appearance of war with the Conservatoire, downplaying what they shared, he put into place educational reforms conceived while working on the committee to reform the Conservatoire. In misconstruing the nature and function of political differences in France and their relationship to reputation-building strategies, we risk substituting ideology and our own projections of its meaning for the composer's importance in French musical life of the Belle Epoque.

Henri Dutilleux: Music, Mystery and Memory. Conversations with Claude Glayman (review)

Henri Dutilleux: Music, Mystery and Memory. Conversations with Claude dayman. Trans, by Roger Nichols. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. [vi, 158 p. ISBN 0-7546-0899-9. $69.96.] Bibliography, works list, discography, index of names. Now recognized as one of the great composers of his generation, Henri Dutilleux is well known not only for his individualism and independence of position, but for his discretion and reserve in matters concerning his life and music. All the more fascinating, therefore, for the composer to have at last aired many of his personal views concerning his family background, artistic development, training, and career in the form of conversations with the French writer and journalist Claude dayman. During the course of wide-ranging and penetrating interviews, Dutilleux reveals much about his approach to composition and the influences on his musical style. He discusses his music from the period of the Piano Sonata to The Shadows of Time and sheds tantalising light on future compositional plans, one of which has since come to fruition (Sur le meme accord for violin and orchestra, 2001-2002, written for Anne-Sophie Mutter). The conversations give many valuable insights into the subtle complexities of French musical life, its personalities and institutions, throughout the second half of the twentieth century and create contexts for the activities of a great many of his contemporaries, including the younger generation. Dutilleux also touches on his period in Italy on the eve of World War II and comments on life in France from the German Occupation to the Liberation. Reflecting the internationalism of his career, Dutilleux discusses his involvements outside France; most notably his time spent in the United States, as well as visits to the former Soviet Union, Poland (at the time of the first Warsaw Autumn Festival), and other former Eastern Block countries. Throughout, the conversations illustrate Dutilleux's characteristic generosity in respect of his views about other composers and almost unreserved admiration for a select few. Appearing in English translation for the first time, these conversations emerged in two phases. The original French edition, containing dayman's interviews with Dutilleux in 1992, was published as Henri Dutilleux: Mystere et memoire du son by Belfond (Paris, 1993) as part of their well established series of conversations with a wide range of distinguished musical, artistic and literary figures of the twentieth century. That Dutilleux's conversations were published as part of this series is indicative of the esteem in which he is held in France: Belfond's series includes Claude Rostand's conversations with Darius Milhaud (1952), Georges Charbonnier's conversations with Edgard Varese (1970) Pierre Bougeade's with Man Ray (1972), Alain Bosquet's with Salvador Dali (1983), Claude Samuel's with Olivier Messiaen (1986), and Pascal Vrebos' with Henry Miller (1991), as well as many others. Further discussions took place between dayman and Dutilleux in 1996; an indication perhaps of the composer's notorious predilection for detailed revision, as well as Glayman's admirable desire to commemorate Dutilleux's eightieth birthday. The complete interviews were published in a revised edition under the original title by Actes Sud in 1997, the later interviews comprising the new second section of the volume. (Each section in the 1997 edition is dated.) The revised edition provides the text for Roger Nichols' translation. Although an oversight has resulted in the omission of the date for the second section in the English edition, the text itself clarifies chronology. Both French editions include some useful appendices (list of works, bibliography and discography) as well as an indispensable index of names. The table of contents draws attention to particular issues and themes, as well as major works, and highlights aspects of the composer's periodization. (The revised French edition presents the table of contents more conveniently at the front of the volume, as is now increasingly the practice in France. …

M.F.K. Fisher in France: The First Insouciant Spell (1929––1932)

The First Insouciant Spell "The First Insouciant Spell" is one of the key chapters from Joan Reardon's Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves of M.F.K. Fisher in which the newly-married Mary Frances Kennedy sails from California with her husband Alfred Fisher to study in France. They enroll at the University of Dijon, where she learns the language and literature of the country and is initiated into the gastronomy of Burgundy, one of the famous wine-growing regions of France. Living in a pension in the midst of family celebrations and crises gave Fisher an intimate knowledge of the closed circle of French family life, and it supplied her with a cast of characters she would introduce into her books over the years. It was in Dijon also that she developed her special fondness for waiters, shopkeepers, and taxi drivers, and the experience inspired her earliest writings about food and wine.

Efficiency, competition, and the development of life insurance in France (1870–1939): Or: should we trust pension funds?

French life insurance remained underdeveloped in comparison with other countries of similar financial development during the period between 1870 and 1939. We show that technical peculiarities of the contracts used and their interaction with macroeconomic fluctuations explain the wide fluctuations we observe in insurance operations. Nevertheless, these fluctuations are not sufficient to explain the industry’s long-term stagnation. Low returns paid to clients, resulting from very conservative investment strategies, were the main reason for that stagnation, since only those interested by the life-cycle related aspects of insurance contracts continued to put money in these institutions, while most savers invested directly in the market or through State-owned financial institutions. The main reason for such an investment (and then low-growth) strategy is the existence of a set of conservative regulations and a stable oligopoly in the industry from the 1880s onwards. We suggest that established insurance companies were able to impose regulations and barriers to entry blocking the access of competitors to their market, so maintaining a hold on a small but very profitable market.

