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"Moreover, I can't imagine any prominent criticism with anti-semitic subtitle in the late 50s in France." france in the 50s still hadn't had a deep look in the
by bsaul 8y ago
"Moreover, I can't imagine any prominent criticism with anti-semitic subtitle in the late 50s in France."
france in the 50s still hadn't had a deep look in the in the atrocities of the collaboration, and as an example maurice papon was Paris chief of police under de gaulle. antisemitism wasn't the main focus and it was still very common for people to make horrible comments on jews out in the open ( ask any jew that studied in Paris in the 60s). France really took a strong stance against antisemitism and racism in everyday life much much later.
In the 50s and 60s the main concern was to rebuild the country and reach political stability. Racism and antisemitism were really not.
- idoubtit 8y agoOf course antisemitism didn't magically disappear after the war, but I don't think that's relevant, because it had disappeared from the main media and the intellectual circles. Even when Poujade and Le Pen briefly gave antisemitism a new public voice at the end of the 50s, it was in the margins of politics, and it had no impact on the literary circles. An historian specialized on this, Tal Bruttmann, wrote that « après-guerre, l'antisémitisme n'avait pas bonne presse. » Romain Gary was living in Los Angeles when he began writing in English. Being a diplomat, he had lived the five previous years mostly in New York and London. So if he really felt an antisemitic criticism of his works was widely shared in France, I think it could only come from the newspapers or from other writers.