Pierre Nora, 93, Who Probed Role of Memory in Writing of History, Dies
Pierre Nora, a French scholar whose ideas about the role of memory and identity in the writing of history gained prominence both in France and abroad, and who became a kingpin in his country's intellectual community through his great influence over publishing, died on Monday in Paris. He was 93.
His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his son, Elphège Nora, who said the cause was multiple organ failures.
Mr. Nora's major contribution to historiography was the concept of 'lieux de mémoire' ('sites of memory'), a term he coined to describe elements of the past that a community chooses to remember and which become symbolic of a shared identity. Examples would be Joan of Arc, the national anthem 'La Marseillaise' and the rooster — 'le coq gaulois' — as an unofficial icon of France.
This concept has been highly influential in the field of memory studies, shaping discussions elsewhere in Europe, the United States and Asia about how memory functions in societies, particularly in how nations remember and forget.
Mr. Nora wrote during a period when French scholars were increasingly interested in the roles of language, symbols and discourse in forging social realities. His approach to history seemed to complement then-current theories like Claude Lévi-Strauss's structuralism and Jacques Derrida's deconstructionism.
Mr. Nora's approach also sparked debate and criticism, particularly regarding the potential for 'sites of memory' to oversimplify or sanitize history, obscuring more complex or contentious aspects of the past.
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