Total History: the Annales School Author(S): Michael Harsgor Source: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Total History: the Annales School Author(S): Michael Harsgor Source: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol Total History: The Annales School Author(s): Michael Harsgor Source: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan., 1978), pp. 1-13 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/260089 . Accessed: 24/02/2011 17:39 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sageltd. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Sage Publications, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Contemporary History. http://www.jstor.org Michael Harsgor Total History: The Annoles School In a spirit of self-mockery Heinrich Heine wrote that other nations may be powerful on land and sea but Germans dominated the air. He was, of course, referring to that thin spiritual atmosphere in which the philosophers floated their dreams and theories. Today, in the second half of the twentieth century, while other powers measure their strength in terms of armoured divisions or technological prowess, the French reign supreme in historiography. That at least is the view of Professor Traian Stoianovich in his in- structive study of the contemporary French historical school - especially as represented by Annales.' According to Stoianovich, there are three nations who have led the world in the field of historical scholarship; in two, Greece and Germany, the flame of creativity has been extinguished but it continues to burn brightly in France. The Greeks, and nobody will disagree with Professor Stoianovich about their merits, are praised as the pioneers of historiography. By their exemplary presentation of facts they in- tended to train historians in the spirit of wisdom anud virtue and so fit them for public service. For the Greeks, then, history was a 'useful' discipline. As well as the classical authors, Stoianovich also includes Machiavelli, Guicciardioni, Bodin and Francis Bacon as belonging to this school i.e. history as useful. The second historiographical paradigm, according to Stoianovich, appeared only in the eighteenth century when the study of history was redefined and given a sense of development. But this second model only came to fruition with Leopold von Ranke's, 'wie es eigentlich war', who with his deep respect for the infinite variations of past experience was determined to write history strictly as a scientific report (or aspiring to be such); his only concession to fashion being his florid style. Journal of Contemporary History (SAGE, London and Beverly Hills), Vol 13 (1978), 1-13 2 Journal of Contemporary History Now it has happened again (for only the second time in 2,300 years). A third model of historiography has emerged on the banks of the Seine and has been developed to its present brilliant form by the historians gathered round the periodical Annales: Economies, Societes, Civilisations. For Stoianovich, not since Ranke has there been a more important school or better method of historical re- search. The origins of this Annales method can be found in the work of Lucien Febvre (1878-1956) and Marc Bloch (1886-1944). It had its roots in the French tradition but was also inspired, as its sub-title suggests, by the German Vierteljahrschriftfur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgesch ich te. Annales first appeared in 1929, a time when Marxist scholars were attempting to uncover the economic base of the political and cultural superstructure. If their results were uninspiring they never- theless encouraged interest in a more scientific approach. However, from the beginning the founders of Annales felt that both the Third Republic style of history and the economic determinism of the Marxists were too constricting for the kind of historiography they had in mind. They aspired to higher things - to a discipline which both dominated and embraced all other studies of the human con- dition. They celebrated every attempt to enlarge Clio's realm. Hence their admiration for Jacob Burckhardt (d. 1897) who brought about a shift from conventional history to Kulturgeschichte, which for Karl Lamprecht could only be 'primarily a socio-psychological science', a formulation which un- doubtedly influenced later Annales evolution. And Wilhelm Dilthey (d. 1911) produced with his kind of Geistesgeschichte the outline of what would in a more advanced stage of Annales growth appear as histoire des mentalites. However, the detection of sources cannot impair the originality of the enterprise launched by Febvre and Bloch at the end of the 1920s, which also witnessed the publication of the first volume of Henri Berr's collection - L'Evolution de l'Humanite with its overall title Synthese Histori- que. The need for a fusion of economic, social and cultural history was increasingly felt and the magic word 'synthesis' was em- broidered on the new flag. Even if in those days nearly half a cen- tury ago the first Annales researchers were still far from the recent proudly imperialistic cri de guerre uttered by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, one of the present champions of the current: 'History is the synthesis of all social sciences (sciences de l'homme) turned towards the past' - where the original braquees is far stronger Harsgor: Total History: The Annales School 3 than my 'turned', because this past participle alludes both to a pointed telescope and to a beaming search-light . without men- tioning a levelled gun. Nevetheless Traian Stoianovich did not pen his historical sketch of the Annales school just to show how it arrived at its present all- embracing conceptions. He offers the reader something better: a profound thematic analysis accompanied by chronological land- marks. If at times the reader feels quite overwhelmed by the riches which are relentlessly heaped on him, it is his own fault: a work concentrating in 217 pages the intellectual adventures and victories of a brilliant Pleiad of researchers, necessarily must be tightly pack- ed; even if it was only some years after the second world war that the Annales method with its secular trinity of Serialism, Struc- turalism and Functionalism finally took shape. Serialism* is the outcome of every Annales historian's burning desire to achieve the greatest possible measure of scientific rigour. As historical research is rarely able to provide coherent statistics for unstatistically-minded ages, the researcher is obliged to proceed by extrapolations and inferences. Often it means skating on very thin ice; history is not yet a branch of mathematics! In any case, as both the Founding Fathers' generation and their spiritual descendants were specialists in pre-industrial societies notably poor in statistics, they were forced to depend on archival information, chronological lists of prices or demographic material. This is a field Annales researchers have made their own. Of course they had earlier ex- amples to follow and perfect, such as Francois Simiand's price studies and Henry Hauser's price history, published in 1936.2 Traian Stoianovich is therefore understandably fascinated by the 'admirably systematic analyses of Ernest Labrousse, Jean Meuvret and Frank Spooner',3 who opened the way for a renewed serial history. Prices, followed over centuries if possible, play a cardinal role in building up the 'long period' model in historical economic analysis; such a model must integrate, according to some Annales views, both the oscillatory variations of cyclical change and the mutational variations of structural change - an example of the in- fluence exercised in the fifties by 'pure' economics on the thought of French historians. Further cultivation of serialism bore fruit in the rich *Serialism (analyse serieile in the original) is the critical examination of very long trends in demographic or economic processes. 4 Journal of Contemporary History demographic studies published by Annales researchers. Historical demography, an autonomous discipline developing in an at- mosphere permeated by 'the growing attraction of non-consensual history' (T. Stoianovich) turned out to be an Annales speciality. Pierre Goubert's eagerness and talent in the study of parish records brought forth a work hailed as a masterpiece when it was pub- lished, Beauvais et le Beauvaisis de 1600 a 1730; 4 the breakthrough in serial history proved that, once mastered, the method could successfully deal with subjects like religious history - a field of research to whose 'serialisation' Pierre Chaunu had attracted atten- tion - or like the study of sexual behavior in the past, a domain in which Jean-Louis Flandrin has won his spurs. Structuralism is not accepted by everyone sheltering under the Annales umbrella. It is also true that very much is asked: not only the analysis of an economic structure, that is, the organization of a given economic variable with its significance to the general economic system and its precise relationship to other variables such as cost, prices, income, money, interest rates, rents; but also the analysis of the impact of conjunctures, that is, factors of cyclical or oscillatory movement. The problem of Annales researchers was to build models of social structures (not only economic ones) 'taken from life', which means covering the skeleton of the basic economic analysis with the flesh of demographic, cultural, mental and even psychoanalytical data.
