17 Facts About Alain Finkielkraut

Alain Finkielkraut was elected a Fellow of the Academie Francaise in 2014.

Alain Finkielkraut studied modern literature at the Ecole normale superieure de Saint-Cloud.

Alain Finkielkraut joined the Department of French Literature in the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor in 1976 and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Ecole Polytechnique as a professor in 1989.

Alain Finkielkraut first came to public attention when he and Pascal Bruckner co-authored a number of short but controversial essays intended to question the idea that a new emancipation was underway; these included The New Love Disorder and At the Corner of the Street, as well as The Adventure.

Alain Finkielkraut then began publishing singly authored works on the public's betrayal of memory and our intransigence in the presence of events that, he argued, should move the public.

Alain Finkielkraut continues his reflection on the matter in The Defeat of the Mind and The Ingratitude: Talks About Our Times.

Since the 2000s, Alain Finkielkraut has given his opinion on a variety of topics in society, such as the Internet in The Internet, The Troubling Ecstasy.

Alain Finkielkraut's interview published in the Haaretz magazine in November 2005 in which he gave his opinion about the 2005 French riots stirred up much controversy.

Alain Finkielkraut's remarked that the France national football team was "black, black, black, which causes sneers all over Europe", adding that "if you point this out in France, you are thrown in jail".

Alain Finkielkraut denounced African-American Muslims, claiming that there is an "Islamization of the blacks" happening in both America and France.

Alain Finkielkraut later apologized, claiming bad translation of his article by Haaretz.

Alain Finkielkraut claimed that the 13-years-old victim was a "teenager", "not a child".

Alain Finkielkraut stated: "The anti-Semitism we're now experiencing in France is the worst I've ever seen in my lifetime, and I'm convinced it's going to get worse".

On 16 February 2019, Alain Finkielkraut was accosted on the street by a group of yellow vest protesters in Paris when they chanced on him in Boulevard du Montparnasse.

Alain Finkielkraut called a territorial compromise and a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians as the most sensible solution, but one that is very far away.

Der Bund wrote in a November 2024 article that Alain Finkielkraut is sometimes described as a zionist, yet is at the same a harsh critic of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Alain Finkielkraut explained that none of his critics wanted to hear his position, as it was only about "denying Israel's right to exist".