HUMANITIES INSTITUTE FRENCH LITERATURE – 19th Century Buckner B Trawick, Ph.D.

OVERVIEW

Historical Background. The “new idealism and optimism whichhad begun about 1890 were strong during the first fourteenyears the new century. The philosophies of Bergson and Nietzsche were enjoying a great vogue. The period was one of colonialexpansion nationalism, and patriotism.

Intimations of trouble with Germany appeared as early as 1905, however, when the Kaiser insulted France at Tangiers; there was more friction at Agadir in 1911. Then, in 1914 came the storm which destroyed the German Empire and nearly devastated France.

The era between the firstand secondworld wars was one of disillusionment, frustration, and cynicism. Conflicting political and economicbeliefs made for instabilityin the government, and pacificism met opposition from those whofeared the resurgence of German militarism, especially after Hitler‟s rise to power in 1933. Thepragmatic philosophy of WilliamJames and the psychology of SigmundFreud had adeep effect onFrench thought during this Interim period.

Like the period following World War I, the years since the end of the last conflict havebeen filled with insecurity, disillusionment,and fear — especially the fear of Russia and of communism.

General View of the Literature, Many of thefin du siecle authors continued to produce inthetwentieth century. Naturalism and Symbolism werealready on thedecline, butno new school ofmajor significance tooktheir place. Many minor schools, to be sure, had brief vogues — neoromanticism, Vitalism, Dynamism, Paroxysm,Futurism, and others; but there has been no group of sufficient importance to stamp its name on an epoch. Several general tendencies, however, may be noted. First, during the early years of the century the optimism, nationalism, patriotism, and activism of theera determined the course of much of the literature. At the same time some writers were turning to mysticism and religion. During each world war some good war literature was written, and after each conflict the literature reflected the pessimism and frustration of the nation. During the twentieth century there have been two other persistent trends: (1) increasing interest in the inner workings of the mind, including the subconscious; and (2)increasing social and political bias. One of the latest artistic schools is thesurrealistic one, which (in painting as well as in literature) finds its material in the subconscious.

A recent philosophical movement of importance to literature is existentialism, of which Jean-Paul Sartre is the leader. This movement emphasizes the meaninglessness of the universe, the complete freedom of the will, and man‟s ability to create his own destiny.

POETRY

As has been suggested above, French Symbolism continued well on into the twentieth century, especially in the drama and in poetry. Some of the late Symbolists and also several other poets of the early 1900‟s were inspired by the optimism, idealism, and enthusiasm of the times. After the war of 1914-1918 the tone became more somber, and — as in the other types of literature — disillusionment and pessimism began to take over. Government, politics, social problems, and war became the themes of much French poetry. Vers libre and “poetic prose” were widely used.

Once again, although exact categorization is difficult, fourprincipal types of poets may be recognized: nature, religious, philosophical, and war.

Nature Poetry

Emile Verhaeren (1855—1916). A Belgian poet who wrote in French, “This lover of the open air, of sunshine, wind and rain, is more akin to Wordsworth than any other French poet.”1 He is particularly found of Flemish landscapes and of the bright and beautiful in nature. But he has other loves, too. Like Whitmanand Sandburg, he finds beauty and inspiration in the workaday world of men — the noise of their cities, the smoke of their factories, and the bustle of their commerce. He rejoices “in the vitality and violence of Nature, whether as triumphing in the marts of the world or as inextricably mingled with one‟s personal life and with the beauty of women.”2

His vers libre is unusual, abounding in the alternation of short and long lines. His rhythm has a strongly marked cadence, and he makes frequent use of Symbolistic suggestion and onomatopoeia.His greatest fault, perhaps, is too much violence: “We grow weary of hearing the siren shriek.”3 Nevertheless, his genuine enthusiasm, his energy, his terseness, and his excellent vocabularymake him a significant poet.

