Word: viansson
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...Pierre Viansson-Ponte's anecdotal sketch of the DeGaulle regime has the usual shortcomings of books which capitalize on the General's imperious manner and medieval pride. The King and His Court adds little to the existing stock of useful insights into DeGaulle's personality, if only because it is impossible to increase infinity...
...special virtue of this book is that it digs far behind the public facade of the Fifth Republic, Viansson-Ponte confirms a startling number of cliches about De Gaulle's dictatorial techniques from the vantage-point of an insider. In crediting these cliches The King and His Court of course says nothing new, but is does give the American reader a renewed sense of how deeply De Gaulle's pretensions direct the fortunes of modern France...
...Viansson-Ponte is a court chronicler without being courtier. As political editor of the prestigious Le Monde, he has free access to inner government circles even though he is not a Gaullist. This position gives him a rare detachment: he is able to write knowledgeably about De Gaulle while avoiding both the admiration of a follower and the jealousy of an opponent. The King and His Court resembles the Duc de Saint-Simson's colorful Memoirs about life with Louis XIV, full of sympathy and gossip, yet it retains the ironical view-point of a journalist somewhat skeptical about...
...Viansson-Ponté estimates that only 1,500 Frenchmen qualify as real Gaullists, has selected 116 of these for inclusion in his directory. Even in apostasy, he says, the Gaullist "link is indestructible. Excluded, exiled, in rebellion, Jacques Soustelle remains a member of the circle." But ironically, such ranking spokesmen for present-day Gaullist policy as Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville and Information Minister Alain Peyrefitte are excluded for lacking the proper credentials...
Crossing the Desert. Viansson-Ponté gives each Gaullist a Guide Michelin sort of rating denoting past services to Gaullism and present standing in relation to the general. A Cross of Lorraine indicates Free France, a submachine gun the Resistance, and a star the Compagnon de la Liberation, the elite order of Free France and Resistance fighters. A small outhouse (cabinet in French) means membership in De Gaulle's personal office staff, a mask means espionage work during World War II. A motorcyclist symbolizes trips to Colombey to see the general, and a hand grenade membership in the R.P.F...