7Q 305 G7 UC-NRLF *B 3A3 7ET i NATIONAL HOME-READING UNION PAMPHLETS HISTORICAL SERIES, No. 2 CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT IN FRANCE (as seen in her Literature from 1900 to 1914) BY LILLY MARY [GROVE, DOCTEUR DE L'TJNIVERSITE DE PARIS. NATIONAL HOME-READING UNION 12 York Buildings, Adelphi, London, W.C.2. Price One Shilling. J"\ V"\ • •••••••.• : : ?Q3osr &7 Contemporary Thought in France (as seen in her Literature from 1900 to 1914). THE year 1900 has not been chosen arbitrarily, but because it marks an epoch in the literature and thought of France that ends of its own accord with the out- break of war in August 1914. At this date, and even earlier, two currents can easily be discerned, and they are both in a measure due to the Great Affair, a movement of national renaissance and a reawakening of Catholic faith, unhampered by Clericalism. The love of truth and of country and of action which swept over France after the Dreyfus affair was accompanied by deep feelings of mysticism and faith which are best explained in Peguy's own words : — " Notre dreyfusisme etait une religion — je prends le mot dans son sens le plus litteralement exact — une pouss6e religieuse, une crise religieuse, et je conseille- rais meme vivement a qui voudrait £tudier, considerer, connaitre un mouvement religieux dans les temps modernes, bien caracteVis^, bien d&imite, bien taille, de saisir cet exemple unique. J'ajoute que pour nous, chez nous, en nous, ce mouvement religieux £tait d'essence chretienne, d'origine chretienne, qu'il pous- sait de souche chretienne, qu'il coulait de Tantique source."* * Charles PAguv : " Notre Jeunesse." 451931 The nation after this great event seemed to be finding itself, all the ardent qualities of heroism, of courage, of truth, came to the fore, old French traditions were remembered, and a return to the purity and simplicity of the early Christian faith mingled with the desire for harmony and order such as was revealed in ancient Greece — all, however, were concerned with the one end : the salvation or redemption of France. This movement of renaissance had been noticeable in France even before the Great Affair, and the desire for discipline was not confined to art and letters only, but extended to life itself. Writers such as Barres, Lemaitre, Mme Adam, Maurras, &c, through the medium of L' Action Francaise and salons and books, lay down a new ideal inspired by antiquity and nationalism, both in the political and aesthetic world. On the other hand, writers such as Peguy, Claudel, Psichari, &c, work towards the same end through faith and idealism. The scepticism of a Renan or of an Anatole France was beginning to annoy ; even in music and in painting, Vincent d'Indy and Maurice Denis turn to Christianity for inspiration. The number of converts among men of letters is quite sur- prising : Huysmans, Coppee, Claudel, Peguy, Jammes, Le Cardonnel, Psichari, and others. It seemed as if the Church, freed of Clericalism after the decree of the Combes Ministry, could once again be a source of inspiration and beauty, and re- animate men and art with a new strength and courage. For we see in the generation which closes with writers such as Bourget and Anatole France a lassitude and disgust with life, a scepticism and indifference which in a measure explains why the label "decadent" was so freely applied to France by ignorant foreigners or ill-intentioned enemies. But with the new generation came a reaction against the utterances of a M. Bergeret and a loathing for Zola and the naturalist school, a reaction also against the psychological sentimentality of a Bourget.* A flame of energy and pas- sion, a desire for action, combative action, an awakening of idealism, of optimism, of truth, of sincerity, of all the heroic virtues, began to appear in literature and in life ; possibly dis- gust with politics at home prompted men to follow their ideals in far-away Colonies such as Africa; possibly the love of adventure and danger was stimulated by the invention of motor-cars and aeroplanes ; anyhow we have writers such as Nolly and Psichari who contend with the wastes of the world and leave love for action, introspection for construction, f The titles of reviews taken at hazard among the number that exist give a measure of the energy and desire for action and patriotic faith of the younger generation: L } Araitii de France j La Revue d J Action Francaise, La Nouvelle Revue Francaise, Les Marches de VEst, Foi et Vie, &c.{ It would seem now as if this generation had had a kind of presentiment of what lay ahead and so armed itself with the courage, faith, and ideals of ancient France: — " Notre generation," wrote Psichari in 191 3, " celle de ceux qui ont commence leur vie d'homme avec le siecle, est importante. C'est en elle que sont venus tous les espoirs et nous le savons, c'est d'elle que depend le salut de la France, done celui du monde et de la civilisation. Tout se joue sur nos t&tes. II me semble que les jeunes sentent obscurement qu'ils verront de grandes choses, que de grandes choses se feront par eux. * To-day in Paris, Bourget's books are marked even as low as 3. franc ; stocks of them in second-hand book-shops are sold gladly for waste paper. t Gaston Riou, in his book, " Aux Ecoutes de la France qui vient," written in 1913, shows how the younger generation loves action, and what a current of patriotism and religion pervades it. He states that France can only be saved by faith, and the first thing necessary is that scepticism should disappear. I Note also the title of one of Bouhelier's books, " La Vie HeVoique des Aventuriers, des Rois, des Poetes et des Artisans," and his series of articles, " Les Elements d'une Renaissance Franchise." lis ne seront pas des amateurs ni des sceptiques. lis ne seront pas des touristes a travers la vie. lis savent ce qu'on attend d'eux." These words, written a year before the Great War, are prophetic, and paint clearly the attitude of this generation. Idealism is the keynote — idealism in religion, in life, in litera- ture, in art, in the movement of Colonial expansion, in Socialism even. The nation is alive, and is beginning to resent the dominating influence of Ibsen, Wagner, and Nietzsche, which is sapping her own vitality. The Action Francaise signals the danger in politics, the Nouvelle Revue Francaise turns to fresh currents of inspiration