Recommended publications
  • Vitorino Magalhães Godinho1
    Vitorino Magalhães Godinho1 Luís Adão da Fonseca2 Vitorino Magalhães Godinho was born in Lisbon, in June 1918, into a family with republican traditions, and he died in April 2011. Early in his life, he made frequent contact in Lisbon with leading figures from the Portuguese culture of that time, such as Newton de Macedo, Delfim Santos, António Sérgio and the staff of the journal Seara Nova (Magalhães, 1988: 2). As a student, he attended the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, although he did not really fit in there, such that, intellectually speaking, he can be considered to have been largely self-taught, as has already been noted (Magalhães, 1988: 2). This author considered this circumstance to be the starting point for Godinho’s own self- education, which (and I quote) obliged him to read the “great masters - Henri Pirenne, Marc Bloch, Lucien Febvre, Vidal de la Blanche, Gordon Childe, Léon Brunschvicg, Edmond Goblot, Pierre Janet, Jean Piaget, Paul Guillaume, [and the Portuguese] Jaime Cortesão, António Sérgio, Duarte Leite and Veiga Simões” (Magalhães, 1988: 2). Having graduated in Philosophy and History, his first work of major importance was entitled Reason and History [Razão e história (introdução a um problema) (1940)]. Years later, shortly before he died, he spoke about this first book in an interview, saying, “I still think that history is a science, or a scientifically conducted activity, but it is important that it should be further complemented by philosophical reflection, and indeed by the study of all the humanities. Philosophical reflection enlightens us and guides us; it shows us the deeper meaning of things” (GODINHO, 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • La Vie, La Mort, Le Temps. Mélanges Offerts À Pierre Chaunu
    La vie, la mort, la foi, le temps © S. Brassouls/Sygma La vie, la mort, la foi, le temps MÉLANGES OFFERTS A PIERRE CHAUNU TEXTES RÉUNIS ET PUBLIÉS PAR JEAN-PIERRE BARDET ET MADELEINE FOISIL Presses Universitaires de France ISBN 2 13 045153 5 Dépôt légal — 1 édition: 1993, février © Presses Universitaires de France, 1993 108, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris COMITÉ D'HONNEUR HENRI AMOUROUX R.P. JEAN-ROBERT ARMOGATHE R.P. PIERRE BLET JEAN DELUMEAU MICHÈLE ESCAMILLA COLIN FRANÇOIS FURET HERMANN KUSTERER JÉRÔME LEJEUNE EMMANUEL LE ROY LADURIE ANNIE MOLINIÉ BERTRAND ROLAND MOUSNIER DIDIER OZANAM RESPONSABLES DE LA PUBLICATION JEAN-PIERRE BARDET MADELEINE FOISIL Liste des auteurs MICHEL ANTOINE JEAN-ROBERT ARMOGATHE JEAN-PIERRE BARDET MICHEL BÉE YVES-MARIE BERCÉ JEAN BÉRENGER JACQUES BERTIN PIERRE BLET JACQUES BOMPAIRE PHILIPPE BONNICHON DOMINIQUE BOUREL JEAN-LOUIS BOURGEON LOUIS CHATELLIER JEAN-MARIE CONSTANT ANDRÉ CORVISIER DENIS CROUZET FRANÇOIS CROUZET PIERRE COURTHIAL HERVÉ COUTAU-BÉGARIE PIERRE DARMON JEAN- PIERRE DEDIEU JEAN DELUMEAU JACQUES DEPAUW DOMINIQUE DINET GÉRARD-FRANÇOIS DUMONT YVES DURAND JACQUELINE DE DURAND-FOREST MICHÈLE ESCAMILLA ANNE FILLON MADELEINE FOISIL FRANÇOIS FURET BERNARD GARNIER JEAN-MARIE GOUESSE PIERRE GOUHIER SERGE GRUZINSKI CHRISTIAN HERMANN JEAN IMBERT HERMANN KUSTERER FRANÇOIS LAPLANCHE MADELEINE LAURAIN PORTEMER FRANÇOIS LEBRUN JEAN-PAUL LE FLEM JÉRÔME LEJEUNE GUY LEMEUNIER EMMANUEL LE ROY LADURIE MICHÈLE MÉNARD JEAN MEYER ANNIE MOLINIÉ-BERTRAND DIDIER OZANAM JEAN-MARIE PAUPERT JEAN-PAUL POISSON JEAN-PIERRE POUSSOU CLAUDE QUÉTEL ÉRIC ROUSSEL THIERRY SAIGNES t RAYMOND SALA H A Ï M VIDAL SEPHIHA ALFRED SOMAN JEAN-MARIE VALLEZ MICHEL VEISSIÈRE BERNARD VOGLER Une malencontreuse confusion a abouti à omettre de joindre à ce recueil la contri- bution de notre collègue Bartolomé Bennassar.
