(N)ostalgie? Communism and French literature since 1989

In recent years, the burgeoning field of research on ‘post-communist nostalgia’ has concentrated mainly on the former Eastern Bloc, with Ostalgie for the GDR of particular interest. Study of the memory of communism in western countries such as France has been marginal. However, communism has left a considerable trace on French culture and politics. This article examines the memory of communism in French literature published since 1989. The novels of Bernard Chambaz, Aurélie Filippetti and Michel Houellebecq express affection and even longing for the lost world of communism, while reflecting lucidly on the failure of ‘really existing socialism’ and marking a break with previous generations. To varying degrees, these writers evoke the crisis of a France decentred and disoriented by social liberalisation, globalisation and migratory flows. Beyond any reflective nostalgia for communism, there appears, between the lines, a nostalgia for a certain France. Postprint