in foreign literature, more easy to assimilate, and translates Dos« toievsky, Walt Whitman, Conrad, Meredith, Stevenson. In the theatre, under Antoine's management, Shakespeare is revived and wonderfully presented. England's literature and art will come into closer and closer touch with that of France, now that at last the two people have begun to under- stand one another better. It is encouraging to note that a writer as powerful and original as Samuel Butler is soon to be translated by a group of enthusiastic admirers of his genius who belong to the Nouvelle Revue Francaise. This better understanding of one another is one of the great benefits of the War, one of the rays of joy and light amidst so much terror and gloom. The lack of knowledge of a language, and hence of a literature, is tbe great barrier which separates nations, for to know the language and the literature of a country is to know the point of view, the mentality of a race ; we speak so few languages but our own in England. French up to now has been so badly taught, both in school and University, that our ignorance of French thought and life is scarcely matter for surprise. Lack of knowledge, or half-knowledge, bring prejudice in their train, especially when the races are so far apart as the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin, though geographically so near. Added to this, French people always run themselves down, and German propaganda, through the exportation of litera- ture " made in Germany " and unknown in France, has helped much to establish a reputation based on superficial knowledge or detraction. There is a depth, a reserve in the French nation that cannot be perceived at a first reading or by unintelligent travellers. It is too often forgotten that Paris is not France, and that a cosmopolitan city, to which are attracted the ras- taquoueres and wealthy foreigners of all nations, is not a gauge of its psychology. Anyone who had the privilege of living in Paris during those wonderful weeks of August and September 1914, will have realized that, when the city was cleaned of its foreign element, it held those qualities of exaltation, of courage, of calm, which surprised some of us into exclaiming that a new France had arisen, when in reality Paris was showing the quality of a heroism such as runs through her history from the time of Roland through Jeanne d'Arc to the victory of the Marne. There is no miracle of the Marne, and books should not have titles such as " Les Deux Frances V (P. Seippel) or V La Troisieme France " (V. Giraud). There is but one France, funda- mentally the same through all the ages, and her qualities, like hidden gold, lie deep down, and have to be sought. Since 1914, we have become at last aware of these qualities, we are beginning to realize the beauty and intimacy of her, family life, her desire for order, work, economy, method, her intellectual honesty, and her religious faith, and we are at last able to give the right measure to her grace and gaiety and delicacy. But we still have much to learn, and we must read if we cannot come and see for ourselves. We must read if we want our children and children's children to be nurtured in the spirit of France — of that country which has done more than any other for intellect and art, and which to-day has saved not only her civilization, but that of Europe, from the inroad of barbarism. And read first the authors of your generation, of those who have lived and suffered in your times, and when you have penetrated the spirit of their work and begun to under- stand the race whose language they convey, then turn back- wards to the great sources of their inspiration, to masters such as Rabelais, Ronsard, Racine, Moliere, Voltaire, Flau- bert, Maupassant, &c. In this essay I shall not mention any authors who have made their mark before 1900 (with the exception of Remy de Gourmont), but will concern myself only with those whose works are not yet well known in England, and whose names even may not yet be familiar to the average reader. Prose Works. There are a great many men of talent in this epoch, but perhaps no outstanding genius ; it is difficult, however, at this distance to judge, and, moreover, those who have been cut off in the flower of youth, such as Alain Fournier and others, had not time to fulfil the great promise of the works they have left behind. If influence, however, is a measure of greatness, then there are three figures who stand apart and dominate the thought and literature of France to-day. I mean Bergson, Charles Peguy, and Remy de Gourmont. Bergson's in- fluence, especially on modern poetry, has been likened to that of Descartes on his century : we will refer to it later on. Charles P£guy, embodying the spirit of the people from which he sprang, with its qualities of energy, hard work, love of truth, faith, and patriotism ; Remy de Gourmont, of ancient lineage, representative not only of his epoch but of the France of all times, which has always delighted in the things 9 of the mind, represent — the one, moral France ; the other, intellectual and aesthetic France. Charles P£guy founded the Cahiers de la Quinzaine in the year 1900; they mark an epoch in the literary development of France, and are a thing apart — a monument of ardent con- viction and inspiration. They are not, as may be supposed, a review, but books brought out in parts, one at a time every fortnight, or sometimes complete in one volume. Many of us can remember the feverish haste with which we waited the advent of '* Jean Christophe," by Romain Rolland, in the Cahiers. The most characteristic books of the day were published in this manner : Peguy's own works, those of the Brothers Tharaud, Suares, Benda, Andre" Spire, Pierre Hamp, &c. ; thanks to Peguy, a group of unknown struggling authors were brought to light, and it was owing to his in- domitable energy that the venture, accompanied by great risks, succeeded little by little ; at the beginning it was im- possible to know from day to day whether it could be con- tinued, and no one has taken it on, so that the Cahiers died with P^guy. They were, so to speak, his weapon ; he founded them just after the Dreyfus affair, when he felt an imperious need to proclaim in every order of thought that truth which had been so difficult to attain ; he pursued lying under all its forms — political lies, moral lies, false