cynthiamFile Attachment20009d77coverv05b.jpg

Encyclopedia of ncyclopedia of MM odernodern FF renchrench TT houghthought

Board of Advisors

Dr. Kay ChadwickDepartment of French University of Liverpool (UK)

Ms. Olive ClasseIndependent Scholar

Professor Simon CritchleyDepartment of Philosophy University of Essex (UK)

Dr. Simon GlendinningDepartment of Philosophy University of Reading(UK)

Professor Gary GuttingDepartment of Philosophy University of Notre Dame

Dr. Christina HowellsDepartment of French Oxford University (UK)

Professor Fredric JamesonDepartment of Romance Studies Duke University

Professor Anthony LeviDepartment of French (emeritus) University ofSt. Andrews (UK)

Professor Eric MatthewsDepartment of Philosophy University of Aberdeen

Dr. Jonathan ReeDepartment of Philosophy and Religious StudiesMiddlesex University (UK)

Professor Max SilvermanDepartment of French University of Leeds (UK)

Professor Susan R. SuleimanDepartment of Comparative Literature HarvardUniversity

Encyclopedia ofncyclopedia of

MM odernodern FF renchrench TT houghthought

Christopher John Murray, Editor

Fitzroy DearbornAn Imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

New York London

Published in 2004 byFitzroy DearbornAn imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group29 West 35th StreetNew York, NY 10001

Published in Great Britain byFitzroy DearbornAn imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group11 New Fetter LaneLondon EC4P 4EE

Copyright 2004 by Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.Fitzroy Dearborn is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any formor by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, includingphotocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, withoutpermission in writing from the publisher.

First published in the USA and UK 2004

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Encyclopedia of modern French thought / Christopher John Murray, editor.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57958-384-9 (alk. paper)1. FranceIntellectual life20th centuryEncyclopedias. 2.

FranceCivilization20th centuryEncyclopedias. I. Murray,Christopher John.II. Title.

DC33.7.E55 2004944.08103dc22

2003014408

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledgescollection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

CONTENTS

Preface vii

Alphabetical List of Entries xi

Thematic List of Entries xv

Chronology xix

Entries A to Z 1

Notes on Contributors 657

Index 663

PREFACE: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN FRENCH THOUGHT

French thought has had a profound impact on modern intellectual and cultural life,notably in the United States. It is an influence that has been keenly felt in (among otherfields) philosophy, linguistics, political and social thought, cultural studies, history,psychoanalysis, literary theory and criticism, anthropology, the philosophy of scienceand technology, media studies, and in the theory and practice of the arts. Moreover,in recent decades French thinkers have played the leading role in attempting to charac-terize those profound changes in our intellectual, cultural, and moral life that havebeen labeled the post-modern condition.

Though it is not possible to consider all the defining characteristics of modernFrench thought the range of disciplines and themes is far too wide there are severalfeatures that, though not universal, illustrate the unique significance of French thinkers.

The first is their response to German thinkers: Kant certainly, but also, and withdramatic impact, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Dilthey, Durkheim, Husserl, Jaspers, Heidegger,and especially during the second half of the century, when faith inbig theorie gaveway to a radical skepticism Nietzsche. Many of the most original interpretations ofthese major thinkers, interpretations that have in turn been influential in the UnitedStates, Britain, and elsewhere, are the work of French intellectuals.

A second and related feature is the key role played by French thinkers in theradical reappraisal of many of the central assumptions, concepts, and values ofWesternthought, notably those inherited from the Enlightenment. These include such closelyrelated themes as the authority of reason the degree to which it is limiting or even,as an agent of the dominant ideology, repressive; the unstable nature of the self aquestioning of the Cartesian cogito, the thinking self as autonomous and foundational;the pervasive and inescapable role of language in determining our understanding ofourselves and the world, and in determining the limits of thought; and the status ofgrand narratives such as religion, science, or Marxism in a postmodern world thatis increasingly complex, skeptical, and pluralistic. During a century when traditionalsocial, moral, and religious beliefs have been lost or greatly weakened, French thinkershave explored, among other things, the ethical implications of living in a world thatseems to have no meaning or purpose; they have closely scrutinized the changingnature of political power and analyzed the individuals potential for resistance; and,largely through feminist, gay, and lesbian thinkers, they have helped to redefine ourunderstanding of gender and sexuality.

Another important feature is the responsiveness of French intellectuals to the forcesshaping the modern world. In part at least, modern French thought can be seen as aseries of reflections on the major events of national and international history ontwo world wars, on the rise of Fascism and Communism in the interwar years, oncolonial struggles for independence, on the postwar rise and fall of revolutionary

vii

Preface: Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

Marxism, on the plight of minorities, on the social unrest reflected in the protests ofMay 1968, and on the spread of global capitalism. This responsiveness to events isalso seen in a willingness to engage directly in social and political action, a characteris-tic role of French intellectuals since eighteenth century that was given fresh impetusby the Dreyfus affair. Both right-wing and left-wing intellectuals have formed actiongroups, written for journals and newspapers, literally taken to the streets, and morerecently used television in order to influence opinion on such issues as social injusticeand the misuse of power; race, colonialism, and immigration; the need for revolutionand the desire for stability; sexual politics; religious fundamentalism; the role of themass media; and environmental issues.

French thinkers have also played a key role in French, and therefore Western,culture. It is difficult fully to appreciate twentieth-century French art and architecture,fiction, poetry and drama, music, cinema and photography without an understandingof French ideas. Often this is not simply a question of the inevitable influence of theprevailing intellectual trends: artists and writers have often consciously concernedthemselves with exploring ideas through their art the novelist Francois Mauriac wastypical (in this, at least) when he described himself as un metaphysicien qui travailledans le concret. Moreover, French thinkers have themselves done likewise themost celebrated example is Sartre, who wrote novels, plays, biography, criticism, andautobiography as an important complement to his formal philosophical works andthey have also shown a keen interest in the arts in terms of their own disciplines suchas sociology, anthropology, political science, semiotics, and philosophy.

The Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought is intended to provide a wide-rangingguide to the wealth of ideas represented by these and other features, its scope beingtwentieth-century thought across disciplines. It will be of particular interest to thosewho study modern French life, ideas, and culture; but also, given the internationalsignificance of many French thinkers, to those interested in modern thought in general.

It does not include science, though it does include the philosophy of science. Novel-ists, dramatists, and poets are included only when they have made a contribution todebate through their essays, and have played a particularly important role in Frenchintellectual life (for example, Breton, Gide).

By French thinkers is meant those who have engage in French intellectual debatesin French. This includes those born and perhaps educated elsewhere: examples includeKristeva and Todorov (Bulgaria), Greimas (Lithuania), Poulet and Irigaray (Belgium),Starobinski (Switzerland). It also includes francophone intellectuals from former colo-nies. This is not an unthinking form of cultural neo-colonialism. Many francophonewriters have engaged in French intellectual debates and often in France itself, andmost received a French education. Moreover, the entries were selected and written inthe full knowledge that such writers were (or are) striving to fashion their own uniqueintellectual, historical, cultural, and political identity, a process that involves a system-atic resistance to assimilation. By contrast, because of their very different intellectual,educational and colonial history, French-Canadian thinkers are not included.

Some 150 diverse scholars have shared their expertise to create the 234 entries inthis Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought. The selection of entries, which rangefrom 1,000 to 5,000 words, is based on a desire to balance range of subjects withdepth of treatment. Most are on individuals, but there are also entries that provide adifferent and complementary focus by looking at specific disciplines (Anthropology,Classics, Linguistics. . .); at influential theories, belief, and methodologies (Catholi-cism, Feminism, Phenomenology . . .); and at a number of key themes and subjects thatdraw together several disciplines (Anti-humanism, Sexuality, Language . . .). There arealso entries that provide the historical, social and political background to intellectuallife (Colonialism, Journals, Historical Surveys . . .). A thematic table of contents delin-eating these can be found on page XXX.

Because some recent French writers are notorious for the difficulty of their style,which is usually a way of trying to avoid easy assimilation in the dominant forms of

viii

Preface: Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

understanding, contributors were asked to pay close attention to clarity of exposition.This is not an attempt, however, to reduce complex, challenging, and far-reachingtheories to simple, predigested summaries; concerns about the subtle power of domi-nant ideologies, and also about the limits of the sayable, are important. The aim,rather, as with any such project, is to encourage both student and lay reader to turnto the works in question and engage directly with their authors ideas and strategies.

Given the close relationship between intellectual developments and both culturaland social factors, we have provided the reader with a Chronology that provides adetailed timeline of works and events in several categories: ideas, literature, music,art and architecture, film, and political/social life. As a guide to the many writers,works, and subjects in the book, there is (as noted above) a Thematic Table ofContents, and also a comprehensive, analytical Index at the end of the book. Theentries on individuals contain a Biography at the end of each article, thus focusingthe entry itself on that persons ideas and their impact on French thought. The entriesinclude See Also to identify key links and interrelationships and Selected Writingsand Further Readings, which are bibliographies to guide readers through the ever-growing wealth of literature.

Acknowledgements

Id like to thank the advisors and contributors for their advice, encouragement, andhard work. Id also like to thank Gordon Lee of Fitzroy Dearborn for launching theproject so efficiently, and Kate Aker of Routledge for guiding it so skillfully to port.

ix

LIST OF ENTRIES

AAlain (Emile-Auguste Chartier)Althusser, LouisAnthropologyAries, PhilippeArkoun, MohammedAron, RaymondArt history, criticism, and aestheticsArtaud, AntoninAutobiography

BBachelard, GastonBadiou, AlainBalibar, EtienneBalibar, ReneeBardeche, MauriceBarres, MauriceBarthes, RolandBataille, GeorgesBaudrillard, JeanBazin, AndreBeauvoir, Simone deBeguin, AlbertBenda, JulienBenveniste, EmileBergson, Henri (Louis)Berl, EmmanuelBernanos, GeorgesBeyala, CalixtheBinet, AlfredBloch, MarcBlondel, Maurice EdouardBloy, LeonBodyBonnefoy, YvesBourdieu, Pierre FelixBraudel, Fernand PaulBreton, AndreBreuil, Henri

xi

Brunschvicg, LeonButor, Michel

CCaillois, RogerCamus, AlbertCanguilhem, GeorgeCassin, BarbaraCastoriadis, CorneliusCatholicismCavailles, JeanCerteau, Michel deCesaire, Aime (-Fernand)Chamoiseau, PatrickCioran, Emile MichelCixous, HeleneClassicsColonial and postcolonial experienceCulture

DDebord, GuyDebray, RegisDeleuze, GillesDepestre, ReneDerrida, JacquesDidi-Huberman, GeorgesDiop, Cheikh AntaDjebar, AssiaDuby, GeorgesDufrenne, MikelDuhem, Pierre Maurice MarieDumazedier, JoffreDumezil, GeorgesDurkheim, EmileDuvert, TonyDuvignaud, Jean

