Particle.news

Download on the App Store

Pierre Nora, Architect of 'Les Lieux de Mémoire,' Dies at 93

His death closes a chapter in French intellectual life by highlighting his defense of historians’ autonomy.

L'historien Pierre Nora est mort à l'âge de 93 ans
«J ’ai suscité beaucoup de jalousie dans ma vie», explique Pierre Nora (ici dans son bureau, chez Gallimard, à Paris, en avril 2016).
Pierre Nora le 21 octobre 1987 à Paris.
Anne Sinclair et Pierre Nora (d) aux obsèques d'Alain Decaux le 4 avril 2016 à Paris.

Overview

  • Between 1984 and 1992, Nora oversaw Les Lieux de Mémoire, a 4,760-page, hundred-author compendium that redefined the study of France’s collective heritage.
  • In 1971 he co-edited Faire l’histoire with Jacques Le Goff, a three-volume examination of civilization’s daily, intimate and communal expressions.
  • For 57 years he led history and social science publishing at Éditions Gallimard and served as director of studies at EHESS before his 2001 election to the Académie française.
  • In 2007 he founded Liberté pour l’histoire to oppose political interventions in scholarly research and safeguard historians’ freedom of expression.
  • He also directed the review Le Débat, helped found Fondation Saint-Simon, and produced critical editions of works like Vincent Auriol’s journal.