The most important of his twenty-odd volumes are:The Tumultuous Forces(Les Forcestumultueuses, 1902), The First Affections (LesTendresses premieres,1904), The MultipleSplendor (La Multiple splendeur, 1906), The SovereignRhythms(Les Rhythmessouverains, 1910), andMoving Wheat(Les Bles mouvants, 1913).

François Jammes (1868-1938). Jammes sees nature as a manifestation of God, and so he might be classed as a religious as well as a nature poet. He has often been compared with St. Francis of Assisi, and he has been described as “a Faun who has turned Franciscan Friar.”4 “He is essentially the poet of the countryside and of the beasts of the field, enjoying everything that a rural life can offer without ever seeking in nature a reflection of his own moods.”5

His finest volumes areFrom the Angelus of Dawn to the AngelusofEvening(De l'Angelus de l'aube al'angelus du soir, 1898) andThe Griefof thePrimroses(Le Deuil desprimeveres, 1901).

Paul Fort (1872-1960). The nature poet of the Ile de France, the region of which Paris is the center. His love for nature is childlike, and like Verhaeren, he rejoices in all that is bright and strong and full of life. He has been called “the most curious example of the poet — at the same time spontaneous and subtle, natural and picturesque, ingenious and wise, opulent and neglected.”6

Though his verses rhyme, he has the strange habit of printing each stanza as if it were a paragraph of prose.

His fame rests on his thirty-odd volumes ofFrench Ballads (Ballades françaises) in several series, published after 1912. Religious Poetry

Charles Peguy (1873-1914) must be added to those discussed above. Born at Orleans, he grew up in the midst of the cult of Joan of Arc, and to him she became the symbol of both France and Catholicism; he is medieval in his mysticism and devotion. His “my-steries” or quasi-epic poems about Joan are written in rhythmical prose, occasionally cut up into lines, and though repetitious, incoherent, and turgid in parts, have some passages of great sublimity.

Philosophical Poetry

Paul Valery(1871-1945) was an apostle of Mallarmeand the Symbolists and after Mallarme‟s death stopped writing poetry for nearly twenty years. Encouraged by Andre Gide and by now interested in the sciences, he began afresh about 1916. This poetry is guided by a “mathematical metaphysic” derived in part from Leonardo da Vinci. Valery maintains that “pure poetry” “should „eliminate life‟ in favor of a highly intellectualized conception and presentation. . . . Like Mallarme, he wishes to give a „sens plus pur‟ to the ordinary vocabulary and to symbolize abstruse themes.”7 His Symbolistic conventions and mannerisms—ellipsis, allegory, imperfect syntax—often lead to “uncon-querable obscurity” but some “consider him one of the chief writers of contemporary French literature.”8 Besides his poetry he is well-known for philosophical and literary essays and lectures.

War Poetry

Louis Aragon ( 1897- ) participated in the surrealistic movement and in communism. In World War II, after being evacuated at Dunkirk he became a leader of the underground resistance. His poetry on war, love, nature, and confidence in the future is, memorable; his poems from the war years are collected in the, volume Aragon, Poet of the French Resistance, 1945. But he was first known for novels, and later ones attempt to portray the whole of French society.

1 Butler, II, 340. 2 Nitze and Dargan, p. 759. 3 Nitze and Dargan, p. 760. 4 Mary Duclaux, Twentieth Century French Writers (London: W. Collins Sons and Co., 1919), p. 98. 5 Butler, II, 338. 6 Florian-Parmentier, quoted (in French) by Nitze and Dargan, p. 745. 7 Nitze and Dargan, pp. 800-801. 8 Wright, p. 895.

DRAMA

It has already been shown how Maeterlinck carried Symbolism in the drama well on into the twentieth century. Alsobeginning in the old century and continuing into the new were three othertypes of plays ─ the religious play, the “problem” play, and the neoromantic drama.