EEconomicsEducational theory

List of Entries

Ellul, JacquesExistentialism

FFanon, FrantzFebvre, LucienFeminismFinkielkraut, AlainFocillon, Henri-JosephFoucault, Michel (Paul)Francophonie, LaFrench Colonial ThoughtFrench Thought in the United StatesFrench-Jewish Intellectuals

GGaraudy, RogerGenette, GerardGennep, Arnold vanGeny, FrancoisGerman thought, influence ofGide, Andre (-Paul-Guillaume)Gilson, Etienne HenryGirard, Rene NoelGlissant, EdouardGlucksmann, AndreGodard, Jean LucGoldmann, LucienGorz, AndreGreimas, Algirdas JulienGrenier, JeanGuattari, FelixGuerin, DanielGurvitch, Georges

HHalbwachs, MauriceHalevy, DanielHazard, PaulHazoume, PaulHerve, GeraldHistorical survey: 18701918Historical survey: 19181939Historical survey: 19391968Historical survey: 1968HistoriographyHocquenghem, GuyHolocaust, theHomosexualityHoullebecq, MichelHumanism/anti-humanismHuyghe, ReneHyvrard, Jeanne

IIntellectualsIrigaray, Luce

xii

JJanet, Pierre-Marie-FelixJankelevitch, VladimirJaures, (Auguste-Marie-Joseph) JeanJewish question, theJournals and periodicals

KKhatibi, AbdelkebirKlossowski, PierreKnowledge and truthKojeve, AlexandreKoyre, AlexandreKristeva, Julia

LLa Rochelle, DrieuLacan, JacquesLanguageLavelle, LouisLawLe Doeuff, MicheleLe Roy Ladurie, EmmanuelLe Senne, ReneLeclerc, AnnieLecomte du Nouy, Pierre (-Andre Leon)Lefebvre, HenriLefort, ClaudeLeiris, MichelLevinas, EmmanuelLevi-Strauss, ClaudeLevy, Bernard-HenriLevy-Bruhl, LucienLiking, WerewereLinguisticsLipietz, AlainLiterary theory and criticismLoraux, NicoleLubac, Henri deLyotard, Jean-Francois

MMacherey, PierreMale, EmileMandel, ErnestMarcel, Gabriel HonoreMarin, LouisMaritain, JacquesMartinet, AndreMarxismMassis, HenriMauron, CharlesMaurras, CharlesMauss, MarcelMediaMerleau-Ponty, MauriceMessiaen, OlivierMetz, ChristianModernism and post-modernism

List of Entries

Monod, Jacques (Lucien)Mounier, EmmanuelMudimbe, Valentin

NNancy, Jean-LucNationalism and identityNizan, Paul

PParain, BricePaulhan, JeanPhenomenologyPhilosophyPhilosophy of SciencePiaget, JeanPoetryPoincare, HenriPolitical movements and debatesPolitzer, GeorgesPost-structuralismPoulantzas, NicosPoulet, GeorgePrevost, JeanPrice-Mars, JeanProust, MarcelPsychoanalytical theoryPsychology

RRanciere, JacquesRaymond, MarcelRicoeur, PaulRiviere, JacquesRobbe-Grillet, AlainRougemont, Denis de

xiii

SSartre, Jean-PaulSaussure, Ferdinand deSayad, AbdelmalekSenghor, Leopold (Sedar)Serres, MichelSexualitySimon, ClaudeSociologySollers, Philippe (Philippe Joyaux)Sorel, GeorgesStarobinski, JeanStructuralismSuares, AndreSubject (self and subjectivity)Surrealism

TTadjo, VeroniqueTeilhard de Chardin, PierreTheology and religious thoughtThibaudet, AlbertTodorov, TzvetanTouraine, AlainTournier, Michel

VValery, (Ambroise-) Paul (-Toussaint-Jules)Vernant, Jean-PierreVidal-Naquet, PierreVirilio, PaulVovelle, Michel

WWahl, JeanWeil, SimoneWittig, Monique

THEMATIC LIST OF ENTRIES

DisciplinesAnthropologyArt history, criticism, and aestheticsClassicsEducational theoryHistoriographyLawLinguisticsLiterary theory and criticismPhilosophyPhilosophy of SciencePsychologySociologyTheology and religious thought

Historical, political and social contextsColonial and postcolonial experienceFrancophonie, LaFrench Colonial ThoughtFrench Thought in the United StatesFrench-Jewish IntellectualsGerman thought, influence ofHistorical survey: 18701918Historical survey: 19181939Historical survey: 19391968Historical survey: 1968Holocaust, theJewish question, theJournals and periodicalsPolitical movements and debates

IndividualsAlain (Emile-Auguste Chartier)Althusser, LouisAries, PhilippeArkoun, MohammedAron, RaymondArtaud, AntoninBachelard, GastonBadiou, AlainBalibar, EtienneBalibar, Renee

xv

Bardeche, MauriceBarres, MauriceBarthes, RolandBataille, GeorgesBaudrillard, JeanBazin, AndreBeauvoir, Simone deBeguin, AlbertBenda, JulienBenveniste, EmileBergson, Henri (Louis)Bernanos, GeorgesBeyala, CalixtheBloch, MarcBlondel, Maurice EdouardBloy, LeonBonnefoy, YvesBourdieu, Pierre FelixBreton, AndreBreuil, HenriBrunschvicg, LeonCaillois, RogerCamus, AlbertCanguilhem, GeorgeCassin, BarbaraCastoriadis, CorneliusCavailles, JeanCerteau, Michel deCesaire, Aime (-Fernand)Chamoiseau, PatrickCioran, Emile MichelCixous, HeleneDebord, GuyDebray, RegisDeleuze, GillesDepestre, ReneDerrida, JacquesDidi-Huberman, GeorgesDiop, Cheikh AntaDjebar, AssiaDuby, GeorgesDufrenne, Mikel

Thematic List of Entries

Duhem, Pierre Maurice MarieDumazedier, JoffreDumezil, GeorgesDurkheim, EmileDuvert, TonyDuvignaud, JeanEllul, JacquesFanon, FrantzFebvre, LucienFocillon, Henri-JosephFoucault, Michel (Paul)Garaudy, RogerGenette, GerardGennep, Arnold vanGeny, FrancoisGide, Andre (-Paul-Guillaume)Gilson, Etienne HenryGirard, Rene NoelGlissant, EdouardGlucksmann, AndreGodard, Jean LucGoldmann, LucienGorz, AndreGreimas, Algirdas JulienGrenier, JeanGuattari, FelixGuerin, DanielGurvitch, GeorgesHalbwachs, MauriceHalevy, DanielHazard, PaulHerve, GeraldHocquenghem, GuyHoullebecq, MichelHuyghe, ReneHyvrard, JeanneIrigaray, LuceJankelevitch, VladimirJaures, (Auguste-Marie-Joseph) JeanKhatibi, AbdelkebirKlossowski, PierreKojeve, AlexandreKoyre, AlexandreKristeva, JuliaLa Rochelle, DrieuLabrousse, Camille ErnestLacan, JacquesLavelle, LouisLe Doeuff, MicheleLe Roy Ladurie, EmmanuelLe Senne, ReneLeclerc, AnnieLecomte du Nouy, Pierre (-Andre Leon)Lefebvre, HenriLefort, ClaudeLeiris, MichelLevinas, EmmanuelLevi-Strauss, ClaudeLevy, Bernard-Henri

xvi

Levy-Bruhl, LucienLipietz, AlainLoraux, NicoleLubac, Henri deLyotard, Jean-FrancoisMacherey, PierreMale, EmileMandel, ErnestMarcel, Gabriel HonoreMarin, LouisMaritain, JacquesMassis, HenriMauron, CharlesMaurras, CharlesMauss, MarcelMerleau-Ponty, MauriceMessiaen, OlivierMetz, ChristianMonod, Jacques (Lucien)Mounier, EmmanuelMudimbe, ValentinNancy, Jean-LucNizan, PaulPaulhan, JeanPolitzer, GeorgesPoulantzas, NicosPoulet, GeorgePrevost, JeanPrice-Mars, JeanProust, MarcelRanciere, JacquesRaymond, MarcelRicoeur, PaulRiviere, JacquesRobbe-Grillet, AlainRougemont, Denis deSartre, Jean-PaulSaussure, Ferdinand deSayad, AbdelmalekSenghor, Leopold (Sedar)Serres, MichelSimon, ClaudeSollers, Philippe (Philippe Joyaux)Sorel, GeorgesStarobinski, JeanSuares, AndreTadjo, VeroniqueTeilhard de Chardin, PierreThibaudet, AlbertTodorov, TzvetanTournier, MichelValery, (Ambroise-) Paul (-Toussaint-Jules)Vernant, Jean-PierreVidal-Naquet, PierreVirilio, PaulVovelle, MichelWahl, JeanWeil, SimoneWittig, Monique

Thematic List of Entries

Subjects, Themes, Movements, GenresAutobiographyBodyCulturePoetrySurrealismHomosexualityHumanism/anti-humanismIntellectualsKnowledge and truthLanguageMediaModernism and post-modernism

xvii

Nationalism and identitySexualitySubject (self and subjectivity)

Theories, Beliefs, and MethodologiesCatholicismExistentialismFeminismMarxismPhenomenologyPost-structuralismPsychoanalytical theoryStructuralism

CHRONOLOGY

The timelines below guide readers to major developments in contemporary Frenchthought. The academic timeline marks the publication of significant works by keyauthors, as well as foundation dates for notable institutions and schools of thought.The art and architecture timeline marks the composition date of influential works andseminal exhibits. The film timeline delineates the date of release of key French filmsof the modern and postmodern eras. The literature timeline traces the publication datesof works exemplifying the primary tendencies of modern French thought, and thefounding dates for important journals or reviews, as well as notable honors won byseminal authors. The music timeline does the same for innovative and influentialmusical works of the modern and postmodern eras. The political and social life timelinesupplies a context for principal developments in French thought and the arts in Franceover the course of approximately the last 100 years.

