The fall of France in June 1940, La Débâcle, posed a challenge to France's understanding of itself. Could the existing sacred narrative of French history established by the Third Republic hold in the face of the defeat of Frances military and political systems, both built upon its foundations?The French Historical Narrative and the Fall of France: Simone Weil and her Contemporaries Face the Debacle focuses on assessments of the Debacle and places Simone Weil's writings of 1938 to 1943 within this continuum. This study recreates the debate in those fraught years to posit a horizon of expectations within which to place and better appreciate Simone Weils writing of the period, far reaching and bold but hardly crazy (as De Gaulle is said to have characterized her ideas).

Christine Ann Evans is professor emerita of comparative literature at Lesley University.

Preface

Chapter One: Historical Narrative and the Founding of the French Third Republic

Chapter Two: The Double Challenge to Sacred History: Interwar Pacifism and the 150th Commemoration of the French Revolution in 1939

Chapter Three: The Debacle: The Debate Engaged

In the Way of a Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author