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'{{Infobox Philosopher |image_name = Bernard-Henri Lévy.jpg<!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] --> |image_caption = Bernard-Henri Lévy at a book signing in 2008 <!-- Philosopher category --> |region = Western Philosophy |era = [[20th-century philosophy]] <br>[[21st-century philosophy]] |color = #B0C4DE <!-- Information --> | name = Bernard-Henri Lévy | birth = {{birth date and age|1948|11|5}}<br/> [[Béni Saf]], [[Algeria]] {{flagicon|Algeria}} | death = |school_tradition = [[New Philosophers]] |notable_ideas = | influences = [[Emmanuel Lévinas]] | influenced = }} '''Bernard-Henri Lévy''' (born November 5, 1948 in [[Béni Saf]], [[Algeria]]) is a [[French people|French]] [[Sephardi Jew]]ish [[public intellectual]], [[philosopher]] and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as '''BHL'''{{Fact|date=June 2009}}, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouvelle Philosophie" (New Philosophy) movement in 1976. ==Biography== Lévy was born to a Jewish family in Béni Saf, Algeria on [[5 November]] [[1948]]. His family moved to [[Paris]] a few months after his birth. His father, André Lévy, was the multi-millionaire founder and manager of a timber company, Becob. After attending the [[Lycée Louis-le-Grand]] in [[Paris]], Lévy enrolled in the elite and highly selective [[École Normale Supérieure]] in 1968, from which he graduated with a degree in [[philosophy]]. Some of his professors there included prominent French intellectuals and philosophers [[Jacques Derrida]] and [[Louis Althusser]]. Lévy is also a pre-eminent [[journalist]], having started his career as a war reporter for ''[[Combat (newspaper)|Combat]]'', the famous underground newspaper founded by [[Albert Camus|Camus]] during the [[Nazism|Nazi]] occupation of France. In 1971, he traveled to the [[Indian subcontinent]], and was in [[Bangladesh]] covering the war of independence against [[Pakistan]]. This experience was the source of his first book, ''Bangla-Desh, Nationalisme dans la révolution'' ("Bangla-Desh, Nationalism in the Revolution"), which was published in 1973. Returning to [[Paris]], Lévy became famous as the young founder of the [[New Philosophers]] (''Nouveaux Philosophes'') school. This was a group of young intellectuals who were disenchanted with [[communist]] and [[socialist]] responses to the near-revolutionary upheavals in France of May 1968, which articulated a fierce and uncompromising moral critique of [[Marxist]] and socialist [[dogmas]] years prior to the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>"...a group who broke away from the Marxist ideology dominating late 1960s France and the hard-line French left typified by Jean-Paul Sartre" Beth R. Alexander, "Commentary: Bernard Henri-Lévy takes heat", ''[[Washington Times]]'', 10 November 2004 [http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041110-014932-2375r.htm]</ref> Throughout the 1970s, Lévy taught a course on [[epistemology]] at the [[Université de Strasbourg]] and philosophy at the [[École Normale Supérieure]]. It was in 1977, on the television show ''Apostrophes'', that Lévy was presented, alongside [[André Glucksmann]], as a ''nouveau philosophe''. In the very same year he published ''Barbarism with a Human Face'' (''La barbarie à visage humain''), arguing that Marxism was inherently corrupt. In 1981 Lévy published ''L'Idéologie française'' ("The French Ideology"), arguably his most influential work. Lévy offers a dark picture of French history which was strongly criticized for its journalistic character and unbalanced approach to French history by some of the most respected French academics &mdash; including among others Raymond Aron (see his Memoirs). Lévy is married to French [[actress]] [[Arielle Dombasle]]. His eldest daughter by his first marriage to Isabelle Doutreluigne, [[Justine Lévy]], is a [[bestseller|bestselling]] [[novelist]]. He also has a son, Antonin-Balthazar Lévy, by his second wife, Sylvie Bouscasse. He is a member of the Selection Committee of the Editions Grasset, and he runs the ''[[La Règle du Jeu]]'' ("The Rule of the Game") magazine. He writes weekly a column in the magazine ''Le Point'' and chairs the Conseil de Surveillance of La Sept-Arte. When his father died in 1995, Lévy became the manager of the Becob company, until it was sold in 1997 for 750 million francs to the French entrepreneur [[François Pinault]]. In September 2008, Lévy made an American book tour to promote ''[[Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism]]''. ==Philosophy, social criticism, and personality== Lévy was one of the first French intellectuals to call for intervention in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] in the 1990s, and spoke out early about [[Serbia]]n [[concentration camps]]. At the end of the 1990s, he founded with [[Benny Lévy]] and [[André Glucksmann]] an Institute on [[Levinas]]sian Studies at Jerusalem. In 2003, Lévy wrote an account of his efforts to track the murderers of [[Wall Street Journal]] reporter [[Daniel Pearl]], who had been beheaded by [[Islamic]] [[extremists]] the previous year. At the time of Pearl’s death, he was visiting [[Afghanistan]] as [[France|French]] [[President]] [[Jacques Chirac]]'s special envoy.