Separating the Saints from the Boys: Sainthood and Masculinity in the Old French Vie de Saint Alexis

This article considers how the analysis of medieval French saints' lives might contribute to current discussions concerning the study of gender and identity in literary texts. Basing her discussion on the Vie de Saint Alexis, Campbell uses anthropological theories of the gift and its relationship to gender to explore how the masculinity of the Saint is construed in relation to networks of gift exchange, arguing that the parallel terrestrial and celestial economies represented in the poem provide alternative contexts within which this identity is to be read. The article considers, firstly, the evolution of the masculine identity associated with the Saint and the relationship that this gender category bears to the secular and spiritual gender systems represented in the poem. This examination of the Saint's masculinity focuses on how conflicts between worldly and spiritual exchange are used to negotiate a new masculine type that ultimately supersedes secular gender categories. Secondly, this construction of masculinity and its importance as a narrative device are explored in terms of the formulation of response to the Saint. To conclude, the article suggests how viewing gender identity in this way — as part of systems of exchange as opposed to a category independent of these networks — might modify the way gender is discussed in connection with medieval (and non‐medieval) literature.

Mary Shelley's Literary lives and other writings: v.1: Italian lives; v.2: Spanish and Portuguese lives; v.3: French lives; v.4: 'Life of William Godwin'

Mary Shelley's Literary lives and other writings: v.1: Italian lives; v.2: Spanish and Portuguese lives; v.3: French lives; v.4: 'Life of William Godwin'

French AIDS Agency Lives

French AIDS Agency Lives

Jules Breton, painter of peasant life

Jules Breton (1827-1906), known as one of the first painters, created beautiful scenes of rural French life and was a highly popular figure among the Salon artists of his era. Taking his inspiration from his native Artois and from the landscapes of Brittany, where he stayed for long periods, he painted peasant women and men performing their daily activities, meticulously observing their world and making it a place of peace and harmony. During the second half of the 19th century, rewards and official decorations were heaped upon him, and his paintings were purchased not only by the emperor but also by collectors in America, Britain and Ireland. However, Breton's work became eclipsed by the avant-garde movements of the 20th century, and he was eventually forgotten. This documented work is designed to pay Breton the tribute that he deserves. It traces the development of his career and the forces that influenced him from his childhood through his early training in Belgium and Paris to his years in Brittany. The volume presents and discusses a number of important paintings by Breton, some of which have been almost unknown until now, and it shows how they reflect the artist's social and humanitarian concerns as well as his painterly abilities.

Le Women's Lib: Made in France

This article traces the French construction and demonization of American feminism (Le Women's Lib) by a segment of the women's movement and by public left-wing intellectuals. The joining of anti-American and anti-feminist traditions produces a new entity, dubbed French anti-amér-féminisme. The development is traced in the writings of one women's group, Psychanalyse et Politique, and in the debates around a so-called political correctness (PC). Defending the image of a France distinguished by harmonious gender rapport and relations of seduction, this entity is used as a mechanism to encourage French women to reject feminism or to define a different, homegrown heterosocial version. Using the examples of debates in women's studies, parity democracy and sexual harassment, the author demonstrates how anti-amér-féminisme has had material repercussions on French women's lives, such as limiting the scope of sexual harassment law.

Zarathustra in Paris: the Nietzsche vogue in France, 1891-1918

Friedrich Nietzsche's descent into madness prevented him from achieving his dream of seeing Paris, but his philosophical alter-ego Zarathustra took the City of Light by storm, raising sharp debates among the political and cultural avant-garde about the very foundations of modern philosophy, social thought and political life. This intellectual history reveals Nietzsche's impact upon the French life of the mind and clarifies the crisis in thought that foreshadowed and helped bring about World War I. The author examines a broad range of intellectuals and opinion-makers, including artists, politicians, academics and journalists, demonstrating that social frameworks such as institutional affiliation, aesthetic allegiance and generational identity, even more than class or political sympathies, shaped responses to Nietzsche's writings. This discovery allows the author to broaden his inquiry into a general sociology of knowledge that explores the several ways a thinker becomes recognized as important by cultural and political leaders. In addition, he reveals the subtle linkages between the reception of Nietzsche and the shifting currents of social and political developments leading to World War I. In 1900 many represented Nietzsche as a good European who transcended national divisions, but by 1914 patriotic fervour led many French critics to repudiate Nietzsche and his disciples. During the Great War most intellectuals turned against Nietzsche, with Leon Daudet blaming him for laying the philosophical groundwork for German barbarities in Belgium and occupied France. Opening new avenues for understanding French and intellectual life in the era before the Great War, this study should be useful to historians, political scientists, philosophers and sociologists, and anyone interested in the cultural politics and literary and political avant-garde of the early 20th century.

