Vichy France is a period of French history that has only fairly recently begun to be examined for what it truly is: a period in which many of the French turned against their own state and collaborated with the German forces to betray their own country. Until the eighties, the Vichy Regime was regarded as “an aberration in the evolution of the French Republic” (Munholland, 1994) , repressed by the French in an attempt to regain their national pride. ‘Lacombe Lucien’ (1974), directed by Louis Malle is a film which aims to capture the ambiguity of the era through the documentation of fictional collaborateur, Lucien.
Lucien is an uneducated country boy with highly apolitical views, as is apparent from his lack of attention to the radio broadcast in the opening sequence, so his incentives for becoming a collaborateur are questionable and ambiguous. Lucien is very much representative of the general population of rural France in this way, and this is evident within the film when we see the teacher chastising a pupil for being unable to spell a word, but eventually brushing it off with the notion that he will simply become a farmer anyway. In fact, according to Jean-Paul Sartre “most collaborators, it’s a fact, came from the bourgeois” (Jankiwski, 1991). Like many other collaborators, Lucien has not grown up in an environment where education or attention to current affairs are high priorities, so an ambigious reaction to Vichy France is natural for him since it is not something he is well informed about. The idea that evil deeds can simply arise as a result of ignorance is supported by Hannah Arendt who says there is a “strange interdependence of thoughtlessness and evil” (Arendt, 1964). It is this banality of evil that makes Vichy Fran...
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...e exact opposite, rendering his dedication and involvement in the Milice questionable. In this sense, Lucien, is portraying the typical bourgeois collaborateur as a human being who is capable of love, quite unlike the traditional image of a “monster”. However, Lucien and his motives remain ambiguous to the audience due to his questionable treatment of France at certain points within the film. Whilst Lucien is “courting” France, he demands that she escort him to a dance at the hotel which has become a gathering place for the Milice, against her will and her father’s will. This is a highly selfish act on Lucien’s part, as France is in great danger the entire evening since the generals within the Milice are well aware of her status as a Jew, creating doubt withing the audience over the authenticity of Lucien’s love and his capability to think and feel in a moral manner
To summarize the book into a few paragraphs doesn't due it the justice it deserves. The beginning details of the French and Ind...
In 1998, Francine du Plessix Gray, prolific author of novels, biographies, sociological studies and frequent contributions to The New Yorker, published her most acclaimed work to date: At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life. A Pulizer Prize finalist that has already appeared in multiple English-language editions as well as translated ones, Du Plessix Gray’s biography has met with crowning achievement and recognition on all fronts. Accolades have accumulated from the most acclaimed of eighteenth-century luminaries, such as Robert Darnton, in a lengthy review in The New York Review of Books that compares her biography with Laurence Bongie’s Sade: A Biographical Essay, to the list of scholars whom she thanks in her acknowledgements for having read the manuscript: Lynn Hunt, Lucienne Frappier-Mazur, and Marie-Hélène Huët. Surely, any scholar can appreciate the vast amount of research that undergirds Du Plessix Gray’s narrative, and indeed, she takes great pains to meticulously inform the reader who might care to look at her sources and read her acknowledgements that she has done her homework and knows every inch of the scholarly terrain. Du PlessixGray wisely begins her acknowledgements with a debt of gratitude to Maurice Lever’s studies, which rest on years of archival research.
Mercer, Jeremy. When the Guillotine Fell: The Bloody Beginning and Horrifying End to France's River of Blood, 1791-1977. New York: St. Martin's, 2008. Print.
Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped follows the confinement and eventual escape of political activist, Lieutenant Fontaine. The movie’s theme is blatantly clear: freedom at all costs. Fontaine must not only save himself from imminent death, but from the fear of parched sanity. Bresson, an “auteur” by the standards of colleagues and the Cahiers Du Cinema group, creates suspense melded with hope through the scarcity of music and sound, the restricted establishment of setting, the daunting acting of Francois Leterrier, the exposition of time, and the heavy reliance of a narrator.
French Foreign Policy and the Coming of War During this critical time not much attention was turned to France, as the entire spotlight was on Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement and Hitler’s aims. The Orthodox view of France was described as of a deeply divided and politically unstable country, which was obsessed with security and defense. France was definitely not ready for war, and therefore eagerly agreed to the policy of appeasement. It preferred negotiating with Germany at this stage rather than fighting it.
“Père Duchesne, no. 313”. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1973. Marquis de Ferreriès. Correspondence inédite. “The Réveillon Riot (28 April 1789)”.
1. What is the difference between Introduction 2. What is the difference between History 3. What is the difference between a's Planning / Preparation 4.
During the eighteenth century, France was one of the most richest and prosperous countries in Europe, but many of the peasants were not happy with the way France was being ruled. On July 14, 1789, peasants and soldiers stormed the Bastille and initiated the French Revolution. This essay will analyze the main causes of the French Revolution, specifically, the ineffectiveness of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the dissatisfaction of the Third Estate, and the Enlightenment. It will also be argued that the most significant factor that caused the French Revolution is the ineffective leadership of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
The relationship shared by Pierre and Helene is best described as a lustful charade. It is no coincidence that Pierre, one of the most introspective characters in the novel, first marries a shallow, inwardly-ugly adulterer. His first recorded attitude towards Helene is one of admira...
The year of terror is one of the most complex and misunderstood periods in the French Revolution. Palmer, in his book, Twelve Who Ruled, however, takes this period and skillfully turns it into a written masterpiece. The book is narrated from the point of view of someone with an omniscient knowledge of the subject matter, who is reflecting back on the period from the outside.
...e is represented as inferior to Jean’s character despite her social standing but due to her actions and nature she has become a tool for exploitation for men. Her behavior – deemed unfitting according to the traditional thoughts of society at the time given her gender – paves the way for her degradation and humiliation in front of the audience. Male dominance and superiority takes form in both the manipulative nature and luring of Jean, her father’s valet, and the authoritative power and fear in her father, the Count.
In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as post-modernists viewed the world. Rather than living as one gear in the ‘machine’ of society, Meursault defies this unwritten law in the lackluster relationships between he and other females, as well as his seemingly blissful eye to society itself. In The Stranger, males, not females, truly bring out the side of Meursault that has the capacity for compassion and a general, mutual feeling relationship. For example, Marie and Meursault’s relationship only demonstrate Meursault’s lack of an emotional appetite for her. Also, with the death of Maman, Meursault remains virtually unchanged in his thoughts and desires.
Nardo, Don. A. The French Revolution. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1999. Print.
The protagonists, The Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, consider it their life’s ambition to sadistically control and dominate those around them through sexual intrigue. These two villains are indeed locked in psychological combat to see who can actually ‘out-do’ the other in stalking, capturing and destroying the souls of others. Taking absolute pleasure in ripping any virtue from the hearts of their prey, Merteuil and Valmont wave their accomplishments in front of each other like spoils of war. The less the chance of surrender, the more relentless is the pursuit.
“Les Misérables Historical Context.” Novels for Students. Sheryl Ciccarelli, Marie Rose Naipierkowski. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. 242-244. Print.