Alex Hughes. Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture

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vie quotidienne) published between 1947 and

1981, in which he confronts the alienated re-

ality of life in the modern world with, on the

one hand the illusory images which seek to

justify it and, on the other, the unrealized pos-

sibilities within it which are waiting to be set

free by radical and emancipatory action.

MICHAEL KELLY

Further reading

Martel, F. (1996) Le Rose et le noir: les

homosexuels en France depuis 1968, Paris:

Éditions du Seuil (excellent, if controver-

sial, account of the gay and lesbian politi-

cal and cultural scene in contemporary

France).

Mossuz-Lavau, J. (1991) Les Lois de l’amour:

les politiques de la sexualité en France,

Paris: Éditions du Seuil (very useful on the

legal and social history of the gay and les-

bian movements ).

Robinson, C. (1995) Scandal in the Ink: Male

and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth-

Century French Literature, London: Cassell

(contains useful insights into the history of

the lesbian movement in France).

lesbian press

The best-known lesbian publication of post-

war France, and one that is still going strong,

is the monthly magazine Lesbia. Created in

1982 by Christiane Jouve and Catherine

Marjollet, it is focused on cultural rather than

political issues and has a slightly ‘coffee-table’

slant. One of its most regular contributors is

the lesbian writer Hélène de Monferrand.

Masques, a mixed periodical which was

launched in 1979 and survived until 1986,

published pieces on political and cultural is-

sues pertaining to lesbianism, although it was

always more gay-orientated. A split in its edi-

torial team gave birth, briefly, to the lesbian

cultural journal Vlasta, four issues of which

appeared between 1983 and 1985. Feminist

publications of the 1970s with a marked les-

bian slant include Le Torchon Brûle and Les

Cahiers du grif, published in Brussels.

ALEX HUGHES

See also: feminist press; gay press; lesbian ac-

tivism; women’s/lesbian writing

Further reading

Martel, F. (1996) Le Rose et le noir: les

homosexuels en France depuis 1968, Paris:

Éditions du Seuil (gives an excellent, albeit

controversial, account of the gay and les-

bian political and cultural scene in contem-

porary France).

lesbian press

333

Lévi-Strauss, Claude

b. 1908, Brussels

Anthropologist

Lévi-Strauss’s original training was in philoso-

phy, but, like a number of his contemporaries,

he quickly became disillusioned with the sub-

ject as it was then taught, preferring the con-

crete and exotic experiences of ethnology to

what seemed the rhetorical abstractions of

philosophy. After a year in secondary educa-

tion, he was offered a teaching post in sociol-

ogy at the University of São Paulo, which ena-

bled him to undertake a series of fieldwork

expeditions into the Brazilian interior. During

his contact with the indigenous inhabitants,

he developed a lasting sense of affinity with

his subjects, movingly expressed in his influ-

ential autobiography, Tristes tropiques. The

crucial experience, however, were the years he

spent teaching in New York during the war,

when he met most of the leading American

anthropologists of the day, and began what

was to be a lifelong friendship and collabora-

tion with the Russian phonologist Roman

Jakobson. Decisively, Jakobson introduced

him to structural linguistics, which inspired

him to apply similar techniques of analysis to

his own research in anthropology.

Jakobson’s influence is discernible in Lévi-

Strauss’s first major publication, The Elemen-

tary Structures of Kinship (Les Structures

élémentaires de la parenté), but equally im-

portant was his original interpretation of

Marcel Mauss’s classic theory of exchange.

Lévi-Strauss took from Mauss the idea of gift

exchange as a fundamental mechanism of so-

cial cohesion in non-Western societies and

applied it to the quasi-universal phenomenon

of incest prohibition. This negative prohibi-

tion also had a positive aspect in that it obliged

group A to give its women as spouses to group

B, and vice versa, thus creating a stable alli-

ance between the two groups. The prohibi-

tion of incest and the relations of kinship that

were its result were therefore expressions of a

more basic function—the principle of reciproc-

ity. While Les Structures élémentaires was

criticized by more empirically minded British

and American anthropologists suspicious of

its generalizations, the work ensured Lévi-

Strauss’s international reputation, bringing to

French sociological thought a breadth of ref-

erence and a degree of theoretical sophistica-

tion unknown since Durkheim.

