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Article: The Mitterand Years: Legacy and Evaluation.(Review)
- Article from:
- The Modern Language Review
- Article date:
- July 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Modern Humanities Research Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Mitterrand Years: Legacy and Evaluation. Ed. by MAIRI MACLEAN. London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press. 1998. xv + 336 pp.
When Peguy wrote that 'tout commence en mystique et tout finit en politique', he meant it as a criticism. The impulse to correct the injustice inflicted on Captain Dreyfus had, in his view, degenerated into an attack against the Church, which led to the loi sur les Congregations and to the creation in 1905 of a secular republic. In another perspective, however, his remark merely recognized a state of affairs that has nothing unfortunate about it. In power, mystics are a menace. Either, like Hitler or Robespierre, they go around killing ...