French Cultural Studies

This article reviews the issues related to the contemporary Catholic traditionalist movement, with a focus on its Polish branch and noticeable trends within it. Traditionalism emerged in the second half of the 20th century in reaction to the transformative processes within Catholicism associated with the Second Vatican Council. A comprehensive reform of Catholic liturgy, conducted between 1964 and 1975, played a particularly significant role in its spread. In Poland, it became noticeable only after the regime change in 1989, both in the form defined by the Apostolic See’s indults of the 1980s and in a more radical form associated with the Society of St. Pius X. The broader development of Polish traditionalist movement began following the issuance of Pope Benedict XVI’s document Summorum Pontificum (2007), which equalized the pre- and post-conciliar liturgies. The primary factors defining the current dynamics of Polish traditionalism are the style and course of Pope Francis’s pontificate, including primarily his abrogation of the liturgical rights introduced by his predecessor, as well as certain aspects of the Polish Church’s actions in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, within the Polish Catholic community, there is a noticeable simultaneous increase in the popularity of this model of faith experience, but also tensions in relations with the more liberally inclined part of the hierarchy and faithful. However, within the traditionalist faction itself, there are visible tendencies towards radicalization of attitudes, linked to an increasing critical approach towards ecclesiastical authorities and the overall reality of the post-conciliar Church.

«  Désenchantée  »  (1991)  est  le  titre  emblématique,  la  signature  sonore  de  la  carrière de Mylène Farmer, peut-être la star la plus méconnue de la musique pop en France. Succès commercial et véritable tube, vers d’oreille transgénérationnel, «  Désenchantée » a fait l’objet de nombreuses reprises et connaît un engouement récent  chez  les  artistes  et  les  publics  jeunes  en  France.  Ce  travail  se  propose  précisément  d’explorer  les  raisons  d’ordre  esthétique  et  culturel  qui  ont  pu  contribuer au succès commercial et populaire de « Désenchantée ». Pour ce faire, nous présenterons en premier la figure de Mylène Farmer, diva incontestable pour ses  fans  mais  grande  inconnue  de  la  critique  dite sérieuse,  marquée  par  l’ambivalence  dans  sa  réception  mais  aussi  dans  son  esthétique.  Deuxièmement,  nous  explorerons  les  mécanismes  expressifs  du  morceau,  notamment  sa  facture aphoristique  et  paradoxale  où  le  nihilisme  référentiel  contraste  avec  les  usages  festifs au fil des années dans le contexte de l’histoire culturelle française récente. Enfin, « Désenchantée » sera analysé par rapport à l’esthétique pop de Farmer, une esthétique marquée par l’accessibilité, l’imprécision, l’immédiateté, relevant d’une alchimie  mystérieuse,  capable  de  rassembler  un  public  majoritaire  autour  d’un  objet simplissime mais émotionnellement irrésistible.  Abstract‘Désenchantée’  (1991) is undoubtedly the most emblematic song in the career of Mylène  Farmer, the  least  well  known  star  in  Franch  pop  music.  A  true  popular  success, ‘Désenchantée’  is  a  cross-generational  "earworm",  covered  many  times  over  the  past  decades  and  which  has  recently  become  very  popular  with  young  artists  and  audiences  in  France.  This  article  precisely endeavours to  explore  the  aesthetic and cultural reasons that may have contributed ‘Désenchantée’’s success. For  that  purpose,  I  will  first  present  the  figure  of  Mylène  Farmer,  an  undisputed  diva  for  her  fans  but  a  great  unknown  to  so-called ‘serious’  critics, one  who  is  marked marked by ambivalence in both her reception and her aesthetics. Secondly, I will analyse the expressive mechanisms of the song, in particular its aphoristic and paradoxical  style,  where  referential  nihilism  contrasts  with  festive  uses  over  the  years in the context of recent French cultural history. Finally, 'Désenchantée' will be  examined in  relation  to  Farmer's  pop  aesthetic,  characterized by  accessibility,  imprecision and immediacy, resulting in a mysterious alchemy capable of rallying a popular audience around a simplistic but emotionally irresistible object.

This article focuses on the novel Les villes assassines ( 2011 ) by the Martinican writer Alfred Alexandre that shows his decolonial and critical vision of the politics indirectly established from France on overseas territories. The author paints a topography of misery where mafia, drugs and prostitution reign, showing the mechanisms of control and subjection of popular minorities, belonging to the «urban mangrove», whose only way out is, according to the author, a violent position to subvert an order inherited from the slavery regime.

