bestowed on me and others lifelongrnideas; and once while he was complimentingrnme for something I had published,rnI joked that he was only noticingrnwhat I had cribbed from him. “Go aheadrnand crib more!” was his jovial response.rnThose of us who learned from his genialrnmind will inevitably take that advice, calcandornpassus gigantis.rn—Paul GottfriedrnTERRORISM in France has usuallyrncome—in recent years—from clandestinernMuslim groups engaged in a perpetualrnjihad against the West. But recent attacksrnattributed to Corsican separatistsrnprovide another example of a violentrnnationalism rearing its head at preciselyrnthe time when Europe’s policy elite isrnproclaiming a new era of unity and cooperation.rnThe immediate reason for the recentrnwave of bombings stems from PrimernMinister Alain Juppe’s brief visit to Corsicarnlast summer, when he told the territorialrnassembly that he would not evenrndiscuss institutional autonomy for the island.rnIn spite of the consensus amongrnCorsicans in favor of independence—orrnat least a higher degree of autonomy—rnJuppe said that any such negotiationsrnwill set Corsicans against each other andrnso must be avoided.rnA month after Juppe’s speech, thernnationalist Corsican People’s Frontrn(FLNC) issued a statement denouncingrnJuppe’s “anti-Corsican racism” and announcingrnthat the cease-fire in effectrnsince last January could no longer be observed.rnThe announcement was unnecessary,rnfor the FLNC had just days beforernmade an attempt on the life of JosernRossi, a UDF-PR deputy from thernCorse-de-Sud region and one of thernmost visible officials on the island.rnWhile Rossi was in his villa in Porticcio,rnterrorists placed a bomb outside the doorrnof his office in Ajaccio, occupied at therntime by his daughter and her husband.rnAn anonymous telephone call informedrnthe police of the bomb, which was safelyrndisarmed. Operating mainly in thernsouthern regions of the island, the terroristsrnin late August launched several attacksrnon representatives of the Frenchrngovernment, setting off bombs at the officesrnof the Societe nationale Corse-rnMediterranee and the Direction departmentalernde I’equipement.rnCorsica’s problem is nothing new—rnterrorism has been practiced since thern1970’s by both FLNC-style groups andrnby fanatical anti-independence groups,rnrough equivalents of the UDF in Ulsterrn—but according to Le Monde, thernterrorism has taken a new turn. In a storyrnon a car-bombing on a crowded streetrnin Bastia, the newspaper noted that thernautonomists no longer care if Corsicansrndie in the struggle to throw off thernFrench yoke.rnAlain Juppe’s speech to the territorialrnassembly gave a new impetus to a nationalistrnmovement whose grievances havernlong been ignored by French leaders. AsrnRobert Ramsay explained in The CorsicanrnTime-Bomb, Corsica did not experiencernthe surge in economic prosperityrnenjoyed by most European countries inrnthe postwar period, a disappointmentrnmade particularly acute when rich foreignersrnvisited the island. The tourismrnindustry is not the unqualified boon forrnnative Corsicans that it might seem.rnRun largely by the French, it offers only arnfew menial jobs to the native population,rnwhose opportunities for employment arernso poor that young people leave enrnmasse. (Many Corsican families havernmore members living abroad than on thernisland.) The unregulated building of hotelsrnby French contractors which accompaniedrnthe growth of tourism ruinedrnmany beautiful sites. Flooded by emigresrn—particularly pieds noirs from thernformer colony in Algeria—Corsica hasrnseen much of her best farmland andrnvineyards bought up. French officialdomrnhas shown contempt for the distinctrnculture of the island, refusing tornallow a Corse university founded in thern19th century to reopen its doors and discouragingrnCorsicans from speaking theirrnown language. “As in Brittany or thernBasque country,” Ramsay relates, “childrenrnhad been punished for the use ofrnany language but French in the classroom.”rnTo the policy elite of Europe, nationalismrnof the Corsican stripe may seem littlernmore than a curious anomaly. Butrnlike its counterparts in other countries, itrnis a predictable response to the encroachmentsrnof European integration and federalrnpower.rn—Michael WashburnrnO B I T E R DICTA: Harold McCurdy,rnwhose poems “Decline and Fall” andrn”With Loss of Eden” appear on page 21,rnis the author of seven volumes of verse,rnsome of them released by major publishersrnand others by small book designers inrnhis neighborhood in Chapel Hill, NorthrnCarolina. His work has appeared in TheologyrnToday, Christian Century, and ThernLyric. Mr. MeCurdy’s next collection.rnRealizing V^estward, which he describesrnas a spiritual history of the West, will bernpublished soon. The title of the collectionrncomes from Robert Frost, whomrnMr. McCurdy cites as one of his influences.rnHolley Camp’s poem “Courmayeur,rnItaly,” which appears on page 14, is basedrnon her visit to a formedy French region inrnthe Italian Alps. Ms. Camp teaches writingrnat a middle school in Birmingham,rnAlabama, and has been influenced byrnthe work of Pulitzer Prize-winning poetrnMary Oliver. Ms. Camp wrote the winningrnentry in a competition held recentlyrnby the Famous Poets Society, and shernhas work coming out shortly in Astarte,rna publication of the University ofrnAlabama.rnThe cover illustration this month is byrnSt. Petersburg native Anatol Woolf, whornhas designed sets for theaters in Russiarnand has done illustrations for St. PetersburgrnTextbook Publishers, in addition tornfreelance work. In 1987Mr. Woolf camernto America, where he began contributingrnto magazines and newspapers such asrnthe Washington Post, the WashingtonrnTimes, Policy Review, National CeographicrnTraveler, Legal Times, and Cricket. Mr.rnWoolf works with a variety of materials,rnfrom water colors to pencil to acrylic.rnLook for Chronicles at the followingrnstores in Indiana: Little Professor BookrnCenter, 6360 W. Jefferson Blvd., FortrnWayne; Little Professor Book Center,rn500 Sagamore Pkwy. W., WestrnLafayette; Book Corner, 100 N. Walnut,rnBloomington; Media Play, WilshirernPlaza, Mishawaka; Barnes & Noble Superstore,rn4601 Grape Rd., Mishawaka;rnBookland, 137 W. Market St., Indianapolis;rnBorders, 5612 Castleton CornersrnLn., Indianapolis; Media Play, 8040rnS. U.S. 31, Indianapolis; Media Play,rnCentre East, Indianapolis; Media Play,rnCastle Glen Plaza, Indianapolis; Barnesrn& Noble Superstore, 3748 E. 82nd St.,rnIndianapolis.rnChronicles is sold at one location inrnKentucky; Media Play, 87 Spiral Dr.,rnFlorence.rnJANUARY 1997/7rnrnrn