"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Friday, August 28, 2015

Dreyfus - A Family Affair: 1789-1945 (Michael Burns, 1991)

Another - and highly interesting/effective - take on the Dreyfus story.  This author provided a significantly broader view of the situation than anything I've previously read, well worth it.

A highly useful part of the background included Dreyfus family history going back to their days in Alsace and beyond.  In terms of Jewish experiences, very complementary to this book (which by coincidence I was working through at the same time).  Anti-Semitism intensifying as 20th century dawns - almost unbelievable, except that it somehow continues to this day.

Dreyfus family intensely patriotic notwithstanding everything - true believers in the ideals of the Revolution (if grievously tarnished).

It's really a truth-stranger-than-fiction situation - hugely interesting, very helpful in thinking about the 20th century.  Defining for France, etc.  No wonder folks like Proust were so focused - everyone was.

One other reaction:  the recent historical fiction version was really quite well done.

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