Between the General and the Particular: Reminiscences of Plato's Timaeus in Piotr Rawicz's Le sang du ciel

Piotr Rawicz's novel Le sang du ciel depicts a Jewish protagonist, Boris, who manages to escape the Nazi genocide and, as a result, doubts his own legitimacy to bear witness to the other Jews' fate during that period. His difficult relationships with the Jewish community find expression in an intertextual construction, founded on the ontocosmology developed in Plato's Timaeus. Boris uses—and sometimes perverts—Plato's world vision both to measure his own inauthenticity and to define new ways of creating a state of "fusion" with the "beings" surrounding him. Another technique to overcome Boris's inability to testify is the use of a frame narrative, which, moreover, sheds new light on the protagonist's identity as a witness.     

TIME,NARRATIVE, AND FICTION: THE UNEASY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RICOEUR AND A HETEROGENEOUS TEMPORALITY

In Time and Narrative, Paul Ricoeur confirms the relationship between time experience and how it is epitomized in a narrative by investigating historiography and fiction. Regarding fiction, he explores temporality in three “novels of time” [Zeitromane]: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, and À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust. Ricoeur perceives the temporalities as homogeneous; however, in my view, the novels contain at least three different temporalities. Mann seeks a new temporality by ironizing a romantic time of rise and fall and Woolf configures a time we can call the simultaneity of the dissimultaneous. In his analysis of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, Ricoeur explicitly dismisses a Bergsonian approach to temporality. In my opinion, Bergson defends a heterogeneous time that is apparent in Proust's novel.     

Contesting the capital of culture in Antonio Muñoz Molina's Los misterios de Madrid

This essay examines Antonio Muñoz Molina´s use of the Gothic mode and the misterio genre to destabilize Madrid's image as a politicized symbol of cultural modernity in his 1992 novel Los misterios de Madrid. The novel was a return to the form and function of the nineteenth-century urban mystery novel. The year 1992 was one of celebrations throughout Spain, and Madrid was designated the 1992 European Capital of Culture (ECOC). The ECOC title was meant to signal Spain's graduation to democratic modernity and its new identity as a European capital. Madrid of Muñoz Molina contests this politicization of Madrid´s identity by gothicizing the capital. This Madrid is enigmatic and threatening, and it is the home of the conspiracies that undermine the capital's new image. In a year that celebrated Madrid's entree into European modernity, Muñoz Molina uses nineteenth-century literary modes to question Madrid's success story.     

The ideals and origins of the Franco-German,sister cities movement, 1945–70

Vattel's Mélanges de littérature, de morale et de politique (Thoughts on literature, morals and politics) was published at Neuchâtel by the Editeurs du Journal Helvétique in 1760 and this is the first English translation. It was republished under the title, Amusemens de littérature, de morale et de politique in 1765. Vattel's text provides evidence of his response to the issues facing Europe's states in the 1750s, and in doing so provides another perspective on his best known work, Le droit des gens (Law of Nations) of 1757. Vattel emerges as a reformer steeped in debates about the future of the European state system, and particularly Europe's small states and republics like Switzerland.     

Russia's European policy under Medvedev: how sustainable is a new compromise?

This article argues that Dmitry Medvedev's term in office, despite the continuity in Russia's foreign policy objectives, brought about a certain change in Russia's relations with the European Union and the countries of the Common Neighbourhood. The western perceptions of Russia as a resurgent power able to use energy as leverage vis‐à‐vis the EU were challenged by the global economic crisis, the emergence of a buyer's market in Europe's gas trade, Russia's inability to start internal reforms, and the growing gap in the development of Russia on the one hand and China on the other. As a result, the balance of self‐confidence shifted in the still essentially stagnant EU–Russian relationship. As before, Moscow is ready to use all available opportunities to tighten its grip on the post‐Soviet space, but it is less keen to go into an open conflict when important interests of EU member states may be affected. The realization is slowly emerging also inside Russia that it is less able either to intimidate or attract European actors, even though it can still appeal to their so‐called ‘pragmatic interests’, both transparent and non‐transparent. At the same time, whereas the new modus operandi may be suboptimal from the point of view of those in the country who would want Russia's policy to be aimed at the restoration of global power status, it is the one that the Kremlin can live with—also after the expected return of Vladimir Putin as Russia's president. Under the current scheme, the West—and the EU in particular—does little to challenge Russia's internal order and leaves it enough space to conduct its chosen course in the former Soviet Union.     