Academic Timeline

1896Bergson, Matiere et memoire

1897Durkheim, Le Suicide

1900Bergson, Le Rire

1903Gourmont, Physique damour

1907Bergson, Evolution creatrice

1912Durkheim, Les Formes elementaires de la vie religieuse

1915Bloy, Jeanne dArc et lAllemagneRolland, Au-dessus de la melee

1916Saussure, Cours de linguistique generale

1917Gourmont, Pendant la guerre

1919Gilson, Le Thomisme

xix

1920Maritain, Art et scolastique

1921Alain, Mars, ou la guerre jugeeBrunschvicg, Lidealisme contemporain

1922Febvre, La Terre et levolution humaine

1925Mauss, Essai sur le don

1927Benda, La Trahison des clercsGide, Voyage au CongoMaritain, Primaute du spirituelMassis, Defense de lOccident

1928Febvre, Un destin: Martin Luther

1929Annales founded

1930Berl, Mort de la Morale bourgeoise

1932Alain, IdeesGilson, LEsprit de la philosophie medievaleMaritain, Distinguer pour unir, ou les degres du savoir

Chronology

1934Alain, Les DieuxBlondel, La Pensee

1935Marcel, Etre et avoir

1936Sartre, LImagination

1937Celine, Bagatelles pour un massacreMarcel, Etre et avoir

College de Sociologie formed

1938Bachelard, La Psychoanalyse de feu

193940Bloch, La Societe feudal

1940Sartre, LImaginaire

1941Grenier, Inspirations mediterraneennes

1942Febvre, Le Probleme de lincroyance au XVIe siecle, la

religion de RabelaisMerleau-Ponty, La Structure du comportement

1943Bataille, LExperience interieureCamus, Le Myth de SisypheSartre, LEtre et le neant

1945Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenologie de la perception

Les Temps modernes founded

1946Sartre, Reflexions sur la question juive

1947Kojeve, Introduction a la lecture de HegelSartre, LExistentialisme est un humanisme

1948Sartre, Quest-ce que la litterature?

1949Bataille, La Part mauditeBeauvoir, Le Deuxieme SexeBraudel, La Mediterranee et le monde mediterraneen a

lepoque de Philippe IIPoulet, Etudes sur le temps humain, I

1950Ricoeur, Philosophie de la volonte

1951Camus, LHomme revolteMalraux, Les Voix du silenceMarcel, Mystere de letre

xx

1952Fanon, Peau Noire, masques blancsSartre, Saint Genet comedien et martyr

1953Barthes, Le Degre zero de lecriture

1955Aron, LOpium des intellectuelsGoldmann, Le Dieu cacheLevi-Strauss, Tristes tropiquesTeilhard De Chardin, Le Phenomene humain

1956Cioran, La Tentation dexisterSarraute, LEre du soupcon

1957Barthes, MythologiesBataille, La Litterature et le mal, and LErotismeTeilhard De Chardin, Le Milieu divin

1958Bataille, LErotismeLevi-Strauss, Anthropologie structurale

1959Diop, LUnite culturelle de lAfrique noireMorin, Autocritique

1960Aries, LEnfant et la vie familiale sous lAncien RegimeMerleau-Ponty, SignesRicoeur, first volume of Philosophie de la volonteSartre, Critique de la raison dialectique

Tel quel founded (1983)

1961Bataille, Les Larmes dErosBachelard, La Poetique de lespaceFanon, Les Damnes de la terreFoucault, Folie et Deraison: Histoire de la folie a lage

classiqueLevinas, Totalite et infini

1962Levi-Strauss, La Pensee sauvageMandel, Traite deconomie marxiste

1963Barthes, Sur RacinebacheBeauvoir, La Force des chosesRobbe-Grillet, Pour un nouveau roman

1964Beauvoir, Une Mort tres douceLevi-Strauss, Le Cru et le cuitGoldmann, Pour une sociologie du roman

Lacan founds Ecole Freudienne de Paris

1965Althusser, Pour Marx, and (with Balibar) Lire Le CapitalDuvignaud, Sociologie du theatrePicard, Nouvelle critique ou nouvelle impostureVernant, Mythe et pensee chez les Grecs

Chronology

1966Canguilhem, Le Normal et le pathologiqueFoucault, Les Mots et les choses: Une Archeologie des

sciences humainesGreimas, Semantique structuraleLacan, Ecrits

1967Debord, La Societe du SpectacleDebray, Revolution dans la revolutionDerrida, De la grammatologieDiop, Anteriorite des civilisations negres

1968Baurillard, System des objetsDeleuze, Difference et repepetitionLefebvre, La Vie quotidienne dans le monde moderneLevi-Strauss, LOrigine des manieres de table

1969Foucault, LArcheologie du savoirKristeva, Semeiotike: Recherches Pour une SemanalyseRicoeur, Le Conflit des interpretations

Psychoanalyse et politique (psych et po) group founded

1970Aron, Marxismes imaginairesBarthes, S/ZBeauvoir, La VieillesseDerrida, Positions; La DisseminationDuvignard, Spectacle et societeMonod, Le hasard et la necessite

1971Poulantzas, Pouvoir politique et classes socialesPoulet, La Conscience critiqueVeyne, Comment on ecrit lhistoire

1972Barthes, Le Plaisir du texteDeleuze and Guattari, LAnti-OedipeDerrida, PositionsHocquenghem, Le Desir homosexuel

1973Cioran, De linconvenient detre neMudimbe, LAutre Face du royaumeNancy, La remarque speculative, un bot mot de Hegel

1974Derrida, GlasIrigaray, Speculum de lautre femmeLaroui, La Crise des intellectuals arabsLeclerc, Parole de femmeLevinas, Autrement quetreLyotard, Economie libidinale

1975Aries, Essais sur lhistoire de la mort en Occident du

Moyen-Age a nos joursBarthes, Barthes par Roland BarthesEllul, Sans feu ni lieu: Signification biblique de la Grande

VilleFoucault, Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prisonLacan, Le Seminaire XX: Encore

xxi

Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou, village occitan, 12941324Levi-Strauss, La Voie des masquesRicoeur, La Metaphore vive

1976Foucault, first volume of Histoire de la sexualite (1984)

1977Barthes, Fragments dun discours amoureuxBaudrillard, Oublier FoucaultCanguilhem, Ideologie et rationaliteGlucksmann, Les Matre-penseursIrigaray, Ce Sexe qui nen est pas un

1978Lacoue-Labarthe and Mathieu Benezet, Misere de la

litteratureTodorov, Symbolisme et interpretationTouraine, La Voix et le regard

1979Baudrillard, De la seductionBlanchot, LEcriture du desastreBourdieu, La DistinctionDebray, Le Pouvoir intellectuel en FranceFourastie, Les Trente glorieusesLyotard, La Condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir

1980Barthes, La chambre claireCerteau, LInvention du quotidienDeleuze and Guattari, Mille plateauxDerrida, La Carte Postale

1981Baudrillard, Simulacra et simulationDuby, Le Chevalier, la femme et le pretre

1982Levinas, De Dieu qui vient a lideeMudimbe, LOdeur du pereTodorov, La Conquete de lAmerique

1983Levi-Strauss, Le Regard eloigneRicoeur, Temps et recit, vol 1Vovelle, La Mort et lOccident (17501820)

1984Bourdieu, Homo academicus

1985Vovelle, La mentalite revolutionnaire

1986Baudrillard, LAmeriqueLacoue-Labarthe, LImitation des modernesNancy, La communaute desuvree

1987Derrida, Psyche: inventions de lautreFinkielkraut, La Defaite de la penseeKristeva, Soleil Noir: Depression et MelancolieRousso, Le syndrome de Vichy

Chronology

1988Balibar, Race, nation, classeNancy, Experience de la liberte

1989Bourdieu, La Noblesse detatDuvert, Abecedaire malveillantVernant, LIndividu, la mort, lamour: Soi-meme et lautre en

Grece ancienneVovelle, Les Aventures de la raison. Entretiens avec Richard

Figuier

1990Derrida, Memoires daveugleNancy, Une pensee finieSerres, Le Contrat naturel

1991Baudrillard, La Guerre du Golfe na pas eu lieuDebray, Cours de mediologie generaleDeleuze and Guattari, Quest-ce que la philosophie?Derrida, CirconfessionTodorov, Face a lextreme

1992Debray, Vie et mort d limage

1993Derrida, Spectres de MarxKristeva, Les Nouvelles Maladies de lAmeSerres, La Legende des angesVovelle, Combats pour la Revolution francaise

1994Balibar, Lieux et noms de la veriteDerrida, Force de loi

1996Derrida, Resistance a la psychanalyse

1997Irigaray, Etre deux

1998Bourdieu, La Domination masculine

1999Eribon, Reflexions sur la question gay

2000Lacoue-Labarthe, PhraseNancy, Le regard du portrait

2001Balibar, Nous, citoyens dEurope? Les frontieres, lEtat, le

peuple

2002Nancy, La creation du monde: ou la mondialisation

Art and Architecture Timeline

1896Redon, Tentation de saint Antoine

1897Rousseau, La Bohemienne endormie

xxii

Gauguin, Dou venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Ouallons-nous?

Rodin, Balzac

1901Maillol, Le MediterraneePicasso, Femme au verre dabsinthe

1903Cezanne, Les Grandes Baigneuses

1904Rodin, Le Baiser

Major Cezanne exhibition, Salon dAutomne

1905Matisse, Luxe, calme et voluptePicasso, Famille dacrobates au singeVlaminck, Paysage aux arbres rouges

Les Fauves at Salon dAutomne

1906Derain, Les Deux peniches

Exhibition of ancient Iberian art, Paris

1907Picasso, Les Demoiselles dAvignonRousseau, Charmeuse de serpents

1908Braque, Maisons a lEstaque

1910Vlaminck, Bords de riviereUtrillo, Le Lapin agilePicasso, Portrait dAmbroise Vollard

1911Chagall, Moi et le villageDuchamp, Nu descendant un escalierMatisse, LAtelier rouge

1912Delaunay (R), FenetreDuchamp, Nu descendant un escalier, No 2Perret, Theatre des Champs-Elysees

1913Apollinaire, Les Peintres CubistesLa Fresnaye, La Conquete de lairPicabia, Udnie (Jeune Fille americaine)

1914Delaunay (R), Hommage a BleriotDelaunay (S), Prismes electriques

1915Gris, Nature morte au livre, a la pipe et aux verres

1916Modigliani, Portrait de Max Jacob

1917Leger, Partie de cartes

Chronology

1918Rouault, Miserere

1919Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q.

