It depends what do you mean by over. I would say it is
taking a hiatus. Yes, French culture today, if it exists, has very little
effect outside france, nor much even in france. I think you need to make your
question a bit more precise. What exactly do you mean? I will say some general
comments though.
First, it is not merely French culture who is on a break,
but culture in general, or at least what one would in the past define as
culture. Maybe this is what you mean. Culture, in the sense of a common
knowledge and a canon of commonly read books is definitely gone outside France,
though still pretty much the case in France, or at least in Paris. (well, I
don’t really know the situation in Germany, Italy, Spain to speak of, but I
don’t think they have the same group mentality as the French do.) But then
culture in the regular sense, or let’s say as some sort of action on society,
that certainly exists everywhere. Perhaps the French, being an old kind of
culture, find the new more agile kind of culture, the many tiny bits instead of
the big animal, hard to accustom to. American culture, for instance, is not a
unified thing but a multitude of different subcultures, which create some sort
of culture, let us say. This is something the French can’t really do, as they
don’t really understand the other (they are fascinated by it, but as an other,
as a curiosity). The acceptance of the other into their own culture, as is certainly
the case momentarily, doesn’t work so well in the long run, mostly, perhaps, as
what they add is not exactly a culture by their standards. American culture on
the other hand, can flourish with its separated parts, but then, is never
exactly a culture in the old sense.
What is the worth of “current” culture, and whether we want
the old kind of culture back is a complicated question. In any case, to
summarize, I think the current situation of a flux of mini-cultures into a
culture which can only understand itself as a maxi-unique culture creates a
certain impasse and constipation (or should I say diarrhea) in french culture.
Anyway, just my thoughts from reading your question as
didn’t really think of it before.
I would be interested in your opinion, and what did you mean
by your question. Maybe also some french opinions would be interesting.