aesthetics, false science, demagogy. He formulated his ideal in the first pages in the first Cahier: " Dire la verite, toute la verity, rien que la verite, dire betement la verite bete, ennuyeusement la verite ennuyeuse, tristement la verite* triste, voila ce que nous nous sommes proposes depuis plus de vingt mois et non pas seulement pour les questions de doctrine et de m6thode, mais aussi, mais surtout pour Taction." Peguy's respect for truth took the form of a love and respect for his profession, for conscientious work well done ; he brought to it a kind of mystical fervour, a kind of cult, and B IO in this he showed himself a typical Frenchman of the people : ** et plus, je crois a l'efficacite du travail modeste, lent, moleculaire, definitif," he says somewhere. He was at the same time writer, editor, bookseller, printer, proof-reader, packer. In his little shop at the foot of the Sorbonne — now, alas ! closed and boarded up — Peguy would, after having written his book, printed it, and corrected it with the utmost care, sell it over the counter and make up the parcels with the same care that went to the creating of the work.* There were no printing mistakes ever in the Cahiers, and the paper was made of pure rags. In his little shop he received his friends and talked as did the booksellers of our grandfathers' days. Though he lived at the foot of the great University, and knew Latin and Greek perfectly, and followed with enthusiasm Bergson's lectures on philosophy, he had a horror of pedants and pedantry, and •denounced the false science of his day, which he maintained harmed classical and French culture. Yet there must have been something of the professor about him, for his soldiers, who loved him, had given him the nickname " Le Pion " (schoolmaster). At twenty-five years of age he had published two books, which reveal him as he was and remained to the end of his short life : " Jeanne d'Arc," December 1897; and " Marcel : ou l'Utopie Socialiste. " His last book, the one whereby he will live, is " Le Mystere de la Charite de Jeanne d'Arc." Just as St. Antoine was Flaubert's constant preoccupation, so Jeanne d'Arc and Ste. Genevieve, glorious defenders of the soil of France, never left Peguy 's thought. Jeanne d'Arc was part of Peguy ; as a child he lived in Orleans, where his mother mended the chairs in the cathedral and his grand- mother told him wonderful stories, which all centred round See Suares, Essay on P£guy. 1 1 Jeanne d'Arc. He constantly sees her in visions, and later on, after reading- those wonderful pages in Michelet's " His- tory of France," she becomes visibly fixed in his soul : she is his patron saint, his model, his cult; she represents to him power, truth and goodness, justice, gentleness — in a word, all the virtues of France, France itself. And that is why, though a Catholic, his religion belongs not so much to Rome as to Orleans. He has the faith of primitive Christianity, without dogma and Clericalism ; he never goes to Mass or takes the Sacraments, he remains an ardent Republican and Socialist, yet he can write mystical Christian verse with a respect and enthusiasm worthy of a docile Catholic. There are pages of Peguy containing the purest expression of Christianism that exists in contemporary literature, even more than in Francis Jammes.* Peguy remained a peasant although he lived in Paris ; he was proud of his race as an aristocrat is proud — and he was right, for there is a nobility in a race continued generation after generation in the same spot with no mixture of foreign blood. He never left France, and only knew Rheims, Dom- remy, and Orleans, and, whether in his village or in Paris, he carried with him always the spirit of past ages, of Jeanne d'Arc, so that it has been written of him : — 11 Peguy est un homme de la plus vieille France, un contemporain de Joinville et de Jeanne d'Arc : le Francais de la France 6ternelle." And it is because his culture was essentially French and clas- sical that he has written eloquent pages of the greatness of the French race. His constant theme was : M que la France se refasse et se refasse de toutes ses forces." I have spoken of Peguy in detail just because he repre- sents so perfectly that France which is unknown to the * See Hauviette's opening words in **. Le Mystere de la Charite" de Jeanne d'Arc." 12 foreigner : the France of the poor people, of the hard-working poor. And if you want to know better the customs of France, of to-day and of past ages, read those pages in which he describes with emotion and respect that family life which he himself embodied, with its tranquil joys of well-done work and happy children.* His are strange books : they begin but do not end ; many readers get lost in the endless repetition of words and find it monotonous, but others get to love it as one loves the murmur of the sea. The repetition in Peguy's work is not meaningless; he wanted it in order to bring his thought strongly home, and if you can forget his mannerisms of style, which are but the fagade, and read him with care, you will see that he has the qualities of a great writer. As an influence, through his weapon, the Cahiers, and through his personality and energy, Peguy, the apostle of the Socialist city and the poet of Jeanne d'Arc, did much for the triumph of the French ideal. For ten years he gave the rallying cry, teaching the beauty of France's literary tradition and the beauty of her military tradition, working thus towards the reconciliation of the younger waiters with the idea of patriotism. His friend and disciple, Ernest Psichari, dedicated his " Appel des Armes " : — " Au solitaire en qui vit aujourd'hui Tame de la France et dont l'ceuvre a courbe d'amour notre jeunesse, a notre maitre, Charles Peguy." Remy de Gourmont, who died in September 191 5, is one of the most interesting figures of contemporary France, and one of the greatest writers. Though his reputation was established long before 1900, he is so essentially the very * " Le Porche du Mysore de la Deuxieme Vertu." 