ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that the paradoxical aspiration for both revolt and the status quo that characterises post-war French society is reflected in the way Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Lo Ferr seem to embrace simultaneously the idea of timeless France and the idea of country whose values are constantly being redefined by revolts. It examines the values and ideals through which the singers and their work carry out their own synthesis between traditionalism and non-conformism. In order to understand the Frenchness of the trio Brel-Brassens-Ferr, it is necessary, to understand the singers in relation to the ideological issues of the post-war period. The public's attraction to the singer's revolt is more a sign of their paradoxical aspirations for both revolt and the status quo. However, as the application of Girard's theories to the trio has revealed, these paradoxical aspirations are unavoidable in the post-war context: they represent the only possible means of reconciliation between the French and their cultural identity.