Bernard-Henri Lévy

All about BHL

1971

1970 to 1974

June 1971: awarded eighth place in the philosophy agrégation, the highly competitive national competition for recruiting professors in France.

In September, under the supervision of the economist and historian Charles Betelheim (who introduces him to Louis Althusser), he declares his Master’s thesis topic, “impérialisme and colonialisme interne” [imperialism and internal colonialism].

In November, responding to André Malraux’s call to organize an international brigade in support of Bangladesh, he heads to India, then to Bangladesh itself, where he spends several months: first, as a war correspondent for the daily newspaper Combat, then as a temporary civil attaché in charge of planning for the young government headed by Mujibur Rahnan, the first president of Bangladesh.

This long visit to Bangladesh will supply the material for his first book, Bangladesh, Nationalisme dans la Révolution, published in 1973 in the prestigious series Cahiers Libres published by Les Editions Maspéro, one of the rallying points of the extreme left at the time. This work will be republished in 1985 by Le Livre de Poche, under the title Les Indes Rouges.