1920Ozenfant, Composition

LEsprit nouveau launched by Le Corbusier and Ozenfant (1925)

1921Leger, Le Grand DejeunerMatisse, LOdalisque a la culotte rougePicasso, Trois Femmes a la fontaine

1922Picabia, Nuit espagnoleValadon, Nu au bord du lit

1923Gris, Arlequin assisLe Corbusier, Vers une architecturePerret, Church of Notre Dame, Le Raincy

1924Picasso, Mandoline et guitareFreysinnet, airship hangers, Orly

1925Dufy, Fete nautique au HavreRouault, LApprenti ouvrier (autoportrait)Soutine, Le Boeuf ecorche

1928Chagall, Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel

1930Giacometti, La Boule suspendue

1931Le Corbusier, Villa Savoie, PoissyMasson, LEnlevement

1932Giacometti, Les CagesPicasso, Jeune Fille devant une glace

1933Bonnard, Nu devant la glaceBraque, Nature morte a la mandolineMatisse, La Danse

1935Le Corbusier, La Ville radieusePicasso, Minotauromachie

1936Braque, LOiseau et son nid

1937Picasso, Guernica

1938Chagall, La Crucifixion blanche

xxiii

1939Masson, La TerrePicasso, Peche de nuit a Antibes

1940Maillol, Portrait de Dina

1942Balthus, Le SalonLe Corbusier, La maison des hommesTanguy, Divisibilite infinie

1943Fautrier, Otages

1945Leger, Acrobates et musicienesRichier, LEscrimeuse avec casque

1946Picasso, La Joie de vivre

1947Dubuffet, Dhotel nuance dabricot

1948Matisse, Saint Dominique

1949Giacometti, Homme traversant une placeRichier, LOgre

1950Dubuffet, Corps de damesLeger, Les ConstructeursPicasso, La Chevre

1951Picasso, Massacre en Coree

1952Le Corbusier, Unite dHabitation, MarseilleMatisse, La Tristesse du roiStael, Les Grands footballeurs

1953Richier, Tauromachie

1954Balthus, Le Passage du Commerce-Saint-AndreDubuffet, Vache la belle allegreStael, Les Martigues

1955Le Corbusier, Notre Dame du Haut, RonchampPicasso, Les Femmes dAlger

1956Souleges, Peinture, 14 avril 1956

1957Mathieu, Ceremonies commemoratives de la deuxieme

condemnation de Siger de BrabantVasarely, Vega

1958Klein, Le Vide (exhibition)

Chronology

1959Vasarely, Album III

1960Giacometti, Grand Femme a sa toiletteKlein, Anthropometries (exhibition)

1962Klein, Feu couleur FC1

1963Saint-Phalle, Hon

1964Masson, Thaumaturges malveillants menacant le peuple des

hauteurs

1965Giacometti, Caroline

1966Cesar, La Victoire de Villetaneuse

1967Dubuffet, LHourloupeVasarely, Constellations

1973Dubuffet, Don Coucoubazar

1977Piano and Rogers, Centre Pompidou, Paris

1980Cesar, Compression murale, velo

1983Saint-Phalle and Tinguely, fountain, Centre Pompidou

1984Cesar, Hommage a Eiffel

1986Musee dOrsay completed

1990Von Spreckelsen, La Grande Arche, Paris

Film Timeline

1902Melies, Le Voyage dans la lune

191516Feuillade, Les Vampires

1919Gance, Jaccuse

1922Gance, La Roue

1923Dulac, La Souriante Madame Beudet

1925Duvivier, Poil de carotte

xxiv

1927Clair, Un Chapeau de paille dItalieGance, Napoleon

1929First talking movies

1930Clair, Sous les toits de ParisVigo, A Propos de Nice

1933Vigo, Zero de conduite

1934Pagnol, MerlusseVigo, LAtalante

1936Pagnol, CesarRenoir, Le Crime de Monsieur Lange

1937Duvivier, Pepe le MokoRenoire, La Grande Illusion

1938Carne, Quai des BrumesPagnol, La Femme du boulanger

1939Duvivier, La Fin du jourRenoir, La Regle du jeu

1942Carne, Les Visiteurs do soir

1943Clouzot, Le Corbeau

1945Cocteau, La Belle et la beteCarne, Les Enfants du ParadisPagnol, Nas

1946First Cannes film festival

1950Cocteau, Orphee

1951Cahiers du cinema founded

1952Clair, Les Belles-de-nuitPagnol, Manon des sources

1953Tati, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot

1956Resnais, Nuit et BrouillardVadim, Et Dieu crea la femme

1958Chabrol, Le Beau SergeMalle, Les AmantsTati, Mon oncle

Chronology

1959Godard, A bout de souffleRenoir, Le Dejeuner sur lHerbeResnais (Duras), Hiroshima, mon AmourTruffaut, Les Quatre Cents Coups

1960Chabrol, Les Bonnes FemmesMalle (Queneau), Zazie dans le Metro

1961Resnais (Robbe-Grillet), LAnnee derniere a MarienbadTruffaut, Jules et Jim

1962Godard, Vivre sa VieRobbe-Grillet, LImmortelleTruffaut, Jules et JimVarda, Cleo de 5 a 7

1963Chabrol, LandruResnais, Muriel, ou le Temps dun Retour

1964Godard, Une femme mariee

1965Godard, Alphaville

1966Robbe-Grillet, Trans-Europ-Express

1968Godard, WeekendChabrol, Les Biches

1969Godard (Cohn-Bendit), Vent dest

1971Chabrol, Le BoucherOphuls, Le Chagrin et la pitieTati, Traffic

1973Eustache, La Maman et la putinMalle, Lacombe Lucien

1975Truffaut, LHistoire dAdele H

1976Cassenti, LAffiche rougeFerreri, La Derniere Femme

1977Metz, Le Signifiant imaginaireVarda, Lune chante, lautre pas

1978Truffaut, La chamber verte

1983Robbe-Grillet, Belle Captive

1985Charef, Le The au harem dArchimedeLanzmann, ShoahVarda, Sans toit ni loi

xxv

1986Resnais, MeloBeineix, 372 la matinBerri (Pagnol), Jean de Florette

1987Malle, Au Revoir les EnfantsVarda, Jane B. par Anges V.

1989Nuytten, Camille ClaudelTavernier, La vie et rien dautre

1991Carax, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf

1992Collard, Les nuits fauves

1993Godard, Helas Pour Moi!

1994Chabrol, LEnferRobbe-Grillet, Un Bruit Qui Rend Fou

1997Besson, Le Cinquieme Element

1999Carax, Pola X

Literature Timeline

1895Valery, Le Soiree avec Monsieur Teste

1896Jarry, Ubu Roi

1897Barres, Les DeracinesGide, Les Nourritures terrestres

1902Gide, LImmortaliste

1904Rolland, first volume of Jean-Christophe (1912)

1905Claudel, Le Partage de midi

1908France, LIle des pingouins

1909Gide, La Porte etroite

La Nouvelle Revue Francaise (NRF) launched

1910Claudel, Cinq grandes odesPeguy, Le Mystere de la charite de Jeanne dArc

1911Colette, La Vagabonde

Chronology

1912France, Les Dieux ont soif

1913Alain-Fournier, Le Grand MeaulnesApollinaire, AlcoolsCendrars, La Prose du Transsiberien et de la petite Jehanne

de FranceProust, first volume of A la recherche du temps perdu (

1927)

Vieux-Colombier theater set up by Copeau

1914Gide, Les Caves du Vatican

1915Rolland awarded Nobel Prize

1916Apollinaire, Le Poete assassineBarbusse, Le Feu

1917Duhamel, Vie des martyrsJacob, Le Cornet a desValery, La Jeune Parque

1918Apollinaire, Calligrammes

1919Reverdy, La Guitare endormie

1920Colette, CheriDuhamel, first volume of Vie et aventures de Salavin (1932)Valery, Le Cimetiere marin

Theatre National Populaire (TNP) created

1921Anatole France awarded Novel

1922Martin du Gard, first volume of Les Thibault (1940)Rolland, first volume of LAme enchantee (1933)Valery, Charmes

1923Radiguet, Le Diable au corps

1924Breton, Manifeste du surrealismeSaint-John Perse, Anabase

1926Aragon, Le Paysan de ParisBernanos, Sous le soleil de SatanCendrars, MoravagineCocteau, OrpheeEluard, Capitale de la douleur

1927Green, Adrienne MesuratMauriac, Therese DesqueyrouxProust, last volume of A la recherche du temps perdu

(1913)

Bergson awarded Nobel Prize

xxvi

1926Gide, Si le grain ne meurt

1928Bataille, Histoire de loeilBreton, NadjaMalraux, Les Conquerants

1929Cocteau, Les Enfants terriblesGiraudoux, Amphitryon 38Saint-Exupery, Courier Sud

1930Claudel, Le Soulier de satinDesnos, Corps et biensEluard, Breton, and Char, Ralentir travaux

1931Saint-Exupery, Vol de nuitSimenon, Pietr-le-Letton (first Maigret novel)

1932Celine, Voyage au bout de la nuitMauriac, Le Noeud de ViperesRomains, first volume of Les Hommes de bonne volonte

(1946).

Legitime Defense published in Paris

1933Duhamel, first volume of Chronique des Pasquier (1944)Malraux, La Condition humaine

1934Aragon, Les Cloches de BaleChar, Le Marteau sans matreDrieu la Rochelle, Comedie de Charleroi

1935Giraudoux, La Guerre de Troie naura pas lieu

LEtudiant noir launched in Paris

1936Bernanos, Journal dun cure de campagneCeline, Mort a creditGiono, Les vrais richessesMontherlant, first volume of Les jeunes filles (1939)

1937Anouilh, Le Voyageur sans baggageJouve, Matiere celesteMartin du Gard awarded Nobel Prize

1938Artaud, Le Theatre et son doubleNizan, La ConspirationSartre, La Nausee

1939Cesaire, Cahier dun retour au pays natalLeiris, LAge dhommeSarraute, Tropismes (revised 1957)Yourcenar, Le Coup de grace

Chronology

1941Aragon, Le Creve-coeur

1942Anouilh, AntigoneCamus, LEtrangerPonge, Le Parti pris des chosesSaint-John Perse, ExileVercors, Le Silence de la mer

1943Bernanos, Monsieur OuineSaint-Exupery, Le Petit PrinceSartre, Les Mouches

1944Camus, CaligulaCassou, 33 Sonnets composes au secretGenet, Notre-Dame-des-fleursSartre, Huis Clos

1945Colette, GigiGuillevic, TerraqueSartre, LAge de raison

1946Char, Feuillets dHypnosGenet, Miracle de la RoseGide, TheseePrevert, Paroles

1947Camus, La PesteMontherlant, Le Matre de SantiagoSartre, Les Jeux sont faitsVian, LEcume des joursAvignon festival foundedDiop launches Presence africaine in ParisGide awarded Nobel Prize

1948Simenon, Pedigree

La Nouvelle Critique launched

1949Queneau, Exercices de styleSartre, La Mort dans lameSenghor, Anthologie de la nouvelle poesie negre et malgache

de langue francaise1950Duras, Un barrage contre le PacifiqueIonesco, La Cantatrice chauveMichaux, Passages

1951Beckett, Malone meurtSartre, Le Diable et le bon dieuYourcenar, Memoires dHadrien

1952Mauriac awarded Nobel Prize

1953Anouilh, LAlouette

xxvii

Beckett, En attendant GodotBonnefoy, De mouvement et de limmobilite de DouveLaye, LEnfant noir

