French Intellectuals and Politics from the Dreyfus Affair to the Occupation

A companion volume to Drake's Intellectuals and Politics in Post-War France (2002), French Intellectuals from the Dreyfus Affair to the Occupation traces the political positions adopted by French writers and artists from the end of the 19th century to the Liberation. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, it offers a clear and accessible analysis of the intellectuals' engagement with nationalism, pacifism, communism, anti-communism, surrealism, fascism and anti-fascism, which is located within the evolving national and international context of the period.

Reviews of Drake: Intellectuals and Politics in Post-War France

'Drake has an unusual gift of being able to step back and look across the channel with equanimity, without superciliousness, and present to the reader a true cacophony of highly literate and highly combative voices in such a way that a foreigner can hear them, can grasp the motivations behind and the rationale for more than a half-century of French intellectuals' descending from their ivory tower into the harsh, often confused world of socio-political actuality.' - Professor David Schalk, Vassar College, USA

'It helps the reader understand where, under particular historical and political pressures, intellectuals in a certain tradition went wrong, or got things right. It offers a measured and detailed summary of the ways in which Sartre, his allies, their opponents and some of their successors intervened in political debates...Readers interested in intellectuals' responses to the Soviet Union under Stalin, colonial war in Indo-China and Algeria, the events of May 1968, and war in the Balkans, will find much useful material here.' - Times Literary Supplement

'Drake's timely contribution offers students a perfect introduction to the intellectual in France.' - Modern and Contemporary France

'This book provides a readily accessible and well-focused introduction [to the subject].' - Chris Shorley, The Times Literary Supplement

Autorentext
DAVID DRAKE is Principal Lecturer in French at Middlesex University. He is President of the UK Society for Sartrean Studies and is a member of the editorial board of Modern and Contemporary France.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations Introduction PART 1 THE DREYFUS AFFAIR AND THE BIRTH OF THE 'INTELLECTUALS' Fin-de-siècle France The Case of Alfred Dreyfus (1894-98) The Birth of the 'Intellectuals' Dreyfusard and Anti-dreyfusard Intellectuals The Ligues and Action Française The Dreyfus Affair: From Zola's Trail to the Bloc Républicain PART 2: FROM 'REPUBLICAN DEFENCE' TO DEFENCE OF THE PATRIE Waldeck-Rosseau and the Defence of the Republic: Émile Combes and the Republic on the Offensive Georges Sorel, Socialism, the Dreyfus Affair and the 'Dreyfusard Revolution' Charles Péguy, the Socialists, the Dreyfus Affair and the 'Dreyfusard Revolution' Socialism, Nationalism, Internationalism and a New Threat of War? The Rise of Action Française Péguy's Nationalism Péguy, Daniel Halévy and Sorel's Views of the Dreyfus Affair Intellectuals and the Defence of the Homeland (Défence de la Patrie) The Union Sacrée (Sacred Union) Romain Rolland: Au-dessus de la Mêlée (Above the Mêlee) PART 3: THE 1920s: FRENCH INTELLECTUALS AND PACIFISM, COMMUNISM, SURREALISM AND NATIONALISM France: Victorious But at What Price? Pacifism and Revolution From Dada to Surrealism Nationalism Julien Benda and La Trahison des Clercs (The Betrayal of the Clerisy) PART 4: FACISM, ANIT-FACISM, COMMUNISM, ANTI-COMMUNISM AND PACIFISM The Stacisky Scandal and the Night of 6 February 1934 French Intellectuals and the USSR 1930-34 French Communism and the Intellectuals 1930-34 The Years 1934-36: French Facism The Years 1934-36: French Anti-facism From Popular Front to the Munich Agreement September 1938: The Munich Agreement August 1939: The Nazi-Soviet Pact PART 5: THE OCCUPATION 1940-44: COLLABORATIONISM, COLLABORATION AND RESISTANCE September 1939-June 1940: From the Phoney War to Defeat Intellectuals and the Defeat of 1940 Intellectuals and Collaboration 1940-42 Intellectuals and the Resistance 1940-42 Intellectuals and Collaboration 1942-44 Intellectuals and theResistance 1942-44 Notes Select Bibliography Index