Alain Finkielkraut: «I reproach the present for leaving no room for admiration».»

A member of the Académie française, the author of L'identité malheureuse is considered «nauseating» by his opponents. Yet his work is part of a humanist tradition, as he argues in this interview, in which he pleads for a sense of admiration and gratitude.

Leaning on a table, Alain Finkielkraut bears the weight of his tireless intellectual commitment. The day before, he had accepted an invitation from the Société d’études françaises de Bâle. Its president, Robert Kopp—who edited the anthology *La modernité à contre-courant* (Bouquins), a collection of nine works by the Academician—will also engage in a discussion with him at the Alliance Française in Bern a few hours after our interview.

In his book *La Défaite de la pensée*, published in 1987, the host of the Saturday program «Répliques» on France Culture emphasized the importance of a commitment to a unified culture