The Role of Rimbaud in Char's Poetry Author(S): Virginia A
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The Role of Rimbaud in Char's Poetry Author(s): Virginia A. la Charité Source: PMLA, Vol. 89, No. 1 (Jan., 1974), pp. 57-63 Published by: Modern Language Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/461668 . Accessed: 21/10/2013 15:43 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Modern Language Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to PMLA. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 143.107.8.30 on Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:43:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions VIRGINIA A. LA CHARITE The Role of Rimbaud in Char's Poetry RENE CHAR is the rarepoet who unhesitat- For Char and Rimbaud, poetry is man's instru- ingly acknowledges the artistic sources of ment for the refutation of meaninglessness and his creative vision, teleology, and practice. misery; both are consistent in their conviction In La Conversation souveraine (Recherche de la that life is worthwhile: base et du sommet, Paris: Gallimard, 1965), he Esclaves, ne maudissons pas la vie! (Rimbaud, identifies and appraises those poets to whom he is "Matin," Une Saisonen enfer) indebted as a poet, and he categorically states that Rien ne m'obsedeque la vie. (Char,"Le Meteoredu his three major precursors are the philosopher 13 aout," Fureuret mystere,1948) Heraclitus, the painter Georges de La Tour, and the poet Arthur Rimbaud: Poetry has the position that religion assigns to God; it is the macrocosm of existence, the com- Avec Rimbaud la poesie a cesse d'etre un genre lit- mon denominator of homogeneity, the principle teraire, une competition. Avant lui, Heraclite et un of truth and it is not and peintre, Georges de La Tour, avaient construit et action; only a-spatial montre quelle Maison entre toutes devait habiter a-temporal, but, unlike a divinity, it is also im- I'homme:a la fois demeurepour le souffleet la medi- mediately accessible in the present. In "Arthur tation. (p. 102)' Rimbaud," Char summarizes this vision: La vraie le colosse ne se forme Moreover, Rimbaud is quantitatively more promi- vie, irrecusable, que dans les flancsde la poesie. (p. 100) nent than either Heraclitus or La Tour, for among L'instrumentpoetique invente par Rimbaud. serait all of Char's texts, Rimbaud receives the hommage notrederniere chance de retrouverles pouvoirsperdus ? greatest attention and admiration. In 1957, Char (p. 103) published an edition of Rimbaud's complete works, and, to date, he has written three texts In "Nous avons" (La Parole en archipel, 1962), devoted solely to Rimbaud and three others in Char clarifies and codifies this concept: "Poesie, which Rimbaud's uniqueness is discussed and unique montee des hommes." delineated.2 However, Char's hommage to Rim- In order to unveil "le present perpetuel," Char baud, the only poet who "n'humilie pas le Pays and Rimbaud adopt the very same poetic stance qu'il revele" ("Page d'ascendants pour I'an (Char, "Arthur Rimbaud," p. 100). Revolt is a 1964," pp. 81-82), goes beyond mere admiration; key concept, and this spirit of protest and offensive it is based on Char's awareness that he is estheti- action characterizes both poets in several ways. cally indebted to Rimbaud. The purpose of this Char and Rimbaud defy esthetic rules and con- article is to assess the exact nature and extent of ventions and proclaim artistic freedom; they are Rimbaud's role in Char's poetry.3 against all literary schools and doctrines, com- Char and Rimbaud share a cosmic vision of a mercial art, organized religion, bourgeois con- universe humanized by poetry. They begin with formity. It is true that this spirit of defiance char- the intuitive knowledge that the discord, frag- acterizes the young Char of Les Cloches sur le mentation, and multiplicity which characterize caur (1928) and Le Marteau sans maitre (1934; man's daily existence and his world are contradic- this last title is significant in itself) more dramati- tory in appearance only, for beneath the flux, cally than the mature Char of later volumes, but chaos, and disorder there is a totality of essence. revolt and its possibilities remain a consistent It is the role of poetry to unify the fragments, re- motif in all of his work, and this was one of the veal the original permanent oneness of the cosmos, initial concepts that attracted him to Rimbaud's discover man's integral position in that harmony, work. Rimbaud is well known as "l'enfant ter- and lead him to beauty, fulfillment, and dignity. rible" or "le