For the Soul of France: Culture Wars in the Age of Dreyfus

334 Pages·2011·20.271 MB·English

by  Frederick Brown

Frederick Brown
For the Soul of France
Frederick Brown is the author of Flaubert, which was
a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award
in biography, and Zola, named an Editor’s Choice by
The New York Times Book Review as one of the best
books of the year. Brown has twice been the recipient
of both Guggenheim and National Endowment for the
Humanities fellowships. He lives in New York City.
Also by Frederick Brown
Flaubert: A Biography
Theater and Revolution
Zola: A Life
Père-Lachaise: Elysium as Real Estate
FOR THE
S O UI.
OF
FRANCE
Culture Wars in the Age of Dreyfus
F B
rederick rown
Anchor Books
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York
FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, JANUARY 2011
Copyright © 2010 by Frederick Brown
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada
Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by
Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 2010.
Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Portions of this work originally appeared in slightly different form in
The Hudson Review and The New England Review. Chapter 7 is
adapted from a chapter of Zola: A Life by Frederick Brown
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995).
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Brown, Frederick.
For the soul of France : culture wars in the age of Dreyfus /
by Frederick Brown.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. France—History—Third Republic, 1870-1940. 2. France—
Civilization—19th century. 3. Nationalism—France—History—19th century.
4. Secularism—France—History—19th century. 5. Church and state—
France—History—19th century. 6. National characteristics, French. I. Title.
DC337.B68 2010
944.081—dc22 2009030912
Anchor ISBN: 978-0-307-27921-7
Author photograph © Nancy Crampton
Book design by Maggie Hinders
www.anchorbooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
10 987654321
For Ruth, Aggie, Peter, and Chris

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Chronology xi
Preface xxiii
CHAPTER I
From The Life of Jesus to the Sacré-Coeur
3
CHAPTER II
Birth Pangs of a Secular Republic
39
CHAPTER III
The Crash of the Union Générale
59
CHAPTER IV
France on Horse
8i
CHAPTER V
The Ogre of Modernity: Eiffel’s Tower
124
CHAPTER VI
The Panama Scandal
155
CHAPTER VIi:
The Dreyfus Affair
175
CHAPTER VIII
The Burning of the Charity Bazaar
231
CHAPTER IX
Two Banquets
251
Acknowledgments 267
Notes 2 69
Index 283

Illustrations
(Unless otherwise attributed, all the illustrations come from the Cabinet des
Estampes of the Bibliothèque Nationale)
15 Ernest Renan at the time of the publication of La Vie de Jésus.
36 “Le Cantique,” by Jean Béraud, at the building site of the Sacré-Coeur,
1887.
45 Marshal Patrice de MacMahon, president of the Third Republic (1873 to
1879) and guardian of 1’Ordre Moral.
51 Léon Gambetta, protagonist of the Government of National Defense
during the Franco-Prussian War.
57 “The Army Swearing Loyalty to the Young Republic,” in 1880.
61 The Palais du Trocadéro. (Archives de Paris)
63 The Gallery of French Machines at the Exposition Universelle of 1878.
70 The arrest, in 1882., of the two principals in the Crash of the Union
Générale, Bontoux and Feder.
73 Édouard Drumont, author of La France juive and founder of the daily La
Libre parole, photographed by Nadar.
97 General Boulanger, minister of war, July 14, 1886.
108 An electoral poster with one of Boulanger’s slogans: “Révision,
Constituante, Référendum,” (calling for the election of a Constituent
Assembly to revise the constitution, then a national referendum).
134 The Palace of Industry.
143 Gustave Eiffel. Photographed by the Nadar studio.
145 Engraving of the Eiffel Tower by Fraipont.
147 Engraving of the Eiffel Tower in La Revue illustrée, 1889.
148 Inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, 1889.
149 A general view of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, photographed from
the Trocadéro.
150 The central dome of the Palace of Diverse Industries, engraved by
F. Méaulle.