Alex Hughes. Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture

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modern writers to connect sexual liberation to

an affirmation du Mal, suggests Dardigna,

were the Surrealists. While most of the erotico-

literary works emerging from the Surrealist

movement predated 1945, postwar texts asso-

ciated with it include André Pieyre de

Mandiargues’s tales of sadism Le Musée Noir

(The Black Museum), published in 1946 and

Leiris’s Aurora, which appeared in the same

year. In these works, and in later erotic texts

such as Klossowski’s Roberte ce soir (Roberte

This Evening) and Robbe-Grillet’s La Maison

de rendez-vous, the female body (argues

Dardigna) regularly becomes the key locus of

ritualized profanation and obliteration.

Clearly, the same is not true of texts in which

male homosexuality is the focus. In the imme-

diate postwar period, the gay writers whose

work focused most explicitly on masculine

homoeroticism were Genet and Jouhandeau:

neither offers wholly empowering visions of

gay male love/sexuality. Genet’s accounts of

homoerotic transgression were long viewed as

radical texts, but in recent times critics have

addressed the way in which their images of

homosexual abjection mesh with heterosexual

prejudice (see Rifkin 1995; Robinson 1995).

In and after the late 1960s, texts by authors

such as Renaud Camus, Yves Navarre, Tony

Duvert and Hervé Guibert offered construc-

tions of gay sexuality which departed from the

model contained in the writings of Genet.

Within the generic field of postwar women’s

erotic discourse, various subcategories exist. On

the one hand, there are those texts which reveal

scant evidence of a ‘politicization’ of women’s

erotic experience. Such works generally refrain

from questioning gender norms/relations, and

tend to employ the motifs of male-authored

erotica/pornography (see Hughes and Ince

1995). This body of writing is exemplified by

Pauline Réage’s Story of O (a pseudonymous

work which appeared in 1954 and whose fe-

male authorship remains in doubt) and the

Emmanuelle series, launched in 1960. On the

other hand, the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s wit-

nessed the publication of a series of more com-

plex female-authored erotico-literary produc-

tions. These works place women’s eroticism

against the backdrop of social and gender rela-

tions (see Frappier-Mazur 1988), and/or attest

to a feminist awareness initiated by the publi-

cation of Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and rein-

forced by post-May 1968, neo-feminist

reconsiderations of questions of sexuality, lan-

guage and representation. Often exercises in

textual innovation, they interrogate, implicitly

or explicitly, sexual power relations, erotic

norms and the modalities of their representa-

tion. Among this group of texts may be included

the accounts of lesbian love offered by Violette

Leduc and by the more radical Hélène Cixous

and Monique Wittig; Duras’s The Seated Man

in the Passage (L’Homme assis dans le couloir);

as well as Christiane Rochefort’s Warrior’s Rest

(Le Repos du guerrier) and the highly ironic,

male-narrated Quand tu vas chez les femmes

(Excursions into Womankind). Other contem-

porary women authors associated with the

erotico-literary domain are: Vanessa Duriès,

whose allegedly autobiographical account of S/

M love, The Ties That Bind (Le Lien), was pub-

lished shortly before her death in 1993; Alina

Reyes, best known, perhaps, for the erotic nov-

els The Butcher (Le Boucher) and Behind Closed

Doors (Derrière la porte); and Benoîte Groult.

ALEX HUGHES

See also: feminism (movements/groups); gay

writing; literary censorship; publishing/

l’édition; women’s/lesbian writing

Further reading

Alexandrian (1995) Histoire de la littérature

érotique, Paris: Payot (a wide-ranging, per-

sonal discussion of erotic writing in

France).

Brécourt-Villars, C. (1985) Écrire d’amour,

Paris: Ramsay (an anthology of French

women’s erotic writing, with a useful in-

troductory essay).

Dardigna, A.-M. (1980) Les Châteaux d’Éros,

Paris: Maspero (an exploration of the nar-

rative, representational and ideological

characteristics of modern French male-

authored erotic writing).

erotic writing

189

Frappier-Mazur, L. (1988) ‘Marginal Canons:

Rewriting the Erotic’, Yale French Studies 75

(an interesting analysis of French women’s

reinscriptions of sexual/textual models estab-

lished by the male erotico-literary tradition).

Hughes, A. and Ince, K. (eds) (1995) French

Erotic Fiction, Oxford: Berg (a series of es-

says on contemporary French women’s

erotic writing).

