French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Cabantous, Le Dimanche, une histoire
History, Politics and Society

Alain Cabantous, Le Dimanche, une histoire

Paris: Seuil, coll. "L'univers historique"

2013

368 pages, 24 euros

Publisher's overview:

Until recently, Sunday was structured around church for some, the local café for others, and the inevitable Sunday family dinner for most. Today, however, urban and rural dwellers alike tend to oscillate between time to waste and money to be made. Yet, at the dawn of the 21st century, what do a summer Sunday in a major European city and one in a Scottish or Champagne village have in common? What do they share with what we can glean of the weekly rhythms of ancient societies, where Sunday stood in sharp contrast to the other six days?

Alain Cabantous sets out to uncover how early modern Western societies, which were overwhelmingly rural, experienced their relationship with Sunday. Drawing on extensive religious, judicial, and literary archives, he shows how Sunday—originally at the heart of Christian culture—gradually evolved into a space of "free time," conducive to entertainment and even subversive idleness, thereby becoming a genuine arena of power struggle. Theologians and politicians sought to redefine its meaning, while individuals claimed the right to spend it as they pleased. Thus, Sunday emerges above all as a revealing mirror of the deep temporal tensions animating European societies.

At a time when the highly controversial issue of Sunday labor repeatedly takes center stage in public debate, this history of Sunday gains profound relevance. It reveals that the tendency to seize upon temporal landmarks and alter their meaning and content is not a modern invention, but rather part of a long-standing ambition of authorities to impose their own perception of time upon populations.

Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris I, Alain Cabantous has published numerous works, including the highly acclaimed Histoire de la nuit. XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle (Fayard, 2009).

Alain Cabantous approaches the subject as a social and cultural historian interested in the long-term structuring of daily life and collective rhythms. By examining religious, judicial, and literary sources, the study traces how a fundamentally Christian holy day gradually transformed into a modern space for recreation, idleness, and personal autonomy. This transition highlights a persistent historical tension between institutional authority—represented by theologians and politicians seeking to regulate public behavior—and individual desires for freedom, leisure, and alternative uses of time.

This book will appeal to readers of cultural history, sociology, and European studies who are curious about the genealogy of modern work-life balance and contemporary debates over Sunday labor. Rather than offering a simple chronicle of the weekend, the author uses the evolution of the seventh day as a lens through which to examine broader shifts in power, secularization, and social control. It provides valuable historical depth for anyone seeking to understand how societies organize collective time and why temporal norms remain a constant site of political contestation.