1956: France in Twenty Years. About the Book by André Maurois, “The Changing Face of France”
A little more than 40 years ago André Maurois, scholar, writer, novelist, biographer and author of historical studies, attempted to describe what France would be like in twenty years, or about 1975. He called it La France change de visage (“The Changing Face of France”).
Pierre Bonnaure re-read the book for us. He describes the situation of the country in 1956 and how Maurois foresaw its evolution over the next twenty years. That done, he observes that the author’s method and style is intuitive rather than formal, and shows where he turned out to be highly clairvoyant and, conversely, where he made his principal omissions and mistakes.
This text by André Maurois, like many others (thinking only of the Rueff-Armand report on “obstacles to economic expansion” written in 1960 – see Futuribles n°129-130, February-March 1989), points to the existence of structural problems which remain to this day. Should we rejoice to see forecasts confirmed and conclude that the author turned out to be an astute futurist? Or regret the permanence of rigidities which manifest the limited capacity of French society to make necessary changes?
1956 : la France dans 20 ans. À propos du livre de André Maurois :" La France change de visage"
Cet article fait partie de la revue Futuribles n° 230, avr. 1998
