Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Belle Époque: A Cultural History, Paris and Beyond

The Belle Époque: A Cultural History, Paris and Beyond

Kalifa, Dominique
Emanuel, Susan

Paperback

Series: European Perspectives: A Social Thought and Cultural Criticism

French HistoryGeneral World History

ISBN10: 0231202091
ISBN13: 9780231202091
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: Jul 6 2021
Pages: 264
Weight: 0.80
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

The years before the First World War have long been romanticized as a zenith of French culture--the Belle Époque. The era is seen as the height of a lost way of life that remains emblematic of what it means to be French. In a vast range of texts and images, it appears as a carefree time full of joie de vivre, fanfare and frills, artistic daring, and scientific innovation. The Moulin Rouge shared the stage with the Universal Exposition, Toulouse-Lautrec rubbed elbows with Marie Curie and La Belle Otero, and Fantômas invented automatic writing.

This book traces the making--and the imagining--of the Belle Époque to reveal how and why it became a cultural myth. Dominique Kalifa lifts the veil on a period shrouded in nostalgia, explaining the century-long need to continuously reinvent and even sanctify this moment. He sifts through images handed down in memoirs and reminiscences, literature and film, art and history to explore the many facets of the era, including its worldwide reception. The Belle Époque was born in France, but it quickly went global as other countries adopted the concept to write their own histories. In shedding light on how the Belle Époque has been celebrated and reimagined, Kalifa also offers a nuanced meditation on time, history, and memory.

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