SOURCE: "Irrationalism and Myth in Georges Sorel," in The Review of Politics, Vol. XXVI, 1964, pp. 45-69.

In the following excerpt, Rouanet examines the European political and cultural landscape in which Sorel wrote and thought.

I

The First World War is sometimes credited with the dissolution of the well-ordered universe of the nineteenth century. In fact, by 1914 there was very little left to destroy, for most of the essential work had already been accomplished. The aftermath of the war merely helped to make the collapse of order and stability more visible. But the post-1918 atmosphere of gloom, later crystallized in the "Lost Generation" and in the escapist movements of the twenties, gave the impression that the war had been responsible for the moral and intellectual Zusammenbruch of the period. The feeling of decay was everywhere; the old values, the former certainties and criteria had vanished, leaving an impression of...