    [Show full text]
  • Pierre Chaunu. in Memoriam
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Dadun, University of Navarra Pierre Chaunu. In memoriam Valentin Vázquez de Prada Universidad de Navarra En la noche del 22 al 23 de octubre pasado, Pierre Chaunu fa- lleció en su domicilio, en Caen, a consecuencia de una caída. Contaba 86 años. Había nacido el 17 de agosto de 1923, en Belleville, muy cer- ca de donde se dio la bataHa de Verdun, hijo de un ferroviario. Repu- tado historiador e hispanista, uno de los miembros más destacados de "l'École des Annales", es bien conocido también por el gran público por su valiente postura ante los problemas sociales y morales de nues- tro tiempo, que expresó de forma vibrante en libros, conferencias, co- laboraciones y debates en los medios de comunicación social. Conocí a Chaunu, en 1953, en París, en "L'École Pratique des Hautes Études", donde Fernand Braudel impartía un fecundo semina- rio a una decena de jóvenes historiadores extranjeros, fascinados de sus briHantes y sugestivas exposiciones sobre una "historia total", si bien en tono familiar, coloquial. En sus ausencias, Chaunu, encargado de sustituirle, no desmerecía del maestro, particularmente para los in- teresados en la historia del mundo hispánico, que conocía perfecta- mente, pues estaba dando los últimos toques a su monumental tesis doctoral sobre Sevilla y el Atlántico, defendida en 1954. Tuvo la ama- bilidad de invitarme a cenar en su casa, donde conocí a su esposa Hu- guette, eficaz colaboradora en sus investigaciones. Pierre, fornido, dotado de una inmensa vitalidad, de palabra firme, Huguette, menuda, fina, inteligente y discreta, formaban un matrimonio perfecto.
    [Show full text]
  • The Annales in Global Context
    SUGGESTIONS AND DEBATES Peter Burke THE ANNALES IN GLOBAL CONTEXT Fernand Braudel liked to say that historians ought to take a 'global' ap- proach to their work, in other words to see the historical problems on which they were working as part of a larger whole. "La globalite, ce n'est pas la prevention d'ecrire une histoire totale du monde [. .] C'est simplement le desir, quand on a aborde un probleme, d'en depasser systematiquement les limites."1 Braudel himself gave one of the most remarkable examples of this global approach by refusing to limit himself even to the Mediterranean and by placing the history of that sea between the Atlantic and the Sahara.2 Today, sixty years after the foundation of Annales, it is time to see the historical movement - if not "school" - centred on the journal as itself a part of history. In that case we might do well to follow Braudel's example and try to place this movement in a global context. In recent years, it has become customary - in some circles at least - to describe the Annales approach as "the new history".3 In this article I should like to ask the question 'How new is the new history?' and to try to define the contribution of the journal and the movement (which has lasted three generations now) by means of compari- son and contrast. The area chosen for comparison will be Europe and America. The first generation of Annales was marked by the desire for a broader and more interdisciplinary history, breaking the dominance of political history and allowing economic history, social history, and the history of mentalities a place in the sun.