1954Beauvoir, Les MandarinsMontherlant, Port-RoyalSagan, Bonjour triestesse

1955Adamov, Le Ping-PongRobbe-Grillet, Le VoyeurVailland, 325 000 francs

1956Butor, LEmploi du TempsGenet, Le BalconSenghor, Ethiopiques

1957Antelme, LEspece humaineCamus, La ChuteRobbe-Grillet, La Jalousie

Camus awarded Nobel Prize

1958Beauvoir, Memoires dune jeune fille rangeeDuras, Moderato cantabileJaccottet, LIgnorant

1959Queneau, Zazie dans le metroSarraute, Le PlanetariumSartre, Les Sequestres dAltona

1960Simon, La Route de Flandres

OULIPO (Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle) founded

1961Guillevic, CarnacRochefort, Les Petits Enfants du siecle

1963Cesaire, La tragedie du roi ChristopheLe Clezio, Le Proces-verbal

1964Leduc, La BatardeSartre, Les MotsWittig, LOpoponaxSartre refuses the Nobel PrizeTheatre du Soleil created by Mnouchkine

1965Bonnefoy, Pierre ecritePerec, Les Choses

1966Rochefort, Une Rose pour Morrison

1967Ponge, Le SavonTournier, Vendredi ou les limbes du PacifiqueYacine, Les Ancetres redoublent de ferocite

Chronology

1968Yourcenar, LOeuvre au noir

1969Perec, La DisparitionWittig, Les Guerilleres

1970Robbe-Grillet, Projet pour une revolution a New YorkTournier, Le Roi des aulnes

1971Tournier, Vendredi ou la vie sauvage

1972Beauvoir, Tout compte fait

1973Duras, India Song

1975Bonnefoy, Dans le leurre du seuilCardinal, Les Mots pour le direPerec, W: ou le souvenir denfance

1976Robbe-Grillet, Topologie dune cite fantome

1977Tournier, Le Vent Paraclet

1978Jabes, Le Soupcon Le DesertPerec, La Vie mode demploi

1980Jabes, LIneffacable LInapercuNavarre, Le Jardin dacclimatation

Yourcenar first woman elected to Academie Francaise

1981Ernaux, La Place

1983Sollers, Femmes

1984Duras, LAmant

1985Tournier, La Goutte dorWittig, Virgile, non

Simon awarded Nobel

1987Baroche, LHiver de beaute

1988Char, Eloge dune soupconneeErnaux, Une femmeRochefort, La Porte de fond

1990Guibert, A lami qui ne ma pas sauve la vieKourouma, Monne, outrages et defisKristeva, Les Samouras

xxviii

1991Guibert, Mon valet et moi

1992Guibert, Cytomegalovirus: journal dhospitalisation

1994Kofman, Rue Ordener, Rue LabatRobbe-Grillet, Les derniers jours de corintheSemprun, LEcriture ou la vie

Music Timeline

1890Satie, Gnossiennes

1894Debussy, Prelude a lapres-midi dun faune

1899Ravel, Pavane pour une infante defunte

1900Charpentier, Louise

1902Debussy (Maeterlinck), Pelleas et MelisandeDIndy, Symphony No 2

1903Debussy, EstampesSatie, Trois Morceaux en forme de poire

1904Lle joyeuse

1905Debussy, La Mer

1907Debussy, ImagesDukas, Ariane et Barbe-bleueFaure, Vocalise

1908Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit

1910Faure, Le Chanson dEve

1911Ravel, Valses nobles et sentimentales

1912Ravel, Daphnis et ChloeRoussel, Le Festin de laraignee

1913Debussy, Jeux

1915Debussy, Sonata for cello and piano

1917Cocteau (Diaghilev, Satie, Picasso) ParadeFaure, Violin sonata No 2Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin

Chronology

1918Varese, Ameriques

1919Milhaud (Cocteau), Le Boeuf sur le toitPoulenc (Apollinaire), Le bestiaireSatie, Socrate

1920Honegger, Pastorale deteMilhaud, Saudades do Brazil

1921Faure, LHorizon chimeriqueRoussel, Pour une fete de printemps

1923Cantaloube, Chants dAuvergne (first set)Honegger, Pacific 231Milhaud (Cendrars), La creation du monde

1924Poulenc, Les biches

1925Auric, Les MatelotsRavel (Colette), LEnfant et les sortilege

1926Milhaud, Le Carnival dAixMistinguett, Ca cest Paris

1928Honegger, RugbyRavel, Bolero

1929Poulenc, Aubade

1930Ibert, Divertissement

1931Ravel, Piano concerto in D major

1934Milhaud, Concertino de printempsReinhardt and Grappelli form the Quintette de Hot Club de

France (1939)

1936Honegger, Nocturne

1937Dupre, Poemes heroqueMilhaud, Suite provencale

1938Messiaen, Nativite du Seigneur

1940Francaix, Lapostrophe

1941Messiaen, Quatuor pour la fin des temps

1942Langlais, Organ symphony

xxix

1944Honegger, Chant de libeerationJolivet, Chant de LinosMessiaen, Technique de mon langage musical

1945Trenet, La MerPoulenc (Eluard), Figure humaine

1946Piaf, La vie en rose

1947Durufle, RequiemPoulenc (Apollinaire), Les Mamelles de Tiresias

1948Boulez (Char), Le Marteau sans matreMessiaen, Turangalla-Symphonie

1950Greco, Je hais les dimanchesTailleferre, Il etait un petit navire

1952Barraque, SonataMilhaud, David

1955Aznavour, Sur ma vie

1956Messiaen, Catalogue dOiseaux (1958)Poulenc (Bernanos), Les dialogues des Carmelites

1957Brel, Quand on na que lamour

1958Francaix, Divertimento

1960Barraque, Au dela du hazardMessiaen, ChronocromiePiaf, Non, je ne regrette rien

1962Boulez, Pli selon pliBrel, Ne me quitte pas

1963Loussier, Play Bach

1965Boulez, Eclat

1966Barraud, Symphonie concertante

1968Barraque, Concerto for clarinet, vibraphone and six trios

1970Dutilleux, Tout un monde lointain

1972Boulez, Explosante-Fixe

Chronology

1974Boulez, Rituel in memoriam Bruno MadernaMessiaen, Des Canyons aux etoiles

1976Francaix, Ouverture anacreontiqueGainsbourg, LHomme a Tete de ChouJarre, Oxygene

1981Boulez, Repons

Radio Beur in Paris popularizes ra

1985Dutilleux, Larbre des songes

1986Francaix, Danses exotiques

1989Dutilleux, Mystere de linstant

1991Moumen, Rih el Gharbi (Le vent douest)

Political and Social Life Timeline

18791940 Third Republic

1893Dreyfus convicted of treason

1898Zola, Jaccuse

1899Action Francaise movement launched

1900Exposition universelle in Paris

Peguy launches Cahiers de la Quinzaine (1914)

1901Parti republicain radical et radical-socialiste founded

1904Jaures launches LHumanite

1905Legal separation of Church and stateSocialist part formed (Section Francaise de lInternationale

Ouvriere)

1906Dreyfus rehabilitatedMarie Curie becomes first woman professor at the Sorbonne

1908LAction Francaise launched (1944)

1909Bleriot flies across Channel

1911Agadir incident (Morocco)

1912Morocco becomes French protectorate

xxx

1913President: Poincare (1920)

1914July Jaures assassinatedAugust World War I (1918)

1916Battle of Verdun (nearly 350,000 French casualties)

1917Clemenceau becomes Prime Minister (1920)

1918November End of World War I

1919Bloc national in power (1924)

1920Jeanne dArc canonizedFrench Communist party (PCF) established

1921Rif uprising in North AfricaFrance occupies Rhineland

1922Radio-Paris begins to broadcast

1923France occupies Ruhr

1924Cartel des Gauches in power (1928)

1925Rif War in North Africa (1926)Therese of Lisieux canonized

1928Croix-de-Feu founded

1929Work begins on Maginot Line

1931Exposition coloniale

1932First television broadcasts (in Paris)

1934Stavisky affairFront populaire formedPolitical riots in Paris

1936Front populaire in power under Blum (1937)Parti populaire francais formed

1938Daladier becomes Prime Minister (1940)

1939September World War II (1945) (les annees noires)3 September France declares warSeptember 1939-May 1940 (drole de guerre)

Chronology

194010 May German offensive begins14 June German troops enter Paris1 July Vichy government set up under Marshal Petain (

1944)October: Anti-Jewish legislation (le statut des juifs)

introduced

1941Legion des volontaires francais (LVF) formedLaw allowing confiscation of Jewish property

Combat launched (1974)

1942July 13,000 French Jews held in the Vel(odrome) dHiv(er)

stadium before being sent to concentration campsNovember German forces occupy south of France

1943Free French headquarters set up in AlgiersMelice formed in VichyCompulsory call-up of men and women to work in Germany

19446 June Allies land in Normandy25 August Paris liberated

1944 Provisional government under De Gaulle (1946)

Women granted suffrageLe Monde launched

1945May End of World War II (in Europe)August Beginning of war of independence in Indo-China

(1954)October Laval executed

1946De Gaulle resignsFrench Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion

become departements

19461958 Fourth Republic

1947France accepts Marshall AidRassemblement du peuple francais (RPF) movementlaunched by De Gaulle

1949France a founding member of NATO

1950Regular television broadcasts in Paris areaClub Med(iterranee) created

1953Poujadist movement launched

1954May Dien Bien Phu is lost to the VietminhJuly War of independence in Indo-China endsNovember Beginning of Algerian war of independence (

1962)

xxxi

1956Morocco and Tunisia gain independenceSuez crisis

1957Treaty of Rome lays foundation of European Economic

CommunityValery Giscard dEstaing, Lieutenent en Algerie

1958De Gaulle recalled over Algerian crisisPresident: Charles de Gaulle (1969)

1958 Fifth Republic

1959Malraux appointed minister of culture (1969)

1960Manifeste des 121 condemns French campaign in AlgeriaParti socialiste unifie (PSU) formedSub-Saharan African colonies gain independenceFrance explodes atomic bomb

1961April Failed putsch by army officersOAS terror

1962July Algeria gains independence

1966France withdraws from NATO

1969President: Georges Pompidou (1974)

1970Mouvement de liberation des femmes (MLF) created

1971Manifeste des 343 calls for legalization of abortion

1972Front National formed by Le Pen

1974President: Valery Giscard dEstaing (1981)Age of majority reduced to 18

1975Abortion legalized

1978Success for the Right in general election

1981President: Francois Mitterrand (1995)Death penalty abolished

1984Le Pen elected to the European Parliament

1986Le Pen elected to National Assembly

Chronology

1987Klaus Barbie on trial in Lyon for crimes against humanity

1988As candidate for the presidency, Le Pen wins 14.4 per cent

of the vote

1991Edith Cresson becomes first woman Prime Minister

1992Euro-Disney opens

1993European Union establishedSuccess for the Right in general election

xxxii

1994Le Pen reelected to European ParliamentTouvier put on trial for crimes against humanityBill passed to protect French from influx of English

expressions

1995President: Jacques Chirac ()

