A Loss of Revolutionary Tradition?

Viewed from the outside, bicentennial France seems to be resigning its major claim to political glory, its jealously guarded national treasure: the tradition of the Great Revolution. Foreign observers have noticed a sharp contrast between the republican glamour of the 1889 centennial and this year’s routine celebration in which some hostile reactions have appeared. Nor has right-wing influence on the cultural scene gone unnoticed. French booksellers report that the Vendée has be...