    [Show full text]
  • H-France Review Vol. 11 (August 2011), No. 191 Philip Daileader
    H-France Review Volume 11 (2011) Page 1 H-France Review Vol. 11 (August 2011), No. 191 Philip Daileader and Philip Whalen, eds., French Historians, 1900-2000: New Historical Writing in Twentieth-Century France. Malden, Mass., and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. viii + 610 pp. $199.95 U.S. (cl). ISBN 978-1-4051-9867-7. Review by Torbjörn Wandel, Truman State University. This book on French historians in the twentieth century with contributions by mostly Anglophone scholars is a delightful and substantial resource. Anyone interested in French history and historiography, expert and non-expert alike, will read it with relish, and any university library worth its salt will want to have it on its shelves. It truly is a lovely, sui generis project. Ten years in the making and clocking in at over 600 pages, it is the achievement of two editors, Philip Daileader and Philip Whalen. While it has been crafted for a broad audience, the volume is sure to please and provoke interesting discussion among specialists. Reflecting perhaps a return to biography in both France and the United States, the book consists of extensive portraits of forty-two prominent French historians, all of whom wrote in the twentieth century, penned by thirty-five mostly Anglophone scholars in the respective fields in which historians work or worked. The book is not quite an encyclopedia because the essays are comprehensive without cross references, nor is it a collection of articles by specialists, since there is no scholarly apparatus, and the contributors are for the most part junior colleagues of their subjects.
    [Show full text]
  • The Filles Séculières (1630–1660)
    Vincentian Heritage Journal Volume 16 Issue 2 Article 1 Fall 1995 A New Approach: The Filles Séculières (1630–1660) Elizabeth Rapley Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj Recommended Citation Rapley, Elizabeth (1995) "A New Approach: The Filles Séculières (1630–1660)," Vincentian Heritage Journal: Vol. 16 : Iss. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol16/iss2/1 This Articles is brought to you for free and open access by the Vincentian Journals and Publications at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vincentian Heritage Journal by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 111 A New Approach: The Filles Se"culieres (1630-1660)* By Elizabeth Rapley Modern historians of the Counter-Reformation in France agree to divide that event into two phases: the Counter-Reformation properly speaking, strongly influenced by the Mediterranean Catholicism that triumphed at Trent,' characterized by a highly adversarial approach to the questions that had been thrown up by Protestantism; and what is known as the Catholic Reformation, a period of genuine religious regeneration, during which the Church recognized, and moved to redress, the immense problems within itself .2 The turning point be- tween these two phases is generally placed around the beginning of the seventeenth century.3 But this "turning point," like most others, requires qualification. The atmosphere of violence and anxiety which fostered the Counter-- Reformation spirit did not die with the conversion of Henri IV and the Edict of Nantes. The Protestant presence continued to cause severe, and often brutal, reaction.
    [Show full text]
  • Hoffmann, Stanley
    The Nation, Nationalism, and After: The Case of France STANLEY HOFFMANN THE TANNER LECTURES ON HUMAN VALUES Delivered at Princeton University March 3 and 4, 1993 STANLEY HOFFMANN, currently Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France at Harvard University, has also been the Chairman of the Center for European Studies there since its creation in 1969. Born in Vienna, he gradu- ated from the Institut d’Études Politiques of Paris; he later taught there and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. His books include Contemporary Theory in Inter- national Relations (1960), The State of War (1965), De- cline or Renewal: France Since the 30s (1974), Duties Be- yond Borders (1981), and Janus and Minerva (1986), among others, and he is the coauthor of The Fifth Republic at Twenty (1981), Living with Nuclear Weapons (1983), The Mitterrand Experiment (1987), and The New Euro- pean Community: Decision-Making and Institutional Change (1991). I. FROM REVOLUTION TO LIBERATION My purpose in these lectures is not to discuss once again the enormous subject of the modern nation, its aspiration to have a state of its own in order to be independent, or its creation by a preexisting state. Nor do I want to describe the many varieties of nationalism. But at a time when nations multiply and when na- tionalism seems to be the most widespread and troublesome of the ideologies that survive after the fall of communism -thus guar- anteeing that there will be no “end of history” -it may not be without interest to examine one particular case, unique as it may seem; for the tribulations of France may carry lessons for con- temporary cases as well.