The Religious Play

Paul Claudel (1868-1955). Dramatist and diplomat (once ambassador to the United States), Claudel is a follower of Rimbaud and Mallarme in his literary method, which is synthetic associational, accumulative, and elliptical. His plays are written in rhythmical prose, divided into units of short lines or paragraphs. His poetic creed is that the poet alone can comprehend the universe and bring it into communion with the human mind. His theme is “the insufficiency of worldly success and „the beauty and duty of self-mastery.‟. . . Claudel‟s drama is, in fact, a glorification of activity and effort, as it is also a glorification of the Catholic religion. . .”1

Some of his best plays areGolden Head (Tete d‟or,1891),The Exchange (L‟Echange,1894), The Tidings Brought to Mary (L’Annonce faite a Marie, 1912), Agamemnon (1912), and The Hard Bread (Le Pain dur, 1917).

He has also written some excellent religious poetry, especially Verses of Exile (Vers d’exil, 1895).

The “Problem” Play

The influence of the naturalists, of Dumas the Younger ,of Augier, and of Ibsen can be seen in the so-called "problem" play, which flourished from 1890. Authors of this type of literature consider the stage a platform for the discussion of current questions andabuses. The problem dramas fall into two main categories: the psychological and the philosophical or sociological. The most otit standing authors of the psychological drama were GEORGES DE PORTO-RICHE (1849-1930), FRANÇOIS DE CUREL (1854-1928), and HENRI BATAILLE (1872-1922). The most eminent authors of the philosophical and sociological problem plays were CUREL (above), EUGENE BRIEUX (1858-1932) and CHARLES VILDRAC (1882- ).

The Neoromantic Drama

Representing a reaction against naturalism and pessimism, the French neoromantic dramas of 1890-1915 were enthusiastically acclaimed by the theatergoers. Some of these dramas are comedies, some histories, some tragedies. Maeterlinck‟s Symbolistic plays might logically be placed in this group. Other important authors of the new romantic play were HENRI DE BORNIER (1825—1901), FRANÇOIS COPPEE (1842-1908), and ROSTAND.

Edmond Rostand (1868-1918). Rostand is always a poet, and his best work is lyrical, heroic, and imaginative. His vocabulary is extraordinary. He excels in tense emotional situations and in “splendid climaxes.” He handles “with equal deftness passages of his-torical description, emotional love scenes, passages of adroit exchange of wit, and scenes of tender pathos.”2 His two most famous plays are Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) and The Eaglet (L’Aiglon,1900).

Cyrano de Bergeracis a romanticized account of the life of the seventeenth-century dramatist and novelist. Rostand‟s Cyrano is “a high-flown lover, a swaggerer and duellist, capable of everything from burlesque to rare self-sacrifice.”3 Because he has an ugly face (his enormous nose has become proverbial) and cannot hope to succeed in winning the heart of Roxane, he ghostwrites love letters to her for her accepted suitor Christian, who wins and marries her. Soon afterwards Christian is killed, but Cyrano keeps the secret of the wooing till near the end of his life. The revelation to Roxane as Cyrano approaches death provides a sentimental but effective conclusion.

The Eaglet, though somewhat weaker than Cyrano, is nevertheless an admirable play. It is the touching story of the son of Napoleon I ─ a son who himself aspires tok power and fame. His attempt at conspiracy fails, and he dies miserably.

1 Kathleen T. Butler, A History of French Literature (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923), II, 323-324. 2 H. Stanley Schwarz, An Outline History of French Literature (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1924), p. 129. 3 William A. Nitze and E. Preston Dargan, A History of French Literature, 3rd. ed. (New York: H. Holt and Co., 1950), p. 694.

FICTION

THE NOVEL

The novel is the richest field of twentieth-century French literature. The crop is so diversified that attempts at classification are difficult and perhaps meaningless. Six categories may, however, be established: psychological, exotic, satirical, idealistic, sociological and political, and biographical.

The Psychological Novel

The psychological novel was not, of course, a new phenomenon.Chateaubriandhad essayed to analyze the minds of his characters, but only a few novelists (notably Stendhal and Sainte-Beuve) had followed his example. It remained for Bourget to revive the novel of analysis.

