French and Americans: The Other Shore

by Pascal Baudry, Jean-Louis Morhange (Translator)

One of the many reasons why the Americans and the French, these two great people who nourish such complex feelings towards one another, have so much difficulty getting along consistently is that Americans like to do and the French are content to understand. But this is not to say that such understanding comes easily. The author, a French-born and naturalized American with extensive experience of both countries, has attempted here not only to describe the surprisingly strong differences between our two cultures, but also to explain why we are so different. For this innovative work, he mobilizes a multi-disciplinary approach to a rare degree. He gives readers from either shore an opportunity to reflect, at a truly deep level, on their own culture, in order for us to finally be able to see what we were taking for granted and to unearth the many cultural roots of our personality. The we become able to enrich our thinking and our practices with a broader stet of options. However – you have been warned – this discovery happens at the price of a certain loss of once you have read this book, there will be no way back. Dr. Baudry published the French best-seller Français et Américains, l’autre rive first in 2000, as a cyberbook (which can be downloaded free of charge at www.pbaudry.com) and then on paper (Village Mondial / Pearson Ed. Paris. 2nd edition, 2004), and finally as a comic strip, Les Frenchies, co-authored with Luc Nisset. Many of his 74,000 French-speaking readers asked him for an English translation, either to share with their American colleagues in French-American companies, to better communicate within culturally mixed couples, or to use as a reference book for Intercultural Studies, a topic that he has been teaching for many years at several of these famous institutions of higher education that the French fret soi much about. He has also given hundreds of conferences to American and French audiences, despite which he is still alive and well. “Mais bon!”

Genres: Nonfiction, France

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Mx Alec · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of it rang true, but I don't think those traits pertain exclusively to cultural trends. It's rather theoretical in its approach. It lacks consideration for individual experiences, microcultural aspects, intergenerational aspects as well as multiculturalism trends. It sounds out-of-date, and quite out-of-touch at times, as mentionned in another comment, I concurr.

Beware of the biases as well.
The tone favors the American mentality, and, well, tends to almost systematically place French people on the wrong side of history, picturing America's side as definitely brighter, or more positive, just as if French people were all pessimistic or all had Oeidpian complexes. Yes, French people are critical and weary of things, but is this a national trait? And are we even going to talk about the positive aspects of the depicted mentality, or .... No. Baudry simply goes into a long psychoanalytic talk about how French are frustrated and have unresolved complexes ; this may be a fact (or not), however, it doesn't recognize the positive aspect of this potential reality and shows a strong bias against his own native culture.

On top of it, the introduction sounds almost like a preventive measure against anyone who would critically think through the thesis. (In a word, it's almost as if you're against this thesis, or try to disprove it, then you're 'only resisting the facts', and it's only just a phase, before you come to accept the truth of the matter.) It's cleverly argumented and articulated in favor of Baudry's views, which, he should be reminded, doesn't hold the truth and most certainly likes to make broad generalizations in this work.

[Vida · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Chapter 6"

Tasks

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, when Americans meet one another, they share a common reference to the law. They meet because they have a task to perform together. One of them might be a supervisor in a store and the other a sales clerk; their task is to sell and to satisfy customers so that they will patronize the store in the future. Or one may be a physician and the other a patient; their task is to cooperate in order to provide and receive health care. They will then establish the minimum relationship necessary to properly perform the task at hand, to the degree that is needed but not beyond. Once the task has been performed, they will end the relationship.

Americans consider relationships secondary, relative to the tasks at hand. Since tasks are temporary, so are relationships..."

This is a psychological/historical comparison of the American and French cultures. Most of what he wrote rang true for me and taught me about some aspects of relationships that embarrassingly have been a mystery to me in my adult life.

This is not for everyone. I am glad I read it.

[DonJulio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book!
Do you know this feeling when someone describes and formalizes your own intuitions? This is exactly what I felt while reading this book.

As a Frenchman who lived in the US for several years in total immersion, I had the same experience as the author: I took some distance from my homeland and understood many French behaviors that were puzzling to me. This is possible because living abroad makes everything more acute and because many traits of the French culture are very contrasted with the American culture.

Yes, we Frenchmen combine both a complex of superiority and a complex of inferiority. Yes, we Frenchmen talk a lot but actions are long awaited in general. Yes, we Frenchmen have issues with reality. Against reason and all facts, we believe in the end of History, the end of work, that our health system is the best in the world, as our education system and so on. The more progressists (far left ideology) and idealistic we Frenchmen are and the more delusional we are (following the rule that the degree of idealism is inversely proportional to the distance to reality).

The author provides us with a theory accounting for these cultural characteristics based on early life experience (weaning and toilet training) which may seem oversimplistic but makes sense from a psychoanalytic standpoint. Very insightful! I recommend, esp. for those who seek and can bear the cost of sincere introspection.

Of course, let's not forget about the huge qualities and strengths Frenchmen do have and that the author, although hard (but fair) in his analysis, reminds us in the last chapters of the book.

PS. This book is hardly on American culture and mostly deals with the current challenges that France must face in order to keep up with the world competition.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was bored. I did not recognize those French and American people. It felt very old, out-of-date and out-of-touch.

[Victoria Tang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book put to words many of the experiences I had with French culture as an American. I am still skeptical, however, of the psychoanalysis as I find the author disregards the significance of education, greatly favoring mothers, weaning, and toilet-training as an explanation for cultural differences. While yes, I see the link, it does not account for how children raised by immigrant parents still grow up to be very American.

[Miche Lamarche]

Diff culture

[Keira McHenry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhhhhh bokay. I took two stars off because the book started breaking while I was reading it