French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Compagnon, The Bernard Faÿ Case: From the Collège de France to National Degradation
History, Politics and Society
Bibliographic reference: A. Compagnon, Le Cas Bernard Faÿ : du Collège de France à l'indignité nationale, Gallimard, collection "Suite des temps", 2009. EAN13: 9782070126194.
The Bernard Faÿ Case: From the Collège de France to National Degradation
Antoine Compagnon
Paris: Gallimard, coll. "Suite des temps", 2009.
EAN 9782070126194
208 p.
Price 21EUR
Today, Bernard Faÿ is scarcely remembered outside of his role in the suppression of Freemasonry under the Vichy regime. His tenure as head of the National Library from 1940 to 1944 resulted in a sentence of forced labor following the Liberation. Intrigued by the trajectory of an intellectual who moved from Proust to Pétain, and from the avant-garde to collaboration, Antoine Compagnon—for whom Bernard Faÿ was a distant predecessor at Columbia University in New York and later at the Collège de France in Paris—thoroughly re-examines an inquiry first initiated by historians.
For the man himself remained deeply enigmatic. What demons could have driven this enlightened scholar of American studies, open to the modern world, familiar with Gide, Cocteau, Crevel, and Picasso, and a close friend of Gertrude Stein, into such disastrous commitments with the occupying authorities and their French accomplices, and into such base compromises with the police and the SS? How could this highly cultured man—disabled and aesthetic, queer and devout—consent to the ignominy of informing? And why did he never express remorse? A tragic era, a shadowy personality, and a disturbing portrait.
Antoine Compagnon, professor at the Collège de France and Columbia University and a specialist on Proust, is also the author, in the "Bibliothèque des idées" series, of The Antimoderns: From Joseph de Maistre to Roland Barthes (2005).
Contents
- PROUST IN AMERICA
- A MODERN YOUNG MAN
- ELECTED TO THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE, AND EXPELLED
- GERTRUDE STEIN'S BEST FRENCH FRIEND
- THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT'S CHARGE D'AFFAIRES FOR MASONIC AFFAIRS
- FASCISTS AFTER THE FACT
- MY TWO BEST FRIENDS: CARL SCHMITT AND BERNARD FAY
- AMONG THE HITLER YOUTH
- A JESUIT DISGUISED AS A LIBRARIAN
- THE KITCHEN CABINET OF RUE TRONCHET
* * *
An article on this work can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:
Published by Gallimard in the Suite des temps collection, this biographical study investigates how a sophisticated scholar of American literature and close associate of Gertrude Stein and avant-garde artists became an active collaborator. The author traces Fay's journey from his early prominence in academic circles to his appointment as head of the National Library under the Vichy government, where he directed the suppression of Freemasonry. This volume offers a profound reflection on intellectual treason, ideological commitment, and the complex psychological motivations behind collaboration during a dark period of French history.
This work will deeply engage readers interested in twentieth-century intellectual history, the dynamics of political extremism, and the ethical dilemmas of the academic elite during wartime. By questioning how a cultured, internationally connected professor could descend into state-sponsored persecution without expressing remorse, Antoine Compagnon provides a sobering portrait of moral degradation. It serves as an essential resource for scholars of the Vichy regime, French literature, and the perilous intersections of high culture, politics, and ideology in modern Europe.