Susciter une émotion pour dominer l’esprit : la propagande antisémite et les écrivains français (1940-1944)

Abstract

Propaganda takes a decisive role in the formation of public opinion where the interaction between emotion and the re-action of the poetic gesture appears crucial. When the outside becomes a space for the exhibition of power (propaganda posters, erected statues of dictators, radio speeches of the elite executioners), the writer must take his responsibility to let convinced by the propaganda or to oppose to its dominant and hegemonic expansion. In this context, the question that is asked, is the following: what was the reply from the French writers to the propaganda of the fear, which, as a form of emotion, attempted to destroy any sense of compassion, of humanity, to allow legitimate and free persecution and rejection of the Other – the Jew.