« La question de la biographie : un parcours entre France et Italie au 20e siècle »

This paper deals with the evolution of the biographical genre in France and Italy. At the beginning of the 20th century the tradition of writing biographies and biographical dictionaries is well established. After World War II, the followers of the founders of the Annales (Bloch and Febvre, who also wrote biographies) condemned this genre comparing it to novels. The sociologist Bourdieu even spoke of a «biographical illusion», claiming it was simply impossible to write the biography of a human being. Under the influence of the Italian Microhistory and of new approaches, biographies strongly came