Foucault faisait de la transgression « un geste qui concerne la limite » : qu’en est-il donc de ce geste chez le « provocateur » Houellebecq ? Adoptant un point de vue moral, on s’aperçoit vite que tous les personnages moralement transgressifs dans les romans houellebecquiens sont très sévèrement condamnés – et que si une transgression reste possible dans le monde contemporain tel que le dépeint Houellebecq, c’est plutôt dans la promotion de la sentimentalité qu’elle se situe. Dès lors qu’on quitte la perspective morale, le potentiel transgressif de l’œuvre de Houellebecq apparaît profondément lié à son caractère insituable : flou idéologiquement, omniprésent artistiquement, mêlant les références high et low brow, Houellebecq déstabilise parce qu’il récuse les frontières qui déterminent habituellement les positionnements artistiques. Pourtant, plus qu’à un franchissement, la vraie transgression houellebecquienne tient sans doute au fait de camper sur l’espace de la limite pour l’ouv...

Im Dezember 2021 ist das Centre Français de Berlin (CFB) 60 Jahre alt geworden. Die Onli-ne-Ausstellung trägt dem Jubiläum des deutsch-französischen Kulturzentrums Rechnung und beleuchtet als kleine Institutionengeschichte die hauseigene Entwicklung.
Der Blick zurück auf die Entstehung und Entwicklung des CFB ist zugleich Exempel für die von 1945 bis 1994 in Berlin implementierte Kulturpolitik der Franzosen.
Im Fokus der Ausstellung stehen gleichermaßen die Organisationsstrukturen des CFB und dessen Veranstaltungsprogramm. Im Sinne seines Gründungsauftrags schlug das Centre über sein öffentliches und soziales Engagement Brücken zu Teilen der Bevölkerung im Wedding und in Reinickendorf, die ihm bis heute einen zentralen Platz als Berliner Kulturzentrum si-chern.
Das Ausstellungsprojekt haben aktuelle und ehemalige Mitarbeiter des CFB, ZZF Potsdam, Alliierten Museums Berlin, Mitte Museums Berlin, der Universitäten Trier, Paris Sorbonne und Lorraine sowie Zeitzeugen und Besucher des Hauses ermöglicht. Entsprechend breit ist der in der Ausstellung präsentierte Fundus digitalisierter Quellen, der von Tätigkeitsberichten des CFB-Direktoriums über dessen Kommunikation mit dem französischen Generalstab und deutschen Bezirksbürgermeister bis hin zu Fotos, Videos und Plakaten von Veranstaltungen reicht, aber auch die Berichterstattung in der Militärzeitschrift "La Gazette" sowie Zeitzeuge-ninterviews enthält.
Auf dem Weg zu einer Dauerausstellung am CFB ist die Online-Ausstellung zugleich der Startpunkt für die Aufarbeitung von Orten französischer Alliierter in Berlin.

Every weekday, passengers on a commuter train engage in a "TV conversation", exchanging a few ordinary remarks based on the previous day's news. It's on Canal+ at 6.40pm: eight minutes that send viewers back an image of their own use of the media. Perhaps it's also a way of reminding us that, despite the fragmentation of the audience into different homes, we remain citizens of the same country via the media.

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Chaque jour de la semaine, les passagers d'un train de banlieue entament une "conversation télé" et échangent quelques propos de "café du commerce" à partir des nouvelles de la veille. C'est sur Canal+ à 18H40 : huit minutes qui renvoient aux spectateurs une image de leur propre usage des médias. Manière peut-être aussi de nous rappeler que, malgré l'éclatement de l'audience en autant de foyers domestiques, nous demeurons des concitoyens via les médias.

In *Here and There*, Stanley Cavell suggests that music, like speech, implicates the listener, so that our descriptions of music "are to be thought of not as discoveries but as impressions and assignments of meaning." Such impressions express what "makes an impression upon us," "what truly matters to us." Moreover, this aspect of music "is itself more revolutionary than ... any political event of which it could be said to form a part." I offer one indication of that significance by considering a recent challenge to an old claim about the relation between jazz and democracy. Stanley Crouch claims that jazz practice is an emblem of democracy, while Benjamin Givan observes the undemocratic, hierarchical way that jazz musicians work together. But both positions rest on a limited notion of "democracy." I contrast it to the tradition in political thought that requires each citizen to find their own voice if they're to acquire the ability to govern themselves. Consequently, a better emblem of jazz's democratic advance lies in the challenge it presents to the attentive listener. Jazz listening is increasingly characterized by a learned culture of hearing what isn't played, hearing allusions, hearing unspoken interplay. The nature of this "hearing between the lines" parallels the tradition of esoteric writing in the history of political thought. It suggests that jazz's democratic importance is found in the listener's willingness to give voice to what she hears, not knowing whether her experience is shared by others or whether it singles her out, possibly for skepticism or ridicule.