Rifkin, A. (1995) ‘From Renaud Camus to the

Gay City Guide’, in M.Sheringham (ed.)

Parisian Fields, London: Reaktion Books

(an essay containing useful insights into gay

male erotic writing).

Robinson, C. (1995) Scandal in the Ink, Lon-

don: Cassell (a study of modern gay and

lesbian writing in France).

Etcherelli, Claire

b. 1934, Bordeaux

Writer

Etcherelli’s best-known novel, Élise or the Real

Life (Élise ou la vraie vie) was published in

1967 and won the Prix Femina. In realist

mode, it tells of the relationship between its

heroine and an Algerian, Arezki, which forms

in the factory where both characters work and

develops against the backdrop of the Algerian

war. Key themes/experiences charted in the

text are class identity/oppression, sexism, rac-

ism and the growth of political awareness. In

the 1970s, Etcherelli published two other nov-

els—A propos de Clémence (About Clémence)

and Un Arbre voyageur (The Travelling

Tree)—which focus on postwar French soci-

ety, and also edited a volume of anti-racist

poems.

ALEX HUGHES

See also: literary prizes; racism/anti-semitism;

women’s/lesbian writing

Further reading

Atack, M. (1990) ‘The Politics of Identity in

Élise ou la vraie vie’, in M.Atack and P.

Powrie (eds) Contemporary French Fiction

by Women, Manchester: Manchester Univer-

sity Press (a lucid account of Etcherelli’s treat-

ment, in Élise, of identity and self-awareness,

which stresses the political potential, for femi-

nism, of realist literary practice).

Europe 1

Radio station

Created in 1955, this general-interest station

(long wave and FM) was one of the big three

radios périphériques, tolerated by the French

state, but transmitting from the Sarre, just out-

side the national borders. Its innovative style

(news flashes, variety shows and game pro-

grammes involving listeners) has influenced all

other stations over the years. Although its au-

dience share is waning, it still attracts at least

10 per cent of France’s listeners. In 1986 it set

up a subsidiary popular music station, Europe

2 (FM), which attracts over 5 per cent of the

national audience. Its studios are at 26 bis, rue

François ler, 75008 Paris.

ALAN PEDLEY

See also: francophone radio: Europe; radio

(private/free)

European economic integration

France is at the core of the European economic

integration project. This process finds its ori-

gins in a political strategy aimed at avoiding

conflicts in Europe, and it has gained impetus

from the 1986 Single European Act and the

1992 Maastricht Treaty. The liberal ideology

and economic strategies which have under-

pinned recent developments in the European

Union are seen as having heavy social costs,

however, and enthusiasm for integration has

cooled significantly.

The European economic integration project

European economic integration

190

has always been overtly political—the French

‘fathers’ of Europe, such as Monnet and

Schuman, who initiated the first steps through

the European Coal and Steel Community treaty

in 1951, sought to avoid the economic isola-

tion of defeated Germany and a repeat of the

errors of the Versailles Treaty after World War

I. The signing of the Rome Treaty was followed

by the coming to power of de Gaulle in 1958,

and the French attitude to European integra-

tion became quite complex, with France

staunchly promoting national independence

within a ‘Europe of States’, but continuing to

advocate economic integration for the benefit

of French economic interests. Traditions of

protectionism started to be dismantled with the

abolition of internal EC duties in 1968, but

the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) ran

into difficulties with de Gaulle’s refusal to agree

to agricultural policies not acceptable to French

farmers. During the 1970s, European economic

integration made relatively little progress ex-

cept via the emergence of new tools of politi-

cal co-operation, such as the European Coun-

cil and the creation in 1979 of the Exchange

Rate Mechanism. With de Gaulle out of power,

France also accepted the UK’s membership.

Public opinion was then highly favourable to

European economic integration. During the

1980s, France again found itself at the fore-

front of European economic integration efforts.

