A De Gaulle Retrospective

The occasional journal over here reminds its readers that it is ten years since General de Gaulle abruptly left power in France, and close to ten since he died on an autumn evening at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. There are few in France who do not miss him still, and his name is invoked here every day in conversation, in speeches, and in the press, as the man who would never have done this or that foolish thing the politicians are doing now, would never have permitted this indignity or committed that outrage.

Looking at the first of the avalanche of memorial works commemorating the decade of his passing, one is struck by the museum quality of the man’s personality, philosophically conceived, finely wrought, and stamped with an unmistakable seal. Museum—or reliquary? For de Gaulle’s reign was in retrospect a sheaf of illuminations, an artifact of the French historical genius, as much as the brutal power struggle that it usually seemed. The tricolor and the fasces of the republic were the nominal and evident symbols of his office, but the style was monarchical, and the backdrop recalled, not too insubstantially, the Gothic arches and fleur-de-lys vesture of Capetian France.

NK

About the Author

Nicholas King

Featured Tags

The occasional journal over here reminds its readers that it is ten years since General de Gaulle abruptly left power in France, and close to ten since he died on an autumn evening at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. There are few in France who do not miss him still, and his name is invoked here every day in conversation, in speeches, and in the press, as the man who would never have done this or that foolish thing the politicians are doing now, would never have permitted this indignity or committed that outrage.

Looking at the first of the avalanche of memorial works commemorating the decade of his passing, one is struck by the museum quality of the man’s personality, philosophically conceived, finely wrought, and stamped with an unmistakable seal. Museum—or reliquary? For de Gaulle’s reign was in retrospect a sheaf of illuminations, an artifact of the French historical genius, as much as the brutal power struggle that it usually seemed. The tricolor and the fasces of the republic were the nominal and evident symbols of his office, but the style was monarchical, and the backdrop recalled, not too insubstantially, the Gothic arches and fleur-de-lys vesture of Capetian France.