Word: zeldin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
...Zeldin's loose sociological approach reveals itself in a strong chapter on class relations. Rather than particularize feelings along class lines, he concerns him-self with "how people perceive social relationships," reducing French society to three groups--those who like to lead others, those who hate or resent their boss, and those who opt out of the hierarchical system. The Duc de Brissac's "aristocratic" qualities are as easily found in M. Perrin, a worker in the Rossignol Ski Factory in Voiron, or in M. Cazeau, an engineer from Toulouse...
...highly placed in modern industry, where three-quarters of industrial managers are sons of the well-to-do, where only a fifth of the work force is unionized, and where the peasant still seeks to protect and work his own land, defining "aristocratic" values is no easy task. Zeldin judges the image of French egalitarianism "more false than true." Even the highly competitive school system reinforces ingrained notions of privilege: 65 percent of managers' children get into the prestigious option C of the baccalaureate program as compared to 5 percent of workers' children. Plus ca change...