MY FRANCE
France has always been on my mind, even more so during the past months,
following apologies by Robert (Kolcker) and others in this list… To
write on what France means to me is akin to ascertaining the place of
culture in my life. And yet, France to me is more complex and not all
rosy as your posts of last months portrayed. And I feel no apology in
my heart – none at all… So, “where do I begin to tell the story,” as
the song goes?
Ever since the German Princess took rains of
power in Russia, she has instilled a French influence that has lasted
to this day. Her name is Ekaterina II, The Great. The influence was
intense: Muraviev-Apostol, a hero of 1825 hang by Nicolas I as a
“Dekabrist”, knew no Russian, only French at the age of 14.
To me France is Villon, Montaigne, Fermat,
Delacroix, Monet, Rodin, Baudelaire, Verlaine… Above
all, it Ecole de Paris, where citizens of the world created the New
Renaissance, more powerful if shorter lived than the Italian one:
Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Pascin, Soutine, Terechkovich,
Annenkov, Archipenko, Zadkinie, Lipchitz, Brancusi, Appolinaire – I am
theirs, I am with them. And they are France – in spite of the French,
who saw it fit to deny the “Frenchness” of the art of those were merely
born elsewhere… The Great Matisse took no prisoners: words “Cubusts”,
“do not represent French Art” were his inventions.
And even under the Nazi occupation Matisse saw
it fit to exhibit in Paris while living in a comfort of Niece. Others
did worse: they accompanied their works to the heart of Fascism, Berlin: de Vlaminck, Derain, others come to mind… I
want to tell them with all the rudeness of Frank Sinatra “What wouldn’t
a broad do for a buck!” Or for glory, as might be the case!
I was raised in mistrust of politics. “For the
honest and talented there are arts and sciences,” was a teaching of my
Moscow parents, “for others there is politics”. It took Russian tanks
in Prague of 1968 to force me into a sense of social responsibility.
In my humble judgement, Foreign Minister de
Villepin has shown himself to be a brilliant yet dumb diplomat. How so?
He worked very hard and has completely outplayed the good soldier Colin
Powell. And so, where is de Villepin now? He sidelined himself with his
technical victory.
Another politician, to whom your apologies were
probably directed, was Jacques Cirac. In spite of the whole world, he
continued nuclear (this nucelar word) testing in the old days. In
recent years he participated in bombing of Belgrade without United
Nations’ blessing that he so strongly supports now. You are very
trusting if you think that he is sincere now.
Yes, I hear your objections that Cirac is not
(all of) France. Fair enough. In late March 2003 NY Times ran a major
article about the rise of anti-Semitism in France. The recent
persecution of Jewish kids in this heavily pro-Arab country reached
such popularity, that school administrators refuse to acknowledge it –
let alone interfere in these deplorable public “rituals.”
This reminds me an old question: if France were
not seated on the Allies’ side of the Nuremberg table, would it not be
seated on the other side? The punishment for this collaboration with
the Nazis was the end of the New Renaissance of Paris. Some creators
were killed, some left France no longer wishing to live there (recall
pages from Italics Are Mine by Nina Berberova). And some remained. But
Paris has never returned to its pre-WWII spirit and greatness.
And so, dear Robert, do not ask me to show
sympathy and apologize to France. France made me what I am. It also
betrayed my high hopes and expectations, many times over…
Alexander Soifer
-- Alexander Soifer Professor of Mathematics, Art & Film History University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Cell: (719)351-5307 Visiting Fellow Department of Mathematics Princeton University Fine Hall, Office 705 Washiington Road Princeton, NJ 08544 (609)258-1102 Visiting Researcher DIMACS, Center for Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science 4th Floor, Office 426 Rutgers University 96 Frelinghuysen Road Piscataway, NJ 08854-8018 (732)445-0075 FAX (732)445-5932 http://www.uccs.edu/~asoifer