French Intellectuals and Politics from the Dreyfus Affair to the Occupation - (French Politics, Society and Culture) Annotated by D Drake

Book Synopsis

A companion volume to Drake's Intellectuals and Politics in Post-War France (2002), French Intellectuals from the Dreyfus Affair to the Occupation traces the political positions adopted by French writers and artists from the end of the 19th century to the Liberation. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, it offers a clear and accessible analysis of the intellectuals' engagement with nationalism, pacifism, communism, anti-communism, surrealism, fascism and anti-fascism, which is located within the evolving national and international context of the period.

Review Quotes

Reviews of Drake: Intellectuals and Politics in Post-War France

'Drake has an unusual gift of being able to step back and look across the channel with equanimity, without superciliousness, and present to the reader a true cacophony of highly literate and highly combative voices in such a way that a foreigner can hear them, can grasp the motivations behind and the rationale for more than a half-century of French intellectuals' descending from their ivory tower into the harsh, often confused world of socio-political actuality.' - Professor David Schalk, Vassar College, USA

'It helps the reader understand where, under particular historical and political pressures, intellectuals in a certain tradition went wrong, or got things right. It offers a measured and detailed summary of the ways in which Sartre, his allies, their opponents and some of their successors intervened in political debates...Readers interested in intellectuals' responses to the Soviet Union under Stalin, colonial war in Indo-China and Algeria, the events of May 1968, and war in the Balkans, will find much useful material here.' - Times Literary Supplement

'Drake's timely contribution offers students a perfect introduction to the intellectual in France.' - Modern and Contemporary France

'This book provides a readily accessible and well-focused introduction [to the subject].' - Chris Shorley, The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

DAVID DRAKE is Principal Lecturer in French at Middlesex University. He is President of the UK Society for Sartrean Studies and is a member of the editorial board of Modern and Contemporary France.