<ref>"The Envoy: At the request of French President Jacques Chirac, Lévy traveled to Afghanistan in February 2002 to gauge the needs of the Afghan people..." James Graff, "The Engaged Intellect", [[Time (magazine)|''TIME Europe'']], Vol. 161, No. 19, 12 May 2003 [http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,901030512-449446,00.html]</ref> He spent the next year in [[Pakistan]], [[India]], [[Europe]] and the [[United States]] trying to uncover why Pearl's captors held and executed him. The resulting book, ''Who Killed Daniel Pearl?'', argues it was because Pearl knew too much about the links between Pakistan's secret service, [[nuclear physics|nuclear]] scientists and [[al-Qaeda]]. The book won praise for Lévy's courage in investigating the affair in one of the world's most dangerous regions but was condemned by the British historian of India and travel writer, [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]] (amongst others), for its lack of rigour and its caricatural depictions of Pakistani society, as well as his decision to fictionalize Pearl's thoughts in the closing moments of his life. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EF28Df02.html] [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16823] [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16903] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/3208461.stm]. The book was also criticized, in common with his other works, for being neither journalism nor philosophy, but attempting to be both. In March 2006 a letter Lévy co-signed entitled ''[[MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism]]'' with eleven other individuals (most notably [[Salman Rushdie]]) was published in response to violent and deadly protests in the [[Muslim world]] surrounding the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]]. When questioned about the [[Niqab]] face-veil worn by some [[Muslim]] women, during the [[United Kingdom debate over veils]], Lévy told [[the Jewish Chronicle]] that "the veil is an invitation to [[rape]]".<ref>[[The Jewish Chronicle]], [[14 October]] [[2006]] edition. Not available online, quote in context: "''Our time is almost up, but BHL becomes the most animated I have seen him when I ask him about Jack Straw's intervention on Muslim women and the veil. ‘Jack Straw’, he says, leaning close to me, ‘made a great point. He did not say that he was against the veil. He said it is much easier, much more comfortable, respectful, to speak with a woman with a naked face. And without knowing, he quoted Levinas, who is the philosopher of the face. Levinas says that [having seen] the naked face of your interlocutor, you cannot kill him or her, you cannot rape him, you cannot violate him. So when the Muslims say that the veil is to protect women, it is the contrary. The veil is an invitation to rape’''"</ref> Lévy is, with his third wife, actress [[Arielle Dombasle]], a regular fixture in [[Paris Match]] magazine, wearing his trademark unbuttoned white shirts and designer suits. Lévy's reputation for [[narcissism]] is legendary.<ref name="observer">Gaby Wood, "Je suis un superstar", ''[[The Observer]]'', 15 June 2003 [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,977498,00.html]</ref> One article about him coined the dictum, "[[God is dead]] but my hair is perfect."<ref>Michael O'Donnell, "Another Frenchman assesses our democracy", ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'', 29 January 2006 [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/29/RVGHUGQ7341.DTL&type=books]</ref> He once said that the discovery of a new shade of grey left him "ecstatic."<ref name="observer"/> He is a regular victim of the "pie thrower" [[Noël Godin]],<ref>"On the one hand, he is such a po-faced laughing stock that the famed anarchist pie-thrower Noël Godin has hit him a record five times." Gaby Wood, "Je suis un superstar", ''The Observer'', 15 June 2003 [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,977498,00.html]</ref> who describes Lévy as a vain, pontificating dandy. Critics of Lévy are not limited to pie-throwers, however; French journalists [[Jade Lindgaard]] and [[Xavier de la Porte]], in a biography of the philosopher, claimed that "In all his works and articles, there is not a single philosophical proposition." The book is contested, however, and Lévy sought legal action against the authors.{{Fact|date=November 2008}} Other critics of Lévy attack his support of the [[Mitterrand doctrine]] that allows Italian terrorists members of [[Brigate Rosse]] to live in [[France]] as free men and women despite the fact that the Italian courts have sentenced them to long imprisonment or [[Life sentence]]. Lévy argues that during the late 1970s and 1980s basic human rights were not respected in [[Italy]]. With the aid of real Washington political advisers, Italian conceptual artist, [[Francesco Vezzoli]], created two commercials for competing US presidential campaigns, - pitting [[Sharon Stone]] against Bernard-Henri Lévy - in a project entitled Democrazy, shown at the 2007 Venice Biennal. ==Breaking into the English language== Although Levy's books have been translated into the English language since ''La Barbarie à visage humain'', his breakthrough was with the publication of a series of essays between May and November 2005 for [[The Atlantic Monthly]]. In the series, "In the Footsteps of Tocqueville", Levy imitated his compatriot and predecessor in American critique, [[Alexis de Tocqueville]], criss-crossing America, interviewing Americans and recording his observations first for magazine and then book publication. ==Works== Lévy's works have been translated into many different languages; below is an offering of works available in either French or English. ===Available in French=== *''{{lang|fr|Bangla-Desh, Nationalisme dans la révolution}}'', 1973. *''{{lang|fr|La barbarie à visage humain}}'', 1977. *''{{lang|fr|Le testament de Dieu}}'', 1978. *''{{lang|fr|Idéologie française}}'', 1981. *''{{lang|fr|Le diable en tête}}'', 1984. *''{{lang|fr|Eloge des intellectuels}}'', 1987. *''{{lang|fr|Les derniers jours de Charles Baudelaire}}'', 1988. *''{{lang|fr|Les aventures de la liberté}}'', 1991. *''{{lang|fr|Le jugement dernier}}'', 1992 *''{{lang|fr|Piero della Francesca}}'', 1992 *''{{lang|fr|Les hommes et les femmes}}'', 1994. *''{{lang|fr|Bosna!