After a brief period of coolness, President

Mitterrand firmly backed European integra-

tion as the only way to achieve an autonomous

economic space, accepting the Single European

Act in 1986 (which forced sea changes in

French trade and administrative practices) and

supporting the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

Europe has benefited the French economy,

helping to switch and develop export markets

in industrial sectors and services and helping

to develop French agriculture into the most

powerful agriculture in Europe. Since the mid-

1980s the pursuit of European integration has

encouraged governments to apply a liberal eco-

nomic strategy combining anti-inflation policy,

rigorous budgetary strategy, high interest rates

and accelerated deregulation. The relentless

pursuit of this strategy, dubbed La Pensée

unique, is widely held responsible for France’s

social ills, especially its very high unemploy-

ment and the weakening of social cohesion (the

fracture sociale), as well as for putting a ques-

tion mark over the future of French ‘Public

Services’ and its welfare system. Despite this

deep unease and outright rejection by a sig-

nificant part of the population, governments

have persevered in their policies, so that France

can be alongside Germany in the first wave of

countries to adopt the single European cur-

rency, the Euro, in 1999.

FRANÇOIS NECTOUX

Further reading

Dyker, D.A. (ed.) (1992) The National Econo-

mies of Europe, 2 vols, London: Longman (vol-

ume 1 includes a general analysis of economic

integration; volume 2 contains a chapter on

the role of the French economy in Europe).

Lipietz, A. (1991) ‘Governing the Economy in

the Face of International Challenge’, in: J.F.

Hollifield and G.Ross (eds) In Search of

New France, London: Routledge (a broad

survey of the consequences of the opening

of the French economy).

European Union

France played a founding role in early Euro-

pean integration and has since aimed to lead

the development of European union, usually

in partnership with Germany, and arguably to

her own advantage. Despite general political

support for integration, French European

policy has occasionally provoked some domes-

tic division between partisans of supranational

integration and supporters of a more Gaullist

‘Europe of Nations’.

As a signatory of the Treaty of Rome (1957),

France had already participated in the Council

of Europe (1949) and the ECSC (1950). Although

lack of French support sabotaged a proposed

European Union

191

European Defence Community (1954), France

fostered rapprochement with Germany to pre-

vent future conflict, and the Common Market

was easily ratified by parliament, only the Com-

munists voting against en bloc. Under the presi-

dency of de Gaulle (1958–69), France adopted a

critical attitude towards European integration,

basing her policy on the primacy of national sov-

ereignty. The French Plan Fouchet (1962) argued

for a ‘Europe of States’ driven by high politics

rather than by economic and technical conver-

gence and with a ‘European’ rather than

‘Atlanticist’ character. The failure of this vision,

French withdrawal from NATO (1966) and de

Gaulle’s vetoes of British entry (1963, 1967)

slowed integration, but reinforced France’s domi-

nance (with Germany) at the heart of policy.

In the 1970s and 1980s, after Pompidou’s

‘Oui’ to the UK (1973), partnerships between

Giscard d’Estaing and Schmidt (who reputedly

conversed in English on European matters)

and Mitterrand and Kohl furthered the growth

of the Community. During 1985–93, the presi-

dency of the Commission was assumed by

Jacques Delors (previously French Finance and

Economics minister and, subsequently, a po-

tential presidential candidate), further

heightening French public awareness of Eu-

rope. In 1992 debate over Maastricht reo-

pened domestic political divisions between

integrationists, and those fearing loss of sov-

ereignty (notably the Socialist Jean-Pierre

Chevènement and the neo-Gaullists Philippe

Séguin and Charles Pasqua of the RPR). The

Treaty was accepted by parliament, supported

by the Left and the Centre-Right UDF, but

with divided neo-Gaullists mainly abstaining.

This split in the Centre-Right coalition was

echoed in the referendum, which accepted

Maastricht by only 1 per cent.

France has benefited from her status as a

founding member of the European Union and

has used her central role to derive advantage

from European policies: French agriculture,

iron and steel, aerospace and the regions have

profited in particular. France has also been

conscious of the symbolic and practical ben-

efits to be gained from aspects of European

union, such as the siting of parliament in Stras-

bourg, the predominance of French adminis-

trative procedures in the European Commis-

sion and the major role of the French language

in much European bureaucracy. Under the

Chirac presidency, latent Euroscepticism has

been encouraged by difficulties in shadowing

the German economy and by disquiet over as-

pects of GATT, ERM and Bosnia, although

governments have seemed committed to tra-

ditional French support for Europe.

HUGH DAUNCEY

Further reading

Kramer, S.P. (1994) Does France Still Count? The

French Role in the New Europe, Westport,

CN: Praeger (a short clear overview, with

some background on evolving issues).

