Autobiography and the Hunger for History: An Interview with Jacques Le Goff

Abstract

Born in 1924, Jacques Le Goff is Professor of Historical Anthropology at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and has been codirector of the journal Annales: Economie. Société. Civilisation, since 1969. He was director of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes from 1975 to 1977. Le Goff's many books include Marchands et banquiers au moyen ǎge (1957). La Civilisation de l'Occident médiéval (1965), La Naissance du purgatoire (1981), Pour un autre moyen ǎge (1978), L'Imaginaire médiéval (1985), and Histoire et mémoire (1986). His most recent book, a 900-page volume entitled Saint Louis (Gallimard, 1996), is perhaps the most exhaustive, most scientific study ever written on the life of Louis IX of France. The following interview took place May 10, 1995 in Jacques Le Goff's home in Paris. The English translation of the interview, which was conducted entirely in French, is by Paul Archambault and has been approved by Le Goff.