Jean-Marie, a pillar of the French and Italian Department
Jean-Marie Apostolid猫s is dead. As I write these words, my hand is shaking, and I have to swallow back my tears. A little older than him, I never imagined that I would one day have to mourn his loss. This is what being old is like. Either you disappear yourself, and your worries go with you, or you are doomed to face your own condition in that of your fellow men, including your dearest family members and friends, who fade away one after the other. I repeat here almost word for word a thought of Blaise Pascal, the 17th century French philosopher and mathematician that Jean-Marie placed in the Pantheon of his models.
Like me, Jean-Marie arrived at 麻豆高清 in 1987, hailing from Harvard. He was one of the pillars of the French and Italian Department at 麻豆高清. In a university mostly driven by science and technology, the Humanities lose with him one of its most creative, productive, and endearing members. Jean-Marie was many things: a sociologist, a literary critic, a novelist, a playwright, a theater director, an activist and, of course, a teacher. Far from being a jack-of-all-trades, he was fully involved in each of these activities.
There will be tributes, conferences, seminars, devoted to his literary and scientific work. I am not proposing here, in this unprompted testimony which goal is neither to be exhaustive nor analytical, to list all his accomplishments. The source of these few words is my affection for a departed friend.
A work, his magnum opus, stands out from his production as an essayist: Heroism and Victimization. A History of Sensibility published first in French in Paris in 2003, and reissued in 2011, in a second version that he kindly asked me to preface. He diagnosed a change in collective sensitivities, relating to values, behaviors, and mores, moving abruptly from a culture of heroism, inherited from the Romans and Barbarians who founded the West, to a culture of victimization, inherited from Judeo-Christianity. The relevance of this book to understand the transformations that America is undergoing today is blatant.
Jean-Marie was a man of the left, but of a libertarian left stretching back to May 1968 and spiced up with shades of social democracy 鈥 what was called at the time in France the 鈥淪econd Left,鈥 which meant it was 鈥渘on-Marxist.鈥 He was keenly attentive to the excesses of the far left, in particular Guy Debord鈥檚 鈥渟ituationisme鈥 and the recourse to political assassination with the Unabomber, alias Theodore Kaczynski. He translated and prefaced the latter鈥檚 manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, reflecting on the thin line that separates this type of literature from the radical critique of industrial society presented, for example, by Ivan Illich, with whom I worked myself.
Jean-Marie was a provocateur, but used provocation with kindness, with no aggressiveness, wishing only to raise awareness and castigate stupidity. When the Marquis de Sade was fashionable in literature departments, he staged Sade鈥檚 Letters From Prison in a setting that was old latrines on campus. He got in trouble for that, because some had not grasped or appreciated the humor of this performance.
Jean-Marie loved women. He was a feminist in the traditional sense of the term, campaigning for equality of status, titles and salaries. A course he gave for several years was called 鈥淲omen in French Cinema.鈥 It attracted hundreds of students. But he witnessed with dismay the progress of 鈥渨okism,鈥 鈥渋ntersectionality鈥 and 鈥渃ancel culture鈥 which according to him resulted in a 鈥渞eification鈥 of the great classics of literature or cinema. He saw with sadness that these American inventions were partly derived from French Theory. We shared the same fascination for the most metaphysical film ever made: Alfred Hitchcock鈥檚 Vertigo. I very much hope that Jean-Marie had not heard before he died of the latest Hollywood project, which is said to consist of reversing the genders of the two protagonists. Madeleine, the fictitious woman, would become a man of flesh and blood, and Scottie, the transfixed lover, a woman. The shock would have hastened his death.
Jean-Marie was raised as a Catholic. He even considered becoming a priest. He broke up with the Catholic Church early and retraced the circumstances of this break-up in his moving book, 尝鈥橝耻诲颈别苍肠别 (2001). I have no doubt that the God of his childhood, if he exists, will welcome him nonetheless with mercy. Either way, he will remain a living presence in the minds of those of us who knew and loved him.
Paris, March 28, 2023
Jean-Marie Apostolid猫s est mort. En 茅crivant ces quelques mots, ma main tremble et je dois r茅primer des pleurs. Un peu plus 芒g茅 que lui, je n鈥檌maginais pas que je serais un jour en situation d鈥檃voir 脿 d茅plorer sa perte. C鈥檈st cela, 锚tre 芒g茅. Ou vous disparaissez vous-m锚me, et vos soucis partent avec vous, ou vous 锚tes condamn茅 脿 voir votre propre condition dans celle de vos semblables, y compris les membres de votre famille et vos amis les plus chers, qui s鈥檈ffacent les uns apr猫s les autres. Je reprends ici presque mot pour mot une pens茅e de Blaise Pascal, le philosophe et math茅maticien fran莽ais du dix-septi猫me si猫cle que Jean-Marie mettait au Panth茅on de ses mod猫les.
Jean-Marie est arriv茅 脿 麻豆高清, comme moi, en 1987, venant de Harvard. Il a 茅t茅 l鈥檜n des piliers du d茅partement de fran莽ais et d鈥檌talien 脿 麻豆高清. Les humanit茅s dans cette universit茅 tourn茅e principalement vers les sciences et les techniques perdent avec lui l鈥檜n de leurs membres les plus cr茅atifs, les plus productifs et les plus attachants. Jean-Marie 茅tait beaucoup de choses : sociologue, critique litt茅raire, romancier, dramaturge, metteur en sc猫ne de th茅芒tre, militant et, bien s没r, professeur. Loin d鈥櫭猼re un touche-脿-tout, il s鈥檌nvestissait 脿 fond dans chacune de ces activit茅s.
