Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York : Norton, c2007.
Description
A narrative of exploration--full of strange landscapes and even stranger inhabitants--that explains the enduring fascination of France. While Gustave Eiffel was changing the skyline of Paris, large parts of France were still terra incognita. Even in the age of railways and newspapers, France was a land of ancient tribal divisions, prehistoric communication networks, and pre-Christian beliefs. French itself was a minority language.Graham Robb describes that unknown world in arresting narrative detail. He recounts the epic journeys of mapmakers, scientists, soldiers, administrators, and intrepid tourists, of itinerant workers, pilgrims, and herdsmen with their millions of migratory domestic animals. We learn how France was explored, charted, and colonized, and how the imperial influence of Paris was gradually extended throughout a kingdom of isolated towns and villages.The Discovery of France explains how the modern nation came to be and how poorly understood that nation still is today. Above all, it shows how much of France--past and present--remains to be discovered.A New York Times Notable Book, Publishers Weekly Best Book, Slate Best Book, and Booklist Editor's Choice.… (more)
Subjects
Original publication date
2007
ISBN
0393059731 / 9780393059731
User reviews
LibraryThing member baswood
This is not a guide book or a potted history of France aimed at the tourist or the casual visitor. Graham Robb has written biographies of Balzac, Victor Hugo and Rimbaud and is considered as an expert on France and its culture and in his introduction says that he has cycled 14000 miles and spent 4
Robb says that his book can be read as a social and geographical history as a collection of tales and tableaux. This is most certainly the case however he achieves more than this. He carefully builds a picture for us English speakers of what it means to be french. He demonstrates how and why they think the way they do; he attempts to get into their psyche and in this he is largely successful. The majority of the book focuses on the 18th and 19th centuries and is organised by themes rather than a linear account of the social and geographical history. It is underpinned with Robb's contention that France is not a homogeneous nation; it never was and is not so today.
Robb says that France is more a collection of individual pays, which in the past were separated by customs and toll barriers as well as language and today theses pays still lie just beneath the surface. In 1880 there were still only one fifth of Frenchman comfortable with speaking french and today there are still over 20 regional dialects recognised. France is shown until quite recently as an undiscovered country, undiscovered that is by the French. Huge difficulties were encountered in producing reliable maps with the Parisians largely unconcerned with the countryside away from the main arterial routes or beyond the suburbs of Paris. Transport is explored and again there was difficulties right up to the coming of the railways. France did not have an industrial revolution quite like that experienced in England. Any industry was fueled largely by migrant workers anxious to return to their pays as soon as it was financially viable. There were few heavily industrialised towns and where there were the local population were keen to move out to the countryside, their quality of life being much more important than amassing vast amounts of money.
Robb is very good at highlighting local customs and has plenty of fascinating stories to tell; the stilt walking shepherds of les Landes, the search for the primitive Frenchmen in the new fashionable seaside resorts in Brittany, the child migrations to the cities in the second half of the nineteenth century. The darker side of the french Psyche is also explored; the tribalism that resulted in the pitched battles between villages, the fear and hatred of the Cagots in S W France, the actions of the Vichy government and more recently the massacre of the Algerians in Paris.
The book is well written but it is not always easy to read. Robb's themed approach means that it is not always clear what links the thoughts and ideas and what period of history Robb is discussing. I would also suggest it is advisable to have a map of France handy if your geography is not up to scratch. I soon got used to the writing style and became enthralled with the main ideas and the many deviations that seemed to occur almost naturally. An invaluable book for those wishing to explore France and the french in more detail. The differences between French and English social history are used to great effect to demonstrate why the two races are so different. As an Englishman living in France I learned a great deal and some of the fog of local behaviour and customs have been lifted.
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years in libraries in preparation for the writing of The Discovery of France. Reading this book tells me that Robb is more comfortable in the library than in the saddle; it is a book written by an intellectual for a reader with some knowledge of France and its history. There are over 60 pages of notes and works cited, with more references to Victor Hugo than to cheese or wine (arguably more important to the average Frenchman)Robb says that his book can be read as a social and geographical history as a collection of tales and tableaux. This is most certainly the case however he achieves more than this. He carefully builds a picture for us English speakers of what it means to be french. He demonstrates how and why they think the way they do; he attempts to get into their psyche and in this he is largely successful. The majority of the book focuses on the 18th and 19th centuries and is organised by themes rather than a linear account of the social and geographical history. It is underpinned with Robb's contention that France is not a homogeneous nation; it never was and is not so today.
