The phrase appears in the book "Foucault's Pendulum" written by
Umberto Eco. Ch 7 page 43.
"To enter a university a year or two after 1968 was like being
admitted to the Academie de Saint-Cyr in 1793."
I would like to know the author's meaning of the sentence in reference
to the story, what was going on between the instructors and the cadets
at the military Academie in 1793, why there was a conflict there in
1793, why was it similar to entering a university a year or two after
1968, and where is the narrator a year or two after 1968?

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Clarification of Question by seduangel-ga on 28 Oct 2003 13:04 PST

Would you mind, at the least, answer the rest of question for the $10:

Since the author is making a corralation between 1793 and "a year or
two after 1968", what was going on in 1968, then what was going on in
1970 and why didn't Eco just say 1970 (obviously he is making a more
important reference to 1968)?
Is it the conflict between aristocracy and prolitarianism as he goes
on to say later in the chapter? (without knowing the conflict at the
Academie I would be guessing)
Note:  I am not lazy, I can research the internet myself, so would
someone be able to crack a book a use the money to give a true answer
to the question in a way that I cannot achieve myself.  This is the
second time I have asked this question where my money was taken by
someone who could not answer the question!

Hi Seduangel 

Just a note for you and for my fellow researchers - to say I guess we
must allow for Eco's imagination here.

Until the revolution, St Cyr was used for the education of noble young
ladies. In 1791 it was taken over by the state and in 1793 opened as a
military hospital. Its life as a military school started in 1800.

SAINT-CYR
Maison Royale de Saint-Louis
pour l'Education des Demoiselles nobles du Royaume
http://ancre.chez.tiscali.fr/versailles/saint-cyr.htm

Lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/hf/formation/cofat/lycees/stcyr/info/historique.html

Leli

Please note that your question has not been answered, and your money
has not been "taken by someone who could not answer the question." My
colleague leli-ga posted her remark as a free comment. The only amount
you have been charged is the fifty cent fee for listing the question.
The $10 fee will be collected only if an official answer is posted by
a Researcher.

pinkfreud-ga, Google Answers Researcher

I appologize for my rudeness... 

I just want to understand Eco's book, and everything else he has
written (so far) is verifyable, understanding that this incredible
history lesson Eco is giving is woven together by a fictional story. 
Simply the man is a genious.
Eco in his book is giving clues in his fiction novel (with regards to
examples in actual history) which lead to deeper truthes about the
Kabalah.  Simply the history (his reference to real historical events
and people) and the answer to this question is important to me.

seduabgel --

After whetting the appetite of the reader with the introductory
material of chapters 1-6, Eco's narrator begins his tale in Chapter 7
with the sentence you have quoted (p.49 in my edition).

In that sentence, Eco's narrator is clearly referring to his
matriculation at the University of Milan "a year or two after 1968." 
As he says two pages later: "The University of Milan was the place to
be in those years."

Although's Eco's writing is filled with historical allusions --
sometimes more than one at a time -- his narrator's reference to 1968 
seems to refer most directly to the political and social unrest in
Europe that is identified with that year.  The Fiat group summarizes
it well in the section of its Web site related to the centennial of
that company.  Here are brief excerpt related specifically to the
Italian experience:

"Italy's "student movement" first raised its head in 1966 with the
open warfare between Rome University's right and left wing students
that was followed in 1967 by student occupations of several faculties
in Turin and the Catholic University of Milan."

. . .

"The "Revolution of 1968" started rather earlier in Italy than in
France, where the "évenements" of May 1968 represented its most
intensive but also shortest-lived manifestation.

. . .

"Various factors combined to make Italy's 1968 experience unique, not
least the special character of the modernisation process undergone by
the country in the preceding decades."

. . .

"Against this general background there was one other peculiarity of
Italy's 1968: while in other countries the student revolutionaries had
tried and failed to achieve the dream of joining forces with "the
workers", in Italy the New Left actually succeeded".
Fiat Group: Centenary
http://www.fiatgroup.com/fiat-centenary/appro/appro22.html


Much more information about the socio/political situation in Italy at
the time from both the left and right points of view is available
on-line, and I suggest that you start with Google searches using
combinations of terms such as "revolution of 1968", "italy", "social",
"protest", and the like.

I do not speak French, so that I can not do a through job of
researching the part of your question related to the Acadamie de
Saint-Cyr, althoug leli-ga has pointed you to a site that discusses
its history. For that reason, I am posting this as a comment, not an
answer. To me, Eco's juxtaposition of Italy/1968 with France/1793
seems intended simply to emphasize (hyperbolize?) the social unrest in
Italy in 1968 by comparing it to the bloodiest year of the French
revolution.

markj-ga

Thank you very much Markj... I appreciate your remarks.  I am very
ignorant of European history and it seems as though Eco describes the
political unrest/conflict in Europe as we Americans discuss the
differences between Republicans and Democrats. It's facinating to me.