Paul Bourget (1852-1935). Bourget was born at Amiens. Hestudied medicine for a time, but about 1873 he decided to become an author rather than a physician. His scientific training contributed a great deal to his success as a psychological novelist.

His novels fail into two groups. The earlier group (1885-1889) consists of pessimistic books which probe into the“soul-states”of men, e.g., Cruel Enigma (Cruelle Enigme, 1885), A Crime of Love (Un Crime d'amour, 1886), and Andre Cornelis (1887). In 1889, with the publication of The Disciple (Le Disciple), Bourget underwent a profound change. He became greatly concerned about spiritual matters and (later) embraced the Catholic religion; thenceforth his novels were more moralistic and didactic, and they stressed the spiritual element in man. The preface to his Promised Land (Terre Promise, 1892) states his view that “the inquiry into the inner and moral life ought to be carried on parallel to the inquiry into the exterior and social life — the one clarifying, searching into, and correcting the other.”1 The Halting-Place (L‟Etape, 1902), which follows his precept, is the story of a family who meet with inevitable disaster because they have wandered aday from their national, social, and religious traditions.

MARCEL PROUST (1871-1922). Proust was born in Auteuil, a suburb of Paris. His father was a prominent physician and author; his mother was rich and cultivated. Although Marcel was a frail child and suffered from chronic asthma, he was able to finish the Lycee Condorcet and then to attend the Univeristy of Paris, from which he received a diploma. After a short period of military service, he lived in Paris, where he was very popular in the world of fashion; he devoted a great deal of his attention to “theatres, churches, and young girls.”2 After 1906 his asthma and his morbid sensitivity to dust, noise, and odors led him to shut himself up in an unheatcd and unventilated room. “He spent most of his last seventeen years in bed, bundled up in a long nightgown, sweaters, mufflers, stockings, gloves, and nightcap. When he arose, he usually wore a heavy fur-lined coat, indoors as well as out.”3 His rare visits to the outside world were usually made at two or three o‟clock in the morning, at which time he would visit friends — if he could find any awake. All his important works were written after he became a recluse; on the day of his death (November 18, 1922) he was revising his Cities of the Plain.

Proust‟s work shows the influence of Stendhal, Balzac, Anatole France, Bergson, and Ruskin.

Remembrance of Things Past (A la Recherche du temps perdu),4 upon which Proust’s fame rests, is a tremendous roman-fieuve ("cycle-novel”; literally, “river-novel”), which runs to fifteen volumes in one edition. It consists of the following seven parts: Swann'sWay (Du Catede chez Swann, 1913), Within a Budding Grove (A L’Ombre dejeunes fillesen fleurs, 1918), The Guemantes Way (Le Cote de Guermantes, 1920-1921), Cities of the Plain (Sodome et Gomorrhe, 1920-1921), The Captive (La Prisonniere, 1923), TheSweet Cheat Gone (Albertine disparue, 1926), and The Past Recaptured (Le Tempsretrouve, 1928).

Somewhat reminiscent of Balzac‟s Human Comedy and of Zola‟s Rougon-Macquart series, the cycle has as its theme the moral decadence of French society and the obliteration of class distinctions. Three strata of society are shown: the aristocracy (the Guermantes family), the “established bourgeoisie” (Swann and his coterie), and the nouveaux riches (the Verdurin family); these are interlinked by marriage. Proust achieves further artistic unity by allowing Marcel (the hero of the cycle and in many ways a self- portrait of the author) to attend the social gatherings of each of these groups. Considerable portions of the cycle are concerned with Marcel‟s love affairs and his tastes in painting, music, and literature. Episode, from the last three quarter, of his life are recounted.