1997Sans-papiers granted amnesty

2000Corsica granted autonomy

2002Franc replaced by Euro

AALAIN (EMILE-AUGUSTE CHARTIER)Philosopher

Alain, an unconventional philosopher in both style andsubstance, chose his pseudonym in homage to thefifteenth-century Norman poet Alain Chartier. Beyonda common surname, the identification is doubly appro-priate: Alain was himself a native of Normandy and aman of letters. For many years over three decades, hecontributed short daily essays to La Depeche de Rouen(Rouen Dispatch) under the general heading, Proposdun Normand (19521960, Remarks of a Norman).The brevity and humane outlook of the propos estab-lished Alains literary philosophical lineage: Mon-taigne, Pascal, and perhaps the first-person Medita-tions of Descartes. Five volumes of propos werepublished between 1908 and 1928, then collected andreprinted after Alains death under the same title ashis newspaper column.Many of Alains propos offer practical advice, often

in the form of moral or psychological maxims and aph-orisms; because he tends to identify happiness withself-mastery and freedom from pain, these propos usu-ally involve matters of personal distress, not ones obli-gations to others. Stoicism is a prominent influence:It is rain and storm, it is not part of me (Propos surle bonheur, revised 1928; Alain on Happiness, 1973).However, more broadly observed propos, togetherwith longer essays and extended works, constitute areflective record animated by a central philosophy.Like many of his contemporaries (notably Henri Berg-son), Alain defends a philosophy of becoming, as op-posed to closed systems, claiming certainty on the

1

basis of logical demonstration or protracted argument.The real is said to be always in process, as sensed byway of the richness and uncertainty of lived experi-ence. Many propos reinforce this point stylistically:written as stories or conversations, they open up dis-course, fashioning an outcome not logically predeter-mined.Truth for Alain is not a question of the minds col-

laboration with nature: Science holds no patent wheretruth is concerned. In Entretiens au bord de la mer(1931, Conversations by the Seashore), his wise oldman finds it more than strange that anyone shouldexpect the world to hold still for the observer, to order,by the succession of objects, the succession of ourthoughts. One philosophers river is anothers ocean;like Heraclitus, Alain likens time and experience tothe constant motion of a body of water. There is nosuch thing as one wave alongside of another. Thesea, refus[ing] all of our ideas, teaches us that [all]forms are false. Thus, reason must fail in its attemptsto ride the wavesto divide the indivisible, set limitsto the unbounded. However, what Alains oceanic met-aphor excludes from consideration is scientific rea-sons historical success in mapping natures regularity.(Oceanographers confidently classify and explainwaves, currents, and tides.) For Alain, truth is mo-mentary, to be realized only through observation andinsight in a lifelong process of dispelling errors andillusions through doubt. With such comments, he sus-tains his Cartesian skepticism, as in a propos of 1924:To think is to say no; doubt is attached like ashadow to all of our thoughts.

ALAIN (EMILE-AUGUSTE CHARTIER)

In Alains view, Platos Allegory of the Cave isentirely compatible with a skeptical notion of truth.Although he shares Platos goal of surpassing the blindopinion of cave dwellers, what Alain particularly ad-mires about the allegory is its depth of meaning, alwaysopen to new interpretations. The Cave thereby serveshis dominant intentionportraying knowledge as con-tinual inquiry within the perceived worldin contrastto its traditional interpretation as a world separatedfrom the realm of timeless, always-true Forms, orIdeas. Alain does, however, embrace Platos image ofthe Good as a sun at the horizon of intelligible thingsthat makes all ideas knowable (Histoire de mes pen-sees [1936, The Story of My Thoughts]).One might then suppose that the Goods illumina-

tion serves to unify the three areas of spiritual expres-sion with which Alain is largely concernedmorality,art, and religion. On the contrary, if there is one themethat unites his commentaries, it is not at all spiritualbut bodily. Our sense of the real has nothing to dowith physical change but relates directly to themovement of growth, the childs sense of a changingworld as his or her remembered past is acted out in thepresent and imaginatively projected toward the future.From Les Dieux (1934; The Gods, 1974): [T]he realis what is expected, what is obtained and discovered. . . as being within our own power and always respon-sive to our own action. There is a profound relation-ship between our human destiny and the functions ofour body (Propos sur le bonheur). This is to voicean idealist positionall knowledge as ultimately self-knowledgein terms that anticipate Merleau-Pontysphenomenology of the body. However, the philosophyis basically practical: In moments of anxiety, do nottry to reason, for your reasoning will only turn againstyou. Instead try . . . arm-raising exercises. . . . Thusthe moralist sends You to a gymnast (Propos sur lebonheur).Having throughout his career said no to formal rea-

son, Alain does specify a faculty to which to say yesthe imagination. Imagination chooses its own objects,creating its own reality in the form of literature, music,theater, and the visual arts. Again, the context is physi-ological: In his example, a person is shocked andfrightened by having seen two cars that narrowly misscrashing. The effect of the imagined crashan imagedrawn by the movement of blood and muscleis asreal as if the accident had actually occurred. This isto regard emotionally charged imagery as the somaticcounterpart of a belief in something that did not occurthat can then be creatively channeled. Still, Alainseems ambivalent: Is imagination bad (residence offalse beliefs) or good (creative antithesis to reason)?Both, it seems; in the latter case, what makes the differ-ence is said to be judgment, with which imagination

2

enters into a corrective dialogue. Eloquent but disor-dered, always wandering and sad, imagination needsto be objectifiedtransformed into finished and dura-ble works of art (Systeme des beaux-arts [1926; Sys-tem of the Fine Arts]).Alains approach to religion at first seems to parallel

his analysis of moral and artistic activity: Religiousdoctrine, prayer, and ritual are forms that respond tohuman needs equally, likewise carrying no implicationof transcendence. Desire and fear are ordered andcalmed through story-telling, ritual, spectacle, andsuch physical acts as raising ones arms or kneelingwith head in hands. Where this interpretation departsfrom its aesthetic counterpart is that Alain does notregard religion as imaginatively creativehe does notvalidate an observant life through association withjudgment or the will to seek happiness. Instead, reli-gion integrates prayer, dance, and music as natural ele-ments that always recall man to himself; and throughcommemoration of good men and their deedsrespectfor the pastreligion offers examples of intrinsicworth that the individual comes to accept as a duty,to oneself. Clearly it is Alain the humanist who allieshimself with religion as it shares with art and moralitythe aspiration toward a life of value and meaning; butwith a skeptical touch: Religion . . . is a story, which,like all stories, is full of meaning. And one doesnt askif a story is true (Les Dieux).

BERNARD ELEVITCH

See also Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Biography

Alain was born on March 3, 1868, in Mortagne-au-Perche, Normandy. He studied with Alencon at theLycee de Vannes and went on to attend the Ecole Nor-male Superieure. On graduation, he took a post as anassistant professor of philosophy at the Lycee Cor-neille of Rouen. He later moved to the College HenriIV, in Paris.Between 1908 and 1928, five volumes of his propos

were published. In 1926, he published Systeme desbeaux-arts. Several works followed, including Propossur le bonheur (revised 1928) andHistoire de mes pen-sees (1936). Alain died June 2, 1951, in his house inVesinet.

Selected Writing

Cent-un propos dAlain, 5 vols, 19081920 (reprint: Proposdun Normand, 19521960)

Systeme des beaux-arts, 1920Mars, ou la guerre jugee, 1921; as Mars, or the Truth AboutWar, translated by Dorothy Mudie and Elizabeth Hill, 1930

Propos sur lesthetique, 1923

ALTHUSSER, LOUIS

Propos sur le christianisme, 1924Propos sur le bonheur, 1925, revised 1928; as Alain on Happi-ness, translated by Robert D. and Jane E. Cottrell, 1973

Sentiments, passions, et signes, 1926Esquisses de lhomme, 1927Les Idees et les ages, 2 vols, 1927Entretiens au bord de la mer, 1930Idees, 1932Les Dieux, 1934; as The Gods, translated by Richard Pevear,1974

Histoire de mes pensees, 1936Minerve, ou de la sagesse, 1939Preliminaires a lesthetique, 1939Elements de philosophie, 1941Morceaux choisis, 1960Propos sur des philosophes, 1961Esquisses, 2 vols, 19631964Collected Edtions (Gallimard, Bibliotheque de la Pleiade)Propos, 1956Les Arts et les dieux, 1958Les Passions et la sagesse, 1960

Further Reading

Bourgne, Robert, ed., Alain, lecteur des philosophes, Paris: Bor-das, 1987

Foulquie, Paul, Alain, Paris: lEcole, 1952Halda, Bernard, Alain, Paris: Editions Universitaires, 1950Maurois, Andre, Alain, Paris: Domat, 1950Pascal, Georges, Pour connatre la pensee dAlain, Paris: Bor-das, 1946

Pascal, Georges, LIdee de philosophie chez Alain, Paris: Bor-das, 1970

Reboul, Olivier, LHomme et ses passions dapres Alain, 2 vols,Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968

Semin, Andre, Alain: un sage dans le cite, Paris: Laffont, 1985

ALTHUSSER, LOUISPhilosopher, Political Theorist

The name of Louis Althusser has become a landmarkin twentieth-century French thought, being associatedpredominantly with the structuralist school of Marx-ism. In Anglophone circles, this school even came tobe known under his own name and was responsible forstimulating important discussions around the relativeautonomy of the superstructures, the nonsubjective na-ture of the historical process, the validity of the conceptof ideology and its permanence, the scientific natureof Marxism, and the mutual overlapping of politics andphilosophy. There can be no dispute that Althusserswritings have had theoretical effects and consequencesthat he could not have anticipated, effects resonatingfrom Western Europe to Latin America, through thedisciplines of sociology and political and social theory,to gender and film studies, as well as to cultural andliterary studies and, more obviously, Marxist econom-ics and radical philosophy.