When he was appointed to the École Pra-

tique des Hautes Études in 1950 Lévi-Strauss’s

new area of specialization was the anthropol-

ogy of religions. Here his emphasis was on

the cognitive structures of non-Western

thought rather than aspects of ritual or belief.

Hence, in Totemism (Le Totémisme

aujourd’hui) he rejected the concept of

totemism as an illusory construct which es-

tablished an imaginary distinction between

‘primitive’ and ‘civilized’ thought. The diverse

representations normally categorized as

‘totemism’ were in fact systems of classifica-

tion used to map differences in the natural

world on to differences in social organization.

What was primary was not the belief or prac-

tice associated with a particular totem, but its

difference from other totems, homologous to

the differences between social groups. ‘To-

temic’ systems were therefore like codes, used

to express elements of social structure. Lévi-

Strauss continued this line of enquiry in The

Savage Mind (La Pensée sauvage), where he

described non-Western classifications of the

natural world as a ‘logic of the concrete’, a

kind of DIY science (bricolage) different from

Western science but with its own rigour and

coherence. Such classifications proceeded by

way of a binary ordering which was a univer-

sal feature of the human mind. These two key

works of 1962 prepared the way for Lévi-

Strauss’s magnum opus, the four-volume cy-

cle Mythologiques, an extensive analysis of

over 800 North and South American myths.

These myths are treated as a closed system—

that is, they are analysed not as isolated sto-

ries with such and such a message or mean-

ing, but rather in terms of their structure, their

individual modes of combination of a finite

set of ‘mythemes’. Because the human mind

has a limited repertory of logical categories,

Lévi-Strauss, Claude

334

based on the type of binary oppositions found

in language, each myth should, according to

Lévi-Strauss, be a decodable transformation

of another myth. Lévi-Strauss’s work on myth

published since the 1970s is essentially a

continuation of the programme set in place in

the Mythologiques.

The above synopsis represents the core of

Lévi-Strauss’s contribution to anthropology,

but the content of his work is more diverse

and its influence more extensive than this.

From Les Structures élémentaires onwards, it

was evident that the kind of anthropology he

was proposing had a considerably wider

scope than what, in France, had traditionally

passed as ethnology. In 1958, the program-

matic collection of essays, Structural Anthro-

pology (Anthropologie structurale), ambi-

tiously placed anthropology at the centre of

the human sciences in France, both as a rigor-

ous science of human society and as a privi-

leged mediator of cultural diversity. Com-

bined with the popular success of Tristes

tropiques, this served to project Lévi-Strauss

and his discipline to the forefront of intellec-

tual debate in the 1950s and 1960s. Anthro-

pology thus became the avant-garde of the

movement known as structuralism and the

focus of a new type of humanism; Lévi-

Strauss was its figurehead. In 1959 he was

elected to the first chair in social anthropol-

ogy at the Collège de France; the following

year he founded L’Homme, the first French

journal of anthropology. In 1973 he was

elected to the Academic Française.

Lévi-Strauss is one of the outstanding intel-

lectual figures of this century. Apart from his

international reputation in anthropology and

more generally as the originator of structural-

ism, the literary qualities of texts such as

Tristes tropiques, his numerous interviews, his

writings on subjects as diverse as music, lit-

erature and the visual arts have all ensured his

celebrity beyond academic and intellectual cir-

cles in France.

CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON

See also: anthropology and ethnology; linguis-

tic/discourse theory

Major works

Lévi-Strauss, C. (1967) Les Structures

élémentaires de la parenté, Paris and La

Haye: Mouton & Co./Maison des Sciences

de l’Homme. Translated J.H.Bell, J.R.von

Sturmer and R.Needham (1969) The El-

ementary Structures of Kinship, Boston:

Beacon Press.

