Eribon, who grew up in Reims in a working class family, left for Paris in his early twenties. He became a well-known figure in France, often appearing on television. He is now professor at the University of Amiens. Shortly after leaving his home town of Reims, Eribon cut almost all family ties and only returned to see his mother after his father had died. Trying to explain why he had severed his family ties to such an extent, he wrote this book.
Returning to Reims is a fascinating mix of autobiography and analysis of French society, its class structure and political allegiances. Taking his family as an example, Eribon traces the developments that turned people who used to be staunch supporters of the Left into supporters of the Front National(1). He also shows the many ways in which the existing class structure is upheld and the role that the education system plays in this.
I found myself glued to the pages, because contemporary German society is not that different from French society and many of the phenomena he describes occur here as well.
I grew up with the notion that Germany is a classless society. That the war and the devastating Stunde Null (hour zero) meant that, along with so much else, the old class structures had been completely destroyed and that now everybody could get an education and have a career irrespective of family background. While I went to secondary school that seemed true. The old three tier school system was still in place, but in my small home town many managed to continue their schooling. A large number of my schoolmates were the first to do the Abitur in their family. Differences in status did exist, but had more to do with local origin and new Wirtschaftswunder money than with class. I only became aware of genuine class differences at university.
Eribon points out that a sure sign of a middle class upbringing is a musical education and that is something I noticed myself. While middle class students would talk knowledgably about concerts and composers, I would try to hide my complete ignorance. I also reacted in the way he describes, i.e. was more inclined to (privately) mock their interest than to be embarrassed by my lack of knowledge(2). Eribon makes many more interesting points about differences in behaviour and outlook, many of which I recognized.
Returning to Reims seamlessly intertwines the personal with the political and manages to be both scholarly and captivating. Eribon’s honesty is at times painful, but it gives his nuanced analysis of French society and contemporary politics a human face thus making it accessible, and relevant, to German readers too.
(1) Similar shifts of allegiance can be seen in the analysis of the recent local election in Berlin (18.9.2016). The largest group of voters for the AfD were working class people.
(2) I’m not pretending to come from a working class background. I grew up with a curious mixture: the realities of being raised by a single mother and an upper middle class mentality that was shaken and shattered by war and loss. My mother’s family came from a part of Germany that belongs to Poland since the end of the Second World War.