François Maspero, The Journalist: Multidirectional Activism. Issue 3 (1st December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gabel, Aubrey
• Is Part Of: French politics, culture & society. Volume 40:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 28
• Page End: 50
• Publication Date: 2022-12-01
• Subjects: Algerian War -- François Maspero -- journalism -- multidirectionality -- World War II; France -- Politics and government -- 1958- -- Periodicals; France -- Civilization -- 1945- -- Periodicals; France -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; France -- History -- 20th century -- Periodicals; France -- History -- 21st century -- Periodicals; 320.944
• DOI: 10.3167/fpcs.2022.400302
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1537-6370

Abstract

Abstract: François Maspero is best known as the owner of the radical Latin Quarter bookstore La joie de lire and the founder and editor of Éditions Maspero, but he was also a writer, a translator, and a journalist. Maspero published several novels and wrote for media outlets like Le Monde and France Culture . He wrote about his travels throughout Eastern Europe, Israel-Palestine, Algeria, and the Caribbean, and published literature reviews, obituaries, and even his testimony of the events of 17 October 1961. This article is the first comprehensive analysis of his work as a print journalist for Le Monde, notably as a travel writer. While Maspero critiqued journalism in both of his novel-travelogues, Les passagers du Roissy-Express (1990) and Balkans-Transit (1997), this article argues that his journalism was a breeding ground for his novel-writing and vice versa. The intersection between journalism, novel writing, and militancy also allowed him to create a multidirectional activism, which reanimated past militancy to understand contemporary political crises.