One of the most notable features of Proust‟s work is his psychological system. Like Bergson, he believes that “the immediateperception of reality ... [is] the basis of all knowledge ... [and that] our best instruments are neither the reason nor the conscious memory, but rather the spontaneous instinctive kind.”5 Proust‟s cycle relics, then, on introspection and subconsciously recaptured memories of his earlier life — memories which are often evoked by a name or a sensory stimulus; and one recaptured memory frequently suggests or recalls several others. Hence “vast correlations of sensations and ideas compose the texture of the novel, exteriorizing the network of the author‟s extraordinary brain.”6

As might be expected, such a procedure produces a formless, profuse, and often tedious novel. Furthermore, Proust repels some readers by his amoral attitude and his unshrinking depiction of vice and perversion. His appeal, therefore, is to a restricted group who value his work for its psychological accuracy and its exceptional gallery of characters.

The Exotic Novel

Pierre Loti (pseudonym of Julien Viaud, 1850-1923). The exotic novel is best represented by the works of Pierre Loti. His voyages while he was a French naval officer furnished him with the material for many descriptive works. “He is gifted with intense power of reproducing feelings and the effect of scenery: an absolute emotionalist, he belongs to the lineage of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and of Chateaubriand.”7 He is nearly always impressionistic and subjective. He ignores religion, morality, and philosophy; and he neglects plot and characterization. Since his main interest is in sensuous enjoyment and since he recognizes the transiency of the enjoyment, his works are pervaded by an air of melancholy. The scenes of some of his most famous novels are laid in many different lands: The Marriage of Loti (Le Mariage de Loti, 1880) in Tahiti; My Brother Yves (Mon frere Yves, 1883) and Icelandic Fisherman (Pecheur d’Islande, 1886) in Brittany; and The Disenchanted (Les Desenchantees,1906) in Turkey. During and after the First World War he wrote several attacks on Germany.

The Satirical Novel

ANATOLE FRANCE (pseudonym of Jacques Anatole Thibault, (1844-1924). Novelist, dramatist, satirist, critic, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in Paris, and there he attended the Catholic College Stanislas. In 1876 he was appointed Librarian to the Sen-ate. Although he published some poetry and criticisim before 1881, it was not till the publication of The Crimeof Sylvestre Bonnard in that year that he became famous. He became a member of the French Academy in 1896. Two years later the Dreyfus Affair changed him from an aloof philosopher to a man of action. He wrote several works in defense of the liberal cause, and he became interested in socialism and communism. During World War I he was at first ardently patriotic but later inclined toward pacificism. After the war he retired to his estate near Tours.

Most literary historians are at a loss when they try to classify France as a novelist. He is a dilettante. “In his attitude toward life Anatole France combines the tolerance ofMontaigne, thedeterminism of Taine, and the cynicism of the later Renan. . . . He ridicules all attempts, theological, metaphysical, or scientific, to arrive at absolute truth.”8 He frequently changes his point of view, and perhaps he is consistent only in his epicureanism and his devotion to beauty. His works are characterized by urbanity, sophistication, and a spirit of “universal raillery.” Occasionally he is savagely sarcastic; more often he is amusedly ironical or reservedly sympathetic. He is fond of paradox and contradiction. In his style are combined “a musical rhythm, pictorial beauty, and a feeling for the genius of French syntax which can only be described as exquisite.”9

France‟s most important works are as follows: (1) The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard(LeCrime de Sylvestre Bonnard, 1881), in which Bonnard, a kindheartcd old archeologist, commits the “crime” of kidnaping the orphaned daughter (in later editions, the grand-daughter) of his old sweetheart. He takes her away from a school where she has been mistreated. When her legal guardian is discovered to be an embezzler, Bonnard is forgiven for the abduction, and the child is made his ward. (2) Thais (1890), in which the monk Paphnutius succeeds in converting the beautiful courtesan Thais, but he loses his own soul as a result of his physical passion for her. Massenet‟s opera Thais is based on this tale. (3) “The Procurator of Judaea” (“Le Procurateur de Judee,” included in The Mother-of-Pearl Box [L’Etui de Nacre, 1892]), a short story in which France ironically depicts Pontius Pilate‟s obliviousness of his role in history (4) The Contemporary History (Histoire comtemporaine), a cycle of four novels:The Elm of the Mall (L’Orme du mail, 1897), The Osier Mannikin (Le Mannequin d’osier, 1897) The Amethyst Ring (L’Anneau d'améthyste, and Monsieur Bergeret in Paris (Monsieur Bergeret a Paris, 1901).

