France Archives - Public Seminar

Literature

Shakespeare Among the French Romantics

One way to take the temperature of a society in crisis

October 30, 2025 • by Sophia Charles

In 1776, Voltaire penned a letter to the Académie Française. His subject was Shakespeare, his mood grim. He was responding to a new translation into French of the playwright’s work, still little known to France. In the context of the French Enlightenment, Shakespeare came as a shock. Instead of dramatizing nobility of ...

Europe & Central Asia

The French Politics of the Pantheon and the Monumental Hypocrisy of Emmanuel Macron

How recognizing the heroism of past immigrants serves as cover for a nation’s anti-immigrant present

April 8, 2024 • by Mitchell Abidor

It was striking that a center-right president like Emmanuel Macron, who has recently hardened his position on immigrants and immigration, would grant such a high honor to two immigrant Communists. ...

The French Politics of the Pantheon and the Monumental Hypocrisy of Emmanuel Macron

The Arts

The World’s First Revolutionary Artist

Was Jacques-Louis David an opportunist? Or a passionate propagandist?

April 18, 2022 • by Mitchell Abidor

Jacques-Louis David Radical Draftsman is a fitting exploration of the first great radical artist, a master of propaganda whose greatest triumphs were a result of his unflagging willingness to place his enormous talents at the service of his deepest political beliefs. ...

Politics

Antisemitism as the Final Stage of Racism

Éric Zemmour’s rise in French politics

January 26, 2022 • by Éric Fassin

We cannot be told that we have to pick our battles either against antisemitism or against racism: it is clear that there is no choice—we have to fight both....

Antisemitism as the Final Stage of Racism

Reviews

Titane: Transformative Gender and Intimacy

The winner of the 2021 Palme d’Or takes us through hell and out the other side

November 3, 2021 • by Melinda Freudenberger

The following review contains spoilers. My friend has a phrase she likes to use about her new dog. “I look at him from across the room,” she says, after talking to me about all the piss pads littering her apartment floor, “and I can tell he’s having bad dog thoughts.” Something ...

<em>Titane</em>: Transformative Gender and Intimacy

Politics

France Unleashes its Racist Demons

How a Jewish writer of Algerian-Berber descent has become the nation’s most dangerous man

October 29, 2021 • by Mitchell Abidor and Miguel Lago

The most dangerous man in France today is Éric Zemmour. A best-selling author and far-right polemicist, Zemmour seems to be an increasingly serious candidate to become the next President of France. Recent polls show him surpassing Marine Le Pen, the French far-right’s former leader—even though Zemmour has yet to formally ...

The Right

Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

France’s culture wars are being fanned by a racism that cannot be discussed in public—but that followers of Marine Le Pen understand all the same

June 30, 2021 • by Hannah Leffingwell

_____ French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted at a recent press event with a slap in the face. Damien T., the man who delivered the slap, was heard yelling “Montjoie! Saint-Denis!” and “A bas la macronie” the former being a Royalist battle cry, the latter translating as “Down with Macronism!” The reason ...

Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

Feminism

More Misandry, Please!

France Needs More Man-Haters—but Pauline Harmange doesn’t seem to be one of them

April 28, 2021 • by Hannah Leffingwell

_____ The cover of French feminist Pauline Harmange’s recent book I Hate Men (Fourth Estate, 2021, translated by Natasha Lehrer) prepares the reader for a salacious world of feminist intrigue, and a no-holds barred misandrist rant for the ages. Arranged in bold block letters over a neon yellow background, the title ...

Europe & Central Asia

How the Most Powerful Frenchman in the World Embraced the Philosophy of Sade – and Lost All of His Power

Libertinage isn’t liberating, it’s a form of fascism

February 11, 2021 • by Mitchell Abidor

_____Recently, I’ve been watching Jalil Lespert’s Netflix miniseries Room 2806: The Accusation. This four-episode docu-drama recounts the rise and fall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, at the time the President of the International Monetary Fund and a leading candidate for the French presidency. Strauss-Kahn (familiarly known as DSK) was arrested in New York ...

How the Most Powerful Frenchman in the World Embraced the Philosophy of Sade – and Lost All of His Power

Past Present

“Emily in Paris” and American Francophilia

Past Present Podcast, Episode 252

October 27, 2020 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Emily in Paris is a hit on Netflix, perhaps due in equal parts to escapism and hate-watching. Natalia referenced her Well + Good roundup of Parisian fitness, and the show Younger. Niki discussed the novel The Ugly American. Neil referred ...

Democracy

Fascism or Caesarism?

How Napoleon, not Hitler, exemplifies an enduring threat to modern democracies

August 27, 2020 • by David A. Bell

As a historian, my first reaction has been to answer the question with a resounding “no.” My professional training has led me to think of fascism as a specific historical phenomenon, largely limited to the period from the early 1920s to the end of World War II, and built around ...

Feature

The Rorschach Test of Notre Dame

Notre Dame fire provoked universal shock and grief but its meaning has been refracted through radically different lenses

May 11, 2019 • by Sławomir Sierakowski

Although the Notre Dame fire in Paris provoked universal shock and grief, its meaning has been refracted through radically different lenses. Whereas the French have focused on issues of distributive justice, Poles have locked horns in another battle in the culture war that has defined the country's post-Cold War history. WARSAW ...

France

Shakespeare Among the French Romantics

One way to take the temperature of a society in crisis

The French Politics of the Pantheon and the Monumental Hypocrisy of Emmanuel Macron

How recognizing the heroism of past immigrants serves as cover for a nation’s anti-immigrant present

The World’s First Revolutionary Artist

Was Jacques-Louis David an opportunist? Or a passionate propagandist?

Antisemitism as the Final Stage of Racism

Éric Zemmour’s rise in French politics

Titane: Transformative Gender and Intimacy

The winner of the 2021 Palme d’Or takes us through hell and out the other side

France Unleashes its Racist Demons

How a Jewish writer of Algerian-Berber descent has become the nation’s most dangerous man

Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

France’s culture wars are being fanned by a racism that cannot be discussed in public—but that followers of Marine Le Pen understand all the same

More Misandry, Please!

France Needs More Man-Haters—but Pauline Harmange doesn’t seem to be one of them

How the Most Powerful Frenchman in the World Embraced the Philosophy of Sade – and Lost All of His Power

Libertinage isn’t liberating, it’s a form of fascism

“Emily in Paris” and American Francophilia

Past Present Podcast, Episode 252

Fascism or Caesarism?

How Napoleon, not Hitler, exemplifies an enduring threat to modern democracies

The Rorschach Test of Notre Dame

Notre Dame fire provoked universal shock and grief but its meaning has been refracted through radically different lenses

Newsletter

Connect With Us