Preuves (magazine)

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Preuves
Former editors François Bondy
Categories
  • Political magazine
  • Cultural magazine
FrequencyMonthly
Founder Congress for Cultural Freedom
Founded1951
First issueOctober 1951
Final issue1975
CompanyRéalités Group (1969–1975)
Country France
Based in Paris
Language French
ISSN 0032-7980
OCLC 3825246

Preuves (French: Proof) was a French language monthly political and cultural magazine which existed between 1951 and 1975 and was headquartered in Paris, France. It was the first publication launched by the Congress for Cultural Freedom which later started other magazines, including Cuadernos , Encounter , Survey, Tempo Presente and Der Monat. [1] [2]

History and profile

Preuves was established by the Congress for Cultural Freedom as a bulletin to publicize the political and intellectual views of the Congress members, and its first issue appeared in October 1951 with an editorial of French journalist Remy Roure. [3] [4] The establishment of the magazine was first discussed during the inaugural meeting of the Congress for Cultural Freedom in Berlin in 1950 and finalized at the executive committee meeting in Versailles. [1] [4] Russian-American composer and cultural figure Nicolas Nabokov played a significant role in the establishment of the magazine which was financed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) like other periodicals of the Congress. [1] [5] Over time Preuves developed into a magazine instead of being a bulletin. [6]

Preuves was published on a monthly basis. [7] Swiss journalist François Bondy was the long-term director of the magazine which was redesigned in November 1951. [4] From January 1952 the number of pages was expanded. [4] That year Konstanty Jeleński joined the editorial board. [4] Major contributors of Preuves included Julian Huxley, Mircea Eliade, André Malraux, Guido Piovene, Herbert Read, Allen Tate, Lionel Trilling, Robert Penn Warren, W. H. Auden, Thornton Wilder and Jayaprakash Narayan who also published articles in another publication of the Congress, Encounter. [1] In fact, an article published in one of the Congress magazines was generally published in the others. [8] For instance, it featured an article by Albert Hourani on Taha Hussein which was originally published in Hiwar's inaugural issue in 1962. [8]

In the first year the number of subscribers was 1000. [4] The topics which were frequently covered in the first two years were the European federalism and the need for a transatlantic debate. [4] Preuves was subject to frequent criticisms as being an American magazine and an anti-Communist publication. [6] The magazine became part of the Réalités Group, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group, in 1969 which led to the redesign of the editorial board. [4] François Bondy left the magazine in 1972 when it turned to be a foreign policy publication losing its original Atlanticist, anti-neutralist and pro-American mission. [1] [4] The magazine folded in 1975. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Frances Stonor Saunders (2001). The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters. New York: The New Press. pp. 61, 130, 133. doi:10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim140150101. ISBN   978-1565846647.
  2. ↑ Edward Shils; Peter Coleman (2009). "Remembering the Congress of Cultural Freedom". Society. 46 (5): 442. doi:10.1007/s12115-009-9243-4. S2CID   142993096.
  3. ↑ Jason Hardling (2017). "'Our greatest asset': Encounter Magazine and the Congress for Cultural Freedom". In Giles Scott-Smith; Charlotte A. Lerg (eds.). Campaigning Culture and the Global Cold War. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 107–125. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59867-7_6. ISBN   978-1-137-59866-0.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Nicolas Stenger (2017). "The Difficult Emergence of an 'Anti-Totalitarian' Journal in Post-War France: Preuves and the Congress for Cultural Freedom". In Giles Scott-Smith; Charlotte A. Lerg (eds.). Campaigning Culture and the Global Cold War. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 91–106. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59867-7_5. ISBN   978-1-137-59866-0.
  5. ↑ Neil Berry (Spring 1993). "Encounter". The Antioch Review . 51 (2): 196. doi:10.2307/4612707. JSTOR   4612707.
  6. 1 2 Andrea Scionti (Winter 2020). ""I Am Afraid Americans Cannot Understand": The Congress for Cultural Freedom in France and Italy, 1950–1957". Journal of Cold War Studies . 22 (1): 92. doi:10.1162/jcws_a_00927. S2CID   211147094.
  7. ↑ Andrew N. Rubin (2012). Archives of Authority: Empire, Culture, and the Cold War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 19. ISBN   978-0-691-15415-2.
  8. 1 2 Elizabeth M. Holt (2013). ""Bread or Freedom": The Congress for Cultural Freedom, the CIA, and the Arabic Literary Journal Ḥiwār (1962-67)". Journal of Arabic Literature. 44 (1): 83, 90. doi:10.1163/1570064x-12341257.
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