Virtual Poaching and Altered Space: Reading Parkour in French Visual Culture

Parkour has emerged in the last decade as a significant cultural practice, both in France, where it originated, and internationally. The cultural resonance of parkour—a form of street gymnastics combining acrobatic agility with a creative approach to urban space—is emphasised through its presence on numerous internet sites, as well as representations in advertising media, the bande dessinée, and films. While the prevalence of parkour as a practice is widely known, these numerous manifestations within culture have not been widely theorised. This article focuses primarily on parkour's representations in visual culture, especially in cinema, and considers the associations made in two films between parkour and the banlieue. Analysing both the legitimacy and potential problems in making the banlieue a stage for parkour performance and big-screen entertainment enables us to reconsider the notion of the film banlieue, as well as the political possibilities of a ‘parkour film’. Lastly, reflecting on the circumstances of contemporary cinema and the role of the internet, the article considers philosophical aspects of the ‘parkour film’, as well as seeking parallels between parkour's spatial practices and the practices of cinematic and online production and distribution.

La dernière décennie a vu apparaître le parkour en tant que pratique culturelle significative, en France, où il a son origine, mais aussi au niveau international. L'impact culturel du parkour – une gymnastique de rue qui unit l'agilité acrobatique à une attitude créative envers l'espace urbain – est souligné par sa présence sur nombre de sites Web, dans la publicité, la bande dessinée, et dans certains films. Alors que la popularité du parkour comme pratique est reconnue, ces représentations culturelles ont suscité moins d'intérêt théorique. Cet article porte sur les représentations du parkour dans la culture visuelle – principalement dans le cinéma – et examine les rapports établis dans deux films entre le parkour et la banlieue. En se demandant s'il est ou légitime ou problématique de se servir de la banlieue comme scène pour la célébration du parkour ou pour les super-productions cinématiques, on peut réexaminer le concept du ‘film banlieue’, et considérer les possibilités politiques d'un ‘film parkour’. Finalement, en réfléchissant sur la situation contemporaine du cinéma et le rôle de l'Internet, l'article considère les aspects philosophiques du film parkour; en même temps, il cherche à établir des correspondances entre les pratiques spatiales du parkour et les pratiques de production et dissémination cinématiques et numériques.     

Socialists: The end of the line?

Melchior, E., Le PS, du projet au pouvoir (Editions de l'Atelier/Editions Ouvrières, 1993), 358pp., 135F., ISBN 2 7082 30522

Chevènement, J.‐P., Le Temps des citoyens (Editions du Rocher, 1993), 447pp., 39F., ISBN 2 268 01557 2     

John Green. Notes on a neglected eighteenth century geographer and cartographer

Résumé

Le globe est composé de 12 fuseaux, actuellement collés cote à cote. La diamètre est de 73,5 cm.

Les planches originales, gravées sur cuivre, au nombre de 12, devaient mesurer 40 × 60 cm environ.

Les contours et la nomenclature sont postérieurs à 1581 et antérieurs à 1587. Six cartouches sont restés vides. 80 légendes sont inscrites sur diverses parties du monde.

L'auteur, anonyme, s'est servi d'une carte d'Ortelius ‐ dont on ne connait qu'un tirage unique ‐ publiée par Gérard de Jode en 1564, et d'une carte de Postel faite en 1581, dont il n'existe aussi qu'un tirage unique de 1621, ainsi que des cartes du Theatrum d'Ortelius de 1570. Certaines parties du monde, prises à Postel, furent utilisées par Cornelius de Jode dans son Speculum en 1593.

Le globe est antérieur à la grande mappemonde de Plancius de 1592, il est probablement anversois et aurait été établi dans l'entourage de Gérard de Jode. C'est aussi un unicum.

Le cartouche décoratif du 12e fuseau représente un personnage, peut‐être l'auteur, le graveur ou l'éditeur.     

Jeux de corps,Enjeux de pouvoir: New light on the history of French sport

Comite des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, Jeux et sports dans l'histoire (Editions du CTHS, 1992). Tome 1: Associations et politiques, 330pp, 360F.; Tome 2: Pratiques sportives, 400pp., 360F., ISBN 2 735 50245 7 and 2 735 50246 5

Hubscher, R., (sous la direction de), L'Histoire en mouvements: Le sport dans la société française (XIXe‐XXe siècle) (Armand Colin, 1992), 560pp., 290F., ISBN 2 200 37238 8

Rauch, A., Boxe, violence du XXème siècle (Aubier, 1992), 427pp., 180F., ISBN 2 700 72241 8     