The last two deal with the Dreyfus Affair; all four are concerned with intrigue. France, through M. Bergeret, his mouthpiece, satirizes priests, soldiers, royalists, and scheming women. (5) Penguin Island (L’Ile des pingouins, 1908), in which an old, half-blind monk discovers an island full of penguins, which he mistakes for human beings. The volume is a satire on the progress of mankind; about a fourth of it is concerned with the Dreyfus case. (6) The Gods Are Athirst (Les Dieux ont soif, 1912), in which France satirizes man‟s inhumanity as shown in the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. (7) The Revoltof the Angels (La Revolte des anges, 1914), an anti-Christian satire in which a group of angels tire of heaven and descend to Paris.

The consensus of critical opinion is that France is the greatest French author of his era.

Andre Paul Guillaume Gide (1869-1951). Gide is remembered for three books of criticism — Pretexts(Prétextes,1905), New Pretexts (1911), and Incidences (1925); and for his novels attacking the puritanical and intolerant attitude: The Immoralist(L’Immoraliste, 1902) is partially autobiographical and defends libertarianism; Strait Is the Gate (LaPorte etroite,1909) attacks the narrowness of Protestant beliefs; The Counterfeiters (LesFaux- Monnayeurs, 1925), Gide‟s masterpiece, is an indictment of those who teach false morals ─ those who “counterfeit” moral precepts. The novel tells the tale of Bernard Profitendieu, who leaves home because he believes himself illegitimately born.

Also important are Gide‟s Journals, which cover the years 1889-1939 and 1942-1949. The journal was for Gide a form for expressing “thoughts too fugitive, too homely and intimate, too pressing to be expressed appropriately or at all unless in jotting.”10 The Journals are thus especially valuable for giving us Gide‟s “off-the- record” observations, which, “in their cursiveness, have caught the feel of universal problems and the curve of their coming solution.”11

In 1947 Gide was awarded the Nobel prize. Gide‟s early approval of communism was withdrawn after a visit to Russia in 1935-1936, and he expressedhisdisillusionment in Return from the U.S.S.R (Retour de l’U.R.S.S., 1936) and Afterthoughts on the U.S.S.R (Retouches a mon retour de l’U.R.S.S., 1938).

Gide lias long been famous as a stylist, and his influence on younger French writers has been very great.

The Idealistic Novel

Romain Rolland (1866-1944). Rolland was born at Clamecy in Burgundy. He attended the Ecole Normale in Paris and for several years was a professor of music at the Sorbonne. During the First World War his pacificism and internationalism madehim unpopular, and he retired to Switzerland. After the armistice he becameinterested in Russiancommu-nism. His last years were spent principally in writingabout music,musicians,and soci-opolitical matters.

Rolland is well known for his critical and biographical works on musicians, especially Goethe and Beethoven(1930) and Beethoven: The Great Creative Epochs (Beethoven:Les Grandes epoques creatrices, 1928-1937).12

Jean Christophe (1904-1912), a ten-volume cycle novel, is, however, his most famous work. This is a spiritual biography of a Germanmusician who goes first to Paris and then to Switzerland and Italyin an attempt to find happiness. Dawn (L’Aube), The Adolescent (L’Adolescent), and The Revolt (La Revolte) recount the hero‟s early life in Germany andhis fleeing to Paris to escape German sentimentalism. The Market on the Exchange (La Foire sur la Place) tells of Jean's struggles in Paris and of the indifference of the Parisians — an account based partially on the experiences of Wagner. Antoinette deals with a love affair. At Home (Dans la maison) and The Friends (Les Amies) are concerned with various social and political experiences, wherein Jean finds some measure of satisfaction. In The New Day (La Nouvelle journee) the hero goesto Italy, where he finds serenity in a “twilight amour” with Grazia, an attractive Italian countess.