Robb says that France is more a collection of individual pays, which in the past were separated by customs and toll barriers as well as language and today theses pays still lie just beneath the surface. In 1880 there were still only one fifth of Frenchman comfortable with speaking french and today there are still over 20 regional dialects recognised. France is shown until quite recently as an undiscovered country, undiscovered that is by the French. Huge difficulties were encountered in producing reliable maps with the Parisians largely unconcerned with the countryside away from the main arterial routes or beyond the suburbs of Paris. Transport is explored and again there was difficulties right up to the coming of the railways. France did not have an industrial revolution quite like that experienced in England. Any industry was fueled largely by migrant workers anxious to return to their pays as soon as it was financially viable. There were few heavily industrialised towns and where there were the local population were keen to move out to the countryside, their quality of life being much more important than amassing vast amounts of money.
Robb is very good at highlighting local customs and has plenty of fascinating stories to tell; the stilt walking shepherds of les Landes, the search for the primitive Frenchmen in the new fashionable seaside resorts in Brittany, the child migrations to the cities in the second half of the nineteenth century. The darker side of the french Psyche is also explored; the tribalism that resulted in the pitched battles between villages, the fear and hatred of the Cagots in S W France, the actions of the Vichy government and more recently the massacre of the Algerians in Paris.
The book is well written but it is not always easy to read. Robb's themed approach means that it is not always clear what links the thoughts and ideas and what period of history Robb is discussing. I would also suggest it is advisable to have a map of France handy if your geography is not up to scratch. I soon got used to the writing style and became enthralled with the main ideas and the many deviations that seemed to occur almost naturally. An invaluable book for those wishing to explore France and the french in more detail. The differences between French and English social history are used to great effect to demonstrate why the two races are so different. As an Englishman living in France I learned a great deal and some of the fog of local behaviour and customs have been lifted.
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LibraryThing member dchaikin
The Discovery of France is about the French cultural geography and how this plays in the history of France. To sum up, at the time of the French Revolution, the French were generally not French. Instead France was a vast concoction of miscellaneous languages and cultures disconnected by the natural
This could have been a fun book and it could have provided a really nice introduction into France and its geography and culture. It does bring some times and places to life, and it will certainly leave you with an appreciation for the geographic variety in France. The linguistic map is wonderful (although the text on linguistics put me to sleep - several times). The significance of the Pays is fascinating.
But, it’s not fun, more of a discursive lecture. And, it’s not a good introduction. The author seems to assume his readers are already pretty familiar with France and its basic geographic layout. The writing often gets bogged down in the details – and I would get lost. For example, the book constantly mentions different regions and locations; but, without a good reference as to where they are located and maps designed for the text, it all just washed over me, forgotten.
Overall I found the book disappointing and a struggle to read. I didn’t get much concrete from the book, just a bunch of muddy ideas. A reader familiar with France will probably find this a much nicer book.
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barriers and a diverse landscape; and whose goal was generally to continue to barely get by. This could have been a fun book and it could have provided a really nice introduction into France and its geography and culture. It does bring some times and places to life, and it will certainly leave you with an appreciation for the geographic variety in France. The linguistic map is wonderful (although the text on linguistics put me to sleep - several times). The significance of the Pays is fascinating.
But, it’s not fun, more of a discursive lecture. And, it’s not a good introduction. The author seems to assume his readers are already pretty familiar with France and its basic geographic layout. The writing often gets bogged down in the details – and I would get lost. For example, the book constantly mentions different regions and locations; but, without a good reference as to where they are located and maps designed for the text, it all just washed over me, forgotten.
Overall I found the book disappointing and a struggle to read. I didn’t get much concrete from the book, just a bunch of muddy ideas. A reader familiar with France will probably find this a much nicer book.
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LibraryThing member demot
I must admit I was seduced by the wonderful cover photo of Mont-Saint-Michel, and the title which suggests a romantic travel book, where the local peculiarities are grounded in the authors knowledge of local history - something like a H.V.Morton's Traveller in Italy for today (and for France).