MATTER(S) OF INTEREST: ARTEFACTS, SPACING AND TIMING

This paper argues that time‐geography can make a contribution to contemporary ‘rematerialized’ geographies, because the interconnections among social processes, human corporeality and inanimate material artefacts within the landscape were among Hägerstrand's central concerns. Time‐geography needs none the less to be extended in several ways to make it more reconcilable with current thinking about materiality in geography. The possibility of combining Hägerstrand's framework with notions from (post) actor‐network approaches is therefore explored. It is suggested that concepts and notions from the latter may contribute to the advancement of the conceptualization of action at a distance and agency in general in time‐geography, as well as the incorporation of the immaterial realm into space—time diagrams. The resulting materially heterogeneous time‐geography is a framework for studying the spacing and timing of different material entities that is sensitive to the role of artefacts and their local connectedness with other material forms. Some of its elements are illustrated briefly through an empirical study of the roles played by a few mundane artefacts in working parents ‘coping with child‐care responsibilities on working days. The case study suggest that these artefacts not only enable goal fulfilment and routinization but also result in further spacing and timing practices, and can introduce uncertainty and novelty to existing orders.     

Mongrel nation: animality and Empire in the novels of J.G. Farrell

The novels of J.G. Farrell (1935–79), reveal a writer preoccupied with the cultural representation of Britain in an era of post-imperial decline. Farrell's ‘Empire trilogy’ illustrates a national consciousness examining its chequered past through focus on Ireland in Troubles (1970), the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in The Siege of Krishnapur (1973) and the fall of Singapore in The Singapore Grip (1978). In doing so, Farrell's novels feature a notable proliferation of flora and fauna, particularly his use of dogs as representative of national character and the changeable state of British society under attack. This article argues that Farrell's novels explore the state of post-imperial Britain through a sustained focus on dogs and animality. In situations marked by degradation and decline, Farrell gradually collapses the boundaries of order and disorder, obedience and disobedience and man and beast, inviting comparisons between the animal instincts of the dogs that populate his novels and those of Britons fighting for survival.     

Hats,Hotels, Mayhem and Marx: Film,Theatre and the Cinematic Collaborations of the Groupe Octobre, 1932–1936

The Groupe Octobre, an agit-prop theatre group formed in April 1932 and disbanded in summer 1936, holds a mythical place in French film history. Though the primary activities of this troupe were theatrical, it provided the formative ground for cinema actors, screen-writers, directors, set designers, and film musicians, reflecting the close relationship between film and theatre which had evolved throughout the silent period. However, the coming of sound in 1928–29 opened up new debates surrounding this relationship, notably with regard to the critically despised genre of ‘filmed theatre’. This article proposes to look at two cinematic collaborations of the Groupe Octobre, L'Affaire est dans le sac (P. Prévert, 1932) and L'Hôtel du libre échange (M. Allégret, 1934), to examine how the group's contribution—coming from the distinctly alternative tradition of revolutionary workers' theatre yet also performing in mainstream films—reflects a more fruitful and diverse relationship between theatre and film in the early 1930s than has generally been critically acknowledged hitherto.

Le groupe Octobre, une troupe théâtrale formée en avril 1932 et qui s'est dissoute pendant l'été 1936, occupe une place mythique dans l'histoire du cinéma français. La plupart des activités de la troupe se déroulaient sur scène; mais le groupe a néanmoins joué un rôle formateur pour de nombreux acteurs, scénaristes, réalisateurs, musiciens et décorateurs de cinéma, reflétant ainsi les liens étroits qui s'étaient formés entre le cinéma et le théâtre pendant la période du muet. L'arrivée du parlant en 1928-29 a été à l'origine de nouveaux débats autour de cette relation, notamment à l'égard du ‘théâtre filmé’ – genre qui suscitait le mépris de bien des critiques. Cet article analyse deux collaborations cinématographiques du groupe Octobre, L'Affaire est dans le sac (P. Prévert, 1932) et L'Hôtel du libre échange (M. Allégret, 1934), afin d'examiner comment la contribution du groupe – venant de la tradition non-conventionnelle du théâtre ouvrier et révolutionnaire mais en même temps participant dans des films traditionnels – indique une relation entre le théâtre et le cinéma du début des années trente plus fructueuse et diverse que celle que l'on a décrite jusqu'à présent.     

Jean Renoir,The Rules of the Game,Reputation, and Revisionism

Jean Renoir's film La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) was first shown in Paris, in 1939, and is now generally regarded as one of his masterpieces. But there is a strange side to the film. What most critics and reference books say concerning it—and they tend to say much the same thing—does not, to put it bluntly, square with the facts. What they say is that La Règle du jeu is about an aristocratic house-party that is a microcosm of the corruptness and exhaustion of French society on the eve of World War II. Far from perceiving in La Règle du jeu evidence of the “corruption” and “exhaustion” in French society that led to the country's defeat and occupation by the Germans during World War II, however, the author of this essay attempts to see the film for what it is—not for what historicist critics want it to be.     