Il y aura forc茅ment des hommages, des colloques, des s茅minaires, consacr茅s 脿 son 艙uvre litt茅raire et scientifique, et je ne veux pas ici, dans ce t茅moignage spontan茅, qui ne vise ni 脿 l鈥檈xhaustivit茅 ni 脿 l鈥檃nalyse, en faire l鈥檌nventaire. C鈥檈st l鈥檃ffection pour l鈥檃mi disparu qui me fait 茅crire ces quelques notes.
Un ouvrage, son opus magnum, se d茅tache de sa production comme essayiste : H茅ro茂sme et victimisation. Une histoire de la sensibilit茅, paru 脿 Paris en 2003 et r茅茅dit茅 en 2011, dans une seconde version qu鈥檌l m鈥檃vait fait l鈥檃miti茅 de me demander de pr茅facer. Il y diagnostiquait une mutation des sensibilit茅s collectives, portant sur des valeurs, des comportements et des m艙urs, passant brusquement d鈥檜ne culture de l鈥檋茅ro茂sme, h茅rit茅e des Romains et des Barbares qui fond猫rent l鈥橭ccident, 脿 une culture de la victimisation, h茅rit茅e du jud茅o-christianisme. La pertinence de ce livre pour les transformations que conna卯t l鈥橝m茅rique aujourd鈥檋ui est flagrante.
Jean-Marie 茅tait un homme de gauche, mais d鈥檜ne gauche libertaire, issue du mouvement de mai 1968 et m芒tin茅e de social-d茅mocratie 鈥 ce qu鈥檕n appelait en France 脿 l鈥櫭﹑oque la 芦 seconde gauche 禄, ce qui voulait dire 芦 non marxiste 禄. Il s鈥檈st beaucoup int茅ress茅 aux d茅rives de la gauche extr锚me, en particulier le situationnisme de Guy Debord et le recours 脿 l鈥檃ssassinat politique en la personne de l鈥橴nabomber, alias Theodore Kaczynski. Il a traduit et pr茅fac茅 le manifeste de celui-ci, Industrial Society and Its Future, en r茅fl茅chissant 脿 la ligne 茅troite qui s茅pare ce type de litt茅rature de la critique radicale de la soci茅t茅 industrielle pr茅sent茅e, par exemple, par un Ivan Illich, dont je fus moi-m锚me le collaborateur.
Jean-Marie 茅tait un provocateur, mais un provocateur gentil, sans agressivit茅, dont le seul but 茅tait d鈥櫭﹙eiller les consciences et de fustiger la b锚tise. Alors que le marquis de Sade 茅tait 脿 la mode dans les d茅partements de lettres, il avait mise en sc猫ne ses Lettres 茅crites de prison dans un d茅cor qui 茅tait d鈥檃nciennes latrines sur le campus. Cela lui avait valu quelques ennuis de la part de certains, qui n鈥檃vaient pas saisi ou appr茅ci茅 l鈥檋umour de cette repr茅sentation.
Jean-Marie aimait les femmes. Il 茅tait f茅ministe au sens traditionnel du terme, militant pour l鈥櫭ゞalit茅 des statuts, des fonctions et des salaires. Un cours qu鈥檌l donna pendant plusieurs ann茅es s鈥檌ntitulait 芦 Les femmes dans le cin茅ma fran莽ais. 禄 Il attira des centaines d鈥櫭﹖udiants et d鈥櫭﹖udiantes. Mais il voyait avec consternation les progr猫s du 芦 wokisme 禄, de l鈥檌ntersectionnisme et de la 芦 Cancel Culture 禄, d茅bouchant sur une 芦 rectification 禄 des grands classiques de la litt茅rature ou du cin茅ma. Il voyait bien avec tristesse que ces inventions am茅ricaines 茅taient issues en partie de la 芦 French Theory 禄. Nous partagions la m锚me fascination pour le film le plus m茅taphysique qui ait jamais 茅t茅 con莽u : le Vertigo d鈥橝lfred Hitchcock. Je souhaite tr猫s fort que Jean-Marie n鈥檃it eu vent avant de mourir du dernier projet de Hollywood, qui consisterait dit-on 脿 inverser les genres des deux protagonistes. Madeleine, la femme fictive, deviendrait un homme en chair et en os, et Scottie, l鈥檃moureux transi, une femme. Le choc aurait h芒t茅 son d茅c猫s.
Jean-Marie avait re莽u une 茅ducation catholique et ils se destinait m锚me 脿 la pr锚trise. Il a rompu avec elle et racont茅 dans un livre bouleversant, 尝鈥橝耻诲颈别苍肠别 (2001), les circonstances de cette rupture. Je ne doute pas que le Dieu de son enfance, s鈥檌l existe, l鈥檃ccueille n茅anmoins avec mansu茅tude. It restera de toute fa莽on une pr茅sence vivante dans nos esprits, nous qui l鈥檃vons connu et aim茅.
Paris, le 28 mars 2023