What
The only way it is 'heavy' is the 400 good-size pages, 100 of which are notes & index, etc. It seems rather to have fallen between two purposes; clearly designed to be academic, as shown by the exhaustive referencing; yet aimed at the general reader who might have been better served if the many years of extensive traveling were brought to the fore, to ground the knowledge in the country we find today. And a fiercer editor might help - not that it is long winded, but I feel the same picture of France could have been painted in half the words. Starting with 50 pages on how dismal life was in rural France 100 years ago does not make for the easiest start to the book.
But I am not sorry I persevered, it is a good book, now that I have got used to the sort of book it is.
What
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you actually get is a social history of the provincial French peasantry from 1780 to 1880. I now find out that the American edition has a sub-title very like this, but not a sign of it on my copy, or on Amazon-UK. However, it is well written and so not as dull as that sounds, in fact it is good to read, and interesting in a rather vague way - paints pictures rather then pushing a thesis. The only way it is 'heavy' is the 400 good-size pages, 100 of which are notes & index, etc. It seems rather to have fallen between two purposes; clearly designed to be academic, as shown by the exhaustive referencing; yet aimed at the general reader who might have been better served if the many years of extensive traveling were brought to the fore, to ground the knowledge in the country we find today. And a fiercer editor might help - not that it is long winded, but I feel the same picture of France could have been painted in half the words. Starting with 50 pages on how dismal life was in rural France 100 years ago does not make for the easiest start to the book.
But I am not sorry I persevered, it is a good book, now that I have got used to the sort of book it is.
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LibraryThing member LynnB
Reading this book was like watching TV while my husband holds the remote. Sometimes he changes the channel unexpectedly and it takes me a while to catch up with the new story I find myself watching. And when I really get interested, he pushes that button yet again....
Graham Robb has written a
Parts of the book were fascinating, but others were mind-numbingly dull. But, it's the kind of book where you can skip parts without missing information vital to the next section, which I didn't do because I read it for a book club discussion.
I learned some interesting facts, but not enough to make me glad I struggled through the full 358 pages of text.
Graham Robb has written a
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sweeping account of France's provinces (outside of Paris): the people, the geography, the history. But he jumps around so much in both time and space that I was often confused. And, without a good map as a reference point, I often didn't know where I was even when the context was otherwise clear.Parts of the book were fascinating, but others were mind-numbingly dull. But, it's the kind of book where you can skip parts without missing information vital to the next section, which I didn't do because I read it for a book club discussion.
I learned some interesting facts, but not enough to make me glad I struggled through the full 358 pages of text.
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LibraryThing member Paulagraph
Francophile that I am, I will never see France quite the same way after having read Robb's fascinating historical geography (or geographical history)of France up to WWI. Almost every page, in fact, almost every paragraph proves chock-full of interesting "facts" and authorial observations. There are
A few anecdotal gems:
"But if all the nicknames had been adopted, the map of France would now be covered with obscenities and incomprehensible jokes." (36)
"Human hibernation was a physical and economic necessity. Lowering the metabolic rate prevented hunger from exhausting supplies . . . Slowness was not an attempt to savour the moment." (76)
"The Virgin Mary was always more important than God . . . . He was no more important than a bishop." (130)
"The century's greatest expert on gossip and pre-industrial telecommunications, Honore de Balzac, suggested that rumour could travel at about 9 mph." (141)
"Any commemoration of European unity should remember the smugglers and pedlars who helped to keep the borders open." (152)
"Three years later the dogs of Paris had their own ambulance." (179)
"The shepherds of the Landes spent whole days on stilts, using a stick to form a tripod when they wanted to rest. Perched ten feet in the air, they knitted woollen garments and scanned the horizon for stray sheep. People who saw them in the distance compared them to tiny steeples and giant spiders." (243)
"France was repeatedly reconquered by French forces." (256)
"it is quite possible to travel from one end of the country to the other without . . . realizing that many of the landscapes that seem typically and eternally French are younger than the Eiffel Tower." (268)
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chapters on languages (French having been a minority, i.e., "foreign" language a mere hundred years ago); animals (the "60 million Others" who also inhabited the Hexagon); maps, roads, travel in all its dimensions, "colonization" of the nation, tourism and more. I am already rereading this book with a map of France spread out on the dining room table in front of me as I do so (bearing in mind that to "find" all the locales Robb references really requires a palimpsest of old and new, large and small scale, linguistic, ethnographic & topographic maps, some of which may not even exist.A few anecdotal gems:
"But if all the nicknames had been adopted, the map of France would now be covered with obscenities and incomprehensible jokes." (36)
"Human hibernation was a physical and economic necessity. Lowering the metabolic rate prevented hunger from exhausting supplies . . . Slowness was not an attempt to savour the moment." (76)
"The Virgin Mary was always more important than God . . . . He was no more important than a bishop." (130)
"The century's greatest expert on gossip and pre-industrial telecommunications, Honore de Balzac, suggested that rumour could travel at about 9 mph." (141)
"Any commemoration of European unity should remember the smugglers and pedlars who helped to keep the borders open." (152)
"Three years later the dogs of Paris had their own ambulance." (179)
"The shepherds of the Landes spent whole days on stilts, using a stick to form a tripod when they wanted to rest. Perched ten feet in the air, they knitted woollen garments and scanned the horizon for stray sheep. People who saw them in the distance compared them to tiny steeples and giant spiders." (243)
"France was repeatedly reconquered by French forces." (256)
"it is quite possible to travel from one end of the country to the other without . . . realizing that many of the landscapes that seem typically and eternally French are younger than the Eiffel Tower." (268)
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LibraryThing member Livana
I have to admit I have not finished the book yet, and I'm not sure I will.