——(1955) Tristes tropiques, Paris: Plon.

Translated J. and D.Weightman (1984)

Tristes tropiques, Harmondsworth: Pen-

guin.

——(1958) Anthropologie structurale, Paris:

Plon. Translated C.Jacobson and B.

Grundfest Schoepf (1977) Structural An-

thropology 1, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

——(1962a) Le Totémisme aujourd’hui, Paris:

Presses Universitaires de France. Translated

R.Needham (1964) Totemism, London:

Merlin Press.

——(1962b) La Pensée sauvage, Paris: Plon.

Translated R.Needham (1966) The Savage

Mind, Chicago: Chicago University Press.

——(1964–71) Mythologiques, 4 vols, Paris:

Plon. Translated J. and D.Weightman

(1970–81) Mythologiques: Introduction to

a Science of Mythology, 4 vols, London:

Cape.

——(1973) Anthropologie structurale deux,

Paris: Plon. Translated M.Layton (1978)

Structural Anthropology 2, Harmondsworth:

Penguin.

Further reading

Eribon, D. (1988) De près et de loin, Paris:

Plon. Translated P.Wissing (1991) Conver-

sations with Claude Lévi-Strauss, Chicago:

University of Chicago Press (contains much

autobiographical information not found in

Tristes tropiques, casting interesting light

on the debates of the 1950s and 1960s).

Hénaff, M. (1991) Claude Lévi-Strauss, Paris:

Belfond (a clear and accurate overview of

Lévi-Strauss’s anthropology, with useful

synopses of principal texts).

Lévi-Strauss, Claude

335

Levinas, Emmanuel

b. 1906, Kovno, Lithuania;

d. 1995, Paris

Philosopher

Levinas’s combination of Judaic culture and

phenomenological training produced a phi-

losophy based on the primacy of ethics which,

in the wake of structuralist determinations, has

assumed increasing importance and influence.

Born of Jewish parents, Levinas frequently

drew on the moral lessons contained in writ-

ers such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who were

his earliest reading. After studies in Strasbourg,

his first publications were essentially an im-

portation of the lessons learned, first from

Husserl and then from Heidegger, into French

philosophy. This period, running from 1930’s

The Theory of Intuition in Husserl’s Phenom-

enology (La Théorie de l’intuition dans la

phénoménologie de Husserl) to Existence and

Existents (De l’existence à l’existant) of 1947

and Discovering Existence with Husserl and

Heidegger (En découvrant l’existence avec

Husserl et Heidegger) from 1949, already har-

bours the idea which is to assume increasing

importance and radical expression in Levinas’s

philosophy: the ethical confrontation with the

other, whose existence is subordinated to philo-

sophical representation and existential mastery.

