Commentaire

Commentaire is a French quarterly magazine, created in 1978 by Raymond Aron and Jean-Claude Casanova.^[1]

Commentaire

Building at 76, rue des Saints-Pères in Paris, office of Commentaire since 2021
Frequency	Quarterly
Total circulation (2008)	6000
First issue	1978; 46 years ago (1978)
Country	France
Language	French
Website	www.commentaire.fr
ISSN	0180-8214 (print) 2272-8988 (web)

Aron's previous journal venture, started in 1970 and titled Contrepoint, had been terminated in 1976 following disagreements among its founders and its owner Patrick Devedjian. In a wide-ranging 2008 interview, Casanova described the decision to create Commentaire as having been made in late 1977 and involving, besides Aron and himself, a group of common friends that included Annie Kriegel, Jean Baechler, Alain Besançon, François Bourricaud [fr], and Kostas Papaïoannou [fr]. The journal's motto, a quote from Pericles, was suggested by Papaioannou: Il n’y a pas de bonheur sans liberté, ni de liberté sans vaillance ("there can be neither happiness without liberty, nor liberty without courage"). Pierre Manent was the author of a manifesto explaining the journal's purpose in the first issue.^[1]

Among the journal's avowedly liberal inspirations, Casanova cited Montesquieu, Benjamin Constant, Alexis de Tocqueville, Élie Halévy, and Aron himself.^[2]

The journal relies largely on volunteer work and a small administrative staff. In 2008, it printed 6,000 copies and had 3,800 subscribers, the rest being sold in bookstores and news shops.^[3]

A specific feature is the abundance of selected quotes in each of the journal's issues. A section titled sans commentaire ("no comment") includes involuntary comical quotes, often from political leaders or ideological commentators.^[4]

In 2017, Commentaire made all its past published articles available online.^[5] Like its center-left peer Esprit, it is self-published and not dependent on a large publishing house.^[6]

Affiliates

As of early 2021, Commentaire's website mentioned two circles of affiliates (including past and deceased ones):^[7]

• Editorial Board (Conseil de rédaction): Gilles Andréani [fr], Nicolas Baverez [fr], Guy Berger, Alain Besançon, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, Nathalie Delapalme, Gilles Étrillard, Marc Fumaroli, Pierre Manent, George de Ménil, Philippe Meyer, François Sureau, Philippe Trainar, Michel Zink
• Editorial Committee (Comité de rédaction): Cédric Argenton, Jean Baechler, Guillaume Barrera, Karol Beffa, Jacques Bille, Dominique Bocquet, Michel Bourdeau, Fabrice Bouthillon [fr], Christopher Caldwell, Gwendal Châton, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, Benedetta Craveri, Jean-Marc Daniel, Gil Delannoi [fr], Jacques Dewitte [fr], Michel Duclos, Bruno Durieux, Vincent Feré, Louis de Fouchécour, Alexandre Gady [fr], Jean Gatty, François Gorand, Donatien Grau, Sylviane Guillaumont, Patrick Guillaumont, Michel Gurfinkiel, Ran Halévi [fr], Pierre Hassner, Jean-Vincent Holeindre, Henri Hude [fr], Roland Hureaux [fr], Pierre Kende, Annie Kriegel, Arthur Kriegel [fr], Armand Laferrère, Guillaume Lagane, Mathieu Laine, Vincent Laloy, Alain Lancelot, Alain Laurent, Tristan Lecoq, Franck Lessay [fr], Didier Maillard, Béatrice Majnoni d'Intignano, Sophie-Caroline de Margerie, Hervé Mariton, François de Mazières, Paul Mentré, Christophe Mercier, Thierry de Montbrial, Jean-Thomas Nordmann [fr], Kostas Papaïoannou [fr], Benoît Pellistrandi, Rémy Prud'Homme, Philippe Raynaud [fr], Pierre Rigoulot, Hervé Robert, Giuseppe Sacco, Christian Saint-Étienne [fr], Maryvonne de Saint-Pulgent, Guillaume Sainteny [fr], Dominique Schnapper, Antoine Schnapper, Mark Sherringham, Christine Sourgins, Christian Stoffaës [fr], Laurent Theis [fr], Éric Thiers, Françoise Thom, Nicolas Véron, Jean-Philippe Vincent, Emmanuel de Waresquiel [fr]

See also

• Le Débat
• Esprit
• Études
• Revue des deux Mondes

Notes

1. François Quinton (10 April 2008). "Entretien avec Jean-Claude Casanova (1) : La création de la revue". nonfiction.fr.
2. François Quinton (10 April 2008). "Entretien avec Jean-Claude Casanova (2) : Le libéralisme". nonfiction.fr.
3. François Quinton (10 April 2008). "Entretien avec Jean-Claude Casanova (5) : Le modèle économique". nonfiction.fr.
4. François Quinton (10 April 2008). "Entretien avec Jean-Claude Casanova (6) : Commentaire dans le paysage intellectuel". nonfiction.fr.
5. Alice Develey (1 August 2017). "Commentaire, une revue à la page". Le Figaro.
6. Nicolas Truong (20 September 2020). "La fin de la revue " Le Débat " suscite des lectures divergentes dans le milieu de la pensée française". Le Monde.
7. "Qui sommes-nous ?". Commentaire.