13 expression of his literary generation and so reflects its every phase, that he cannot be omitted in the present study. His personality was strong- and unusual, he took nothing for granted, and admitted no received ideas ; very erudite, but in no wise pedantic, he was poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and philsopher. He was one of the founders of the Mercure de France, that admirable literary review which should be closely followed by all those interested in French letters ; he wrote in it till the end those delightful essays full of pene- tration and subtlety and charm, of which the " Lettres a l'Amazone " are the most perfect example. He knew all the unknown writers, the minor poets, the new periodicals, all the tendencies and currents of thought in this very complex, inchoate period. No one better than he expressed the various movements and life of his time, no one better understood even the slightest efforts of all those who surrounded him ; when symbolism followed naturalism, musical, suggestive, subtle, no one had succeeded in defining it. Remy de Gour- mont was the first to do so, and showed its relation to the subjective doctrine of philosophical idealism. But he did not remain long a symbolist : he realized the insufficiency of the movement and how it would soon make room for a more direct expression of life and art. Of the symbolist school, he retained to the end, however, that richness of images and subtlety of expression which give so much charm and variety and poetry to his style. From his symbolist days date those remarkable essays, full of critical insight and clear suggestive thought, in which he connects the new schools of art with the preceding ones ; they are of inestimable value to-day for those of us who want to know more of Mallarm6, Verlaine, Huysmans, Baudelaire, &c* Criticism attracted his clear, logical mind, and he brought * See the " Promenades LitteVaires " and the " Livre des Masques. '4 to it the great advantage of being himself a writer, an artist, and a thinker. Rfe had a definite conception of what literary criticism should be, far removed from the pedantic profes- sorial attitude of his time, or from that morbid degenerate kind which is expressed to-day by those so-called critics who unearth a poet's love affairs and even publish his washer- woman's bills. " The critic should be a creator of values," he repeats unceasingly. Whatever his subject, however diverse, Remy de Gourmont's intelligence remains clear, radiating light and thought; he is deep without being ob- scure, versatile but not superficial, and writes with a delicacy and grace that have not often been reached. He has left not only the series already quoted, " Les Promenades Litt6- raires," but " L'Esth^tique de la Langue Francaise," " Le Chemin de Velours," " Le Probleme du Style," all works reflecting the spirit of his age and most suggestive in thought. Since Lemaitre, that rarest of critics, no one wrote with such a fine and true appreciation of what is beautiful and perma- nent in art and literature. He is interested in all the move- ments connected with letters, and even follows and defends the efforts in plastic art of his epoch, of Gauguin, Maurice Denis, and others. Nothing shocks or surprises him. Later on, he passes from the study of words and style to the. discovery of science in relation to literature ; the idea underlying words seizes hold of him, he founds the Revue des Ide'es and writes " La Culture des Id6es " and the series, M Promenades Philosophiques." His tales are full of pagan beauty,* there is infinite poetry in his prose, and though in his verse there is a rare mystical sensuousness,t yet he re- mained untouched by the wave of Catholic Christianity that swept over France at this epoch. Nearly all his work ap- peared in the Mercure de France ; in fact, his life and his * See " Une Nuit au Luxembourg." t "Les Divertissements. 1 »5 work are closely knit with that interesting- literary review which reflects the thought and art of France. And now let us mention a few of the younger writers who have made their mark within recent years. There are the brothers Jerome and Jean Tharaud, who offer the most per- fect example of collaboration and a chiselled style in the tra- ditions of classical art, which comes as a relief after the slip- shod writing of most of their contemporaries. But there is the danger, judging by their last book,* of their work becom- ing too literary, and even strained and artificial : whether consciously or not, they feel the obligation to eliminate what is subjective and personal. They have written, however, a novel of unusual interest and great beauty, " La Maitresse Servante." Full of deep observation and knowledge of the small passions and monotonous life of the provincial nobility, the style and language reveal a quality of clearness and elegance worthy of the great masters. Not quite so good, somewhat shallow, but amusing for English readers, is a satire of English manners, called " Dingley, lTllustre Ecrivain." Another writer whose style also is impeccable, but whose inspiration is quite different, is Charles Louis Philippe. For him the novel is a confession, a living thing, the expression of a writer's life, and he admires beyond words the novels of Dostoievsky, for Dostoievsky feels with his characters, is for the time being part of them, whether they are good people or bad people. It was in this spirit that Charles Louis Philippe wrote "Marie Donadieu " and "Charles Blan- chard." But it is perhaps in the short story that he excels, especially in the volume called " Dans la Petite Ville." There is one tale in particular, " Jean Morentin," in which L'Ombre de la Croix " (1917)- i6 all the emotion is centred round a broken-legged table, and the elements of drama are there just as they are in certain Russian short stories, such as those of Sologub. For Charles Louis Philippe has the secret of raising, through perfection of language and style, the common-place, the inanimate even, to a level of sublimity intense with emotion. He finds his inspiration in the working classes, and relates in the most vivid manner, but with the utmost simplicity and subtlety, the events of their daily life — or, rather, he allows the inci- dents to speak for themselves and the emotion to seize us directly. He is interested only in the poor, and has the firm conviction that the working man and peasant will one day produce the greatest works of art ; he was encouraged in this belief after knowing Marguerite Audoux, the sempstress, author of that remarkable book, " Marie Claire." Marcel Proust has written a disconcerting book full of beauty and unlike anything I have ever read, called " Du Cote" de