Alain Finkielkraut - Biography

Alain Finkielkraut (b. June 30, 1949, Paris) is a French essayist, and son of a Jewish-Polish manufacturer of fine leather goods who had been deported to Auschwitz and survived. He currently teaches at the École polytechnique as professor of the "history of ideas and modernity" in the department of humanities and social sciences. Author of a number of books, Finkielkraut is among some of France's "public intellectuals" who often appear on talk shows and publish columns in the French media. Finkielkraut advocates what in France is known as a humanist standpoint; although his supposed (self-declared) humanism has been challenged at many times during his career and frequently deemed quite the opposite of humanism, especially by anti-conservative and liberal activists. Sixty researchers and professors at the École polytechnique are known to have signed a petition to protest his alleged colonial views, although others have come to his defense and accused his protestors of attacking Finkielkraut because of his Jewish heritage.

In 2010, he was involved in founding JCall, advocacy group based in Europe to lobby the European parliament on foreign policy issues concerning the Middle East. He is a strong supporter of Israel.

Philosophy

Alain Finkielkraut studied modern literature at the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud. Broadly speaking, his ideas may be described as being in the same vein as those of Emmanuel Levinas and Hannah Arendt, a filiation he has repeatedly pointed out.

Finkielkraut first came to public attention when he and Pascal Bruckner co-authored a number of short but controversial essays intended to question the idea that a new emancipation was underway; these included The New Love Disorder (1977) (Le Nouveau Désordre amoureux) and At The Corner Of The Street (1978) (Au Coin de la rue), as well as The Adventure (1979) (L'aventure).

Finkielkraut then began publishing singly authored works on the public's betrayal of memory and our intransigence in the presence of events which, he argued, should move the public. This reflection led Finkielkraut to address post-Holocaust Jewish identity in Europe (The Imaginary Jew) (1983) (le Juif imaginaire). Seeking to promote what he calls a duty of memory, Finkielkraut also published The Future Of A Negation: Reflexion On The Genocide Issue (1982) (Avenir d'une négation : réflexion sur la question du génocide) and later his comments on the Klaus Barbie trial, Remembering in Vain (La Mémoire vaine).

Finkielkraut feels particularly indebted to Emmanuel Levinas. In The Wisdom Of Love (La Sagesse de l'amour), Finkielkraut discusses this debt in terms of modernity and its mirages. Finkielkraut continues his reflection on the matter in The Defeat Of The Mind (1987) (La Défaite de la pensée), The Ingratitude: Talks About Our Times (1999) (Ingratitude : conversation sur notre temps).

Essayist on society

In recent years, Alain Finkielkraut has given his opinion on a variety of topics regarding society, for instance the Internet in The Internet, The Troubling Ecstasy (2001) (Internet, l'inquiétante extase. In the book Present Imperfect (2002) (L'Imparfait du présent), akin to a personal diary, he expresses his thoughts about different events in the world (especially the events of September 11, 2001).

During the wars resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia, he was one of the first who strongly supported independence of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He became especialy strong supporter of croatian independence in first years of war, so in media get name "Finkelcroat". However, he has been criticised for his close friendship with Croatian nationalist leader Franjo Tuđman, and was accused by David Bruce MacDonald of supporting "a nation whose leader was a Holocaust denier, at the helm of an authoritarian government."

Controversies

His interview published in the Haaretz magazine in November 2005 in which he gave his opinion about the 2005 civil unrest in France stirred up much controversy. Finkielkraut's remarks that the French Soccer Team was "Black, Black, Black" (as opposed to the expression "Black, Blanc, Beur"—meaning "Black, White, Arab"—coined after the 1998 World Cup victory to honor the African and Afro Caribbean, European and North African origins of the players) were seen as "racially insensitive".

Israeli filmmaker Eyal Sivan took legal action against Finkielkraut in response to the accusation that Sivan “is, if you will, one of the actors in this particularly painful, particularly alarming reality, the Jewish anti-Semitism that rages today."

Bibliography

• The Religion of Humanity and the Sin of the Jews, essay in Azure magazine.
• Reflections on the Coming Anti-Semitism, essay in Azure magazine.
• Ralentir, mots-valises !, Seuil (1979)
• Le Nouveau Désordre amoureux, Seuil (1977)
• Au coin de la rue, l'aventure, Seuil (1979)
• Petit fictionnaire illustré : les mots qui manquent au dico, Seuil (1981)
• Le Juif imaginaire, Seuil (1981)
• L'Avenir d'une négation, Seuil (1982)
• La Sagesse de l'amour, Gallimard (1984)
• La Défaite de la pensée, Gallimard (1987)
• La Mémoire vaine, du Crime contre l'humanité, Gallimard (1989)
• Comment peut-on être Croate ?, Gallimard (1992)
• L'Humanité perdue, Seuil (1996)
• Le Mécontemporain. Charles Péguy, lecteur du monde moderne, Gallimard (1992)
• L'Ingratitude. Conversation sur notre temps avec Antoine Robitaille, Gallimard (1999)
• Une Voix vient de l'autre rive, Gallimard (2000)
• Internet, l’inquiétante extase, Mille et une nuits (2001)
• Penser le XXe siècle, École Polytechnique (2000)
• Des hommes et des bêtes, Tricorne (2000)
• L'imparfait du présent. Pièces brèves, Gallimard (2002)
• Enseigner les lettres aujourd'hui, Tricorne (2003)
• Les Battements du monde, Pauvert (2003)
• Au nom de l'Autre. Réflexions sur l'antisémitisme qui vient, Gallimard (2003)
• Nous autres, modernes : Quatre leçons, Ellipses (2005)
• Ce que peut la littérature Stock (2006)
• Entretiens sur la laïcité, Verdier (2006)
• Qu'est-ce que la France Stock (2007)
• La Querelle de l'école, Stock (2007)
• Philosophie et modernité, École Polytechnique (2008)
• Un cœur intelligent, Stock/Flammarion (2009)
• Pour une décence commune Éditions Hermann (2010)
• L’Explication, conversation avec Aude Lancelin, Nouvelles Éditions Lignes (2010)

External links

• Official web site of the Institute for Levinassian Studies, co-founded by Alain Finkielkraut, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Benny Lévy
• “Voices on Antisemitism” Interview with Alain Finkielkraut from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum