Un-layering Greece: imagined classical heritages in French nationalist travel writing
Journal: Modern & Contemporary France
Year: 2024

This article looks at the ways Ancient Greece was received by Charles Maurras and Maurice Barrès, two important French nationalist figures of the turn of the twentieth century. It argues that, whilst often taken for granted, the valorisation of classicism by French nationalist movements (as a political heritage to reclaim or as an aesthetic reaction against turn-of-the-century avant-gardes) also represents a challenge to nationalist narratives. Both authors’ reception of Antiquity was shaped by