FRENCH CIVILIZATION

VIVE LA DIFFÉRENCE!

Introduced by Anne Whitmarsh & Martin Sturge, the Conveners, on 19 October 1998

After looking at relations between France and England, alternating between alliance and enmity, Anne Whitmarsh underlined the importance of a structured historical framework in providing reference points for the understanding of modern France.
The French democracy of today did not evolve gradually but through a series of revolutions, each establishing a Republic, followed by a coup d'état to re-establish a form of monarchy. This instability led to political extremes. Strangely, the French Communist Party, resulting from a split in the Socialist Party in. 1920, has never threatened democracy. Instead, it was the far right, Catholic, royalist and anti-Semitic, which did so in the 1880s ( at the time of the Dreyfus Affair) and again as the Fascist Leagues in the 1930s (attempted coup d'état). Actively involved with Vichy during the Occupation and resurfacing in the 1960s as the terrorist O.A.S. in the Algerian War, it finally became the National Front in 1972 and is now a powerful political force at the level of local government Another constant thread is centralisation, increasingly used by all regimes to impose order on the provinces. In time, all local issues came to be decided in Paris. The first law giving a real increase in power to the regions was the Loi Defferre in l 982. The importance of Paris has had the happy effect of drawing intellectuals, artists and writers like a magnet, interacting and forming exciting, influential movements, but creating a cultural desert elsewhere - a situation only now being rectified to a limited extent.
Martin Sturge then picked out some facets of French life, attitudes and culture encountered during his 35 years of working in France and with French people, under six headings.
I.anguage: Although the main source of French was Latin, it was enriched by many other early influences. Since its defining features are in the grammatical structure, why won't the linguistic purification police allow it to keep its vitality by incorporating foreign words?
Philosophy: In France, unlike England, philosophy is a main-line preoccupation; it also helps the French to remain cool and rational in argument.
Politics: French politicians are seen as spenders and fixers, and not as trustworthy men of ideals. Education: Based on high
standards of teacher training and a rewarding career structure, it is an excellent system. However, except for an élite with further qualifications, its products face the possibility of not finding employment.
Business: The business skills of the English and the French tend to be complementary, although the French have a famed expertise in misleading the tax inspector.
The modernisation of its industry has made France into a leading industrial nation.
Food: The French are passionate about food, which is an art form in France, but harbour certain misapprehensions about English cooking.
'Toutes les passions' are invoked in Baudelaire’s lovely poem ‘La musique’, where the nautical metaphor familiar to our two peoples is nevertheless the reverse of English idiom. It was read in conclusion by Martin Sturge, to illustrate the complementarity of our cultures, and celebrate 'La Différence'.
There was then lively discussion which focussed particularly on the Resistance and collaboration, and on the sanctity or otherwise of the French language.