Alain Besançon (; 25 April 1932 – 9 July 2023) was a French historian. He specialised in
intellectual history
Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...
and
Russian politics. From 1965 to 1992 he was director of studies at the
École des hautes études en sciences sociales
The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conj ...
in Paris. He was elected to the
Académie des sciences morales et politiques
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
of the
Institut de France
The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
in 1996.
His book ''L'Image interdite, une histoire intellectuelle de l'iconoclasme'' (1994) was translated into English as ''The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm'' in 2000 and published by the
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
.
[
Besançon died on 9 July 2023, at the age of 91.]
Publications
* ''Le Tsarévitch immolé'', 1967.
* ''Histoire et expérience du moi'', 1971.
* ''Entretiens sur le Grand Siècle russe et ses prolongements'' (co-author), 1971.
* ''Éducation et société en Russie'', 1974.
* ''L'Histoire psychanalytique, une anthologie'', 1974.
* ''Être russe au XIXème siècle'', 1974.
* ''Court traité de soviétologie à l'usage des autorités civiles, militaires et religieuses'', 1976 (preface by Raymond Aron
Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron (; ; 14 March 1905 – 17 October 1983) was a French philosopher, sociologist, political scientist, historian and journalist, one of France's most prominent thinkers of the 20th century.
Aron is best known for his ...
).
* ''Les Origines intellectuelles du léninisme'', Calmann-Lévy, 1977.
* ''La Confusion des langues'', 1978.
* ''Présent soviétique et passé russe'', Livre de poche, Paris, 1980 (réédité : Hachette, Paris, 1986).
* ''Anatomie d'un spectre: l'économie politique du socialisme réel'', Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1981.
* ''Courrier Paris-Stanford'' (co-author), 1984.
* ''La Falsification du bien, Soloviev et Orwell'', 1985.
* ''Une génération'', Julliard, 1987.
* ''Vendredis'', 1989.
* ''L'Image interdite, une histoire intellectuelle de l'iconoclasme'', 1994.
* ''Trois tentations dans l'Église'', 1996.
* ''Aux sources de l’iconoclasme moderne'', 1998.
* ''Le Malheur du siècle : sur le communisme, le nazisme et l'unicité de la Shoah'', Fayard, 1998, 166 p.
* ''Émile et les menteurs'', 2008.
* ''Cinq Personnages en quête d'amour. Amour et religion'', 2010.
* ''Sainte Russie'', 2012.
* ''Le Protestantisme américain. De Calvin à Billy Graham'', 2013.
* ''Problèmes religieux contemporains'', 2015.
References
1932 births
2023 deaths
20th-century French historians
21st-century French historians
Historians of Russia
University of Paris alumni
Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni
Sciences Po alumni
Academic staff of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences
Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques
Officers of the Legion of Honour
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Writers from Paris
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