Eurovision Song Contest

The much-maligned Eurovision Song Contest,

which in its early days provided some of the

first live, trans-Europe television links, has

seen a number of French successes, including

those of André Claveau, with Delanoë and

Giraud’s 1958 Dors mon amour (Sleep My

Love), and Isabelle Aubret, first with Vic and

Valade’s Un premier amour (A First Love) in

1962, and then with La Source (The Spring)

in 1968, by Djian, Bonnet and Faure. Another

notable French success was that of France Gall

with Serge Gainsbourg’s Poupée de cire,

poupée de son (Wax Doll, Rag Doll) in 1965.

IAN PICKUP

Further reading

Howells, C. (ed.) (1992) The Cambridge Com-

panion to Sartre, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press (a collection of essays

which approach Sartrean philosophical

thinking from a range of angles).

Poster, M. (1975) Existential Marxism in Post-

war France, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni-

versity Press (this puts existentialism in its

historical context).

Ungar, S. (1989) ‘1945 (October 15): First Is-

sue of Les Temps modernes, Sartre’s Post-

war Journal: “Revolution or Revolt?”’, in

D.Hollier (ed.) A New History of French

Literature, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Uni-

versity Press (an essay contextualizing the

postwar emergence of existentialism as a

cultural, literary and philosophical move-

ment, which focuses particularly on the

roles played by Sartre, Camus and Les

Temps modernes).

Wilson, S. (1993) ‘Paris Post War: In Search

of the Absolute’, in Frances Morris (ed.)

Paris Post War: Art and Existentialism,

1945–55, London: Tate Gallery (essay on

art and existentialism).

existentialist theatre

The existentialist theatre, led by the philoso-

phy’s main exponents, Sartre and Camus, in-

volved a series of plays in the 1950s and 1960s

which sought to deal with issues arising from

major existentialist themes. The Absurd, the

need to resist or revolt against it, and the iso-

lation, guilt and need for political responsibil-

ity engendered by it, are all preoccupations of

Sartre’s and Camus’s theatre works, and also

those of Jean Anouilh, who shares some of

the themes, if not all of the political opinions,

of Sartrean theatre. In terms of theme, the

Theatre of the Absurd which followed exis-

tentialist theatre in the 1950s and 1960s dealt

with similar material; Beckett’s Waiting for

Godot (En attendant Godot), for example, is

a prime example of the Absurd which features

in existentialist philosophy. However, it is in

the absurdist form it epitomizes that it exem-

plifies the radical difference in approach be-

tween the Absurdists and their existential

predecessors. Whereas the Theatre of the Ab-

surd employed absurdity not only in subject

matter but also in structure and form, many

existentialist plays rely on a formal, classical

structure and dialectic. Hence, while many of

Sartre’s plays, such as In Camera (Huis Clos)

and Dirty Hands (Les Mains Sales), discuss

the issue of choice in defining oneself, the need

for recognition and the need to revolt against

absurdity, these ideas are formulated in a clas-

sical, structured way more reminiscent of

Greek tragedy than of a new genre. This is

due, partly, to a conscious effort to attempt to

establish a new form of tragedy for the mod-

ern day, combining the ancient ritual of classi-

cal drama (inspiration also for prewar pred-

ecessors such as Giraudoux) with a new form

of tragedy, based on the necessity of choice

discussed from an existentialist viewpoint.

Both Sartre and Camus sought to show the

tragedy inherent in Absurdity and the neces-

sary tragedy of choice in the life of mankind.

However, whereas Sartre believed in the indi-

vidual’s responsibility to resist Absurdity for

himself or herself, Camus believed that man-

kind should rebel collectively, and that an in-

dividual response was inadequate (an idea

expressed in Caligula).

Existentialist theatre has always been popu-

lar with educated Parisian middle-class audi-

ences, especially at the time the plays were

written, many before subsidized state theatre

arrived in France, when authors were obliged

to rely on the goodwill of one of the private

theatres. Perhaps because they used finely

crafted language and situations to expound

their philosophies and theories, Sartre’s and

Camus’s works, even if they presented some-

times less than rounded characters and dra-

matic techniques, were as successful when first

existentialist theatre

195

performed as they are today. Certainly during

the Occupation and the years which followed,

their individualist spirit and strength of pur-

pose and ideals appealed to Parisian audi-

ences. With the advent of state funding, they

also saw themselves established as regular

members of the subsidized theatre’s popular

repertoire, and continue to be performed fre-

quently to this day.

