Adventures on the Freedom Road: The French Intellectuals in the 20th Century

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Harvill Press, 1995 - History - 433 pages
From the days when Zola and Peguy brandished their pens in pursuit of political action, the question of Literature at the service of Political Commitment has remained a live issue, most of all in France. As this century saw the rise first of Communism, then of Fascism, French intellectuals have hurried to take sides and devote their writings to the good of their chosen Cause. If Breton and some of his fellow-Surrealists, as also Sartre and Aragon, favoured the Left, Bataille, Celine and Drieu La Rochelle were no less passionate advocates of the Far Right. There were also nice shadings of political casuistry as Red veered to Pink and eventually even to True Blue; Malraux was one of the great men to skate across the spectrum.

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Contents

GREAT HOPES The 1890s to the 1920s
7
That strange secret society
25
The aesthetic obscurantism of the Party
36
Copyright

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