3

As his foreword to For Marx reminds us, many ofAlthussers essays were shaped by the ideological andpolitical conjuncture that saw the death of Stalin, thedenunciation of the cult of personality, and the con-comitant rise of a liberal-humanist Marxism galvan-ized to transcend Stalinist dogmatism with an ideologyof the liberation of authentic man. Althusser con-demned and fought hard against this ideological fusionof Marxism and humanism, claiming that the revolu-tionary character of Marxs philosophy was both hind-ered and threatened by such intraideological currents.It was this tension between science and ideology thatwas to dominate many of his writings, producing fromhis readers cries of theoreticism and the denial of con-crete politics, as well as vindications of his sophisti-cated account of the complex reality of political socie-ties.Whatever place we might assign the historical spec-

ificity of Althussers writings, it is clear that any as-sessment of his significance at the start of the twenty-first century will be quite different from one writtenin the 1970s or 1980s and guided by the so-called de-mise of Althusserianism (see Benton, 1984). This isnot, as one may reasonably digress, because the politi-cal climate has rendered Marxism a different kind ofideological animal than it was several decades ago, andneither is it because of the tragedy of his final years,recorded in his autobiography (1993; Elliott, 1994). Itis rather the result of the astonishing number of posthu-mous volumes of Althussers writings that have nowcome to light. These afford a more nuanced, finelysketched picture of the sheer range and depth of histhought, which embraced among others the figures ofSpinoza and Machiavelli as well as Marx, Freud,Lacan, and the French epistemological tradition. Al-thussers structuralist approach to Marxism was so dis-tinctive and powerful that we continue to feel its latenteffects among so many poststructuralist thinkers whohave continued to work both inside and outside aMarxist perspective (e.g. Balibar, Badiou, Foucault,and Ranciere).

Against Humanism and Historicism

Althusser may share the title of Western Marxistwith Korsch, Lukacs, Gramsci, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty, but it is one that fits him in name alone. Indeveloping a structuralist method (albeit one attribut-able more to Spinoza than Levi-Strauss, as we shallsee below), Althusser endeavored to bring a new appa-ratus of thought to Marxism in the form of a scienceof history, freed from all evolutionary and historicisttendencies and autonomous in its object of analysis,its theory, and its method. Above all, this new science,which Althusser claims to recover in embryonic form

ALTHUSSER, LOUIS

in Marxs writings and build into an epistemologicalsystem himself, would be untainted by any of the ideo-logical currents of Marxism, which continued, in hisview, to compromise and weaken it. To this end, Al-thusser positioned himself against many of theWesternMarxists noted above, claiming that there remained aresidual Hegelianism in their readings of Marx. Hisproject, he writes in For Marx, was to draw a line ofdemarcation between Marxist theory and the forms ofphilosophical (and political) subjectivism which havecompromised or threatened it (1969, p. 12). Thus be-gins Althussers diatribe against all forms of HegelianMarxism; notably that of Lukacs with its attendant his-toricism and humanism as well as its residual idealism,but also against many other forms of humanism, partic-ularly the Sartrean variety that ultimately remained tiedto a conception of the subject as cogito (1969, p. 219247; 1968, p. 119144).Although the recent publication of Althussers early

writings affords a more balanced consideration of Al-thussers negotiation of Hegel, who was the subject ofhis 1947 Masters dissertation (see 1997, p. 36169),by the 1960s his tendency was toward a largely nega-tive reading of Hegel. Hegels system is understoodto correspond to an expressive totality in which thedialectical movements of the relations of the totalityare inseparable from their own genesis as concepts.The totality is therefore circular: the Hegelian systemis inseparable from its goal, which is given in the dia-lectical structure of its conditions of becoming. Trans-ferred byMarxists to the realm of history, this Hegelianlogic produced either teleological accounts of the sub-jects historical realization in the movement of history(Lukacs, Sartre) or mechanical, economic deterministaccounts of the steady march of the productive forcestoward their inevitable realization in communism(Kautsky and Luxemburg). The theoretical and politi-cal lesson to be drawn from this is a clear one. Howevermuch Marxist conceptions of totality try to counterHegelian idealism by appealing to history, the compo-nent parts of this totality are flattened out . . . intoa variation of the Hegelian totality (1968, p. 132).Furthermore, by collapsing the theoretical field ofknowledge into the movement of real history, that is,by historicizing knowledge, Marxist forms of knowl-edge, like those associated with Hegelianism, are sub-jected to the ideological idiosyncrasies of the historicalprocess.It is against these ideological (and hence regressive

and idealist) tendencies that Althusser pits his ownsymptomatic reading of Marxs Capital, analogous tothe one performed by Jacques Lacan on Freuds writ-ings. Such a reading attempts to recover the latent dis-cursive structure underlying the text; it shifts the focusaway from economism (the language of classical polit-

4

ical economy) and away from humanism and histori-cism (the language of Hegelianism), and isolates thenew object of analysis inaugurated by Marxs theo-retical revolution: the mode of production. This invis-ible structure articulates all the elements of a socialformation as a complex totality in which each elementor instance (the legal, the ideological, the political) isunderstood as relatively autonomous, being deter-mined only in the last instance by the (ever tardy) eco-nomic instance. Discussions as to whether a relationof reflection, determination, or homology character-izes the basesuperstructure topography were to all in-tents and purposes displaced. As with structural lin-guistics, it was the difference between these variouscomplex levels, rather than their underlying expressiveunity, that takes on greater significance for Althusser.To emphasize the unevenness of structural relationsand to analyze their historical complexity, Althusserused the Freudian concept of overdetermination, al-ready repositioned in Lacans structuralist reading ofthe psychoanalyst. Freud used this concept to refer tothe multiplicity of dream-thoughts contained, by thecensorship of psychic agency, within a single dreamimage.Although Lacan reconfigured the concept in rela-

tion to language, Althusser repositions it in relation tothe economy. Here it indicates that where a specificlevel may appear to determine the general form of thestructure, it is itself also determined in one and thesame movement, . . . by the various levels and in-stances of the social formation it animates (1969, p.101). If, in every structural totality, there was alwaysa structure in dominance that articulated the otherlevels, it was not determinant; this role was reservedfor the economy even as it was once again overdeter-mined by the other levels. In this way, no simple Hege-lian logic of contradiction can prevail; where effectsare attributable to a single cause, overdeterminationensures the absence or deferral of any primary causeor uniform causality and renders each level mutuallydetermining and determined, complex and decentered.The antihumanism of this structuralist schema has

far-reaching implications. No longer can the subjectbe considered as the origin or foundation of meaningor the author of history. Althusser displaces the subjectfrom its function of determination; instead, a systemof objective relations is understood to underpin andconstruct subjectivity. Thus, considered as agents,human individuals are not free and constitutive sub-jects in the philosophical sense of these terms. Theywork in and through the determinations of the forms ofhistorical existence of the social relations of productionand reproduction (1984, p. 134). With this anti-humanist strategy, Althusser calls into question themetaphysical properties that tie the subject to empiri-

ALTHUSSER, LOUIS

cist and idealist conceptions of knowledge, as well asto individualist and voluntarist forms of politics. Eachof these opposes an original subject (perceiving sub-ject, subject of praxis) to an object (object of knowl-edge or social totality). Unsurprisingly, this claim tar-nished Althussers name in the French CommunistParty and was greeted with condemnation by manyMarxists (e.g., see Thompson, 1978).Nevertheless, Althusser located such a preponder-

ance of metaphysical elements in Marxs early, pre-scientific writings. Here, he argued, the influence ofthe German idealism of Feuerbach and Hegel, and theirconcepts of speciesbeing, human essence, alienation,and consciousness, gave Marxs thought an anthropo-logical, humanist content. It is not until 18451846,with the writing of The German Ideology, that the set-tling of accounts with German metaphysics takesplace. Hence, the well-known formulation of the epis-temological break identified by Althusseritself moreakin to a tension or tendency rather than a definitivebreak (1968; Balibar, 1993)whereby Marxs writ-ings became recognizably antihumanist and a new sci-ence, the continent of history, is opened up by him. Nolonger can history be viewed as the activity of subjects;history becomes a process without a subject or goal,one which begins with the concrete determinants ofthe mode of production rather than with the ideologicalnotion of the voluntary agent (1972, p. 161186; 1984,p. 133139).Certainly, for postwar philosophical currents such

as the phenomenological Marxism of Merleau-Pontyand the existential humanist Marxism of Sartre, thediscourse of structuralism, with its antihistoricist andantihumanist arguments, proved distinctly unpalatable.For Althusser, the battle was clearly more than a warover concepts: It was about creating a scientific dis-course for Marxism that could be insulated from theideological residues of subjectivism and naive ideal-ism. As a result, Marxs fledgling science of historicalmaterialism would emerge more able to respond politi-cally and analytically to the historical conjuncture oflate capitalism, whereas the sturdy epistemologicalstructure brought to it by Althusser would renderMarxism autonomous of bourgeois socialist ideologyand sufficient unto itself, its conditions of existenceand its object of investigation now being wholly inter-nal to its structure of knowledge. It is only when Marx-ism is able to distinguish its scientific basis from theideology latent within it, to deal with the differencebetween them, that the consequences of this epistemo-logical rupture with philosophy would be felt. For hiscritics, however, this rigorous attempt to isolate Marx-ism could only result in a dogmatic theoreticism, scien-tific idealism, and ahistoricism (Anderson, 1976).

5

Marxist Science in the Wake of Spinoza

Curiously, the theoretical novelty of Althussers re-casting of Marxist philosophy as a theory of theoreticalpractice is largely generated via non-Marxist sources.Although the theory of the discontinuity or break inMarxs oeuvre is provided by the epistemology ofBachelard and the imaginary structure of ideology fur-nished with recourse to Lacans structuralist psycho-analysis, the antiempiricist theory of knowledge is con-structed with close philosophical allegiance to theseventeenth-century Dutch rationalist philosopherBaruch Spinoza. If Althusser once noted his unusualaffinity with the latter two thinkers, namely, theirsharedmarginalization (all faced forms of excommuni-cation as a result of their ideas), he also noted morepertinently that his alleged structuralism was to be at-tributed less to the Parisian intellectual fashion of theday and more to Spinozas antihumanism (1976, p.132). Similar to Althusser, Spinoza was critical of theauthority imparted on the subject as the creator ofknowledge (an authority that was, in its Cartesian form,guaranteed by religious faith). This led Spinoza towarda theory of knowledge that departed from a simplecorrespondence between the subject and the real andfrom an uncritical account of the role of representation(of both ideas and images) in the formulation of knowl-edge. Thus, according to Althusser, Spinoza con-structed a theory that reflected on the difference be-tween the imaginary and the true (1969, p. 17). Herecognized, in other words, that the empiricist con-struction of the object gave rise to an imaginary orideological formulation of knowledge. In ReadingCapital, Althusser links empiricism with what he callsa philosophy of vision, described there as the logicof a conception of knowledge in which . . . the wholenature of its object is reduced to the mere conditionof a given (1969, p.19). The formation or structureof knowledge requires no separation or dislocationfrom the ideological impurities of the object becausethe object of knowledge is intrinsic to the real, empiri-cal object. Empiricism invests in the kinds of dualismsthat contravene its own efforts to isolate the kernel ofobjectivity (e.g., a conception of a divided subject splitbetween mind and body, essence and appearance, thevisible and the hidden). These dualisms, particularlythe sovereign fundamental conflict between truth andfiction, are wholly internal to the structure of ideology,according to Althusser. Empiricism then is resolutelyattached to the givenness of reality, and its critical dis-tance from the concretereal, for Althusser, the ideo-logical, is henceforth denied.For Althusser and Spinoza, knowledge of the true

is not the result of a philosophy of reflection, whosemast is always empiricist; rather, it is derived a priori,