This preconditional obligation to be for-the-

other rather than for-itself leads to two publi-

cations which are among the most important

philosophical works in French of the postwar

period: the 1961 Totality and Infinity (Totalité

et infini) and 1974’s Otherwise Than Being or

Beyond Essence (Autrement qu’être ou au-delà

de l’essence). In the first, Levinas contrasts the

closed and masterful system of philosophical

intentionality with the infinity opened up in

consciousness by the face-to-face relation: in-

stead of grasping this appearance of the other

and absorbing it into a total intelligibility, I

must respond to the ethical demand which its

apparition produces in me. The implications

for a philosophical language no longer devoted

to thematization and reduction, and the re-

sponse, articulated notably by Derrida, that

this non-conceptual approach in itself consti-

tuted a concept and made sense only within

the terms of a philosophy it sought to break

open, in turn led to the remarkable Otherwise

Than Being or Beyond Essence. Levinas re-

places the concept of otherness with the more

immediate and less definable notions of neigh-

bour and proximity, and moves from a scru-

tiny of the face to an attentiveness to the gen-

erous and responsible act of saying, a gesture

that establishes immediate contact, exposes me

to the other and resists the silence of intellec-

tual mastery. In keeping with this, he also trans-

forms the words and modes of his own philo-

sophical communication: his earlier descrip-

tions of eros now become his basic means of

expression, the high point being the chapter

on substitution, with its scandalous evocation

of torn skin, exposure and obsession, passiv-

ity and persecution. The ethical dimension of

such passivity is for Levinas guaranteed by the

absolute ethics, or obedience to the Most High,

of God’s law. For Levinas, God is not the re-

introduction of absolute rule, however, but the

constant revelation of absolute alterity within

the human situation. In similar vein, Levinas’s

concept of justice is based on the possibility of

embodying a prophetic morality which must

by its nature lie beyond the machinery of state

and politics.

SEÁN HAND

Further reading

Hand, S. (ed.) (1989) The Levinas Reader,

Oxford: Blackwell (essential texts by

Levinas, edited and presented with an in-

troduction, headnotes and glossary).

Lévy, Bernard-Henri

b. 1948, Paris

Essayist

Lévy, Bernard-Henri

336

Lévy is the most prominent of the intellectuals

who have presented their work in the media,

especially the press and television. A philoso-

pher, trained at the elite École Normale

Supérieure, he came to public notice as lead-

ing promoter of the new philosophers in the

1970s, editing with Grasset a book series in

which many of its chief works were published,

including his own Barbarism with a Human

Face (La Barbarie à visage humain) in 1977.

The French Ideology (L’Idéologie française),

published in 1981, controversially pointed to

past Fascist tendencies in the French intellec-

tual Left. An energetic writer with a reputa-

tion as a charismatic and charming personal-

ity, he has held a number of regular columns

in the daily and monthly press, and has made

frequent appearances on television, including

his own 1990 series, The Adventures of Free-

dom (Les Aventures de la liberté). His media

presentation of ideas has been particularly

criticized by other intellectuals, for its superfi-

ciality and self-promotion. He is often referred

to as BHL, a reference to the BHV department

store. His ideas centre on the role of the intel-

lectual, and on the need for political and so-

cial involvement in favour of human rights.

He has actively promoted campaigns against

racism, Fascism and religious fundamentalism,

supporting organizations such as SOS

Racisme, and protesting against human rights

violations in Bosnia, Rwanda and Algeria.

MICHAEL KELLY

See also: Desk, Harlem, and SOS Racisme;

educational elitism; publishing/l’édition; rac-

ism/anti-semitism

Liberation

Newspaper

Taking its name from a Resistance newspaper

which continued publication until 1964, Lib-

eration began in 1973 as a radical daily left-

wing newspaper committed to carrying for-

ward the spirit of May 1968. Despite a number

of financial crises it has survived, and although

still on the Left, it has long abandoned its early

radicalism. The first issue of Liberation ap-

peared on 22 May 1973, although eleven is-

sues had appeared sporadically since 18 April.

The newspaper offered a heady mix of irrever-

ent libertarianism and militant workerism and

initially refused to carry paid advertising, de-

pending instead for its finances on its readers

and supporters. The paper belonged to the

staff, who were all paid the same wage (equiva-

lent to that of an unskilled factory worker in

the Paris area). Although by the end of 1980

sales had risen to around 41,000 (from around

18,000 at the end of 1975), the newspaper’s

financial position was far from secure and disa-

greements among the staff about the future

direction of the paper were intensifying. On

21 February 1981, a staff meeting agreed to

suspend publication of the paper and debate

its future development.

When Liberation reappeared on 13 May

1981, it was clear that the views of Serge July,

one of the initiators of the paper, had tri-

umphed. Under July’s direction, Libération

now set out to establish itself as a serious, pro-

fessional daily paper with a reputation for

quality coverage of cultural, literary and po-

litical issues. The commitment to workers’ con-

trol was jettisoned, a traditional structure re-

placed the non-hierarchical one, a new smaller

staff team was constituted through sackings

and the employment of journalists from other

papers—Liberation became a limited company.