    [Show full text]
  • 16. Chaunu/Menp 4
    Mes Espagnes Pierre Chaunu Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques Quand votre, notre Seigneur et maître Canavaggio m’a fortement prié de participer et m’a généreusement doté d’une heure de votre précieux temps, j’ai été pris d’un instant de panique. Étant ce que le duc Charles qui n’était pas encore Carlos Quinto aurait appelé un welche en ses États, je suis « bête et dis- cipliné », donc je me suis exécuté. Et comme la chose la plus difficile est le choix d’un titre, j’ai sauté à pieds joints sur celui qui m’a été proposé, Mes Espagnes : une espèce donc d’auto-, voire d’égohistoire, c’est la mode et après tout, c’est une forme de biographie historique. On ne peut être, par définition, que bien servi que par soi-même… Voire ! Est-ce bien sûr ? Une tradition à l’Institut de France veut que le nouvel élu fasse un éloge savamment docu- menté de son prédécesseur. Ce texte est publié. J’ai fait l’éloge de mon pré- décesseur et ce fut avec joie, j’ignore ce qu’il en sera pour moi. J’ai donc pensé à mon successeur, il vous sera reconnaissant, chers amis, de lui avoir facilité la tâche. Apprêtez-vous à souffrir. Mes Espagnes, vous aurez apprécié le pluriel, la griffe de l’Espagne. Nous sou- haitons chichement le bon jour, l’Espagnol, dès le desayuno, vous souhaite de bons jours. Ici, de toute manière, le pluriel s’imposait. Je ne suis pas un hispaniste — vous n’avez pas besoin de preuves, tant c’est évident —, tout au plus un pauvre petit hispanisant par raccroc.
    [Show full text]
  • Denis Crouzet Université Paris-Sorbonne
    1 Denis Crouzet Université Paris-Sorbonne Curriculum vitae Nom patronymique: CROUZET Prénoms: Denis, Bertrand, Yves Date et lieu de naissance: 10 mars 1953, Paris 75015 Nationalité: français Situation de famille: marié à Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan professeur d’histoire médiévale à l’université Paris- Sorbonne, une fille, Guillemette Crouzet, agrégée d’histoire Numéro de téléphone: professionnel, 01 40 46 31 92 Numéro de Fax: 01 40 46 31 93 Mel: [email protected] Fonctions: -Professeur d'histoire moderne (XVIe siècle) (PR classe exceptionnelle). Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1 rue Victor-Cousin, 75005 -Directeur de l’UMR 8596 (Centre Roland Mousnier/Université Paris-Sorbonne-CNRS) -Directeur de l’IRCOM (Institut de recherches sur les civilisations de l’Occident moderne, Université Paris- Sorbonne) I) Synthèse de la carrière et des activités scientifiques : Etudes secondaires : Lycées Claude Bernard, Janson de Sailly, Louis Le Grand Etudes supérieures : Université Paris-Sorbonne Septembre 1973 : obtention des Ipes (au titre de l’admissibilité à l’ENS Ulm). 1974-1975 : Mémoire de maîtrise d’histoire moderne sous la direction du professeur Pierre Chaunu, Université Paris IV-Sorbonne, mention Très Bien juillet 1976: agrégation d'Histoire; reçu 10ème. 1976-1979: professeur d'histoire-géographie dans l'enseignement secondaire (Lycée Albert Camus de Bois- Colombes et collège Charles de Gaulle de Liancourt-Oise)/ service militaire (Marine nationale). DEA puis inscription en thèse de doctorat d’Etat sous la direction du professeur Pierre Chaunu. 1979-1981: pensionnaire à la Fondation Thiers. 1981-1989: attaché, puis chargé de recherches au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 2 janvier 1989: soutenance de la thèse de Doctorat d'Etat, La violence au temps des troubles de religion (vers 1525- vers 1610): jury constitué des professeurs Pierre Chaunu, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Jean Meyer, Jean-Pierre Poussou, Denis Richet, Robert Sauzet; mention "Très honorable" avec félicitations à l'unanimité.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Pierre Chaunu (1923-2009), in Memoriam
    Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia ISSN: 1133-0104 [email protected] Universidad de Navarra España Meyer, Jean Pierre Chaunu (1923-2009), in memoriam Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia, vol. 19, 2010, pp. 528-530 Universidad de Navarra Pamplona, España Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=35514154046 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto crónicas Pierre Chaunu (1923-2009), in memoriam Un gran historiador, un gran cristiano, un gran profesor que, con su pasión titánica –no hay que temer al superlativo cuando uno habla del generoso y explosivo Chaunu– sabía transmitir su ciencia y su entusiasmo: «Clamaron que Dios había muerto. Mil signos nos llevan a pensar que se equi- vocaron. No basta con recibir, hay que transmitir. ¿Transmitir qué? Del lado de las religiones del Dios trascendental, una historia, la historia de una tribu y de lo que los padres creyeron saber de lo que habían recogido y, valioso depósito, confiado a las escrituras primas, un discurso, pues, una huella que obedecen a reglas que hay que entender: «Busquen y encontrarán». Cito de memoria a Pierre Chaunu, durante una defensa de tesis, el 12 de diciembre de 1971. Había bajado de la tribuna del jurado y caminaba desarrollando su comentario con la elocuencia suya, la de quien predicaba en domingo en su templo calvinista. Un físico de luchador, fuerte, no muy alto, mandíbula cuadrada, pelo blanco cortado a ras, la mirada aguda y una voz singular que podía subir en los altos.
    [Show full text]
  • Marc Bloch, Has Deeper Reasons Than the More Obvious Ones
    AFTER ONE YEAR After one year or au bout d'un an is the title of the brief editorial introduction of the fifth edition of the journalAnnales d'histoire économique et sociale from 1930. With no intention of pretentiously comparing ourselves with a world-famous journal, these introductory words are equally entitled. Exactly one year ago the new editorial board, elected in 2010 and gathered around the journal project, published its issue of the Pro tempore journal. Of course, without the support of the students and professors, all the Croatian and international associates, this project would not be possible, so I would like to thank them on behalf of the entire editorial board. Remembering the editorial introduction, written exactly eighty-one years ago by two friends and collaborators, Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch, has deeper reasons than the more obvious ones. The topics of our new issue, the anniversary of the FrenchAnnales journal (1929-2009) and business history or the history of business, were proposed by the chief editor accepted by the editorial board with a very serious programme. The importance of the Annales journal for world and Croatian historiography is immesurable. In the last ten years, since the reissuing of Marc Bloch's Feudal Society (2001) until today, we have welcomed the translations of many books and articles connected with that current in French intellectual life. These are works which have inspired generations of historians and have driven them to certain topics of research, approaches and ways of opening problems which are significant and characteristic for the New history.
    [Show full text]
  • English and French National Identity: Comparisons and Contrastsn
    Nations and Nationalism 12 (3), 2006, 413–432. Themed Section on Varieties of Britishness English and French national identity: comparisons and contrastsn KRISHAN KUMAR University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA ABSTRACT. The English and the French are both former imperial peoples, and to that extent they share certain features of national identity common to peoples who have had empires. That includes a ‘missionary’ sense of themselves, a feeling that they have, or have had, a purpose in the world wider than the concerns of non-imperial nations. I argue that nevertheless the English and the French have diverged substan- tially in their self-conceptions. This I put down to a differing experience of empire, the sense especially among the French that the British were more successful in their imperial ventures. I also argue that contrasting domestic histories – evolutionary in the English case, revolutionary in that of the French – have also significantly coloured national identities in the two countries. These factors taken together, I argue, have produced a more intense sense of nationhood and a stronger national consciousness among the French than among the English. Nothing is more helpful to an anthropologist than to study contrasts he finds between peoples who on the whole share many traits (Ruth Benedict [1946] 1977: 7). It is precisely communities with adjoining territories, and related to each other in other ways as well, who are engaged in constant feuds and in ridiculing each other (Sigmund Freud [1930]1963: 51). History and identity The French and the English, it is generally agreed, have very different attitudes to their history and how it affects them.
    [Show full text]