Narcisse ? Cambrioleur ? Illusionniste ? Le dandy n’arrête pas de changer de rôles, de se mettre en scène afin de protéger son moi véritable et garder son indépendance. Or, ne l’oublions pas, sa première obligation est d’étonner. En tant que maître du jeu des apparences, il s’invente des poses et s’amuse à cacher son visage derrière de nombreux masques pour dérouter son public. De Fortunio à Arsène Lupin, de Saint-Just à Romain Gary, sans oublier la femme dandy, les seize études du présent ouvrage font défiler une exceptionnelle galerie de figures qui jalonnent l’histoire du dandysme. On y découvrira l’art d’être dandy et des incarnations inattendues, voire surprenantes de ce personnage mystérieux, aussi bien littéraires qu’historiques. Haut les masques donc ! Que le spectacle commence !

Narcissus? Burglar? Illusionist? The dandy never stops changing roles, putting himself on stage in order to protect his true self and maintain his independence. But let us not forget that his first obligation is to amaze. As a master of appearances, he invents poses and derives pleasure from hiding his face behind multiple masks to confuse his audience. From Fortunio to Arsène Lupin, from Saint-Just to Romain Gary, without forgetting the female dandy, the sixteen studies in this book present an exceptional gallery of figures that delineate the history of dandyism. We will discover the art of being a dandy and unexpected, even surprising incarnations, both literary and historical, of this mysterious character. So, masks up! Let the show begin!

En 2012, l’Algérie célèbre le cinquantième anniversaire de son indépendance et la France commémore la fin d’une guerre qui, jusqu’en 1999, n’a pas été reconnue comme telle et qui continue de hanter la mémoire collective. Cet article revient sur cette année et examine comment le conflit a été commémoré, comment le cinquantenaire a été traité dans la presse et quels livres (dans le domaine général et dans le domaine jeunesse) il a suscités. Ce tour d’horizon politique, diplomatique, culturel, journalistique et éditorial français nous permettra de faire un bilan et d’identifier là où le bât blesse dans le dépassement du conflit au niveau national français.

This article explores the work of the writer, rapper and slam poet Abd Al Malik, who shook up the music world with his message of religious tolerance in the midst of the suburb riots in France in 2005 and the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015. It shows how he builds on his religious conversions and revelations to pose challenging questions about Islam, its interpretations, and its relationship with French society. In his essays and novel, he challenges the readiness of France to accept Muslim culture in its national and cultural identity. In his last novel, he tells the story of a converted Muslim frontrunner in a national presidential election and his reception by the French population. Malik campaigns in favour of a post-religious France through his music and through his literary works. He dismantles the idea that Islam is a religion of people of colour and insists on its multi-ethnicity. His ideal post-religious France would be based on acceptability and inclusivity, love and universa...

University students are exploring French history and culture through the lens of cinema. The spanning from the invention of cinema to the contemporary period, allow students to witness moments and mentalities that influenced French society, said Dr. Alexis Chauchois, assistant professor of French in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "Cinema is a cultural agent that reflects a period and all the while produces a critical point of view on said period," he said.

Cet article se propose de dégager les aspects essentiels de l’écriture de Maalouf dans Origines. Nous tenterons de mettre en lumière un récit d’une trajectoire à la fois individuelle et collective. Il s’agit aussi de soulever la question de la représentation du soi dans un récit de vie : Qui suis-je ? D’où viens-je ? Cela nous conduira au but primordial de l’écrivain dans cet ouvrage : écrire pour se reconstruire. Nous verrons dans cet article comment l’écriture joue un rôle important dans la reconstruction identitaire de Maalouf. Dans ce texte, la fiction se combine avec l’écriture historique. La fiction, à son tour, joue un rôle de comblement imaginaire en l’absence d’éléments tangibles et d’archives. À travers cet ouvrage, Maalouf a pu en quelque sorte se situer, se repérer et réfléchir sur son soi et son passé.

Le présent article propose d’examiner la problématique de la migration des œuvres de la littérature française vers le continent d’Asie. Il tentera d’établir l’origine de cette migration, le parcours migratoire des œuvres ainsi que les conditions de leur accueil dans les pays asiatiques notamment en Chine et au Japon. Parmi les nombreux aspects reliés au transfert des œuvres vers leurs nouveaux lectorats, le rôle de vecteur que joue la traduction sera analysé. Sera aussi mis en relief le rôle de tremplin et d’intermédiaire du Japon dans l’accomplissement du transfert des œuvres françaises. Enfin Madame Chrysanthème tout comme La Dame aux camélias sera étudiée sous l’angle de leur rencontre avec la littérature locale.

