In the Belgian Chateau: The Spirit and Culture of a European Society in an Age of Change [Hardcover]

Renee C. Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1994 | ISBN-10: 1566630576 | ISBN-13: 978-1566630573

This grand and unusual book, whose meaning extends far beyond the borders of Belgium, is the product of thirty-five years of cultural investigation of that small European country. When Renée Fox first traveled to Brussels in 1959 to study the Belgian institutions of medical research, she scarcely realized how strongly the Belgian way of life would take hold of her. Here she draws upon her extraordinary knowledge of and research in the country to describe the "house" of Belgium and its many "houses"–institutional and personal, literal and metaphoric. Ms. Fox moves across the geographical and social terrain of the country, using her autobiography as a wedge to explore the ways of fife of the châteaux and their inhabitants. Blending social and cultural analysis with ethnography, contemporary history, interviews, and her personal reflections, she succeeds in conveying the values, images, atmosphere, and world-view of a whole European society since World War II. At bottom a study of social institutions and social processes, the book is much more than that: a collective portrait of life in a small land, with larger human and social significance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To Fox, professor of social sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, the "chateau" symbolizes the hierarchy that long controlled medical research in Belgium, a subject she began to investigate 34 years ago when research policy was hammered out at a meeting in a castle. Despite her claim to represent "European society," her focus is specifically on Belgium. As a respected foreign academician, Fox had entree to elite members of Belgian society, whom she profiles here. She also provides an excellent summary of recent Belgian history, and almost a third of the book is devoted to her experiences in the former Belgian Congo, which she visited as it was gaining its independence as the renamed nation of Zaire. Fox's attempt to combine a detached sociological study of Belgium-railway and postal systems, domestic architecture, family life, etc.
and a personal memoir, however, doesn't totally gel.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As the movie If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium suggested, this small, bilingual "low country" is rarely an American traveler's long dreamed of destination. Sociologist Fox, on the contrary, finds Belgium beautiful and fascinating; she bases her book on her numerous visits to the country between 1959 and 1993. The "chateau" to which the title refers represents the traditional political, economic, and religious institutions that have given Belgium, an artificial state devised by treaty in 1830, a national identity. Fox contends that Belgium's increasingly bitter ethnic and linguistic hostilities are evidence that the "chateau" is crumbling, with the deterioration going back as far as the loss of the Congo in 1960. This thoughtful, well-researched book is not for the average tourist. Fox's writing style, though never droning or uninteresting, is somewhat professorial. Highly recommended for academic libraries; an optional purchase for public libraries.
Mary C. Kalfatovic, Telesec Lib. Svcs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (August 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566630576
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630573
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,707,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inside view of a Belgian over a book over Belgium, September 8, 1997

By 

Thomas Dagonnier <[e-mail]> (Mons, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Belgian Chateau: The Spirit and Culture of a European Society in an Age of Change (Hardcover)

Despite some little mistake, this book is quite good book for people who are about to come to Belgium or ever went to Belgium. It describes different socio-professional classes in Belgium , riches and "poor", flemish and wallons, ... (but most are catholics).

The main default of this book is that is looks to me quite "old-fashioned" because now, society has evoluted a lot and lots of things have changed since the first voyage of Renée C. Fox.

In conclusion, if you're intersted in Belgium or in life in "traditionnal" european countries, you must read it.