Description
Book SynopsisThe years before the First World War have long been romanticized as a zenith of French culture—the “Belle Époque.” Dominique Kalifa traces the making—and the imagining—of the Belle Époque to reveal how and why it became a cultural myth.
Trade ReviewDominique Kalifa’s “untold” history of the Belle Époque offers a probing reflection on the concepts through which we structure and give meaning to time and the past. Scholars of memory, nostalgia, and temporality will find much to think about in a book that is at once playful and ambitious. -- Stéphane Gerson, author of
Disaster Falls: A Family StoryIn this important book, Dominique Kalifa convincingly demonstrates that the notion of the Belle Époque was not constructed in the years that followed the supreme catastrophe of World War I, but rather in the 1950s, during the “Thirty Glorious Years” when the new France emerged. This fascinating study has much to tell Anglophone readers about the France that the British and Americans began to discover in the wake of World War II. -- John Merriman, author of
Ballad of the Anarchist Bandits: The Crime Spree That Gripped Belle Époque ParisKalifa masterfully unearths the varied uses to which the term ‘Belle Époque’ has been put from the turn of the twentieth century forward. Part historical excavation, part meditation on the historian’s craft, this book makes a crucial contribution to the history of this important period and its afterlives. -- Willa Z. Silverman, author of
The New Bibliopolis: French Book Collectors and the Culture of Print, 1880–1914American readers, especially those who came of age after World War II, will quickly call up Toulouse-Lautrec posters on their walls and memories of first touring Paris. Kalifa gives those memories historical footings and explains their origins, providing a useful, informative portrait for scholars and Francophiles alike. * Kirkus Reviews *
An extremely interesting book. * Book Addiction *
His analysis is clear and comprehensible, and it is supported by references that cover a broad spectrum of social and cultural material. This is one of those academic books that wears its learning lightly. * Times Literary Supplement *
A genuinely thought-provoking study. Highly recommended. * Choice *
No matter the context, no one will ever again be able to refer to the
Belle Époque without taking Kalifa’s revelations into consideration. The endless intelligence of this book cannot be missed. * American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsPrologue: Time Regained
Part I: “The 1900 Époque”Dawn of the Century
Time in Flight
“Nothing mattered as long as we were dancing”
The Invention of “1900”
Part II: Ah! la Belle Époque!Occupied Paris, “Belle Époque” Paris?
Liberated Paris, Belle Époque Paris
A Lively Mid-Century
Part III: The Ordeal of the “Fin de Siècle”The “Belle Époque” Isn’t What It Used to Be
All of France in the Belle Époque
A Very Broad “Belle Époque”
Everything Is Cultural in the Era of the Vintage
Epilogue: Tangled Times
Postscript: The Belle Époque and the Gilded Age, by Venita Datta
Notes
Bibliography
Index
