Realms of Memory - (European Perspectives: A Social Thought and Cultural Criticism) by Pierre Nora & Lawrence Kritzman (Hardcover)

About the Book

Offers the best essays from the acclaimed collection originally published in French. This monumental work examines how and why events and figures become a part of a people's collective memory, how rewriting history can forge new paradigms of cultural identity, and how the meaning attached to an event can become as significant as the event itself.

Book Synopsis

This text is the second of three volumes looking at the history of France. This volume examines how and why events and figures become part of a people's collective memory. It emphasizes the shared aspects of French history and cultural instrumental in the development of a national identity. It includes 14 essays on subjects ranging from Proust's Remembrance of Things Past to the Tour de France.

From the Back Cover

Realms of Memory, the three-volume English-language edition of Pierre Nora's critically acclaimed Lieux de Memoire, translates the vicissitudes of national self-consciouness and the meanings and disjunctions associated from past events into a unique and incisive portrait of a nation.

Review Quotes

"Provides arresting genealogies of a number of the major cleavages in French history, with chapters on the embattled relationship of Jews to the French republic, the peculiar affinities of Gaulism and Communism, and... Paris' haughty condescension toward la province.... Without resorting to polemics, the volume reminds us that the image of the French past is confected as much out of amnesia as out of memory." -- "Lingua Franca"

"A magisterial attempt to define what it is to be French." -- "Times Literary Supplement"

"A magnificent achievement.... [The essays included] are the high-carat jewels of the project." -- "The New Republic"

"This is an indispensable guide to understanding France and the French. As usual, Arthur Goldhammer's translation is superb." -- "Foreign Affairs"

"This unusual book deals fascinatingly with everything from the creation of the rousing anthem "La Marseillaise" to the changing role of Joan of Arc in France's collective memory. Even the Eiffel Tower shines forth in surprising new facets." -- "Chicago Tribune"

"A magisterial attempt to define what it is to be French." -- Times Literary Supplement

"A magnificent achievement.... [The essays included] are the high-carat jewels of the project." -- The New Republic

"This is an indispensable guide to understanding France and the French. As usual, Arthur Goldhammer's translation is superb." -- Foreign Affairs

"This unusual book deals fascinatingly with everything from the creation of the rousing anthem "La Marseillaise" to the changing role of Joan of Arc in France's collective memory. Even the Eiffel Tower shines forth in surprising new facets." -- Chicago Tribune

"A magnificent achievement.... ÝThe essays included¨ are the high-carat jewels of the project." -- "The New Republic"

"A magisterial attempt to define what it is to be French." -- "Times Literary Supplement"

"A magnificent achievement.... [The essays included] are the high-carat jewels of the project." -- "The New Republic"

"This is an indispensable guide to understanding France and the French. As usual, Arthur Goldhammer's translation is superb." -- "Foreign Affairs"

"This unusual book deals fascinatingly with everything from the creation of the rousing anthem "La Marseillaise" to the changing role of Joan of Arc in France's collective memory. Even the Eiffel Tower shines forth in surprising new facets." -- "Chicago Tribune"

About the Author

Pierre Nora is Editorial Director of Editions Gallimand. He is editor of the journal Le Debat and is Directeur D'Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.