Fabula-LhT n° 11
For a long time now, I've wanted to embark on a research project - a lecture, a seminar : at the Collège de France, we present research in progress - over the course of a year. I wanted to retrace the events of that year, month by month, week by week, and even day by day, if possible. I dreamed of getting to the heart of the year, of inhabiting its calendar, of reliving it at its own pace, from every angle, in every twist and turn, like those retrospectives broadcast on television in my youth on December 31 - " General de Gaulle inaugurated the Rance tidal power plant. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou visited the Pierrelatte uranium enrichment plant. The "copoclephilia" virus has struck two million French people " - but also in search of the shape of the times, the essence of the century beneath the foam of days. I'd have to go through all the books published between January1st and December 31st - and no doubt all the books written during those months -, rummage through all the press - dailies, weeklies, magazines, journals - listen to the radio, watch television, see all the films, hum all the jingles. I'd immerse myself in daily life, advertising, fashion, gadgets. It would be like living a novel, the novel of a year. [...]
