French Intellectuals at a Crossroads 1918-1939

<p><em>French Intellectuals at a Crossroads</em> examines a broad array of interrelated subjects: the effect of World War I on France's intellectual community the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of international communism calls for pacifism the creation of an Intellectuals' International of the Mind the debate over the myth of the disengaged intellectual the apolitical group of intellectuels non-conformistes and finally the challenges of surrealism. Together these developments reflected the diversity of intellectual commitment in France in the uncertain and troubled 1920s and 1930s. The interwar period also witnessed France's relative decline as expressed in a move from a mood of immense relief coupled with a feeling of debilitating fatigue to an inward-looking pessimistic and defeatist outlook that presaged World War II and national collapse.</p>