Jean Christophehas little plot, and its author has been censured for his disregard of form, diffuseness of language, didacticism, and lack of perspectiveand of sense of humor. The cycle has been admired, on theother hand, for its moral earnestness and its idealistic faith that conscientious struggle will eventually bring victory over materialism, meanness, and mediocrity. Furthermore, the cycle gives a wonderful panoramic view of life, and Christophe himself is a lovable and human character.

The Sociological and Political Novel

George Duhamel (pseudonym of Denis Thevenin, 1884- ).Duhamel served as an army doctor during World War I;his experiences in the army helped to develop him into a mature novelist.

Duhamel‟s Life of the Martyrs (Vie desMartyrs,1917) expresses his sympathy for the victims of war, and Civilization(1918) is an indignant attack on a “civilization” which would lead to a world massacre. A later tetralogy continues his sorrow over the “wreckage of society”; Salavin, the leading character, is a mean and irresponsible yet interesting and pitiable creature. The four Salavin novels are Midnight Confession (Confession de minuit,1920), The Abandoned Men(Les Hommes abandonnes, 1923), Two Men (Deux hommes, 1925), and Salavin's Journal (Journal de Salavin, 1927). Another series of novels, The Pasquier Chronicles (La Chronique des Pasquier, 1933-1944) depicts life in France before the First World War. A lower middle-class family is the center of this life, and people of other spheres are shown occasionally. The canvas is large; many charactersare drawn in some detail, but the series does not go so deeply into any one character as the Salavin novels do. The Pasquier series is somewhat inferior to the Salavin one.

“An intense identification of himself with others is considered the hall-mark of M. Duhamel,”13 and he is noted for his “mystic fervor” ─ somewhat similar to that of the Russian novelists of the early part ofthe twentieth century. His first works have been censured for sentimentality and lack of clarity and of originality. At its best, however, his writing is clear and realistic, and his sensitivity and “spiritual insight” have made him one of the most important French novelists of this century.

Jules Romains (pseudonym of Louis Farigoule, 1885- ). In 1908 Romains published The Unanimistic Life (La Vie unanime), in which he stated his theory of “unanimism” — the belief that the group is of the greatest importance and that the individual can attain significance only when merged with this group. Romains shared this belief with Duhamel.

Romains‟ novelsare even more important than his philosophical work. The Regenerated Town ( Le Bourgregenere, 1906) tells how a socialistic idea transforms a stagnant little town into an alert and progressive community. In The Death of Someone (Most dequelqu’un, 1911), Romains demonstrates how closely related to each other our lives are: the death of an aging engineer affects the lives of dozens of people. Lucienne (1922) is the study of an attractive woman who tries to break the hold which a bourgeois family (an “unfit group”) has on the man she loves. In 1931 Romains began a series of novels to illustrate his unanimistic theories; these were published under the general title Men of Good Will(Let Hommes de bonne volonte).This is a tremendous series, consisting of twenty-seven novels, the last published in 1946. Here Romains gives prophecies and describes major world events from 1908 down into the 1920's. He draws portraits of many great historical figures of the age ─ for example, Poincare, Lenin, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Petain. He gives a “juxtaposition of various worlds: the army, the Church, the political scene, the medical world, the French Academy; all the familiar themes of the novel: love, crime, pathos, worldliness, friendship, the greatness of obscure and humble characters, the selfishness and pride of the mighty.”14 So diverse is the subject matter (two volumes, for instance, are given to the battle of Verdun and two to a detective story) that Saurat remarks: “Every type of reader will find something in this extraordinary series.”15 The same commentator finds Romains (in The Men of Good Will) superior to Balzac in coherence and almost equal to that nineteenth-century novelist in the description of the “mentality and intrigues of professional literary men.”16

Romains also wrote several plays.Perhaps the most noteworthy areKnock, or theTriumph of Medicine (Knock, ou le Triomphe de lamedecine, 1923) and The Dictator (Le Dictateur, 1926).