chez Swann." It is extremely long, and yet only the first volume of a trilogy, the second volume of which is announced for the end of 191 7. It is a book like a page of life, full of the little ordinary things, which, however, become significant when passion holds us in its bonds. Swann, so aristocratic and delicate in his tastes, so intelligent, condemns himself to lead an idiotic life among a circle of sordid people, so as to remain in the atmosphere of his mistress, Odette de Crecy, who turns him round her little finger and brings him almost to a state of imbecility. And his slightest sufferings, such as waiting for a letter which does not come or hearing a tune that he heard when he first met her — sufferings familiar to us all, and hence intensely interesting — are analysed with a subtlety and delicacy, a knowledge of life quite remark- able. The style is complex, rather as the style of some of our modern authors is complex, because Proust has much to convey that cannot be written in ordinary plain language. i7 Some of us, after reading- it, are filled with enthusiasm, just as Dostoievsky's long- narratives held us fascinated and made us live and share the sensations of the people described ; here also we are held, interested, and yet exasperated. In my opinion, it is the most remarkable novel that has appeared in France of recent years. Another book that appeared about the same time as " Du Cote" de chez Swann," written by a poet who but for the war would have produced great things, is " Le Grand Meaulnes." The author, Alain Fournier, has given us here a work of promise, a tale of great beauty and imagination — tender, poetical, and extremely original. " Le Grand Meaulnes " is Alain Fournier himself, but the symbolism is so naif, so simple, that it can be grasped without effort, and that is what perfect symbolism should be. The book, both with regard to the workmanship and the presenta- tion of the subject-matter, is a masterpiece. It is the story of a schoolboy who boards with his professor. This professor has a son, ordinary as many children are in the eyes of their immediate relatives, but as a matter of fact a very imaginative and unusual boy. The Grand Meaulnes becomes his friend, and tells him of the wonderful adventure, his great secret — that adventure at the same time so touch ingly human, so simple, and yet so marvellous and impossible. It came about in the most natural way : one day the Grand Meaulnes insists on fetching young SeurePs grandparents at the sta- tion : he snatches up the reins, and then somehow the horse carries him away far from the railway station to the country of his dreams, of his youthful aspirations and longings for beauty ; and the marvellous thing about it all is that real things do happen in a tangible form and everything is ex- plained, but so subtly, with such delicate art and perfection, that the poetry and reality are one. There is a wonderful mystery about the book, and a perfume sweet and simple as i8 of some delicate flower ; the originality lies in the combination of rare poetry and painful reality. Two writers, Ernest Psichari and Emile Nolly, are among the most distinguished of the numerous soldier writers who, long before the war, wrote and described military life in France or in the Colonies. Nolly has the gift of picturesque description and local colour, somewhat after the Loti school, and has written, among other books, " Le Conque>ant," an episode of life in Morocco. Psichari, the grandson of Renan, wrote the now famous " Appel des Armes," and a post- humous work, ' ' Le Voyage du Centurion. ' ' An earlier book, " Terres de Soleil et de Sommeil," were impressions of Africa after his experiences in the Colonial artillery. Psichari was a soldier by profession, and his books are a kind of memoirs and confessions of the revelation that mili- tary life was to him. He belongs to the generation that did not witness France's defeat, and for him war purifies and ennobles. He had a very high ideal of what an officer's life should be — that life where incertitude and dreams exist no more, but all is action, discipline, duty, and country. And, what is curious in the descendant of Renan, for him there is a kind of relation between the priest and the soldier. He works out this idea in his books. " Le Voyage du Cen- turion " is an essay in military and religious psychology, the description of the awakening of faith, the mystical quality in the soldier's profession, and how the religion of discipline brings him to the discipline of disciplines. It is Psichari's own story. On the eve of the war he was entering the Church his grandfather had separated from seventy-eight years ago, but immediately rejoined his regiment and fell in the retreat at Charleroi. Leon Bloy is an author who repels, in spite of the great beauty of his style : he repels because all his books are invec- tives, bitter and painful; and the pity of it is that Bloy, im- 19 bued with the language of the Scriptures, writes with such power of imagery and beauty. He is one of the greatest writers to-day, but he blasphemes and reviles the world, cries aloud and is devotional. " Le Desespere " is very well worth reading, however, and is perhaps his best book. Julien Benda made a certain stir with his novel " L'Ordi- nation, " which has been translated by G. Cannan under the title "The Yoke." It is a philosophical novel. Benda is an ardent exponent of Bergsonism, and has given here an analysis of the bondage of pity, which is extremely clever and well worked out. Elemir Bourges, Pierre Mille, Andre Gide, Paul Geraldy, Emile Clermont, Ren6 Boylesve,* &c. — space does not allow of more than a mention of their names. And among the hordes of women writers, one stands apart, far above them all, who is touched with genius. I mean Colette Willy, f Poetical Works. In literature, as in clothes, fashions come round in a kind of cycle, disguised under new names, but often fundamentally the same. Besides, these names — mere labels — do not ex- plain much, any more than do most names ending in ism. It is sufficient for our purpose to state here that after symbolism succeeded a simpler, more direct, form of poetry, more naked, all in line and rhythm, and inspired by a direct observation of life, whether in cities or in Nature. Rhythm, not rhyme, becomes the important factor, and a free verse, which is neither prose nor verse but belongs to both, is advocated with * Ren6 Boylesve's " L'Enfant a la Balustrade " gives an excellent idea of life in a small provincial town, with all its pettiness and ironies, and is charmingly written. t See her delightful book: " Sept Dialogues de Betes." 