Word: zeldin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...previous work, the highly acclaimed two-volume History of France 1848-1945, Theodore Zeldin may have frustrated some readers with inconclusiveness. Zeldin debunked the traditional manner of approaching the French, as well-oiled members of a neatly defined system. The contradictions of the country's many regions, the varying linguistic needs, and the lack of a unified French political and cultural awareness forced him to reexamine France's mythical unity; worn-out classifications of Bourgeoisie, Peasant and Worker were aerated, their subtle variations revealed. Zeldin also scrutinized French politics and patriotism, trying to analyze how they really affected citizens...
Taking on too much in 500 pages to be helpful in the particular, the book offers vague chapter headings ("How to Love Them," "How to Appreciate Their Taste," "How to Recognize Culture") which misleadingly hint at an objectivity and certainty their content never approaches. Zeldin can't be naive enough to believe he can do what his title suggests; this is not a Guide Michelin to French character...
...moving towards a society of pals, away from an ideal of passion.") There are workers and scattered archetypes: the bourgeois Plane Bourcel who fears the rise of laziness, or "je m'en foutisme"; the Duc de Brossac who does not know the meaning of the word meritocracy. More often, Zeldin offers type and then shatters it (we discover that Brigitte Bardot likes "looking after her house.") The ineffectiveness of such examples merely shows Zeldin is looking for something he cannot humanly give--stereotypes...