French Literature Reviews - 2026

Alain Corbin, A History of Rest
History, Politics and Society

“To say or to tell oneself, ‘I need to rest,’ is to express a desire, a feeling that we instinctively consider to be the expression of a basic need.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Leisure has replaced rest. It occupies its time and invades its space.

We hardly speak of rest anymore, but rather of relaxation—which amounts to replacing physical fatigue with tension or a sense of unease, such as ‘burnout.’”

Alain Corbin weaves the thread of a forgotten history. Seeking solitude for some, praying (or not) for others, reflecting, pausing, or walking… so many ways of restoring one’s being have been imagined and tested. This history is an invitation to experience our relationship with work, fatigue, and time differently.

The historian Alain Corbin traces how human beings have historically sought restoration through solitude, prayer, reflection, pausing, and walking. By contrasting traditional notions of rest with contemporary leisure and the pressures of relaxation, the work illuminates changing attitudes toward physical fatigue, modern tension, and burnout. Readers interested in the history of everyday life and the shifting relationship between modern society and personal time may find this volume relevant.