Conflits et contradictions dans la France d'aujourd'hui

Extract

L'assemblée qui m'a fait l'honneur de m'appeler au Collège de France a voulu d'abord rétablir dans ses enseignements, après trois années d'interruption, une place pour l'histoire contemporaine.

Ce n'était pas une des traditions les plus anciennes et les plus caractéristiques de la Maison. La première chaire d'histoire récente (par opposition à l'antiquité classique) remonte à 1769, et les cours de ses titulaires successifs ne se sont guère approchés des temps brûlants et proches. Il y eut bien Michelet, mais on s'aperçoit, à l'examen, que, dans la série des titulaires de la vieille chaire d'histoire générale, il fut exceptionnel, plutôt que typique.

Summary

The teaching of contemporary French history has only recently been introduced into the College de France. As there is but one professorship, its holder must deal with what is most essential. French identity and unity. France is going through a period of crisis, object as it is of impassioned controversies in which the French Revolution and the immigration of Third World peoples figure prominently. The positions adopted by the left and right in these two debates involve glaring internal contradictions: the left's 89-style universalism is incompatible with its complacent cultural indifference concerning the Third World, and the right's defense of French identity is incompatible with its in vective against the French Revolution. According to the author, these contradictions exist because the areas of contention go beyond the rational framework of ideologies, bringing into play collective mentalities which generally work more slowly and confusedly at deeper and unconscious levels. His conclusion is that the history of mentalities can legitimately prove its mettle and test its models on contemporary political problems.