SOURCE: "Georges Sorel and the Rise of Political Myth," in History of European Ideas, Vol. 13, No. 6, 1991, pp. 733-46. '

In the following excerpt, Ohana identifies apparent inconsistencies in Sorel's philosophy, which he attributes to the rapidly changing cultural mileau within his lifetime.

I

Georges Sorel (1847-1922) continues to be a problem for many researchers and ideologues of the Right and the Left. He has become a litmus paper by which thinkers, researchers, and political activists shape their own beliefs and try to formulate their own ideas. An international colloquium on Sorel which was held in 1982 at the Ecole Normale Supérieure resulted in the publication of Georges Sorel en son temps (1985);¹ and the Société d'Études Soréliennes which was founded in 1983 published the Cahiers G. Sorel² and plans to republish Sorel's complete works in fifteen volumes. It is not surprising that this 'nouveau discours',³ this renewed...