France on display
Subtitle: peasants, provincials, and folklore in the 1937 Paris World's Fair
By: Shanny Peer.
Series: SUNY series in national identities
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 265
Subjects: National characteristics, French; Folklore -- France; Regionalism -- France; Exhibitions; France -- Civilization -- 1901-1945; France -- Cultural policy
Description: The 1937 Paris World's Fair presented a traditionalist image of France as a rural, provincial country, faithful to its folk traditions and to its Old World heritage. France's attachment, well into the twentieth century, to its traditionalist roots has often been interpreted by scholars as a reactionary impulse, a desire to resist modernization or a wish to return to the past.

However, in this book Peer argues that this enduring attachment in Third Republic France to peasants, provincials, and folklore was not inherently reactionary or anti-modernist. Instead, these aspects of France's "traditional" heritage were refashioned in new ways to allow France to modernize while still retaining it distinctive identity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-254) and index.