La Mmoire vive et convulsive: The Papon Trial and France's Passion for History Academic Article

abstract

• This article studies the Papon trial and the debate surrounding it as an example of France's intense relationship with its past. While many hailed the trial as a milestone in France's attempt to deal with the legacy of Vichy, this essay argues that the heated historical debate stirred up by the Papon case in fact tells us more about the France of the 1990s than about the Dark Years. Similarly, the rhetorical exchanges occasioned by the commemoration of other dramatic events such as the Dreyfus Affair reveal that political dogma and Manichaeism prevail over careful historical examination.

authors

• Bracher, Nathan

published proceedings

• The French Review

author list (cited authors)

• Bracher, N.

complete list of authors

• Bracher, N

publication date

• January 1999

publisher

• American Association of Teachers of French  Publisher

published in

• French Review  Journal

start page

• 314

end page

• 324

volume

• 73

issue

• 2