According to sociologist Michel Maffesoli, who spoke on the March 9 edition of «Face à l'info», we find ourselves at the crossroads of two eras: a time of quantity may be returning to a time of quality. If so, perhaps the 21st century will be that of the novel, which alone is capable of expressing unquantifiable truths. In many respects, and perhaps surprisingly, «99 francs», Frédéric Beigbeder's novel denouncing the tyranny of advertising and inaugurating the trilogy featuring Octave Parango, can be read according to this very conception of the novel - that of Milan Kundera.
His mind races. If you ask Jean Birnbaum a question, expect him to reel off sentence after sentence, reference after reference. He takes you to corners of your mind you’ve never explored before. Here is an intelligent and honest man who has the audacity to look within our weaknesses for the sources from which to draw renewed strength. He reveals and analyzes these weaknesses in *The Religion of the Weak. What Jihadism Says About Us,« which he published following the success of his book *A Religious Silence: The Left Facing Jihadism*. Jean Birnbaum is a journalist at *Le Monde*, where he edits the literary section, »Le Monde des Livres.«.
Putting an End to the "Therapist State"
The single-sex school: a hot topic rehabilitated by researchers Jean-Baptiste Noé and Jean-David Ponci in a four-handed book. Interview with the latter.
As inclusive writing exerts its grip ever more violently on people's minds, including those of pedagogues who are no longer shy about imposing it on schools, it's time to determine what ailment it's a symptom of, so that we can get rid of it.
Modern poetry. Incomprehensible? What if a one-thousand-and-five-hundred-year-old author gave us the opportunity to receive the gifts extended by Baudelaire or Bonnefoy? Here are some thoughts on the meaning of the poetic word, based on Augustine of Hippo.
Michel Siggen, who swears by Aristotle and St. Thomas, has supplemented his course at a high school in Valais with an explanatory brochure on Jean-François Braunstein’s essay *Philosophy Gone Mad*. A work that is said to explain «the current anthropological crisis.».
Are we sure we want this fabulous encounter with the other «as other»? We have to admit that we are often committed to this notion of otherness. The aim is positive: to promote fraternity and non-violence. Yet the notion of otherness is far from easy. Before we get into a political discussion with broken chairs on our backs, let's see if we can't highlight a few paradoxes which, we hope, will be the occasion for more careful reflection.
The individualism that has worried sociologists for some decades now is merely the collective reflection of a highly targeted strategy. Not that advertisers do this in bad faith. Quite simply: it works.
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