I was looking for reading a book about the... geography of France. Instead, for the first 40 pages, all I read is how French (or soon-to-be) were uncivilized, wild and savage beast-like people who considered people only a few
I am French, and whether this is true or not is not the point, or what bothers me. The point is.. what is Robb Graham's point?? If all he wanted to do was to press upon the readers how illiterate, (and dirty), unpatriotic, and ignorant French people were in the 1700's, he's succeed.
I might pick up the book again, but not likely.
I was looking for reading a book about the... geography of France. Instead, for the first 40 pages, all I read is how French (or soon-to-be) were uncivilized, wild and savage beast-like people who considered people only a few
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miles away strangers, who didn't care for national unity or authority, were only concerned with having their own little system without any care for the outside.I am French, and whether this is true or not is not the point, or what bothers me. The point is.. what is Robb Graham's point?? If all he wanted to do was to press upon the readers how illiterate, (and dirty), unpatriotic, and ignorant French people were in the 1700's, he's succeed.
I might pick up the book again, but not likely.
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LibraryThing member sloopjonb
An interesting and often entertaining tour through the byways of French social history, eschewing the boulevards and faubourgs of Paris for the obscure reaches of France profonde. Graham shows how the history of 'the provinces' has been consistently suppressed in favour of the history of Paris, and
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how much we think we know of France is actually only what we know of Paris. Show Less
LibraryThing member xnfec
A singular account of the history of France and its many, different peoples, told from the perspective of a frequent visitor with access to a bike. There are many surprises in store for the casual reader. I shall probably buy this.
LibraryThing member tlockney
Picked up a copy of this at Powell's for a nice discount. Flipping through it, this seems to be exactly the sort of non-fiction I really enjoy: that is, work that is driven by a strong narrative.
LibraryThing member rwilliab
I originally picked this book up at school while I was teaching French--the idea being that Graham Robb was coming to BYU and giving a lecture, therefore reading some of the book beforehand would be a good move. I neither read much of the book nor attended the lecture, but I did enjoy finishing it
Robb does have an engaging narrative style, but his prose tends to wander rather more than I would prefer, especially since his epilogue really doesn't do too much in the way of tying together the myriad of threads he introduces over the course of the book.
For those interested in learning more about France and less about the perception of France over the centuries, pick another book. If you'd enjoy a meandering, meta-anthropological treatment of France that feels almost as aimless as a Sunday afternoon stroll through a park, pick it up.
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a year plus later.Robb does have an engaging narrative style, but his prose tends to wander rather more than I would prefer, especially since his epilogue really doesn't do too much in the way of tying together the myriad of threads he introduces over the course of the book.
For those interested in learning more about France and less about the perception of France over the centuries, pick another book. If you'd enjoy a meandering, meta-anthropological treatment of France that feels almost as aimless as a Sunday afternoon stroll through a park, pick it up.