ALTHUSSER, LOUIS

according to conditions internal to the production ofknowledge itself. Here the object of knowledge is en-tirely internal to thought and is to be distinguishedfrom the empirical or real object of mundane reality.The derivation of scientific knowledge has threephases: generality I consists of the raw material orbrute facts on which scientific theory labors. Thesefacts are never pure and uncontaminated, but alwayscarry conceptual residues from previous ideologicalinterpretations (hence Marxs early negotiation of theideological currents of Hegelianism). Science mustmaneuver a path between this dimension of the real,generality I, and generality III; namely, the theoreticalfield in which science produces and practices a distinctmode of knowledge. Sandwiched between these tworegions, generality II is an extremely complex andcontradictory unity that will always contain their ide-ological residues and their scientific possibilities. Gen-erality II is the problematique of knowledge; it is theset of related concepts that must be worked on by sci-ence, and it will take markedly different forms depend-ing on the degree of development of a knowledge ata specific point in its history. For an ideological prac-tice to become a scientific one, then, the mode of fram-ing the questions asked of knowledge must be trans-formed. It was precisely this reframing of the objectsof analysis in The German Ideology (i.e., the creationof a new problematique) that, for Althusser, constitutesthe immense theoretical revolution initiated by Marxthat transforms Marxist philosophy into a science ofhistory.Althussers epistemology has some difficult paths

to negotiate in its journey away from the ideologiesof humanism, historicism, and empiricism. It seemsunclear whether the resources necessary to counter ide-ology have been developed adequately. Given thatevery science must emerge out of ideology, perhapsthere can be no pure science but only a science ofideology (Macherey, quoted in 1969, p. 41). If scienceis the Other of ideology, then insofar as it tries to extri-cate itself from the clutches of the latter, it will becontinually reinhabited and contaminated by it. In thisway, the risk of the conceptual breakdown of scienceis implied from within, as its tautological structure willbe riven with ideological residues. Thus, criticisms re-garding Althussers theoreticism and the alleged con-tainment of science from the world of ideology (and,hence, its divorce from any other theoretical referent)must, to some degree, be misdirected fire, being antici-pated already in the failed logic of his epistemology.

Ideology with no End

If Althussers epistemological efforts were to banishall ideological elements from Marxism, his conclu-

6

sions in the realm of politics were diametrically op-posed. Here he claimed ideology as an omnihistoricalreality akin to the eternity of the Freudian unconscious,immutable in structure and form and secreted by allhuman societies (be they capitalist or communist) asthe very element and atmosphere indispensable to theirhistorical respiration and life (1968, p. 232). Ideologyis at once a priori and timeless in that it is a necessarytranshistorical structure without which there could beno society; at the same time, ideology is also endowedwith a specificity that allows its historical variance anda necessary responsiveness to the needs of particularpolitical and social formations. Any accusation thatAlthussers structuralist analysis implied the displace-ment of the dimension of history tout court is an errorof interpretation.In keeping with his critique of empiricism and hu-

manism, a formulation of ideology as an inversion ormystification of the real (as presented by the Marxistmetaphor of the camera obscura in The German Ideol-ogy) must be rejected outright. Likewise, Althusserscritique of the subject precludes him from establishingan overly simplistic account of ideology as false con-sciousness, where the subjects experience of the worldmust become the source of knowledge necessary totranscend ideology. In his influential essay of 1972Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, Althus-sers central focus is on precisely how ideology is ableto reproduce the relations of production by establishingmodes of identification for subjects (subject-positions)so that they may take up their allotted place in thesocial formation. The state, no longer viewed simplyas the instrument or agent of the bourgeoisie againstthe proletariat, consists of ideological state apparatuses(church, school, family, political parties, communica-tions, and so on) and repressive apparatuses (army,police) that secure the conditions of class dominationby consent and force, respectively. This revision andelucidation of the operation of the state owes some-thing to the reflection on the logic of consent and therole of the state inWestern states presented by Gramsciin his Prison Notebooks (1971, part 2). It was alsothis aspect of Althussers work that was to open upimportant discussions within feminism regarding therole of the family and the construction of genderedidentity in the reproduction of capitalist relations ofproduction (Barrett, 1988; Assiter, 1990).How does ideology account for the constitution of

the subject of ideology? Here Althussers focus is theideological mechanism through which thought, per-ception, and subjectivity are produced, or in otherwords, the representation of ideology within con-sciousness. Althusser understands the subjects per-ceptions of their lived relations to be anchored reso-lutely to an imaginary relation. Thus, ideology

ALTHUSSER, LOUIS

represents the imaginary relationship of individualsto their real conditions of existence (1984, p. 36). Thisconcept of the imaginary is invested with allusions toSpinoza and the psychoanalyst and philosopherJacques Lacan. From Spinoza, Althusser takes theview of the imagination as a source of deception andillusion; from Lacan, he takes the view that the imagi-nary is a necessary form of misrecognition. It deceivessubjects as to their relation to the symbolic social order,the place of the law, and the only possible place forspeaking and acting subjects. According to Lacan, theimaginary only partially constitutes the subject witha fantasy of wholeness and containment. It leaves adimension of experience, the real, that is forever fore-closed and cannot be represented in the symbolic ex-cept through its effects. Althussers theoretical expla-nation for this process of constitution is the much moreinclusive notion of interpellation. Interpellation per-forms a vital hailing function of identification for Al-thusser, enabling subjects to recognize themselves inthe dominant ideology. That such a structure of recog-nition is a profoundly unconscious event remainingforever on the level of misrecognition (meconnais-sance) is a necessary and essential counterpart to thereceipt of consciousness, belief, action, and speech bythe subject.It is significant that ideology works not only to tame

and discipline subjects but also, as Althussers formerstudent, Michel Foucault, would later explore inDisci-pline and Punish, to normalize and subject the bodyaccording to certain models of behavior. Dislocatedfrom its association with the realm of ideas, ideologyis inscribed in material practices and rituals that consti-tute subjects. In his example of religion, Althussernotes the modalities of kneeling, the discourse ofprayer, the sign of the cross, and the gaze of the Abso-lute subject, all of which interpellate and insert thesubject into the materiality of religious ideology. Al-thussers analysis nonetheless stops short of a consid-eration of how the process of interpellation must becontinuous if it is to produce and maintain self-disciplined subjects. There is no focus on the perpetualprocess of interpellation and, similarly, no discussionof the link between ISAs and the historically specificand flexibleways of constituting subjects of capital-ism. The attempt to supplement Marxism with psycho-analysis did not extend to an elaboration of the possiblerelation between ideology and its profoundly uncon-scious effects. This was, as Althusser admits in an un-dated letter to a friend, a limit that had not beencrossed (1996, p. 45).For many of his critics, the net result of these theo-

retical weaknesses was not merely the death of thesubject but the erasure of Marxisms revolutionaryproject. Althussers structuralism was viewed as oscil-

7

lating between an antihumanism, insensitive to thequestions of resistance and transformation, and anahistoricism, ignorant of the idiosyncrasies of the his-torical process. Poststructuralisms regard for thereinscription of subjectivity (albeit one vigilant to allmetaphysical risks and without any determiningpower, hence essentially coming after Althusser), witha conception of history as genealogy, replaced Marxsrole in this trajectory with the figure of Nietzsche. Al-thussers later writings offer ample evidence of hiscontinued preoccupation with the tensions that markhis thought, as well as anticipating some poststructura-list themes.Although these final writings do not amount to a

distinct theory or perspective, it is apparent that Al-thusser was moving toward a more dynamic concep-tion of the subject as well as continuing his regard forthe contingency of history, aspects of his structuralistposition often overlooked by those preferring to em-phasize his ahistoricism and antisubjectivism (seeElliott [1998] for a convincing assessment). HereAlthusser traces a subterranean materialist traditionoriginating with Democritus and Epicurus and continu-ing by way of Hobbes, Spinoza, Machiavelli, andMarx(1994, p. 2948). Under the idea of aleatory material-ism Althusser gives weight to specter of the encoun-ter, to the singular historical event that disrupts thecourse of historical necessity, thus introducing an ele-ment of contingency into the supposed authority ofsynchronic lawlike structures. Althussers reflectionson Spinoza and the concept of freedom similarly cau-tion a too-hasty surmising of his apparent rejection ofthe subject:

That one can liberate and recompose ones own body,formerly fragmented and dead in the servitude of animaginary and, therefore, slavelike subjectivity, and takefrom this themeans to think liberation freely and strongly,therefore, to think properlywith ones own body, in onesown body, by ones own body, better: that to live withinthe thought of the conatus of ones own body was quitesimply to think within the freedom and the power ofthought. (1998, p. 1213)

It is fair to say that Althussers reading of Marxowes as much to Spinoza as it does to Marx. In thisextract, we find evidence of Althusser thinking ofknowledge and politics beyond the elusive differencebetween science and ideology. This is not to say thatthe thought of this influential Marxist philosopher wasnot structuralist or antihumanist in content, and neitheris it to suggest that his thought is not plagued withunruly contradictions between voluntarism and deter-minism, contingent and structural necessity. It is tosuggest, however, that it is only by thinking beyond

ALTHUSSER, LOUIS

these dualistic categories that the complex matrix ofAlthusserian Marxism is revealed.

CAROLINE WILLIAMS

See also Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Michel Fou-cault, Jacques Lacan, Claude Levi-Strauss, MauriceMerlau-Ponty, Jacques Ranciere, Jean-Paul Sartre

Biography

Althusser was born in Algiers in 1918. He joined theCommunist Party in 1948. In 1965, he published hisinfluential work For Marx, which was followed byLenin and Philosophy in 1969. In 1980, he murderedhis wife; he was thereafter confined to an asylum untilhis death in 1990.

Selected Writings

Pour Marx, 1965; as For Marx, translated by Ben Brewster,1969

Lenin, Philosophy and Other Essays, translated by Ben Brews-ter, 1971

Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx, translatedby Ben Brewster, 1972

Essays in Self-Criticism, translated by Graham Lock, 1976Essays on Ideology, translated by Ben Brewster and GrahamLock, 1984

Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists,translated by Ben Brewster, James H. Kavanaugh, GrahameLock, and Warren Montag, 1990

The Future Lasts a Long Time and The Facts, translated byRichard Veasey, 1993a

Ecrits sur la psychoanalyse: Freud et Lacan, 1993b; asWritingson Psychoana