Tout Est Culture: Chroniques (1989-1999) [French]

By Michel Leter

English summary: Tout est culture, a compendium of chronicles, was inspired by an outline found in the Lettre a tous les Francais Letter to the French people] which Francois Mitterrand had written by way of a political agenda during the 1988 presidential campaign: "Ultimately, everything is culture. Jack Lang was right."While Malraux had confined his efforts to restoring facades, the Lang ministry will always remain that of the "Fric-FRAC" years Regional Collections of Contemporary Art]. What did it matter that living art had by then succumbed to the onslaught of socialism, since it had been replaced by cultural engineering, whose commissioners and curators were trying to drown the patent failures of the economic and social policies under a deluge of bicentennials (Revolution), tricentennials (Voltaire) and still other ashes (Malraux's) transferred to the Pantheon? Cut off from its industry, France had become nothing but a gigantic amusement park whose only capital was its past. Disney profited from this big real estate sell-off by carving itself an enclave equivalent to one-fifth of the surface of Paris.Yet the cultural comedy would soon experience a tragic rebound, for in its own backyard, a clandestine conflict was raging: the Algerian Civil War. Islam, which formerly enthralled our best orientalists, became the theatre of an even more spectacular set design - that of the "shock of civilisations," which paved the way for the attacks of 11 September and 11 January, thanks to which today's geopolitics have yielded to geopoetics. The French recess is over: the time has come for screenwriters - those who write universal history before it even happens. French description: Recueil de chroniques, Tout est culture est inspire par un raccourci retrouve dans la Lettre a tous les Francais que Francois Mitterrand avait redigee en guise de programme lors de la campagne presidentielle de 1988: Tout est culture en fin de compte. Jack Lang avait raison. Alors que Malraux s'etait contente de ravaler les facades, le ministere Lang restera comme celui des annees fric-FRAC (Fonds Regionaux d'Art Contemporain). Qu'importe que l'art vivant ait alors succombe sous les coups du socialisme puisqu'on lui substitua l'ingenierie culturelle dont les commissaires et curateurs tentaient de noyer les echecs patents des politiques economiques et sociales sous un deluge de bicentenaires (Revolution), de tricentenaires (Voltaire) et autres transferts de cendres au Pantheon (Malraux). Delestee de son industrie, la France n'etait plus qu'un gigantesque parc d'attraction qui n'avait plus d'autre capital que son passe. Disney profitait de cette grande braderie pour se tailler une enclave equivalente a un cinquieme de la surface de Paris.Mais la comedie du culturel allait bientot connaitre un rebondissement tragique car dans son arriere-cour, une guerre occultee faisait des ravages, la guerre civile algerienne. L'islam, qui jadis passionna nos meilleurs orientalistes, devenait le theatre d'une scenographie plus spectaculaire encore, celle du "choc des civilisations", qui preparait les 11 septembre et les 11 janvier par la grace desquels la geopolitique capitule aujourd'hui sous les coups d'une geopoetique. Finie la recreation francaise, voici venu le temps des scenaristes, ceux qui ecrivent l'histoire universelle avant qu'elle ne se fasse.Michel Leter, docteur es lettres, a enseigne au College International de Philosophie, a l'Universite Paris 8, a l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris ainsi qu'a La Courneuve dans un college situe au pied de la cite des 4 000.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: French
• ISBN: 2251445560
• ISBN13: 9782251445564
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Les Belles Lettres
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.