HomeGaetano Salvemini (1873-1957) and France

Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957) and France

Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957) et la France

Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957) e la Francia

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Published on Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Abstract

The conference intends to propose an overall re-examination of Salvemini's relations with France, starting with those matured with some historians during the drafting phase of his volume on the French Revolution (1905, subsequently reissued several times with variants), passing through his relations with some important intellectuals and those gravitating around the figure of his second wife Fernande Dauriac, arriving at those with the world of Italian and European antifascist exile. Vast and significant, even if not always marked by sympathy and harmony of ideas, appear, moreover, the relations with exponents of the labor movement and with various personalities of the French socialist world. A separate chapter is, finally, represented by relations with the Giustizia e Libertà movement.

Announcement

Argument

Gaetano Salvemini was a leading figure in Italian intellectual and political life for the first half of the 20th century: historian, southerner and publicist, he was a staunch opponent of fascism, which soon forced him into exile. The 150th anniversary of his birth, provides an important opportunity to revisit his relations with the various countries in which he was welcomed as an exile. Scholarly initiatives have already had place in England and the United States.

Salvemini left Italy in August 1925, settling in London, where he very quickly became involved in the cultural and academic circles of the English capital and launched an intense anti-fascist activity. Over the next eight years, he moved between England and Paris and made four trips to the United States where, at the end of 1933, he moved permanently to begin his teaching post at Harvard University, a post he held until the spring of 1948. He returned permanently to Italy in 1949. During his long exile his French sojourns (except for the period 1940-1946) were frequent, as they were in the years before 1925.

Long neglected in Salvemini’s biographies, the years of exile (1925-1949) now constitute a crucial passage for reconsidering his intellectual profile. In particular, the extent and nature of the interaction between the Apulian intellectual and the various political and intellectual circles he frequented in the three main countries of his exile remains unexplored. During these years, Salvemini became part of a transnational network of exiles operating between Europe and the United States, was the protagonist of an intense anti-fascist activity in the United States, and resumed his scholarly activity focusing on two strands of research: fascism, the characteristics of the regime and its foreign policy, and the revisiting of the concept of democracy. 

In this framework, his relations with various French cultural, scientific and political circles and with the most important networks of international antifascism present in Paris since the early 1920s appear particularly relevant.

The conference intends to propose an overall re-examination of Salvemini's relations with France, starting with those matured with some historians during the drafting phase of his volume on the French Revolution (1905, subsequently reissued several times with variants), passing through his relations with some important intellectuals and those gravitating around the figure of his second wife Fernande Dauriac, arriving at those with the world of Italian and European antifascist exile. Vast and significant, even if not always marked by sympathy and harmony of ideas, appear, moreover, the relations with exponents of the labor movement and with various personalities of the French socialist world. A separate chapter is, finally, represented by relations with the Giustizia e Libertà movement.

The topics addressed by the conference will be as follows: 

Salvemini historian of the French Revolution. How much of his original 1905 version did Salvemini bother to revise in the years of exile and especially in the French years? Did he dialogue, personally or through interposed readings, with French historians of the revolution? How much, moreover, of his strong personal interpretation of the revolutionary event, which deliberately leaves the Terror out of its lens, is still capable of dialoguing with recent developments in the historiography of the Revolution?

France as seen from America. How Salvemini's view of France was altered by his American sojourn. Traces of this can then be found in the period following his final return from exile, as seems, for example, to emerge from the latest, thoroughly reworked edition of French Revolution in both its English translation and its Italian version.

His relations with the world of politics and journalism. The conference aims to explore his relations with Italian and international anti-fascist organizations, as well as those with labor movements and the world of French socialism.

Relationships with French intellectuals such as Daniel and Élie Halévy, Romain Rolland, Jean Richard Bloch, Henry Prunières. Louis Rosenstock Frank, Paul Desjardins, Henry et Bertrand de Jouvenel, Paul Valéry, Jean Guéhenno, Michel Lachin, Julien Luchaire and others.

Salvemini and Giustizia e Libertà. Above all, the very close relations with Carlo Rosselli and his family are to be investigated, but also, although it may at times seem incompatible, with the so-called certain figures who take a critical position with respect to the official line of the movement. We are thinking, in particular, of the figures of Renzo Giua and Nicola Chiaromonte. 

Also to be studied are the very important relations with Angelo Tasca, perhaps his main interlocutor, together with Rosselli, on things French.

Salvemini and the Spanish Civil War. His judgments and appreciations of the various forces in the field that appear in various correspondences with Carlo Rosselli and other interlocutors and in various texts, as well as in his commemorative writings following the assassination of the leader and founder of Giustizia e Libertà.

Salvemini's relations with his second wife, Fernande Dauriac. They are to be investigated throughout the period under consideration while they have so far been neglected despite the conspicuous, albeit mostly unpublished, correspondence. Fernande Dauriac, moreover, was continuously present in France throughout the period in question as was her son, Jean, whom she had with her first husband and whom Salvemini had adopted.

Salvemini's places in France. They were varied even if related to short stays on the occasion of visits to family or friends. And not always located in the French capital.

Salvemini's reception in France. What was the reception of Salvemini's thought and work in France? What echo did his public speeches have (Decades of Pontigny, 1935 Writers' Congress for the Freedom of Culture, etc.)? How was his production devoted to the history of fascism received by French historiography?

Submission guidelines

The reported topics are indicative and do not exclude the possibility of submitting other proposals.

The conference will be held in Paris in November 2024. Proposals, with a maximum length of about 2,000 characters, should be sent to the following address:

Colloquesalvemini24@gmail.com

ATTENTION: New deadline 04 March 2024.

The proceedings will be held in French, English and Italian.

The Scientific Committee is committed to the publication of the proceedings.

Scientific Committee

Frédéric Attal, Patrizia Audenino, Antonio Bechelloni, Renato Camurri, Virgile Cirefice, Diego Dilettoso, Patrizia Dogliani, Laura Fournier-Finocchiaro, Valeria Galimi, Alessandro Giacone, Paolo Grossi, Anne-Marie Matard-Bonucci, Cesare Panizza, Elisa Signori, Éric Vial.

Places

  • Paris, France (75)

Event attendance modalities

Full on-site event


Date(s)

  • Monday, March 04, 2024

Keywords

  • Salvemini, histoire, antifascisme, révolution, française, France, Italie, socialisme

Contact(s)

  • Elisa Pareo
    courriel : elisa [dot] pareo [at] univr [dot] it
  • Renato Camurri
    courriel : renato [dot] camurri [at] gmail [dot] com

Information source

  • Elisa Pareo
    courriel : elisa [dot] pareo [at] univr [dot] it

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957) and France », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, January 02, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/vdz7

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