L’Autre Francophonie (review)

This collection of two dozen articles is exceptionally uneven in terms of quality. It attempts to cover, over a wide historical period, both the impact of the French language and culture in ‘les pays d’Europe centrale et orientale’, and the varying levels of reciprocal influence (literary as well as political) between France and a broad swathe of countries and cultures whose main commonality is that they were once part of the Soviet bloc (or of the former Yugoslavia, to which should be added Albania). Hence a lack of cohesion between articles devoted to what might be called the institutional aspects of cultural interaction (political links, the activities of the Alliance française, the number of translated books, etc.) and those that address specific cases (namely, authors) of literary influence across national borders. This volume also raises unresolved definitional issues. As Andrzej Mencwel points out: ‘Historiquement, l’Europe centrale n’a pas de véritable existence’ (p. 243) — a situation that has only recently changed. This lack of definition is partly reflected within the pages of L’Autre Francophonie, which includes an article by Joseph Krulic, ‘Étrangeté et exception française selon Philippe d’Iribarne’, that is well written and perceptive but has very little to do with the book’s stated topic. Several articles suffer from a lack of editorial oversight, in particular when authors indulge in irrelevant personal reminiscences. For instance, at the beginning of an otherwise insightful article by Jacques Dewitte, ‘Une incarnation de l’esprit européen: Leszek Kołakowski’, we are informed about the ‘très francophone et très francophile’ Polish historian: ‘il lui arrivait de fumer des gitanes et il buvait du vin rouge de préférence français’ (p. 191). While such anecdotal statements may be acceptable at a conference, they should have been weeded out before publication. This volume also includes some notable typographical errors: ‘la création de l’Académie française, en 635’ (p. 68); ‘De Bonnald’ (p. 176); a line with no blank spaces between words (p. 300). Despite its flaws, L’Autre Francophonie contains several interesting and informative essays on literary and cultural issues that usually tend to receive relatively little critical attention. The book’s third section includes six articles devoted wholly or in part to the Polish literary and political journal Kultura, which was edited in France by Jerzy Giedroyc from 1947 until his death in 2000. Poland, no doubt owing to the extent of its cultural links with France, is the country most represented in this volume, with several articles that address the work and influence of Józef Czapski, Bronisław Geremek, Witold Gombrowicz, and Czesław Miłosz. Among the other notable authors that are the topic of discussion in these pages:Émile Cioran, Milan Kundera, and Jan Patočka. In institutional terms, ‘La Francophonie en Europe centrale: un “impérialisme du pauvre” et ses suites’ by Antoine Marès provides an overview of the various cultural exchange programmes and policies (including the number of foreign students in France, or the number of books exported) that have had an impact on relations between France and several countries of Central and Eastern Europe.