}}'',1994. *''{{lang|fr|La pureté dangereuse}}'', 1994. *''{{lang|fr|Comédie}}'', 1997. *''{{lang|fr|Le siècle de Sartre}}'', 2000. *''{{lang|fr|Réflexions sur la Guerre, le Mal et la fin de l’Histoire}}'', 2002. *''{{lang|fr|Qui a tué Daniel Pearl?}}'', 2003. *''{{lang|fr|Récidives}}'', 2004. *''American Vertigo'', 2006 ===Available in English=== *Bernard Henri Lévy, Richard Veasey, ''Adventures on the Freedom Road'' [http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/harvill/ Harvill Press (an imprint of Random House)], 1995, hardcover, ISBN 1860460356 *Edited by Bernard-Henry Lévy, ''What Good Are Intellectuals: 44 Writers Share Their Thoughts'', [http://www.algora.com/ Algora Publishing], 2000, paperback, 276 pages, ISBN 1892941104 *Bernard-Henri Lévy, translated by Andrew Brown, ''[[Sartre]]: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century'', [http://www.polity.co.uk/default.htm Polity Press], July 2003, hardcover, 456 pages, ISBN 074563009X *Bernard-Henri Lévy, ''Who Killed Daniel Pearl?'', [http://www.melvillehousebooks.com/ Melville House Publishing], September 2003, hardcover, 454 pages, ISBN 0971865949 *Bernard-Henri Lévy, ''War, Evil and End of History'', [http://www.duckw.com/ Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd], October 2004, hardcover, 400 pages, ISBN 0715633368 *Bernard Henri Lévy, Charlotte Mandell, ''American Vertigo : Traveling America in the Footsteps of [[Tocqueville]]'', [http://www.randomhouse.com/index.pperl Random House], January 2006, hardcover, 320 pages, ISBN 1400064341 *[[Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism]], 2008 ==References== :''Note: Some of the content of this article comes from the equivalent [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard-Henri_L%C3%A9vy French-language wikipedia article].'' *Dominique Lecourt, ''Mediocracy : French Philosophy Since the Mid-1970s'' (2001), new ed. Verso, London, 2002. ==See also== *[[Daniel Pearl]] ===Notes=== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bernard-Henri-Levy/91342363268?ref=mf Facebook officiel de Bernard-Henri Lévy : Toute son actualité en direct] *[http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/800/an_interview_with_bernardhenri_1/ Interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy] A November 2008 interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy in [[Guernica Magazine]] *[http://www.bernard-henri-levy.com Biography, bibliography, news, and more than 400 press clips written by or about Bernard-Henri Lévy] *[http://www.levinas.eu/ Institute for Levinassian Studies, co-founded by Bernard-Henri Lévy, Benny Lévy and Alain Finkielkraut] *[http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/610/crisis_darfur/ Crisis Darfur: Bernard-Henri Lévy at PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature] &mdash; as published in ''[[Guernica Magazine]]''. *[http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200505/levy "In the Footsteps of Tocqueville"] &mdash; An article in the ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]''. *[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/books/review/29keillor.html?ex=1296190800&en=f45b7b68925ee277&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "On the Road Avec M. Lévy"] &mdash; A review of ''American Vertigo'' in the ''[[New York Times Book Review]]'' by [[Garrison Keillor]]. *[http://www.nplusonemag.com/levy.html "Mediocracy in America"] &mdash; A review of ''American Vertigo'' in the literary magazine, [[n+1]] by Sam Stark. *[http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/the_lies_of_bernard_henri_leacutevy/ "The Lies of Bernard Henri Lévy"] Critical [[Doug Ireland]] article in ''[[In These Times]]''. *[http://lark.phoblacht.net/AM0506067g.html Profile: Bernard Henry Lévy] {{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Bernard-Henri}} [[Category:1948 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century French writers]] [[Category:21st-century French writers]] [[Category:Algerian Jews]] [[Category:Alumni of Sciences Po]] [[Category:Alumni of the École Normale Supérieure]] [[Category:French Jews]] [[Category:French philosophers]] [[Category:Jewish philosophers]] [[Category:Jewish writers]] [[Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni]] [[Category:Pieds-noirs]] [[bs:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[da:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[de:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[es:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[fr:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[it:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[he:ברנאר-אנרי לוי]] [[pl:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[pt:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[ro:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[ru:Леви, Бернар-Анри]] [[fi:Bernard-Henri Lévy]] [[sv:Bernard-Henri Lévy]]'