Recommence the Defeats: Bensaïd’s Péguy

Abstract

From the late 1980s onward, Daniel Bensaïd developed an extensive theoretical oeuvre marked by the influence of Walter Benjamin intertwined with Bensaïd’s own classical Marxist background. Through Benjamin, Bensaïd came to the work of Charles Péguy, whose role in his thought has yet to be fully analyzed. Bensaïd does not ignore Péguy’s contradictions and limits but reads them selectively to better understand history, politics, and temporality. The starting point of Bensaïd’s analysis of Péguy is the triad formed by the critique of historical reason, modern temporality, and progress. Péguy was also a source of inspiration for his reflection on politics, victory, and defeat and for his framing of political commitment as a melancholic wager.

Keywords:

• Walter Benjamin
• Daniel Bensaïd
• History
• Charles Péguy
• Temporality

Notes

1 All translations from French are mine.

2 The text was previously available on Bensaïd’s website (http://danielbensaid.org/Note-sur-Peguy?lang=fr). It was dated 2007, but a priori it is an earlier document.

3 On Péguy and historical judgment, see Hartog (2001).

4 For a comparison between the Jeanne d’Arc of Péguy and that of Bensaïd, see Antentas (2022b).

5 For a detailed discussion, see Antentas (2016) and Löwy (2020).