La Reconstruction Dun Mythe

Definir de facon univalente la notion de mythe et celle d'utopie semble en soi une entreprise tout a fait utopique. Par ailleurs, jumeler les deux notions, celle du mythe et celle d'utopie, releve d'un processus de reflexion qui peut facilement etre a double tranchant: le mythe, construction par excellende de l'imaginaire humain, ne se situe-t-il pas ailleurs que dans un non-lieu? et l'utopie, quant a elle, ne fait-elle pas echo au mythe, a la fois s'en inspirant, le niant et le transformant? Redondance possible, et aussi, parfois, refus des deux domaines a admettre leur interdependance, cheninement parallele surtout et creation commune de ce qui, en fin de compte, s'avere mythe transforme, utopie revistee. Toutefois, mythes et utopies quels que soient la position choisie, le point de vue defendu, semblent faire bon menage, a en juger par ce projet, mavec dix-neuf textes couvrant principalement la litterature contemporaine des femmes, mais puisant parfois aux uvres anterieures qui ont deja prepare le terrain, en offrant des visions d'existences idylliques ne serait-ce que litteraires."

In the Summer of 1973, workers occupied the Lip watch and clock factory, sparking a national cause and controversy. The Lip occupation and self-management experience captured the imagination of the Left in France and internationally, as a living example of the spirit of May '68. In Opening the Gates, Donald Reid chronicles the history of this struggle. Beginning with the early stirrings of worker radicalism in 1968, Reid's meticulously researched narrative details the nationally publicised conflict of 1973, the second bankruptcy and occupation of 1976 and the conversion of Lip into a group of cooperatives operating into the 1980s.

"Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe (1940-2007) was a professor of philosophy, and also a poet, a translator and a playwright. His life and work were dedicated to the philosophical and political movements of the post-1968 era, from his communal life together with Jean-Luc Nancy to his collaborations with Jacques Derrida. These movements also carried him towards disparate modes of writing such as poetry and theatre. The tension between Lacoue-Labarthe's timely and untimely meditations governs the approach in this study, the first to attempt an accessible and comprehensive account of this forceful thinker."

This Liber Amicorum appears on the occasion of Professor Vera Gowlland-Debbas' retirement from the Graduate Institute. It includes contributions by her colleagues and friends from distinguished universities and international institutions. It covers different fields in which she has excelled. This collective work is divided into three main sections. The first section examines matters concerning the law of the United Nations. The second section is devoted to human rights and international humanitarian law. The third section addresses issues related to law-making, compliance with international law and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The result is a collection of stimulating analysis of most of the topical problems of international law. The contributions are in both English and French.

Complicity in Fin-de-siècle Literature examines late-nineteenth century French understandings of literature as a morally collusive medium, which implicates readers, writers, and critics in risqué or illicit ideas and behaviour. It considers definitions of complicity from the period's evolving legal statutes, critical debates about literary 'bad influence', and modern theories of reader response, in order to achieve a deeper understanding of how cultural production of the period forged relationships of implication and collusion. While focusing on fin-de-siècle French culture, the book's theoretical discussions provide a new terminology and conceptual framework through which to analyse literary influence and reception, applicable to different historical periods and national settings. Interdisciplinary in nature, the study draws on methods associated with close reading, literary history, law and literature studies, cultural studies, and sociology of literature. Each of the book's chapters highlights how particular literary themes or techniques encouraged readers' identification with transgression and facilitated alternative forms of solidarity. The analysis draws on a range of case studies from different media forms, including: Naturalist, Decadent, and psychological novels, biographically revealing fiction ('romans à clefs'), little magazines ('petites revues'), and saucy magazines ('revues légères'). Texts written by well-known literary figures--such as Émile Zola, Octave Mirbeau, and Rachilde--appear alongside previously overlooked periodical and archival sources. The book's varied corpus reveals the widespread appeal of risqué topics and illicit solidarity across the literary spectrum.

David Parrott's book offers a major re-evaluation of the last year of the Fronde - the political upheaval between 1648 and 1652 - in the making of seventeenth-century France. In late December 1651, Cardinal Mazarin defied the order for his perpetual banishment, and re-entered France at the head of an army. The political and military crisis that followed convulsed the nation, and revived the ebbing fortunes of a revolt led by the cousin of the young Louis XIV, the prince de Cond�. The study follows in detail the unfolding political and military events of this year, showing how military success and failure swung between the two sides through the campaign, driving both cardinal and prince into a progressive intensification of the conflict, while simultaneously fuelling a quest for compromise and settlement which nonetheless eluded all the negotiators' efforts. The consequences were devastating for France, as civil war smashed into a fragile ecosystem that was already reeling under the impact of the global cooling of the 'Little Ice Age'. 1652 raises questions about established interpretations of French state-building, the rule of cardinal Mazarin and his predecessor, Richelieu, and their contribution to creating the 'absolutism' of Louis XIV.

In Philo of Alexandria and Greek Myth: Narratives, Allegories, and Arguments, a fresh and more complete image of Philo of Alexandria as a careful reader, interpreter, and critic of Greek literature is offered. Greek mythology plays a significant role in Philo of Alexandria’s exegetical oeuvre. Philo explicitly adopts or subtly evokes narratives, episodes and figures from Greek mythology as symbols whose didactic function we need to unravel, exactly as the hidden teaching of Moses’ narration has to be revealed by interpreters of Bible. By analyzing specific mythologems and narrative cycles, the contributions to this volume pave the way to a better understanding of Philo’s different attitudes towards literary and philosophical mythology.

Conventional readings of the history of Soviet art and architecture show modernist utopian aspirations as all but prohibited by 1932 under Stalin's totalitarianism. Soviet Architectural Avant-Gardes challenges that view. Radically redefining the historiography of the period, it reveals how the relationship between the Party and practicing architects was much more complex and contradictory than previously believed, and shows, in contrast to the conventional scholarly narrative, how the architectural avant-garde was able to persist at a time when it is widely considered to have been driven underground. In doing so, this book provides an essential perspective on how to analyse, evaluate, and “re-imagine” the history of modernist expression in its cultural context. It offers a new understanding of ways in which 20th century social revolutions and their totalitarian sequels inflected the discourse of both modernity and modernism. The book relies on close analyses of archival documents and architectural works. Many of the documents have been rarely – if ever – discussed in English before, while the architectural projects include iconic works such as the Palace of Soviets and the Soviet Pavilion at the Paris 1937 World Exposition, as well as remarkable works that until now have been neglected by architectural historians inside and outside Russia. In a fascinating final chapter, it also reveals for the first time the details of Frank Lloyd Wright's triumphant welcome at the First Congress of Soviet Architects in Moscow in 1937, at the height of Stalin's Terror.