ANNIE SPARKS

See also: theatre; theatres, national; theatres,

private

Further reading

Bradby, D. (1991) Modern French Drama

1940–1990, Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-

versity Press (Chapter 3 deals with modern

philosophical theatre).

Freeman, E. (1971) The Theatre of Albert

Camus, London: Methuen.

McCall, D. (1969) The Theatre of Jean-Paul

Sartre, Columbia: Columbia University Press.

Express, L’

Magazine

France’s first weekly news magazine,

L’Express was created by Jean-Jacques

Servan-Schreiber and Françoise Giroud in

1953, initially as a supplement to Les Échos

(owned by the former’s father). Inspired by

Pierre Mendès France , L’Express was a po-

litically outspoken, left-wing title, campaign-

ing for peace and decolonization during the

wars in Algeria and Indochina. Influential and

avant-garde, it was often at the centre of con-

troversy. When Sartre wrote in its columns

about Henri Alleg’s account of torture in Al-

geria at the hands of French paratroopers, the

authorities seized the whole issue of the maga-

zine. Famous writers such as Albert Camus

and François Mauriac were associated with

L’Express, and it served as a training ground

for many leading journalists of the late twen-

tieth century: Pierre Viansson-Ponté, Jean

Daniel, Claude Imbert, Michèle Cotta…

In 1964 Servan-Schreiber, a great admirer

of all things American, decided to transform

L’Express, adopting the smaller news maga-

zine format, and a more commercial ap-

proach, while toning down political content.

Unhappy with the changes, Jean Daniel re-

signed, and was soon leading rival title, Le

Nouvel Observateur. The new L’Express was

such a success that it multiplied its sales four-

fold in a decade (from 153,000 copies per

week in 1965 to 605,000 in 1974); readers

were attracted by the clear synthesis of the

week’s events. In 1970, Servan-Schreiber be-

gan actively to pursue a political career. Fear-

ing for the paper’s independence, Claude

Imbert and a number of colleagues (including

Georges Suffert, Olivier Chevrillon and

Jacques Duquesne) resigned, and were soon

launching another rival, Le Point. In 1977

Servan-Schreiber sold L’Express to interna-

tional financier Sir Jimmy Goldsmith, and

with Raymond Aron as political director, it

moved markedly to the right. Differences of

opinion with Goldsmith over presentation of

the leading presidential contenders in 1981 led

to the departure of Olivier Todd, Jean-

François Revel and Albert du Roy. In 1987

Goldsmith sold to the Compagnie Générale

d’Électricité; job losses and a succession of

presidents and directors followed. It is a testi-

mony to the resilience and intrinsic merits of

the magazine that, despite a turbulent history

of internal conflict and changing leadership, it

has sustained its popularity.

From the highly original, left-wing title of

the 1950s, L’Express has changed to become

a conformist, more institutionalized publica-

tion in the 1990s, with its reputation for inno-

vation shifting from the political to the com-

mercial sphere. Successful marketing strategies

have led to an exceptionally high number of

readers taking out subscriptions, often in re-

sponse to offers of free gifts or discounts (al-

though critics argue that this undermines its

image). Readers are predominantly male city-

dwellers, in middle or senior management

Express, L’

196

positions, and with above average disposable

income (an attraction for advertisers). Since

1992, L’Express has collaborated with Le

Point, for commercial, technical and adminis-

trative purposes, although both titles retain

editorial independence and a distinct identity.

Circulation of over 560,000 copies per week

in 1995, considerably higher than for rival

news magazines, confirms its continuing suc-

cess.

PAM MOORES

See also: Algerian war; national press in

France

Express, L’

197

Fabius, Laurent

b. 1946, Paris

Politician

Academically accomplished and urbane,

Fabius joined the Parti Socialiste (PS) in 1974.

Viewed as the ambitious ‘spiritual son’ of

Mitterrand and his possible successor, he has

been a député since 1978 and was Minister

for the Budget in 1981–3 and Minister for In-

dustry and Research in 1983–4. As prime min-

ister in 1984–6, he symbolized Mitterrand’s

policy U-turn towards market liberalism, al-

though he projected a technocratic image. He

was president of the National Assembly from

1988 to 1992. He gained the leadership of the

PS in 1992, but was ousted in 1993 following

the party’s electoral débâcle. His support for

Jospin in the 1995 presidential election was

somewhat lukewarm. He remains a leading

Socialist.

LAURENCE BELL