Category Archives: Fernand Braudel

Fernand Braudel and the Writing and Teaching of History in Captivity

Posted on January 4, 2026 by stuartelden

In a previous pieces in this series I’ve discussed Étienne Wolff’s work on the biology of monsters, some of which was written during his time in Oflag XVII-A during the Second World War. (An Oflag was a Offizierslager – a German camp for Allied … Continue reading →

Posted in Fernand Braudel, Henri Lefebvre, Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Sunday Histories, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Books received – Porshnev, Jameson, Coveney, de Menasce, Foucault, Medby, Chimisso, Blencowe, Braudel, Jakobson

Posted on December 4, 2025 by stuartelden

A few books bought recently, mostly second-hand; Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, Cristina Chimisso, Hélène Metzger, Historian and Historiographer of the Sciences, Ingrid Medley, Arctic State Identity and Claire Blencowe, Spirits of Extraction, in recompense for review work; and Foucault’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Boris Porshnev, Fernand Braudel, Fredric Jameson, Ludwig Binswanger, Michel Foucault, Roman Jakobson, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Books received – Levinas, de Menasce, Braudel, Bloch and Febvre

Posted on October 7, 2025 by stuartelden

Books relating to the new interest in stories of French academics who spent time in German prisoner of war camps, a book about Émile Benveniste’s former student Jean de Menasce (see here), and a few relating to the Annales school … Continue reading →

Posted in Emile Benveniste, Emmanuel Levinas, Fernand Braudel, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Books written by French professors while prisoners of war in World War II, and the Université de Captivité in Oflag XVII-A

Posted on September 28, 2025 by stuartelden

There are many famous books written in prison, from Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy to Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks. Socrates’ final words in prison are dramatized by Plato in the Crito. The Marquis de Sade wrote some of his books in prison, and Miguel … Continue reading →

Posted in Antonio Gramsci, Antonio Negri, Étienne Wolff, Emmanuel Levinas, Fernand Braudel, François Ellenberger, Georges Canguilhem, Hannah Arendt, Jean Cavaillès, Jean-Paul Sartre, Louis Althusser, Raymond Ruyer, Sunday Histories, Uncategorized, Walter Benjamin | 7 Comments

Étienne Wolff and the biology of monsters – writing as a prisoner of war, Collège de France administrator, and the engagement with his work by Georges Canguilhem, Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault

Posted on September 21, 2025 by stuartelden

In exploring the histories of professors and their teaching at the Collège de France, I’ve often looked at correspondence between chairs, candidates and the administrator. Administrators are elected from within the professoriate and have quite a lot of power in … Continue reading →

Posted in Alexandre Koyré, Étienne Wolff, Canguilhem (book), Fernand Braudel, Georges Bataille, Georges Canguilhem, Michel Foucault, Sunday Histories, The Archaeology of Foucault, Uncategorized | 7 Comments