20 enthusiasm by poets such as Viele-Griffin, Stuart Merrill, Paul Fort, &c.* The Romantic school, a century before, had made an effort of liberation, but the movement is now different. In the nine- teenth century individualism was pushed to excess and separ- ated man from life, making for morbidity and decadence ; the twentieth century lyrists rediscovered life— continuous life, full of energy and action. Pessimism and sentimentality fade, the theory of art for art's sake disappears, literature is no more separate from life, but part of it, and the life of to-day alone counts : the regrets of the past, the dreams of to- morrow, no longer inspire, but only actual, present-day, glorious life, f To express the complex movement of modern life, a new aesthetic conception became necessary, a new form of verse even — freer, more dynamic, and rhythmic ; truer also be- cause inspired by reality, by a direct observation of life, in- stead of history and false sentimeht. The philosophy of mobility enters literature and art through the influence of Bergson, and it was realized by musicians, poets, painters, and sculptors that life is continuous, always moving, always being recreated, and that every individual effort is part of the rhythm of the universe. Thus, in modern music (Debussy), all is movement, rhythm ; poetry is exclusively lyrical ; in- spiration is no longer sought in decay and ruins, but in the workshop, the factory ; the pulsation of great modern cities, with their crowds (Romains) ; the life in theatres, bars, railway stations, docks, where feelings are pent high (Ver- haeren) ; in modern architecture, in the world transformed by science and man, in social efforts such as strikes (Maurice Magre). Poetry seeks its inspiration no longer * See the review, Prose et Vers, founded by this group of writers. t See the titles of this modern poetry, taken at hazard: " Le Triomphe de la Vie," " Les Chants de la vie ardente," &c. 21 in sentiment (hence the reaction in France to-day against Bourget and Rostand), but in the glory of life's spectacle and in all phases of modern and scientific life. Unfortu- nately, emotion is only reached by those whose talent is great enough to make the common-place divine (Verhaeren and Claudel). For the discoveries of modern science, with wire- less telegraphy, telephones, motors, aeroplanes, and sport in all its forms, travel and adventure widened the vision and horizon of man ; thus his emotions and sensations grew in proportion as his vitality became immeasurably strengthened, and a corresponding extension had to be given to literature, so that to the three eternal lyrical themes — Nature, Love, Death — and the lesser ones of Country and Glory, was now added a new theme : Life — modern life. Not only in poetry or music, but also in painting and in sculpture, all is movement — rhythm. Express trains, fac- tories, workshops, railway stations, and skyscrapers are the modern themes ; the theatre proper has come to a standstill ; dancing has been recognized as the supreme symphonic form of dramatic art. To Bergson must be traced this conception of symphonic, continuous movement, to him also the doctrine of intuition, of a metaphysical positivism freed from intellectualism, of the conciliation between biological science and the idea of God, which also entered the domain of art and literature. For the intelligence prevents us from seeing life, from reach- ing the absolute, and this new pantheism which has entered lyrical poetry, originating in an intuitive vision of things, is in harmony with modern realism and with the form of mind imposed by reality, more simple, and more direct. Through it came that mystical quality of modern French verse, such as we find in Claudel and F. Jammes. And now a word as to the new form : free verse and rhythmic prose. The doctrine, chacun doit trouver en lui- 22 meme sa forme rhythmique, can be carried too far, and very minor poets take advantage of this liberty to convey their thought without regard to workmanship or inspiration ; the climax is reached when we are given slipshod verse on themes such as " Chants de Five o'clock Tea " ! There is, as a matter of fact, no freedom in art ; beauty has its laws just as life has its laws, and a number of poets turned away from free verse, fearing its dangers and monotony, and preferred a kind of neo-classicalism. Great writers, such as Claudel and Verhaeren, however, have known how to com- bine the rhythmic and metrical elements in verse and give us something complete, and their own. Curiously enough, two of the most enthusiastic exponents of free verse, Viel6-Grifnn and Stuart Merrill, are French poets of American origin.* They were undoubtedly influenced by Walt Whitman, whom they greatly admired, and who has been admirably translated into French. Walt Whitman's influence is a study that would lead us too far, but one that should be made, for his songs of man, of comradeship, of cities and Nature, besides the form of his rhythmic verse, can be traced in French poetry to-day. Another influence, as important, is Rim- baud's, who travelled far afield in search of adventure and glory and knew how to see, thus teaching others to see. Be- sides Viele-Grifnn and Stuart Merrill, there are other poets of foreign origin, and perhaps that is why there is so much that is new and strong in the inspiration of to-day : Mor^as is Greek, Mme de Noailles is Roumanian, Verhaeren was Flemish. Verhaeren. Verhaeren exercised an enormous influence on the younger generation, and he towers above them all, so that, in spite of the fact that he belongs, properly speaking, to Belgium, * Note the interest taken to-day in America in French free verse, especially by the Boston Imagist poets. 