A collective book looks back on the long history of satire and blasphemy, bearers of subversion, but also of persecution. Because caricature attracts the wrath of political or religious powers, if not divine wrath.
In tribute to the victims of the massacre of Charlie Hebdoa study day on political laughter was held in Paris on February 6, 2015, at the initiative of Pierre Serna, director of the Institute of History of the French Revolution. The proceedings were published in record time. Reading the contributions, we appreciate the complexity of the question and the need to carry out a long-term historical dive.
Drawing versus Kalashnikov
Pierre Serna in “ Or, dead… to laugh about it ! » questions the idea that religious people could have felt violated by blasphemous caricatures (from their point of view at least) because they were unaware of the caricature dimension of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.
Asking the question in this way opens up the philosophical-political dimensions of laughter.
Citing some of the hot reactions of several writers (including Nancy Huston and Denis Tillinac) who associated “ the culture of satirical drawing to a left-wing and rather Parisian elite “, he protests against the moralizing observations of some, the victimizing spirit of others, the libertarian demands of the latter. Faced with a complex subject, he urges us not to put everything on the same level, to refuse the relativism consisting of saying that a drawing kills more than a Kalashnikov and reaffirms that, when faced with mockery, three attitudes are possible, none to be imposed as superior conduct: ignore ; respond using the same weapons ; not to respond, but to elevate the debate through pedagogy and scholarship.
Serna relates several examples from the past, such as that of these Native Americans avoiding fratricidal fights by organizing speaking challenges to ridicule the other. That life in society is based on exchange does not mean that it is peaceful. The solidity of democracy must make it possible to overcome the harshness of relationships between citizens. Finally, Serna recalls Tignous’s dismay in the review Society and representations (2000), when he noted the limits of caricature which is often nothing more than a release.
Isabelle Pantin devotes herself to a study of anti-religious violence, against all religions, in Rabelais, whose scatological laughter is assumed. She recalls that in the Quarter Pound, composed a year before his death, Rabelais had dedicated a dedication to Cardinal Odet de Chatillon where he complained of being harassed and slandered by “ some Canibales, misanthropes, agelasts “. In fact, all his books were censored and banned by the Faculty of Theology of Paris and, without the royal privilege he enjoyed from Francis Ier and Henry IIhe would no longer be able to write. It relates the episode of the quest for the oracle of the Dive Bottle, the stay of Panurge and his companions on the island of Papimanes. If the papal power is attacked, it is, for the author, because of France’s poor relations with Rome, at a time when King Henry II attempted to loosen the shackles imposed by the Bologna Concordat.
Laughter and religion
Jean-Marie Le Gall (“ Laughter and religious violence during the Renaissance “) is part of the same theme, but treats the subject very differently, offering us an article enriched with bibliographical and historiographical references. Laughter is associated with criticism, but not always because it also relates to urbanity,otium (see end-of-banquet parties and games). We should differentiate playful laughter, jokes, from fat and low laughter.
The matter is complex: in its From OratoreCicero explains that laughter serves to destabilize the adversary, Skinner maintains that during the Renaissance laughter is a mark of superiority and therefore of contempt, while the reformers attempt a pedagogy of laughter (Erasmus in Praise of madnessPierre Viret and Calvin in Christian disputes in 1544).
Hervé Drévillon (“ The Sergeant’s Laughter “) explores the world of armies at the time of Louis XIV. This article cites many bibliographical references in a chronological field going beyond the XVIIe century, since it mobilizes Montaigne and Marie de Gournay, his niece and “ daughter of alliance “. Drévillon makes a foray into Brantôme des Rodomontades and nice Spanish encounters (around 1590-1600), from which he takes up the funny figures and the ridicule of the war leaders. He distinguishes “ speech ranting » and “ effect ranting », another way of demonstrating the impact of satirical criticism.
With Isabelle Brian, return to the register of religion with a question on “ the preacher’s laugh » and laughter in preaching. A tradition would be to note that it would be blasphemous, but we can also read the Predicatoriana by Gabriel Peignot (1841), who collected the Stories by Tallemant des Réaux, as well as unpublished texts.
The soporific power of preachers is also highlighted by Hogarth in The Sleeping Congregation (1728). Another engraving by Hogarth, Credulity, superstition and fanaticism (1761) shows a preacher waving puppets – a witch, a devil – while terrible disorder reigns among the faithful in the church.
