Michel Pastoureau, born in 1947, historian of Western symbolism, is known worldwide for his work on the history of colors in the West. He has published in particular in Seuil, in “La Librairie du XXIè siècle”: “L’Étoffe du Diable” (1991), “A symbolic history of the Western Middle Ages” (2004) and “The Bear. Story of a Fallen King” (2007). His autobiography “The Colors of Our Memories” received the Médicis Essai prize in 2010. (Rebroadcast)
“Certain works have enchanted generations of readers, transformed our knowledge, laid the foundations of a new world. Others, on the contrary, have proven odious or harmful. Theses and scholarly studies are devoted to both. On the other hand, there are books that we never talk about, “ordinary” books, certainly much more numerous but which, shortly after their publication, fall into oblivion.
It is on one of these discreet books that Michel Pastoureau is focusing today. To tell the truth, if it is somewhat forgotten, it is not totally insignificant since it is his first publication, Daily Life in the Time of the Knights of the Round Table, published by Hachette, in a famous collection , in 1976. It was devoted to the Arthurian legend and chivalric society of the 12th and 13th centuries. Telling the story of this early work today is, for the author, an opportunity to evoke a certain number of memories, to pay a last visit to King Arthur, and above all to create a historiographical work. So what did publishing a first book mean? How could a young, unknown historian confront the strange customs of French publishing? What then was the status of historical popularization? And what has become of it today?” (Presentation of Editions du Seuil).