Voyou," and numerous texts in 57 This content downloaded from 143.107.8.30 on Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:43:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 58 The Role of Rimbaud in Char's Poetry Poesies ("Les Douaniers," "Accroupissements," attainment of this goal, maintains, nevertheless, "Les Pauvres a l'eglise," "Ce qu'on dit au poete a the secret conviction that he reached and fulfilled propos des fleurs"), Une Saison en enfer, Illumina- his aim: "je tiens le systeme" ("Delires II," Une tions, and his letters to Izambard and Demeny re- Saison en enfer), "Je sais aujourd'hui saluer la veal this stance, often in scandalous terms. Revolt beaute" ("Delires II"), "la victoire m'est acquise" also reaches scandalous proportions in Char's ("Adieu," Une Saison en enfer). For Char, the work: "I1 est reconfortant de penser que les im- poet is the active unifier; he is "l'homme de la beciles n'en sauront rien" ("note de tirage," Arse- stabilite unilaterale" (No. 28, Partage formel in nal, 1929). Both Char and Rimbaud demand Fureur et mystere, 1948), "le passeur de tout cela that the poet be a rebellious force. The following qui forme un ordre" (No. 27, Sur la poesie, 1967), partial list of Char's descriptions for his role as "le faiseur de pain" ("Argument," Seuls demeu- poet are equally applicable to Rimbaud: "en- rent, 1945), "cet inconnu equilibrant dont je dis- traineur d'hypnose," "grande brouette des mare- pose" (No. 50, Sur la poesie). For both Rimbaud cages," "justicier des courants inhumains," "car- and Char, the poet precedes the man of action; nassier," "envahisseur," "grand Commenceur," the poet is the doer, the one who is first in the ex- "magicien," "alchimiste,"4"aventurier," "furieux," perience of the oneness of life. The poet is man's "incendiaire,"5"solitaire," "visionnaire," "vigueur," guide, his agent, and he is responsible to man. "porteur d'alluvions en flamme."6 Revolt is both The idea of moral responsibility in Rimbaud's necessary and valid in poetic action: "je me re- work is ignored, neglected, and scorned, and it is volte, donc je me ramifie" (No. 34, Age cassant, true that Rimbaud himself does not accept it; 1966). Furthermore, Rimbaud and Char refuse to however, Rimbaud does recognize categorically accept human manifestations of mass man and, in- that the poet, and he Rimbaud in particular, has stead, proclaim the individual: "Je cours le mal- an obligation: "II faut que j'en aide d'autres: c'est heur des humains, le depulpe de son loisir" mon devoir" ("Delires I," Une Saison en enfer). ("L'Oiseau spirituel," La Parole en archipel, 1962). Rimbaud consistently seeks a new ethic beyond A second similarity in poetic spirit is that of the usual code of good and evil, and he even anguish as a positive characteristic inherent in the posits a possible moral stance: "Je veux la poetic condition and conducive to poetic creation. liberte dans le salut" ("Mauvais sang," Une Char and Rimbaud view anguish as obligatory, Saison en enfer). In a similar vein, Char rejects all but where Rimbaud is never able to resign himself previous traditional concepts of good and evil and to having to accept it ("Angoisse," Illuminations), envisages liberty as the only moral good; yet, un- Char utilizes it and converts it into a constructive like Rimbaud, Char demands, affirms, and accepts means for poetic triumph: "Le poete, susceptible poetic responsibility in a moral sense (Dehors la d'exageration, evalue correctement dans le sup- nuit est gouvern6e, 1938; Seuls demeurent, 1945; plice" (No. 154, Feuillets d'Hypnos, 1946). Char Feuillets d'Hypnos, 1946; Les Matinaux, 1950; A remains aware of his limits as man and poet, while, une s6renite crispee, 1951). Fundamentally, Char on the contrary, Rimbaud frequently forgets his places his faith in man; he is a humanist who not limits and is frustrated when he is forced to accept only defends man as capable and worthy of dig- them. nity but also poeticizes man, for in his work A third important affinity in spirit is their con- he substitutes the term man for poet (Lettera cept of the poet's role. The primary role of the amorosa, 1953; Les PoAmesde deux ann6es, 1955). poet is to discover totality and communicate this On the contrary, Rimbaud humanizes poetry but discovery. For Char and Rimbaud, the poet is does not poeticize man. Despite his revolt against the initiator, what Rimbaud calls "le principe"7 the futility of man's existence, Rimbaud's poetry is and what Char describes as matinal in Les Mati- not humanistic but supernaturalistic. Rimbaud naux (1950).