Home/ Search/ 2014/ Issue 4 (45)

Issue 4 (45)

“MEMORY COMPETITION” AND ITS POLITICAL MEANING ON CORSICA (1914–2014)
Year	2014	Number	4(45)
Pages	50-59	Type	scientific article
UDC	94 (449.45)	BBK	63.3(4Фра 7)
Authors	Talamoni Jean-Guy	Topic	HISTORY AND HISTORICAL MEMORY
Summary	During the period between the two world wars (1918–1939) the political and literary life on Corsica became an arena of conflict between the “Corsicans” entertaining nostalgic feelings over the period of independence (1755–1769) and the administration officials and the pro-French bureaucrats strongly resisting any type or form of autonomy. Both parties participating in the conflict tried to offer their own interpretation of the past and manipulate it. While the “Corsicans” glorified the figure of General Pasquale de' Paoli, the head of the independent Corsica in the 18th century, the pro-French participants of the dispute preferred Sampiero Corso — a personage of the 16th century who was an ally of the French. One of the instruments in this conflict was the commemoration of the fallen soldiers. The article sets an example of an interesting analysis in the style of historico-political linguistics of the speech of a Corsican nationalist P. Rocca at the opening of the monument to the fighters for the island's independence in 1925. Using the theoretical ideas suggested by M. Halbwachs, P. Nore, and B. Anderson the author identified the tools with the help of which P. Rocca actualized the events of 1769 at Ponte Novu filling them with political rather than historical meaning, and, appealing to a collective memory of the Corsicans created in so doing the “imagined national”. The author in addition to introducing the readers to the specifics of transformations of historical memory of the Corsicans over the 20th century, also put them into the context of modern political confrontation on the island of Corsica.
Keywords	National memory Corsicans, “national imaginary”, the story of Corsica, P. A. Paoli, Corsican nationalism
References	Anderson B. L’imaginaire national. La Découverte [The national imagination. Discovery]. Paris: La Décou¬verte, 2002, 213 p. (in French). Bertoncini P. Anthropologie du monde occidental [Anthropology of the Western World]. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2011, 228 p. (in French). Galibert C. Sarrola 14–18. Un village corse dans la Première Guerre mondiale [Sarrola 14–18. A Corsican village in World War I]. Ajaccio: Albiana, 2008, 158 p. (in French). Gherardi E. Dictionnaire historique de la Corse [Historical Dictionary of Corsica]. Ajaccio: Albiana, 2006, p. 43. (in French). Giacomo-Marcellesi M., Casanova A. Chronique médiévale corse [Corsican medieval chronicle]. Ajaccio: la Marge, 1998, 481 p. (in French). Holbwachs M. La topologie légendaire des Evangiles en Terre Sainte: étude de mémoire collective [The legen¬dary topology of the Gospels in the Holy Land: a study of collective memory]. Paris: PUF, 1941, 171 p. (in French). Mairet J. Le discours et l’historique: essai sur la représentation historienne du temps [The speech and histo¬ry: an essay on the historian’s representation of time]. Mame: Maison, 1974, 235 p. (in French). Mérimée P. Romans et nouvelles [Fiction]. Paris: Gallimard, 1951, 843 p. (in French). Pensée paysanne, histoire sociale et récits des chroniqueurs (le cas du Corse Giovanni della Grossa) [Thought peasant, social history and stories columnists (if the Corsican Giovanni della Grossa)]. Les genres et l’histoire, XVIIIe XIXe siècles (II) [Genres and history, XVIII–XIX centuries (II)]. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1981, 207 p. (in French). Quéré L. La sociologie à l’épreuve de l’herméneutique: Essais d’épistémologie des sciences sociales [Sociolo¬gy test of hermeneutics: Tests epistemology of social sciences]. Paris: l’Harmattan, 1999, 216 p. (in French). Ravis-Giorrdani G. Honorer les morts, parlent aux vivants: le discours au monument aux morts [Honoring the dead speak to the living: the speech at the War Memorial]. Etudes Corses, №°70, 2010, Juin, pp. 155–162. (in French). Talamoni J.-G. Antulugia bislingua di a literatura corsa [Antulugia bislingua of literature on race]. Ajaccio: DCL, 2008, 243 p. (in Italian).
Download in PDF