2.3 I must give him the first place here. The volume containing " Les Campagnes Hallucinees," " Les Villes Tentaculaires," " Les Douze Mois," " Les Visages de la Vie," is very repre- sentative of his best work. He is not a poet of one move- ment or even of several movements, but a universal genius. His biography could be deduced from his bibliography. True Flemish, he is a painter, a colorist; his poems are pic- tures; and we not only see what he describes, but feel it. His wealth of imagination and strength of expression are unlimited. He was the first to see things in a certain way, and he has created a rhythm peculiar to himself and words which no one quite knew how to use before to express what he saw, enabling others to realize a category of emotions un- known before. It is he, above all others, who expresses the movement of great towns I have alluded to, of docks, thoroughfares, and modern architecture — he sees them with a kind of frenzied enthusiasm.* He glorifies modern life, its ardour, fever, strength, wealth. He sings the beauty of sea, mountain, and wind.f He gloried in life, every form of life :— " Tout m'est caresse, ardeur, beaute, frisson, folie, Je suis ivre du monde et je me multiplie Si fort en tout ce qui rayonne et m'eblouit, Que mon cceur en defaille et se delivre en cris."} Everything was matter for admiration, he declared, and our strength is in ourselves : — " II faut admirer tout pour s'exalter soi-meme, Et se dresser plus haut que ceux qui ont vecu."§ His philosophy of life is contained in the two volumes, " La Multiple Splendeur " and " Les Rhythmes Souverains " ; they * See " Les Villes Tentaculaires." + See " Les Forces Tumultueuses " and " Les Visages de la Vie. I '* La Multiple Splendeur." § ibid. 24 contain some of his best work and all the characteristics that I have noted at the beginning of this chapter, for they be- come general, extended to all the younger generation, such as the need to give up intellectual inspiration and sing our own experiences. He says somewhere how his poems are alive : " C'est avec mes yeux, mes mains, mon corps entier, aussi bien qu'avec mon cerveau, que je cree. " Claudel. His work is very complex and puzzling at a first read- ing, yet at the same time a great simplicity underlies it, for he has the secret of making the common-place sublime and the quality of his poetry is such that ordinary words become poetical and full of nobility and grace. Above all things, he sees. His imagination is infinite by its exactness, and he makes us see by the power of his poetic gift and the victory of his technique. He has controlled French poetry to his own uses, and we see not only the material world, but the abstract spiritual world, the beyond, the unknown, the absolute, thanks to a language simple and natural, yet full of images of surprising wealth and force and newness. His newness of vision is what distinguishes him from his contemporaries. There is a remarkable beauty in his poetical vision. His contemporaries have an unbounded admiration for his genius. Charles Louis Philippe compares him with Dante. He has been likened to an eagle, to a prophet, to a mountain sur- rounded by clouds, rent with thunder and lightning. Per- sonally I find it as difficult to explain the enthusiasm his poetry arouses as to understand the vogue that was given to Bergson. But he certainly supplies a need felt by the younger generation, for his work is the lyrical expression of a positive philosophy covered in a wealth of metaphors; most of it is contained in the " Cinq Grandes Odes." There is a harmony about his work that does not belong to the form 25 alone : plants, animals, then finally man, appear in har- monious order. * Claudel, the Catholic, the believer, is at the same time impregnated with the beauty of paganism and antiquity ; he is both a mystic and a realist : the two currents mingle in his work, conflicting and blending. With the " Odes," his most important works are the lyrical dramas,! in which the spirit of sacrifice is the under- lying note; God dominates and directs the drama. His theatre is even more disconcerting than his poetry and entirely disregards all modern mechanism of the stage. As a prose writer he is unsurpassed. The V Connaissance de l'Est " must be read slowly with infinite care, so that we realize how craftsmanship and idea and passion are subtly blended, the art in the choice of words and the assembling of those words, the rhythm of the sentence and of the page, so that we are left utterly satisfied and do not want a syllable changed. Compare the following description of Ceylon : — " Je me souviendrai de toi, Ceylon ! de tes feuillages et de tes fruits, et de tes gens aux yeux doux qui s'en vont nus par les chemins couleur de chair de mangue et de ces longues fleurs roses que l'homme qui me tramait mit enfin sur mes genoux quand, les larmes aux yeux, accable d'un mal, je roulais sous ton ciel pluvieux, m&chant une feuille de cinnamone. "J Francis Jammes. Francis Jammes, also a mystic and fervent Catholic, is nearer earth than Claudel, and easier to understand. His home is at Orthez, in the Pyrenees, in a charming little cot- tage where his companions are the birds and flowers and sea. * See his wonderful definition of man in the Second Ode. t See " L'Otage," " L'Annonce faite a Marie," " Partage de Midi." J " Connaissance de l'Est " (page 9). 26 He is essentially the poet of Nature, and has sung with a rare perfection of language and rhythm the joys and beauty of country life. His mysticism has a pagan note, too; no one has described so well the divine beauty of the human body among the woods or by the river. Through his sincere love and understanding of all Nature's spectacles, Jammes, in a too intellectual epoch, gave poetry a new life, a new impetus, a new direction, a greater sim- plicity. He says somewhere : " C'est vers la moderation et la simplicite que s'achemine l'art " and " Je veux que la vie d^crite soit d'une superbe simplicite."