FRENCH 332 Myth and Memory in Modern France: From the French Revolution to May 1968

This course explores the way in which the French view their past as well as the myths they have created to inscribe that past into national memory. Through an approach simultaneously thematic and chronological, modern French history and culture will be examined from the perspective of “les lieux de mémoire,” that is, symbolic events (Bastille Day), institutions (the Napoleonic Code), people (Joan of Arc), and places (Sacré-Coeur) that have shaped French national identity. The course begins by analyzing such concepts as the nation and the hexagon, and proceeds to the legacy of key moments in French history, among them the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, the establishment of the Third Republic, the two World Wars, the Algerian conflict, and the events of May 1968. 

The readings, which include both primary and secondary texts, will draw on literary and historical sources, as well as posters, films, and songs.

Songs :

“La Marseillaise,” “La Caramagnole;” “L’Internationale;” songs from the two World Wars.

Visit to the Davis Museum to examine World War I propaganda posters.

Texts:

Secondary Readings: excerpts from the following:

Pierre Nora, ed. Les Lieux de Mémoire (7 volumes)

Eugen Weber, My France; Politics, Culture and Myth

Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution

Maurice Agulhon, Marianne au Combat and Marianne au pouvoir

Priscilla Clark, Literary France

Georges Duby and Michelle Perrot, eds. L’Histoire de la Vie privée.

Jay Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History

Eric Conan et Henri Rousseau, Un Passé qui ne passe pas.

Henry Rousso, Le syndrôme de Vichy   

Benjamin Stora, La Gangrène et l’oubli: la mémoire de la guerre d’Algérie.

Raoul Girardet, L’idée coloniale and Le nationalisme français

Primary sources:

"La déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen"

"Le Code Napoléon" and feminists’ reactions to the centennial celebrations of the Code in 1904

Musset, Confession d'un enfant du Siècle (excerpt)

Marx, Le 18 Brumaire de Louis-Napoléon

Le Petit Lavisse or G. Bruno, Le Tour de la France par deux enfants

P-J. Hélias, Le cheval d'orgueil and Emilie Carles, La Soupe aux herbes sauvages

Anatole France, "Oraison funèbre pour Emile Zola"

Jules Ferry and others on the colonial mission

Emile Zola, "J'Accuse"

Roland Barthes, La Tour Eiffel

Edmond Rostand, L’Aiglon

Hubertine Auclert, « Le vote des femmes, » La  fronde

Paroles des poilus: lettres et carnets du front, 1914-1918

R. Dorgelès, Croix de Bois (excerpt)

Charles De Gaulle, Mémoires de guerre

"Le Manifeste des 121" (vs, the Algerian War)

Text by women avorteuses « Les salopes »

Films:

Danton

Le Cheval d'Orgueil

La Vie et Rien d'Autre

L’Oeil de Vichy and/or a fictional film on WW2.

Documentary on Algerian war (Benjamin Stora