


She is one of the highest-rankings members and as such holds a lot of power. By revealing their inner workings and those who gave them their special symbolic charge, Nora’s hope is to weave a new national tapestry held together not by the seamless narrative of an eternal France but rather by the countless sites that held special meaning for past generations.Like most of her fellow Saviors, Regina is a rough and ruthless survivor. century, but recognizing the impossibility of returning to outmoded, teleological, grand narratives, Nora proposes a new symbolic history of the nation.2 Harnessing the intellectual energy of over 120 historians, Nora sets out to unearth and expose the many but now imperiled and largely forgotten national sites of memory that litter the French landscape. Inspired by Ernest Lavisse’s success in “reknitting the national garment of national history” at the end of the last. If the essence of the national spirit resides in shared memories, as Renan argued, how do we build a memory consensus today?1 In Les Lieux de Mémoire, or Realms of Memory in translation, editor Pierre Nora’s response is for historians to tell the old national story in a new way. “Leaving” became a way of paying tribute to those who had helped the little sailor become a film-maker, continuing to travel even when established. “Leaving” thus became a multi-faceted jewel with, at its heart, “a little candle marvelling at life”. He dealt with death, including his own death, the one that will put an end to his departures. The author and film-maker devoted himself to us, exuding warmth, generosity and trust. In just one hour, Inflexions traversed a life with a panoply of emotions.

example, becoming richer, fleeing, returning, communicating, dying and, perhaps most important of all, hoping.

Then came daring, remembering, turning back (inevitably), assisting, setting an. “Leaving” became synonymous with discovering and then with setting off again and making pilgrimages. That experience brought forth a wealth of memories. Inflexions magazine decided to visit him and ask him to explain how one could leave for war. Pierre Schoendoerffer enlisted so that he could leave for Indochina.