Centenary reflections on Rennes and the Dreyfus Affair

Assemblée nationale, Le Parlement et l'Affaire Dreyfus 1894–1906. Douze années pour la vérité (Assemblée nationale/Société d'études jaurésiennes, 1998), 307 pp., 60F., ISSN 1268 5399 (Cahiers Jean Jaurès, No. 147).

Brennan, J.F., The Reflection of the Dreyfus Affair in the European Press 1897–1899 (Peter Lang, 1998), 521 pp., 390F., ISBN 0 8204 3844 8

Cosnier, C. and Hélard, A., Rennes et Dreyfus en 1899. Une ville, un procès (Horay, 1999), 399 pp., 180F., ISBN 2 7058 0274 6

Datta, V. and Silverman, W. Z. (eds), ‘Intellectuals and the Dreyfus Affair’, special issue of Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 24(1) (Spring 1998).

Joly, B., Déroulède. L'inventeur du nationalisme français (Perrin, 1998), 440 pp., 179F., ISBN 2 262 01331 4

Pierrard, P., Les chrétiens et l'affaire Dreyfus (Editions de l'Atelier, 1998), 236 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 7082 3390 4     

RESTORING CONTINUITY: NOTES ON HISTORY AND FICTION

In 1935, as Europe witnessed the rise of fascism, Paul Valéry tried to identify the origins of the crisis in a lecture titled “Le bilan de l'intelligence.” Things were better, he claimed, when people were able to understand their present moment as the result of past events—that is, when “continuity reigned in the minds.” In this article, I discuss why that sense of continuity with the past is, in fact, indispensable for individuals and societies alike; using instances from great works of fiction, ranging from Don Quixote to the novels of Toni Morrison and Abdulrazak Gurnah, I suggest that fiction—the literary imagination of the historical past—might be uniquely adept at restoring continuity when it is broken.     

The Art of Contested Histories: In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] and the Pacific Legacy

ABSTRACT

European artists of the eighteenth century framed an exotic textual and visual narrative of the Pacific, drawing largely on knowledge gained from exploratory journeys of the 1760s and 1770s. Visual representations of the Pacific became socially fashionable and commercially successful. The French wallpaper manufacturer, Dufour, captured this commercial potential in a dramatic, panoramic wallpaper that told stories of European encounters with Pacific peoples: Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (1804). Yet it was selective, defining the Pacific by moments of contact with Cook and other explorers. Lisa Reihana's In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] (2015–17) dramatically interrogates the eighteenth-century narrative of the Pacific, responding to Dufour's wallpaper in a complex, panoramic work. By attending to ways in which the factual and speculative are brought together in Enlightenment artefacts and Reihana's restaging of them, we explore how art might be put to use in the service of historical interpretation.     

Absurd Avatars,Transcultural Relations: Elia Suleiman,Franco-Palestinian Filmmaking and Beyond

This article illuminates the threads of connection drawing together the work of the Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman and French cultural production, while acknowledging the broader international contexts of these connections. The transcultural relations identified in the article title are a means of articulating these concerns. Suleiman's films, funded by French production companies and supported by French film festivals, have a tacit connection to France. Suleiman's mute self-representation within his films also draws upon auteurist and absurdist tropes familiar to European literature and art in the twentieth century. First discussing the broader cultural and geopolitical contexts of Franco-Palestinian filmmaking, the article then engages closely with critical tropes of the Absurd and human gesture in relation both to the critical reception of Suleiman's films, and the films' aesthetics, specifically in his recent feature films Divine Intervention (2002) and Le Temps qu'il reste/The Time that Remains (2009). Offering an alternative articulation of these complex transcultural relationships, the article explores Suleiman's position as a mute filmic figure and auteur director. It re-opens an often ‘unspoken’ dialogue of Franco-Palestinian cinematic relations which has been frequently designated as historical or political, rather than also and in equal measure, cultural, aesthetic, ethical and personal. At the same time, it seeks to open out these dialogues beyond France and Palestine, towards transcultural relations between Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and North America.     

The Changing Brazilian Language

This article analyzes two female Bildungsromane published by nineteenth-century authors, Las dos Gracias by Fernán Caballero (1867) and La vida íntima by Pilar Sinués (1876). The female Bildungsroman in Spain explores different educational and developmental opportunities open to women since the middle of the nineteenth century. Fernán Caballero and Pilar Sinués, who have been—and still often are—dismissed as anti-feminist and conservative, created a very nuanced vision of female Bildung in their novels. Far from being mere propaganda pieces aimed at keeping women in subjection, these novels discuss the obstacles that society places in the way to female development and offer ways of overcoming these obstacles.