Créaculture II, 1971. 332 pp.
Éditeur: Philadelphie et Didier-Canada, Montréal
ISBN: 0-8384-2761-8
Critique
Le critique approuve la méthode d'Hédi Bouraoui qui part de la « culture française actuelle » pour expliquer l'histoire de la civilisation française. On a généralement tendance à faire le contraire. Il trouve tout particulièrement intéressants les chapitres consacrés à l'étude comparative des cultures française et américaine. Marcus Allen, « Créaculture [I et II », CLA Joumal [ revue de la College Language Association], XV, no 3, mars 1972, p. 379-380.
Article important sur l'un des principes fondamentaux de la pensée humaniste d'Hédi Bouraoui, fondée sur la nécessité de l'échange interculturel. Créaculture, estime Sabiston, est un ouvrage expérimental et innovateur. L' approche iconoclaste de l'auteur « may put some flesh on the skeleton of the “Nevw Man” as world citizen and suggest the present intellectuel and moral openness to, and appreciation of the unity and diversity of the human expérience. [] it is much more than a learning tool combining elements of language and culture : it embodies a whole philosophy of human development, of the tension between individualism and cultural conditioning which makes the interplay between man and his milieu so fascinating ». Dans son analyse, Sabiston met en lumière le concept de la culture qui est à l'origine de cet ouvrage et elle le compare à celui de Matthew Arnold. « The book itself is a microcosm of the notion [Bouraoui] refers to as Créaculture as the reader is invited to act out the drama of his interrelation with his surroundings, using his personal angle of vision, aided and abetted by the author's. » « Mr. Bouraoui's work is a kind of mirror in which Frenchmen and Americans have the opportunity to look at both themselves and each other. In examining other cultures, the "shock of recognition" is often accompanied by a shock of non-recognition. Professor Bouraoui's open-ended, open-minded, often controversial program is a heartening sign that the Arnoldian sense of "cultural relevance" is not dead, but can even profit from a contemporary strain of academic "anarchy" to heighten and intensify our awareness of the multi-faceted human expérience. » ( p. 193) Elizabeth Sabiston, , « Cultural Relevance and Academic Anarchy: A New Role for the Humanities », Joumal of Popular Culture, VIII, été 1974, p. 187-193.
Le critique expose la méthode utilisée par Bouraoui, en soulignant le désir évident de ce dernier de « choquer » le lecteur afin de provoquer la discussion. Il observe ceci : « The quality of différent parts of the book varies greatly. The chapter in which La Symphonie pastorale is analysed from a literary and cultural point of view is penetrating and could be used as a model for teaching any work of literature in a second - or third - year class. The chapters on Brittany, Provence or the Middle Ages seem in many instances as but superficiel enumerations and leave much to be desired. [...]often the explanations are not specific enough and are unclear. » Bouraoui, estime le critique, a trop tendance à généraliser, ce qui l'amène même parfois à se contredire. Wrage conclut: « Professor Bouraoui has tacked an enormous, difficult subject and the pitfalls are legion. In spite of the defects, many instructors will want to try the first volume, the better of the two, because it will lead to lively discussions in a third-year class and will give students more insight into modem French culture and character than most books on the market. » William Wrage , « Bouraoui, H. A. Créaculture 1 [and] Il», The French Review, XLVI, février 1973, p. 674-676
Contact
À commander au Centre Canada-Mediterranée, cmc@yorku.ca