French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Corbin, Les Conférences de Morterolles
History, Politics and Society
***
Alain Corbin, Les Conférences de Morterolles. Hiver 1895-1896. A l'écoute d'un monde disparu
Paris: Flammarion
2011, 197 pages
- ISBN: 9782081248977
- Price: 19 euros
Publisher's presentation
"Mr. Beaumord was a zealous schoolteacher. Anticipating a desire barely expressed by his superiors, during the winter of 1895-1896 in his school in Morterolles—a small village in the Haute-Vienne of 643 souls—he gave a series of ten lectures intended for adults. Mr. Beaumord was a talented schoolteacher. Clearly, he captivated his audience. Nearly half of the men and a quarter of the women in the commune came to hear him, their enthusiasm unwavering throughout that winter.
Mr. Beaumord was a vain schoolteacher; otherwise, he would not have felt the need to publish, in Le Nouvelliste de Bellac, the topics of his ten lectures along with the male and female attendance figures for each session. That said, Mr. Beaumord is not the subject of this book. Thanks to him, we can attempt to imagine the thirst for knowledge that drove obscure cohorts to come and hear him on cold winter nights." Through meticulous archival work, in the tradition of *The World of Louis-François Pinagot*, Alain Corbin brings a cycle of forgotten lectures back to life after more than a century.
Following in the footsteps of the speaker and his audience, he reconstructs, step by step, those winter evenings when an entire village made its way to school to learn. By lending his voice to a schoolteacher of the Third Republic, the historian allows us to hear the echo of a vanished world.
Table of Contents
- THE SPEAKER
- THE AUDIENCE
- MADAGASCAR
- THE DIVERSITY OF KNOWLEDGE
- ON PATRIOTISM
- CHARLOTTE CORDAY
- JOAN OF ARC
- THE ORAL TRANSMISSION OF KNOWLEDGE
- HIGH YIELDS IN AGRICULTURE
- THE BENEFITS OF UNITY AND ASSOCIATION
The author
Alain Corbin is professor emeritus at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University.
A specialist in the history of the senses, he is the author of numerous works published by Flammarion, including *The World of Louis-François Pinagot*, *The Village of Cannibals*, *The Foul and the Fragrant*, and *The Harmony of Pleasures*. He edited the second volume of *History of the Body* (Seuil, 2005), as well as *1515 et les grandes dates de l'histoire de France* (Seuil, 2005).
Alain Corbin is a renowned French historian associated with the Annales School tradition and the history of mentalities, particularly known for his pioneering microhistories of ordinary people and sensory history. In this work, he examines the cultural landscape of the Third Republic, a pivotal period in French history marked by the expansion of public schooling, secular republican values, and the consolidation of a national identity among rural populations. By focusing on the micro-level of a single village, the book illuminates broader themes of popular education, rural sociology, and the transmission of knowledge.
This volume will appeal to historians, sociologists, and readers interested in nineteenth-century French rural life and the history of popular mentalities. It helps answer questions about how ordinary villagers perceived national narratives, patriotism, and scientific progress during a time of profound social change. Scholars of oral tradition and cultural history will find valuable insights into the intellectual aspirations of rural communities. The book serves as an engaging resource for anyone seeking to understand the lived experiences of obscure historical actors whose voices might otherwise be lost.
A review by historian Dominique Kalifa can be read on the Libération website, "Beaumort, and Very Much Alive"