French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Brossat, Le plébéien enragé. Une contre-histoire de la modernité de Rousseau à Losey
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Le plébéien enragé - Une contre-histoire de la modernité de Rousseau à Losey
Alain Brossat

PUBLICATION DATE: 16/11/13 PUBLISHER: Passager Clandestin ISBN: 978-2-916952-96-3 EAN: 9782916952963 FORMAT: Paperback PAGE COUNT: 248 p.

In novels like The Red and the Black, Wuthering Heights, or Lady Chatterley's Lover, readers find not necessarily what they are looking for, but at least what closely aligns with their expectations: thus, more often the "eternal" fable of thwarted romance than that of the modern plebeian, rebellious or even enraged. Yet, it is precisely this latter figure that Alain Brossat portrays in his new essay by revisiting these "classics" and several others. This critical perspective allows us to grasp an entire sweep of modern literature and to write a true counter-history of modernity.

Far from the sanitized reading that seeks to "immunize" literary masterpieces from the contaminations of the political sphere (as if a masterpiece could only belong to the immutable and the timeless), the author of Le Serviteur et son maître (Léo Scheer, 2003) and Le Grand dégoût culturel (Seuil, 2008) favors an explicitly political reading. It is by no means about categorizing works (proletarian novel, bourgeois novel, etc.), but rather about restoring them to their full condition of "politicity".
These buried, statue-like works—over which students have often yawned in high school—are rescued by Alain Brossat from mere heritage status to recover what constituted, and largely still constitutes, their power and vitality. The plebeian evoked by Brossat (Jean-Jacques from the Confessions, Julien Sorel, Heathcliff, Mellors...) is a recalcitrant singularity and, as such, a troublemaker and agent of disorder.

His activism tends to undermine the supposedly natural foundations of the established order. He is a force in motion whose talents, often eminent, are wasted through dramatic clashes with History and society. He is the ungovernable, a dangerous figure par excellence, particularly in modern societies. This figure emerges in literature as a character of renewed, abundant life at the radiant dawn of modernity, before transforming into something entirely different: one vanquished by History, more or less resigned to his fate.

He is the symptom of a collapse—roughly speaking, the one that occurred between the promises of the Enlightenment and the disappointments and disillusionments of modernity. The moral ordeals the plebeian undergoes due to his social origins are "recoded" within him into a sort of overarching political program: to fight injustice, injustices, by any means at his disposal, including violence.

History gave him the impression that things had changed, that he could find his place in society; but the war to the death among species continues, and the immemorial rules of the game remain unchanged. Ultimately, the plebeian will always be sacrificed on the altar of order restoration. Here, a distinct feature of modern society emerges: not—and not at all—the establishment of equality among all, but the fact that the possibilities for equalization are infinite.

Possibilities only. The stakes of equality can arise at any moment, in an unexpected rather than predictable manner, but the outcome is always the same. Through the figure of the plebeian, a counter-history of modernity is thus written. Confronting the betrayed promises of the "democratic ideal," the plebeian is the one who relentlessly demands an accounting. In times abounding with odes to Progress, hymns to Science, to History, and to indivisible Humanity, the plebeian is a central figure of modern politics—one marked by the non-coincidence between the true foundations of the social and symbolic order and the principles upon which the democratic regime is supposed to rest.

He is that touchy subordinate, that tireless fighter who strives for equality against the inflexible logic of social reproduction. As a political figure of modernity, he perpetuates, from the early days of wage labor to the era of globalized capitalism, the irresolvable dispute between the servant and his master. And the contemporary plebeian is perhaps that subordinate who has no choice, who must bow to escape unemployment and destitution...

Unless the future shows us plebeians finally united, managing to revive a vibrant politics and forming an irreducible force rich in all their diversity.

Alain Brossat was born in 1946 in Villefranche-sur-Saône. Professor Emeritus in the Philosophy Department at Paris-8 Saint-Denis since 2003, he has also worked as a journalist and translator. His research focuses notably on the genealogy of modern and contemporary political violence, the forms and mechanisms of power, and the question of the plebs. In a previous work, Le serviteur et son maître. Essai sur le sentiment plébéien (Léo Scheer, 2003), he examined the "solar" figure of the plebeian during the Enlightenment (from Figaro to Jacques the Fatalist).
He is the author of numerous works, including: Pour en finir avec la prison (La fabrique, 2001), Le grand dégoût culturel (Le Seuil, 2008), Tous Coupat Tous Coupables (Lignes, 2009), Autochtone imaginaire, étranger imaginé (Le Souffle, 2012).

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An article about this work can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:

Alain Brossat positions his work within the tradition of political philosophy and cultural critique, examining how canonical literature engages with social hierarchy and resistance. By tracing the evolution of the recalcitrant subordinate from the Enlightenment through the rise of modern capitalism, the book connects literary analysis with the genealogy of political violence and power structures. It will interest students and scholars of modern literature, philosophy, and intellectual history who wish to rethink canonical masterpieces outside conventional aesthetic frameworks.

The study addresses central questions concerning the unfulfilled promises of the democratic ideal, the persistence of social inequality, and the tension between individual singularity and the established order. By treating literary characters not as neutral aesthetic objects but as active agents of political disorder, the author illuminates the ongoing struggle between subordinate classes and dominant institutions. This critical perspective helps readers reevaluate familiar texts such as The Red and the Black and Wuthering Heights as vital documents of modern political conflict.

"A Concept-Character: The Recalcitrant Plebeian", by C. Ruby.