Download or read book Birth of a National Icon written by Venita Datta and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Birth of a National Icon examines the emergence of the intellectual in fin-de-siècle France, setting this important phenomenon against the backdrop of an emerging mass democracy and concentrating on the key role played by the avant-garde.