Choices and preferences: testing the effect of nationality

AbstractThis paper presents exploratory research comparing French and UK life assurance literature. It highlights a number of critical differences in the approaches taken between the two countries, and places these in the context of the literature on cultural differences. The differences are illustrative of Samli's transference of Hofstede's findings to marketing. The implications of these findings are explored. Although there can be a universal Pan European approach, the research indicates the need to take national cultural considerations into account if one is not to perpetrate a jarring counter‐culturalism. It also seems likely that life assurance is not a prime candidate for global branding. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications.

La France n'accepte pas de payer le prix de ses ambitions

This article takes as its starting point the massive changes in French political, economic and social life since the 1960s, as part of a process of internationalisation involving world trade and the commitments of European integration. In particular, the myth of the all-powerful state and old ideological quarrels have been laid to rest. However, the state itself has been slow to reform and has often used international commitments as an excuse for inaction. Most importantly, the gap between elite and public has slowed down modernisation and fuelled fear of the future. More imaginative solutions to public policy and more rigorous policy evaluation are needed.

Institutions and representation: How institutional rules shape political recruitment in French regional elections

This article attempts to develop an approach to political recruitment that combines the study of strategies deployed by candidates, party officials and local leaders, with an analysis of the effects induced by the institutional environment within which they act. It is suggested that institutional ‘rules’ specific to French political life shape the competition among political actors who participate in the selection of candidates standing for regional election. More specifically, political recruitment can be fully understood only if three kinds of institutional variables are combined: the rules of the regional electoral system; the organisational features of political activity at the local level; and, above all, the variety of non‐codified norms and criteria which orient the perceptions and beliefs of the political groups involved in the selection process. The main empirical conclusion is that institutional variables engender ‘unexpected effects’ which modify traditional mechanisms of local elite recruitment.

MRI in France: the French paradox.

Although France is a modern, developed country, which spends nearly 10% of the gross national product on healthcare and has a highly praised level of medicine, the number of modern imaging scanners, such as CT (595), MRI (182), and PET (5), is quite low when compared to other European countries. Politics and a long-standing tradition of centralization are prominent among reasons for such an underdevelopment. This situation has resulted in another French paradox not linked to wine consumption. The French life expectancy is very high, but the number of imaging equipment is very low.

Le voile, le miroir et l'aiguillon. La télévision et les mouvements de société jusque dans les années 1970

The veil, the mirror and the spur. Television and The Movements of Society until The 1970s, Agnès Chauveau. French television from the 1950s to the 1970s looked ambiguously at French society. An ideological approach, often translating the intellectuals' disdain for it, makes this medium the place for the reproduction of all forms of conservatism and social alienation. While the small screen did indeed throw a prudish veil over major social developments, it can not be reduced to a role of censor. It is also the reflection of the difficulties and transformations of French society. This attempt at anthropo-logical observation was shared by several programs (Emergency States, The Discovery of the French) that organized real scenes of daily French life in order to better detect changes. Even more, television is often ahead of the game and like radio begins debates directly involved in the social changes of the moment. Taboos were lifted, often with precaution, in programs like Coping, Women Also by Eliane Victor or the current events program Zoom. Subjects judged subversive - contraception, sexuality, or prostitution as well as problems of society such as racism or prisons were covered and subject to discussion. Veil but also mirror and spur. Television of the 1960s opened a breach.

Justice De Proximité - The Growth of ‘Houses of Justice’ and Victim/Offender Mediation in France: A Very Unfrench Legal Response?

Initiatives in mediation and reparation have developed significantly across diverse European countries, none more so than in France over the last decade. This article seeks to situate and explain the recent growth in France of the ‘ Maisons de Justice’ (Houses of Justice) and victim/offender mediation they offer. This explanation is connected to an understanding of the increasingly dominant discourse of ‘ justice de proximité’, its dynamics and its place within French juridical politics. The article draws upon ESRC funded empirical - observational and interview-based - research conducted in the Lyon and Paris areas during 1997. The article goes on to interrogate the implications of these institutions and practices for the present state of French criminal justice. It is argued that through the analysis of these ‘very unFrench’ legal responses we can prise open fundamental ambiguities and debates at the heart of French legal and cultural life in a period of momentous socio-legal challenge and flux. It is suggested that these institutions and practices embody, at the same time as trying to resolve, significant contradictions within French legal culture.

Honoré Lannuier, Cabinetmaker from Paris: The Life and Work of a French Ebéniste in Federal New York. Peter M. Kenny , Frances F. Bretter , Ulrich Leben

<i>Honoré Lannuier, Cabinetmaker from Paris: The Life and Work of a French Ebéniste in Federal New York</i>. Peter M. Kenny , Frances F. Bretter , Ulrich Leben