Nostradamus: How an Obscure Renaissance Astrologer Became the Modern Prophet of Doom by Stéphane Gerson (review)

Reviews 285 à la réalité. En dépit d’une organisation et d’un style parfois maladroits, ce livre fascinera tout amateur de civilisation française contemporaine. University of Missouri, Columbia Virginie Ems-Bléneau Gerson, Stéphane. Nostradamus: How an Obscure Renaissance Astrologer Became the Modern Prophet of Doom. New York: St. Martin’s, 2012. ISBN 978-0-312-61368-6. Pp. xix + 347. $30. Gerson seeks to explain the continuing interest in a French figure whose legacy has endured worldwide for over four and a half centuries. Michel de Nostredame (1503– 66) was a learned physician in Salon-de-Provence who turned to astrology and poetry later in life. By providing horoscopes for individuals (including Catherine de Médicis) and publishing almanacs and Prophecies, he became famous throughout France. At the time of his death, for unknown reasons, his prophetic powers took on widespread acclaim, and he has since been known as Nostradamus. Gerson seeks to answer the questions of how and why the Nostradamus phenomenon persisted from the Enlightenment to the dawn of the new millennium. After his death, his followers distorted his achievements and charlatans claimed to be his successors. These unfortunate claims continued in the form of commentaries written by those who believed they had found the key to unlock his puzzling writings, or who wanted to capitalize on his reputation. An abbot from southwestern France spent a lifetime trying to prove that the Prophecies were based on the book of Revelation.A nineteenth-century author cast Nostradamus as the fictional hero of a series of historical novels. Many interpretations seemed plausible, Gerson concludes, because of the ambiguities inherent in the texts. The Prophecies consists of 942 quatrains whose content is evocative but unclear with fragmentary form, erratic punctuation, and oblique transitions. The cryptic language is nearly impossible to translate into other languages,thus compounding the confusion. The text can accommodate multiple readings, which seem applicable in dissimilar situations. In each century, interest in Nostradamus peaked during periods of anxiety surrounding political turmoil, social upheaval, or natural disasters. Understanding his works shifted to fit the audience of each age: first an uneducated populace, then a growing literate public, and finally consumers of modern media. Both sides in World War II used Nostradamus as a propaganda tool. In Hollywood about the same time, MGM documentaries about him were a commercial windfall. New interpretations continue to appear, aided by computer analysis. Befitting the modern vogue, the town of Salon has created an annual Nostradamus festival to boost tourism. Today Nostradamus is often mocked as a staple of tabloid journalism, although a growing interest in him still exists worldwide. Gerson suggests that a tinge of madness persists beneath the ostensible sanity of the human psyche, and thus Nostradamus continues to resonate with people who feel that his texts hold some coded message. Gerson’s comprehensive research on Nostradamus brings out many fascinating details.We learn that Thomas Jefferson paid a visit to Nostradamus’s hometown of Salon in 1787,before the seer’s tomb was destroyed during the Revolution. Although Jefferson considered Nostradamus’s prophecies to be nonsense, he was nonetheless interested in the man and his destiny. More than two centuries later, readers who share this attitude will welcome this impressive work. Southeast Missouri State University Alice J. Strange Heller, Chaia. Food, Farms and Solidarity: French Farmers Challenge Industrial Agriculture and Genetically Modified Crops. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2013. ISBN 978-0-8223-5127-6. Pp. 333. $26. Arrivée en France en 1997 pour étudier le mouvement contre les OGM, Heller nous montre comment la Confédération Paysanne sera amenée à devenir à la fois un syndicat défenseur des droits des paysans, victimes d’une agriculture industrielle productiviste, et la voix d’une agriculture alternative, solidaire des pays du Sud et altermondialiste. Entendez par agriculture industrielle des méthodes intensives et extensives, la monoculture, la pétrochimie et une mécanisation à tous niveaux d’exploitation. Ce modèle, par contraste avec le modèle traditionnel vivrier, se définit en termes d’efficacité et de productivité et reçoit le soutien des transnationales, des agences gouvernementales et supra-gouvernementales (l’UE et l’OMC). C...