* Besides religious poetry, he has written short stories of a rare delicacy which remind one of Musset, but of a Musset more mystical and psychological ; he has a rare gift of making us see the people he has seen and loved. These three poets — Verhaeren, Claudel, Jammes — stand apart from the others. Then, at a good distance below, come a crowd of minor poets, some of whom are extremely interest- ing, but whose work space prevents my mentioning in detail here. I refer the reader to the two volumes of " Anthology," by Van Bever and Leautaud, which represents their work with great fairness, and to the Catholic anthology com- piled by Valery-Radot, where the note of religious mysticism which distinguishes many of the poets to-day can be seen at a glance. There is Jules Romains, author of " Odes et Prieres," who in chaste and severe language evokes the divine soul in groups, in crowds. Louis Le Cardonnel, author of " Carmina Sacra " (Latin titles are quite the fashion to-day). Adrien Mithouard, whose conception of life is both mys- tical and pagan, and who, though a poet of great talent, is * See Le Cardonnel's book (pages 56 and 57) for Jammes' definition of art. 27 President of the Paris Municipal Council, and a very active worker. Follower of Maurras, he has shown in his direct, simple, but suggestive verse, how Catholicism is essentially part of French life, and is necessary to the preservation of national unity. Charles Morice, friend and disciple of Verlaine, another ardent mystic and pagan, &c. Then there is the group of poets of the Nouvelle Revue Frangaise, for whom the events of daily life are matter for in- spiration : Francois Porche, Charles Vildrac, Duhamel, Andre Rivoire, Rene Ghil, Gustave Kahn, &c. And there is a whole crowd of poetesses who, stimulated by the success of Mme de Noailles, want apparently to prove that she does not exer- cise a monopoly in genius. One word, in conclusion, on the theatre of to-day. There is not much of interest to note : plays, even after three years of war, remain within the narrow confines of the triangle theme. Bernstein has a play now running at the Theatre Francais based on incidents of the war, but with the same eternal plot of husband, wife, and lover. No doubt, long after the war, a new theatre, nobler, purer, will come into existence, with a sense of what is really important, tragic, grave, and essential. But if there are no notable plays, there are interesting movements of reform in the theatre, such as we have also known of late in London, and also a reaction against the mediocrity and pretentiouness of Rostand, which augurs greatly for the theatre of the future. 28 Questions for Discussion. i. What is understood by symbolism in literature? 2. What does modern poetry in France owe to Verlaine, to Rimbaud, and to Walt Whitman? 3. Define Bergson's philosophy and trace its effect on the thought of to-day. 4. Why is there no such thing in reality as "Free Verse"? 5. How is it that French writers of to-day are so imbued with the Catholic religion? 6. Both literary criticism and dramatic art are to-day at a low ebb. Trace the reasons for this. 7. What is the connecting link in the present day between plastic art and literature? 8. In what does the lyrical expression of to-day in France differ from that of the nineteenth century? 9. Why and how did the Dreyfus affair affect art and literature ? 10. What is there in Claudel's poetry to arouse such en- thusiasm among his contemporaries? 29 BOOK LIST. CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT IN FRANCE, 1900-1914. REQUIRED. Fcg Bever, Ad Van, et Leautaud, Paul — Poetes d'Aujourd'hui (Mor- ceaux Choisis) (2 vols.) Mercure de France 7.00 Oardonnel, Georges le, et Vellay, Charles — La Litterature con- temporaine (1905) Mercure de France 3.50 s. d. * Wendell, Barrett— The France of To-day Constable 6 RECOMMENDED. Fcs Beaunier, A. — La Poesie nouvelle Mercure de France Duhamel, A.— Les Poetes et la Poesie (1912-1913) Mercure de France 3.50 Duhamel, A. — Paul Claudel Mercure de France 2.50 Gourmont, Remy de — Le Livre des Masques (2 vols.) Mercure de France, vol. 3 50 Gourmont, Remy de— Promenades litteraires (5 vols.) Mercure de France, vol. 3.50 Peguy, Charles — QEuvres choisies Bernard Grasset 3.50 Peguy, Charles— Le Mystere de la Charite de Jeanne d'Arc Plon-Nourrit 3.50 Peguy, Charles — Notre Patrie Edition de la Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 Suares, Andr6— Etude sur Peguy Edition de la Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 Claudel, Paul — Connaissance de FEst Mercure de France 3.50 Claudel, Paul — Trois Grandes Odes ... La Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 Claudel, Paul — L'Annonce faite a Marie La Nouvelle Revue frangaise 3.50 Philippe, Ch. Louis —Dans la petite Ville Fasquelle 3.50 Philippe, Ch. Louis — Charles Blanchard Ed. de la Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 Philippe, Ch. Louis — Lettres de Jeunesse Ed. de la Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 Philippe, Ch. Louis — Contes du Matin Ed. de la Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 3Q Fes. Psichari, Ernest — Le Voyage du Centurion Louis Conard 3.50 Fournier, Alain — Le Grand Meaulnes . Emile Paul 3.50 Proust, Marcel — Du Cote de chez Swann Bernard Grasset 3.50 Tharaud, Jerome et Jean Dingley Emile Paul 3.50 Tharaud, Jerome et Jean— La Maitresse Servante Emile Paul 3.50 Bedier, Joseph — La Roman de Tristan et Iseut Sevin et Rey 3.50 Bergson, Henri — Le Rire Alcain 2.50 Vildrac, Charles — Livre d' Amour Ed. de la Nouvelle Revue francaise 3.50 Benda, Julien — L'Ordination Emile Paul 3.50 Benda, Julien — Le Bergsonisme : . . . . Mercure de France 3.50 Bloy, Leon — Le Desespere Mercure de France 3.50 Radot, R. Vallery — Anthologie des Poetes Catholiques de Villon jusqu'a nos jours George Gres 3.50 Willy, Collette — Sept Dialogues de betes Mercure de France 3.50 Boylesve, Rene — L'Enfant a la Balustrade Calmann Levy 3.50 Clermont, Emile— Laure Calmann Levy 3.50 Tinayre, Marcelle — La Maison du Peche Calmann Levy 3.50 Maurras, Charles — La Politique religieuse Nouvelle Libraire Nationale 3.50 PLAYS. Claudel, Paul— Theatre (4 vols.) Mercure de France, vol. 3.50 Brieux, Eugene — Theatre Stock, vol. 3.50 Lemaitre, Jules — Impressions de Theatre. VI. VII, VIII, IX, X Lecene et Oudin, vol. 3.50 Capus, A.— Theatre Fasquelle, vol. 3.50 Hervieu, P.— Theatre Complet (3 vols.) ; . Fayard, vol. 3.50 REFERENCE. Symons, Arthur— Etude, Jammes s. d. Saturday Review, 15th Oct., 1898 Symons, Arthur— The Symbolist Movement in Literature Constable (1899) 5 Gosse, Edmund— French Profiles Heinemann (1902) 6 Bodley, J. E. C— France (new edition 1900) Macmillan 10 Fes. Doumic, Rene — Les Jeunes Perrin, vol. 3.50 Doumic, Rene— Le Theatre nouveau Perrin, vol. 3.50 Doumic, Rene— Etudes sur la Litterature francaise. III-IV Perrin, vol. 3.50 Faguet, Emile — Propos litteraires (Serie 5) Societe francaise d'imprimerie et de librairie 3.50 France, Anatole — Vie litteraire. IV Calmann Levy 3.50 Giraud, Victor— La Troisieme France Hachette 3.50 RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW JUL 2 2 IS33