Obituary

分類：在「時間」裡漂流

2009/06/03 05:29

我剛來時，遇到一個老老歷史學者。

他說，他剛來米國時（五十年前的事），英文不夠好，所以都看報紙學英文（那時當然沒有電視）。但是，看報紙有個秘訣，不是看啥世界大事，因為對一個課業繁重的歷史系學生來說，那些新聞，一點都不重要，他只看兩部分，一是評論類的專欄，另一個就報上的訃文。

看專欄，是學習人家分析事情的角度，因為我們從戒嚴又言論不自由的一言堂國家來的，所以，這方面需要學習。

那訃文呢？？？他說，當然是最快認識重要的人的方式啊！！（呵呵，歷史學家只認識死人，素來不用認識活人。）

果然啊，從人讀啥，就可以知道人家的武功。我這人就是只看時尚專欄跟吃喝玩樂的消息。怪不得程度低落，不被當成菁英。這也很正常。

但是，我後來也愛上了讀訃文這件無聊的事。看一個人死後怎麼被講述，是一件很有趣的事情。

本國我的年紀的人，應該都被迫讀過祭妹文祭十二郎文之類的古文（即便你不升學，還是要念）。

課本都說瞎米「淒婉動人」，我是一點都不覺得那邊有被感動到啦。這可不是我的古文不好啊，我的古文跟各位大德比絕對只會好不會差，正是因為我的古文不錯，所以，我就發現一件 GY 事，這種文人寫的祭文，不管是祭友祭親祭愛人，都很愛「置入性行銷」。

也就是說呢，寫來寫去，要不就是順便吐自己懷才不遇的苦水，或者瞎米冤屈未伸，要不就是誇耀自己的豐功偉業，總之，寫被「祭」者的功績武功的部分，跟為文者自己的部分，大概差不了多少。

所以，我都不會感動，明明這些文章都有一種故做姿態的矯情，我都覺得，作者根本是利用祭文來講那些五四三要給別人看的！

後來我才知道，這不是作者裝肖ㄟ，這是這個「愛吃又假客氣」的民族的文人劣性。

這篇是我很喜歡的一篇，今天想到羅伯絲比爾，就想到了這人。雖然我個人不是很喜歡這個歷史學者的論點。因為他也是左派（他的老師們就是這領域的左的 開山祖師，總之，這一掛人是法國學界裡，法國大革命研究這一塊的左派群，長期主導法國史學界很長一段時間。），但是，重點是，不管左右，能發人未發之創 見，就是了不起。

這一批人，把向來沒人要做的材料，把素來不被「歷史學」重視的主題，全都給做成了顯學。不知道哪鍋學者講過，法國的人文學界，只要出一個大喀，就可以讓全世界學者跟在後面半世紀。

這個國家啊，從知識學界到時尚食物，法國人總是可以把「微不足道」的事情通通都給搞成顯學。他們不是跟著人家的潮流走，而是，我說的才算潮流。

做人就是要有這樣的野心跟霸氣。死的時候，訃文想要被寫什麼？？？

什麼叫做歷史地位？？？

（建議大家去華府玩的時候，一定要去看國家博物館裡的那鍋歷任總統肖像，真的，很多人的歷史地位不過叫做，美國第 XX 任總統。你連聽也沒聽過，連他幹過啥事也不知道。）

人死的時候，你的訃文寫的是啥？？？

若還是只能把你名片上印的各種頭銜刻上去，瞎米 X 中 X 大博士，某某大學教授，曾任部長院長，曾任立委國代，擔任過某米公司顧問，某米公司董事長，諸如此類，那麼還不如不要寫吧。

有人知道李歐塔德希達等，是哪一間學校畢業的博士嗎？？？我想，多數人是都不知道的吧。因為他們不需要那些光環來加持，事實上，是他們的出身地，沾著他們的光環。

前面說的都是功業，大概可知道這人的學術路數。但是，最後面這一段，卻很生動的刻畫出這老學者的性格。歷史學家常常都有一種奇怪的偏執跟堅持，即使被視為可笑跟過時（反正，歷史本就是門「過時」的學問），還是絕不放棄。

即便都死了兩百年了，他總是每年都要在羅伯絲比爾他們那幾支人的祭日時，在世界報登悼文。（那幾沒賈克賓份子地下有知，應該是要感動得痛哭流涕吧。）

而我最喜歡這一句簡簡單單的總結（本島人，最愛掛頭銜跟職稱的。一定要寫一堆會長啦，系主任啦，主編啦等等等等，怕人不知道你曾經是大喀。）

Marc Bouloiseau, historian, born 1906; died May 15, 1999

說真的，你若真的是個大喀，就根本不用把那堆頭銜寫進去；你若不是大喀，寫了一大堆，也沒人會因此而覺得你了不起。

我要再講一遍李登輝的名片的事來提醒各位大德嗎？？？？

李登輝的名片，只有三個字，李   登   輝。（沒有博士，沒有總統，當然更沒有主席。）

人生當如是啊。你名片拿出來，頭銜一大堆，就已經先顯 low 了。

Marc Bouloiseau

Marc Bouloiseau

Making Robespierre a revolutionary hero

Douglas Johnson

• The Guardian, Wednesday 9 June 1999 01.43 BST
• Article history

Recent French historians have created new schools of thought, but Marc Bouloiseau, who has died aged 92, was an old-fashioned historian. He studied the French revolution not just because he considered it the most important period for France, but also because he thought that what happened from 1789 was important for Europe, and the world.

He would recall how Jawaharlarl Nehru, when prime minister of India, was asked what cultural exhibition France could offer to his country. He answered that India would like an exhibition on the history of the French revolution.

Bouloiseau studied what he considered the essence of the revolution - the years 1792-94 - and, in particular, the man who dominated those years, Robespierre. As a student he attended the lectures of Albert Mathiez at the Sorbonne, with whom he registered to write his thesis. When Mathiez died, Georges Lefebvre became his supervisor.

Bouloiseau taught for a time at lycées in Rouen and in Paris, but at the end of the second world war decided to devote himself entirely to research, becoming chief assistant to Professor Lefebvre and Professor Marcel Reinhardt. In 1950 he became secretary-general of the Centre for Historical Research at the Hautes Études, and then worked at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. He also acted as secretary to various centres researching the revolution, and was the treasurer of the review, Annales Historiques De La Révolution Française.

Bouloiseau launched many research projects. One, in the early 1960s, focussed on the land owned by those, mainly nobles, who emigrated during the revolution; how much of their pre-1789 income came from land, and how much from other sources? It was, he felt, an essential factor in understanding the nature and effects of the revolution.

For Bouloiseau his most important post was as treasurer, and later president, of the Société Des Études Robespierristes, in which capacity he took over from Mathiez the task of editing the speeches of Robespierre. Some 10 volumes in all were published.

In his admiration for Robespierre, Bouloiseau was at odds with many historians and the French public as a whole. There is, for instance, no Paris street named after Robespierre, and attempts to inaugurate one during the bicentenary failed. But Bouloiseau (who published a short biography of his hero in 1956) maintained that the Jacobins, the year 1793 and Robespierre represented the ideals of the revolution and its meaning for the world today.

Bouloiseau was one of those who inserted a notice in Le Monde every July 28 commemorating the deaths of Robespierre, his brother Augustin, Saint-Just and Couthon. He thought it fitting that the names of these men should appear on the obituary page of an important newspaper.

Marc Bouloiseau, historian, born 1906; died May 15, 1999