Lucien Febvre’s biographical writing: ceci n’est pas une biographie?

Abstract

This article examines three works by historian Lucien Febvre, focusing on the paradoxes surrounding his refusal of the biographical genre. Although he repeatedly denied any affiliation with it, his books reveal a strong interest in historical figures— their ideas, emotions, and contexts— while employing resources characteristic of biographical writing. Febvre’s rejection must be understood within the broader framework of French historiographical debates in the first half of the twentieth century, marked by the discredit of biography and its association with romanticized and political history. Yet the contradiction between discourse and practice shows how closely his work approaches the potentialities of the biographical genre. My research investigates precisely the presence of these features, advancing the hypothesis that Febvre, despite his denial, in fact produced biographies—and modern ones.