Nervous laughter, generous laughter
Antoine De Baecque (“ Contemporary laughter “) dedicates his article to Christian-Marc Bosséno, his recently deceased friend, founder of the cinema magazine Vertigo. Bergson, the author of Le Rire, was a teacher in Clermont-Ferrand where he gave lectures in 1884, of which the author gives several examples. In 1899, in the Paris Reviewhe explains his way of working with others: it is the originality of this article to present the man Bergson more than his writings on laughter. De Baecque wonders about “ a possible connection between Bergson and cinema » and explores the processes of burlesque cinema, from Méliès to Buster Keaton, without forgetting forays into theoretical texts from Deleuze to Rohmer.
“ Pinch or prick without laughing », by Laurent Bihl, is a very illustrated article dealing with the question of prostitution in caricatures and press drawings from the end of the XIXe century. Analyzing a cover of French mail of August 23, 1891, he found the exacerbation of anti-English sentiment in this man abusing a prostitute. There is a desire to create a counterpoint to the anti-French English images of previous years, which mocked the French Revolution and showed its cruelty.
These drawings do not suffer the wrath of censorship, but are they rather funny or rather denunciatory ? Asking the question, Laurent Bihl does not rule out nervous laughter, or even perverse laughter provoked by the sensation of having transgressed a prohibition. Citing Michèle Haddad, he concludes that the spectator has a unique relationship with the caricature.
Very original is the contribution of Pierre Verschueren, “ The old lady’s laughter. Humor, science and politics rue d’Ulm (1945-1971) “, L’ENS being renowned for the pranks and hoaxes of its students. In 1971, the anniversary of the Centenary of the Commune, a procession of amusing celebrations marked, according to the author, another register. There are good-natured hoaxes (fake students in front of a real jury or real students in front of a fake jury) and others more virulent (in particular because of the rivalry with the École Polytechnique).
Article rich in funny stories revealing the sense of derision and humor of young normaliens, but also their inventiveness. The end of the 1950s and the 1960s show the decline of these light and funny practices: is this the consequence of the ideological omnipotence of the Communist Party, as the author suggests? ? The Maoism which triumphed on Rue d’Ulm between 1966 and 1971 increased the spirit of seriousness in the venerable School.
Is laughter revolutionary? ?
Leslie Vuilliaume’s article, “ Street art and revolution in Egypt », very illustrated by photos taken on site, has been interested in graffiti art since 2011. Referring to the collective book Baladi graffiti. Street art and revolution in Egypt (2014), to the film of the same title and to her own wanderings, she teaches us how a transformed (one-eyed) Mona Lisa has become the signature of a group of graffiti artists, the “ Mona Lisa brigades », looks at passers-by who understand that she cannot enjoy total freedom of expression.
The main demands against the regimes in place in this unstable period of revolution and post-revolution are freedom, the rejection of corruption, the denunciation of violence. Humor is also present in the reuse of the art of ancient, pre-Islamic Egypt.
Alain Cabantous takes up the issue of blasphemy which he knows well. Placing his presentation under the aegis of Bayle (“ Blasphemy is only scandalous in the eyes of those who worship the blasphemed reality ), he paints a historical picture of blasphemy nourished by bibliographical references in which laughter is hardly present.
Observing that blasphemous festivals are not followed by any divine anger, he suggests asking: then “ God does not exist ? » But if God does not exist, what blasphemy ? Would the insult to the divine be an offense to believers? ?
Laughter attacked
Let us return, to conclude, to the title The Politics of Laughter. As we read, we measure the importance of religious questions in satire and caricature, whatever the societies (secular France believed to have escaped clerical tensions until recently ; think of the demonstrations organized against the photography of Andres Serrano, Immersion or Piss Christ for its detractors).
If the work, thanks to Alain Cabantous, opens avenues for reflection on the question of blasphemy, it nevertheless forgets the second council of Nicaea (787), which put an end – fragile – to the quarrel over iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire, authorizing Christianity to recognize and exalt religious iconography. Note that one of the origins of Byzantine iconoclasm was the first contact with Islam. Furthermore, several articles, first and foremost that of Isabelle Brian, reveal the comic power of remarks, satires and caricatures. But no one mentions that the function of these documents is not only humor, but also – and no doubt often – attack and combat.
Finally, let us remember, following Pierre Serna, that a pencil is not a weapon of the same status as a Kalashnikov, and that human beings are not “ symbols “, from whatever cause, but simple human beings. Stunned by the crime of January 7, 2015, the cartoonists, who believed themselves protected by freedom of expression, understood that they had become targets because they were transformed into symbols of different and non-religious cultures.