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LibraryThing member ladycato
This effortlessly-flowing narrative explores the historical geography of France with fascinating anecdotes and enlightening facts. I learned so much from this book--it's the kind of thing I can really geek out over. Topics range from regional dialects to historical side hustles (get paid to be an
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alarm clock!) to how to fake injuries for begging to fairy lore and saints galore to the evolution of transportation in the past few hundred years to the 'lost territories' in the 19th century and how they became part of an escalation in national identity. This is a book I'll keep on my shelf for reference from here onward. Show Less
LibraryThing member sonofcarc
I read a lot, but not often do I come on a book that opens as many vistas as this one did.
Example: Robb has a long string of anecdotes about how the peasantry relied on local saints to cure specific diseases, and punished them by flogging (the images were the saints, not representations of them)
Example: Robb has a long string of anecdotes about how the peasantry relied on local saints to cure specific diseases, and punished them by flogging (the images were the saints, not representations of them)
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when they didn't help. He then turns on the reader who is amused or appalled by this level of ignorance, saying: The peasants were on the right track! Specific diseases have specific causes and can often be cured by someone who knows how. The peasants were thus mentally ready to accept the discoveries of modern medical science; all they lacked was information. Whereas the educated classes, including the doctors, maundered on about "humors" and such which didn't explain a thing. Show Less
LibraryThing member breic
More than eclectic, I found the selection of topics to be incredibly obscure. Toward the end, Robb gets into the weeds of a conflict between different villages that claim to be nearest the geographic center of France.
> This was the puzzle of micro-provinces that General de Gaulle had in mind when
> Dialect terms such as ‘affender’ (to share a meal with an unexpected visitor), ‘aranteler’ (to sweep away spiders’ webs), ‘carioler’ (to cry out while giving birth), ‘carquet’ (a secret place between breast and corset), ‘river’ (to strip off leaves by running one’s hand along a branch) and a thousand other useful gems were like trophies brought back from foreign parts and cleansed of their original context. None of them were admitted to the dictionary of the French Academy
> … common throughout much of Europe until the end of the nineteenth century. In some parts, especially Gascony and the Auvergne, babies were strapped into shallow cradles with their heads in a wooden hollow. The skull grew into the shape of its container and by the time the baby could walk, it had a wide head and a high, flat forehead. Since babies instinctively turn to the light on waking, the result was often startlingly asymmetrical. Later, to prevent the growing brain from cracking open the skull (according to midwives interviewed in the 1900s), the head of the child was compressed with a scarf or, in wealthier households in Languedoc, with a band of strong cloth called a sarro-cap. Many men and women wore these head-constrictors all their lives and felt naked without them. … More than half the men and women in Rouen hospices in 1833, and nearly everyone in some parts of Languedoc had a modified head and some other deformity: an aquiline nose produced by crushing the cartilage and pulling out the nose, or ears squashed and notched by tight bands until they looked like pieces of crumpled linen that had been severely ironed.
> This was the puzzle of micro-provinces that General de Gaulle had in mind when
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he asked, ‘How can one be expected to govern a country that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?’> Dialect terms such as ‘affender’ (to share a meal with an unexpected visitor), ‘aranteler’ (to sweep away spiders’ webs), ‘carioler’ (to cry out while giving birth), ‘carquet’ (a secret place between breast and corset), ‘river’ (to strip off leaves by running one’s hand along a branch) and a thousand other useful gems were like trophies brought back from foreign parts and cleansed of their original context. None of them were admitted to the dictionary of the French Academy
> … common throughout much of Europe until the end of the nineteenth century. In some parts, especially Gascony and the Auvergne, babies were strapped into shallow cradles with their heads in a wooden hollow. The skull grew into the shape of its container and by the time the baby could walk, it had a wide head and a high, flat forehead. Since babies instinctively turn to the light on waking, the result was often startlingly asymmetrical. Later, to prevent the growing brain from cracking open the skull (according to midwives interviewed in the 1900s), the head of the child was compressed with a scarf or, in wealthier households in Languedoc, with a band of strong cloth called a sarro-cap. Many men and women wore these head-constrictors all their lives and felt naked without them. … More than half the men and women in Rouen hospices in 1833, and nearly everyone in some parts of Languedoc had a modified head and some other deformity: an aquiline nose produced by crushing the cartilage and pulling out the nose, or ears squashed and notched by tight bands until they looked like pieces of crumpled linen that had been severely ironed.
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Physical description
xvii, 454 p.; 25 cm
Pages
xvii; 454