Salary differentials were introduced, and from

February 1982 the newspaper accepted adver-

tising in an attempt to extricate itself from its

still-precarious financial situation. Politically

part of the mainstream Left, Liberation was

sympathetic to (if sometimes critical of)

Mitterrand and the Socialist government.

The circulation figures of the relaunched

Libération rose from 53,000 in 1981 to

195,000 in 1992, but sales were still only

about half those of its main rivals (Le Figaro

and Le Monde) and a long way off July’s long-

term aim of 500,000. Moreover, after the ex-

pensive failure of a regional newspaper, Lyon-

Liberation, and radio and audiovisual projects

Liberation

337

coinciding with a dramatic fall in advertising

revenue, in 1992 the paper was once again

facing a financial crisis. On 26 September

1994, a revamped Liberation was launched,

but it did not prove to be the hoped-for suc-

cess. The new format eighty-page newspaper

with its Saturday magazine did not impress

the existing readership and failed to attract

enough new readers; the costs of the relaunch

had been underestimated, while the price of

newsprint continued to rise. The paper now

faced yet another financial crisis and, in Feb-

ruary 1996, the Chargeurs group headed by

Jérôme Seydoux increased its stake in Libera-

tion from 12 to 65 per cent, while signing an

agreement guaranteeing the paper its editorial

independence. At the same time, the stake held

by the staff, who had lost their position as

majority shareholders in the run-up to the

1994 relaunch, fell to 20 per cent.

DAVID DRAKE

See also: left-wing press; national press in

France

Further reading

Samuelson, F.M. (1979) Il était une fois ‘Libé’,

Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

Liberation and épuration

The Liberation of France in the summer of

1944 should be considered in the global con-

text of the Allies’ efforts to defeat Hitler. The

need for landings in France grew partly from

pressures exerted by Soviet Russia to open a

second front to relieve their armies on the east-

ern front. The Allies had been considering

landings in France since 1942, but when a

mainly Canadian force met with disaster at

Dieppe it became clear that such an undertak-

ing would need to be meticulously prepared

in advance in order to assemble the appropri-

ate matériel and armed forces. Operation

Overlord was finally made ready and launched

under the Allied supreme commander, Gen-

eral Dwight D. Eisenhower, on 6 June 1944.

Thus began the Liberation of France, with

landings of United States, British, Canadian

and some Free French troops on the beaches

of the Normandy coast between Cherbourg

and Ouistreham, near Caen. In an operation

of unprecedented scale and ambition, Allied

troops managed to establish bridgeheads, to

land sufficient men, armour and equipment to

overcome some tenacious German resistance,

and to begin the process of forcing the with-

drawal of most of the occupying forces from

France.

The armed French Resistance (known as

FFI—Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur—or more

popularly as ‘Fifis’) came into its own during

this period, carrying out sabotage operations

and disrupting German troop movements.

These efforts sometimes provoked terrible re-

prisals on the part of the Germans, for instance

the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane, near

Limoges. The FFI helped liberate many towns

in Normandy and Brittany after the Allies’ ini-

tial sweep through. The uprising in Paris on

19 August 1944 marked the beginning of the

battle to free the French capital. The Free

French armoured division under General

Leclerc entered Paris at the head of the Ameri-

can armies on 25 August, upon which the Ger-

mans surrendered; de Gaulle arrived there the

same evening, and the next day made a trium-

phal march down the Champs-Élysées.

Liberation proved more difficult in the

southeast of the country, because the Resist-

ance met with several reverses. In the Vercors,

for example, around 19 July the poorly

equipped forces of the maquis were encircled

by the Germans and massacred. However, af-

ter 15 August, landings in Provence (Opera-

tion Anvil) enabled the Allies to proceed up

the Rhone valley and, by 12 September, Free

French troops under Leclerc and de Lattre de

Tassigny met near Dijon. By this time, much

of French territory was liberated, except for

pockets of German resistance on the Atlantic

coast, around Dunkirk and in Alsace-Lorraine.

As far as political authority in liberated ar-

eas is concerned, after 12 July 1944 the Allies

Liberation and épuration