REFLEXIONS D'UN HISTORIEN SUR LES FAUSSES NOUVELLES

by Marc Bloch

Great historians have seldom described the notable events in which they themselves participated. Marc Bloch - author of Feudal Society, the classic study of medieval social systems and co-founder of the influential French historical journal Annales - is an exception, In his powerful memoir The Strange Defeat, he analysed the fall of France in 1940 from the viewpoint of combatant as well as historian. And in his Memoirs of War, 1914–15, here in its first English translation (originally published in hard covers in 1980 by Cornell University Press), Bloch left a keen and affecting account of his earliest experience of war. Carole Fink's introduction includes a brief biography of Bloch, discusses the effect of the war upon his intellectual development, and assesses his achievements as a historian. Though Bloch survived the savage trench warfare of the First World War, he was shot by a Gestapo firing squad in 1944 for his participation in the Resistance. Trenchant, inspiring, and tersely written, Memoirs of War, 1914–15 is a monument to a great scholar and fierce patriot.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (6 July 1886 in Lyon – 16 June 1944 in Saint-Didier-de-Formans) was a medieval historian, University Professor and French Army officer. Bloch was a founder of the Annales School, best known for his pioneering studies French Rural History and Feudal Society and his posthumously-published unfinished meditation on the writing of history, The Historian's Craft. He was captured and shot by the Gestapo during the German occupation of France for his work in the French Resistance.

Reviews

[Georgina Koutrouditsou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πώς μπορεί ένα κείμενο που γράφτηκε το 1919 να είναι τόσο επίκαιρο σήμερα;Και όμως,ο Μαρκ Μπλοχ το καταφέρνει.
Oι μετέπειτα γνώσεις μας για το ρόλο της προπαγάνδας,ιδιαίτερα την περίοδο του Μεσοπολέμου, θα συμπληρωθούν με αυτό το άρθρο του σπουδαίου αυτού ιστορικού,που προέβλεψε ότι οι "Ψευδείς ειδήσεις" θα κυριαρχήσουν τον σύντομο 20ο αιώνα,για να δανειστώ τη φράση του Χόμπσμπάουμ.
Εξαιρετική η εισαγωγή του Olivier Levy-Dumoulin.

[Milou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intéressant, illustré par de nombreux exemples concrets (peu être un peu trop ? ). Une écriture plutôt littéraire agréable car peu courante parmis les historiens.

[Emilio Quinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saggio piacevole da leggere non soltanto per gli "addetti ai lavori"

[María Alcántara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Somos los muertos.
Hace pocos días vivíamos,
cantábamos auroras, veíamos el rojo del crepúsculo,
amábamos, éramos amados.
Ahora yacemos, en los campos de Flandes”.

John McCrae

[Magnolitaz]

“Una falsa notizia nasce sempre da rappresentazioni collettive che preesistono alla sua nascita; essa solo apparentemente è fortuita o, più precisamente, tutto ciò che in essa vi è di fortuito è l'incidente iniziale, assolutamente insignificante, che fa scattare il lavoro dell'immaginazione; ma questa messa in moto ha luogo soltanto perché le immaginazioni sono già preparate e in silenzioso fermento. Ad esempio, un avvenimento, una percezione inesatta che non andasse nella direzione verso cui già tendono le menti di tutti, potrebbe al massimo costituire l'origine di un errore individuale, ma non di una falsa notizia popolare e largamente diffusa. Se posso servirmi di un'espressione a cui i sociologi hanno spesso dato, a mio parere, un valore troppo metafisico, ma che è comodo e, dopo tutto, ricco di senso, la falsa notizia è lo specchio in cui ‘la coscienza collettiva’ contempla i propri lineamenti.”

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Marc Bloch's limited account pompous and myopic. The only redeeming quality was his use of unique colors and the description of the church at Pont-de-Neuville.

[Chris]

Slow reading, couldn't finish it

[Chiara Casari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come si formano e si diffondono le false notizie. Quali sono i legami tra queste e i periodi storici che l'umanità attraversa? Piccolo libro, grande riflessione. Molto attuale. Da leggere.