This study investigates the highly original theories about the origins of human violence developed by the physicist Gérard Gouesbet and the Franco-Mauritian writer J. M. G. Le Clézio. Both authors pinpoint the indifferent, cosmic forces that conceived all life as the hidden source of human aggression. In Violences de la nature and Terra Amata, Gouesbet and Le Clézio assert that the very act of existence itself is a violent struggle for survival. Although this biological parasitism is unavoidable due to the universal principles that govern life, both writers urge global society to deviate from its current path. In their biocentric reflections related to the absurdity of the human condition, Gouesbet and Le Clézio contend that we must find a way to end this ‘world war’ and to limit our incessant acts of aggression against the remainder of the cosmos.

This article examines the early debate over the impact of people listening to phonograph records on musical culture and French cultural health. The new private experience of listening to mechanised music made possible by phonograph technology, and the different ways in which this recorded music was used, radically challenged the traditional conceptions of public musical cultural praxis. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, French critics were forced to come to terms with the many changes in how music was being produced, promoted and consumed. As a result, they developed new procedures for evaluating popular music and new theories about the function, importance and paradoxical nature of modern popular culture.

This article frames Islamo-gauchisme as a moral panic and discusses how, why, and when it emerged as such in France, its relationship with critical race theory (a moral panic in the U.S.), and the broader societal implications of Islamo-gauchisme as a moral panic. More precisely, we discuss how and why Islamo-gauchisme entered the zeitgeist and why this moral panic is so dangerous. We demonstrate that this reinforces the colourblind hegemonic understanding of racism in France which allows for the entrenchment of racializing practices under the guise of progressive concepts. In what follows, we unpack the emergence and use of the term Islamogauchisme, and its relation to the denial of race and racism within France, the consolidation of the reactionary French republic , and why Islamo-gauchisme as a particular moral panic is so important.

When the pianist Joe Turner came to New York in 1982, on one of his rare return visits to the country of his birth, I was understandably excited. He was in town for a six week engagement at the Cookery, a Greenwich Village restaurant run by the pioneering impresario, Barney Josephson, who, in the 1930s, had run a now legendary racially integrated night spot called Café Society. Turner's last visit to New York had been in 1976, during which time his performances were lauded by the New York Times critic, John S. Wilson, as the recreation of a bygone era, which had featured the likes of James P. Johnson, Thomas "Fats Waller, Willie " the Lion " Smith, and Art Tatum. I had been a serious fan and student of stride piano since about 1979, and had recently moved to New York to begin my first year of medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

"Indignez-vous!" ("चिडून उठा!") नावाचं हे पुस्तक म्हणजे ४००० शब्दांचा एक निबंध आहे. आजच्या तरुणांना उद्देशून केलेलं हे निवेदन आहे. हे पुस्तक फ्रान्समध्ये आज लाखोंच्या संख्येनं खपतं आहे. अनेक परकीय भाषांतही त्याचे अनुवाद होत आहेत. असं काय या पुस्तकात आहे?

फ्रेंच माणूस आणि फ्रेंच संस्कृती यांविषयी अनेक समज-गैरसमज प्रचलित आहेत. त्यांत कधी फ्रेंचांचं अति-उदात्तीकरण असतं, तर कधी त्यांच्यावर नको इतकी टीकाही असते. खरे फ्रेंच आतून-बाहेरून कसे असतात याचा अंदाज येण्यासाठी जाक तातीचे चित्रपट पाहणं अत्यावश्यक आहे. या दिग्दर्शकानं आपल्या कारकीर्दीत फारच थोडे चित्रपट बनवले. पूर्ण लांबीचे सहा चित्रपट आणि काही लघुचित्रपट एवढया बळावर त्याला कान आणि व्हेनिस महोत्सवांपासून ऑस्करपर्यंत अनेक पारितोषिकं मिळाली. १९५८ मध्ये प्रदर्शित झालेल्या `माय अंकल' (Mon Oncle) या तातीच्या चित्रपटाला कान महोत्सवात विशेष ज्यूरी पारितोषिक, न्यूयॉर्क फिल्म क्रिटिक्स पारितोषिक आणि सर्वोत्कृष्ट परदेशी चित्रपटासाठी ऑस्कर अशी बक्षिसं मिळाली. त्याच चित्रपटाचा या लेखात परिचय करून दिला आहे.

The years 1870–1960 were a period of vibrant innovation in France when traditional ideas about art and living were challenged. At the turn of the twentieth century, Paris became the epicentre for creative risk, innovation and originality. The city both represented and became a ‘laboratory of culture’ that attracted individuals eager to ride the waves of modernism. What forces enabled Paris to become a site of such artistic vibrancy? What cultural labour was involved in propelling avant-gardism forwards? In this article, I introduce a few examples of women who played a vital role in the modernisation of the arts in Paris, the internationalisation of French artistic tastes, and the cultivation of Paris’s reputation as the centre of avant-gardism and artistic development. In doing so, I offer a new paradigm for understanding the art worlds of Paris in this period by revealing women as important and effective arbiters of taste.