Romains' works are distinguished by “sympathy in feeling, simplicity or a sort of scientific classicism style, and originalitiy in treatment.”17

Andre Malraux (1901- ). The son of prominent Parisians, Malraux studied Chinese and Sanskrit at the School of Oriental Languages. In 1923 he went to Indo-China, where he at first was engaged in archaeological research. Then he became interested in politics, joined the Young Annam League, which favored dominion status for Indo-China, and later took part in the National Liberation Movement.

All his novels are concerned with political and labor struggles. The Conquerors (Les Vainqueurs, 1928) has its scene laid in China during the late 1920's. Man's Fale (La Condition humaine, 1933) deals with the Chinese Revolution of 1924. Days of Wrath (LeTemps du mepris, 1935), an attack on Nazism, depicts, the concentration camps and the treatment of political prisoners inGermany.FİNALLY, MAN’S Hope (L’Espoir,1937) is concerned with the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), in which Malraux served as a Loyalist aviator.

Malraux is skillful in describing the states of mind of his characters when they are in tense situations, and he is adept at catching and transmitting to the reader the danger and excitement of a great conflict between two political factions.

CAMUS AND SARTRE

Albert Camus (1913-1960). Born and educated in Algeria Camus held jobs there and in Europe in journalism, the theater teaching, and publishing. He married and had two children. During World War II he was active in the Franch Resistance. Winner ofthe Nobel Prize in Literature for 1957, he was a novelist, playwright, and essayist, but above all a moralist. In 1960 he was killed in automobile crash in France.

The Stranger (L’Etranger,1942) is a powerful novel which attests to Camus‟ abilities as a master of controlled art and deliberately simple narration. It reveals overwhelming emotional evidence of the absurdity of the attempt by the human mind to explain the inexplicable world in human terms. The Plague(La Peste,1947), a novel, is Camus‟ most anti-Christian work. It dwells on the injustice of Christianity, evidenced by the sacrifice of the innocent as exemplified by the death of a child, victim of the plague. The chronicle testifies to the violence and injustice imposed on the city of Oran and to the belief that in times of tribulation man reveals more admirable than despicable traits. It is marked by constant understatement in descriptive style, the precise use of administrative terms and official language, the deliberate banality of words, and the use of irony to bring out the full horror of a situation. Camus' principal plays arel Caligula (1938), Cross-Purpose (Le Malentendu, 1943), and TheJust (Les Justes,1950). Caligula represents Camus the young writer with its pathetic beauty, exuberant freshness, and vitality. Cross-Purpose is an improbable melodrama marked by economy of construction, terseness, simplicity, and gloom. Despite its sincerity and idealism, The Just is verbose, rhetorical and naive, and exemplifies Camus‟ frequent over-simplification of ideas. His most significant non-fiction writingi art The Myth of Sisyphus (Le Mythede Sisyphe, 1942) and The Rebel (L’Homme revolte,1951).

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905- ), philosopher, essayist, novelist, dramatist, and writer of short stories. Bom in Paris, Sartre was graduated in philosophy, taught in Laon and Le Havre and then studied in Berlin. In France he became a professor in the Lycee Pasteur at Neuiliy. He was taken prisoner by the Germans in 1940 and repatriated in 1941. He abandoned teaching for journalism and in 1946 founded the “revue” Let Temps modernas.

His first novel, often considered his masterpiece, was Nausea (La Nausee, 1938), formed as the intimate journal ofa young bachelor. Perhaps more accuratelydesignated a philosophical essay, it displays most of Sartre's interestsexcept political ones ─ freedom bad fatih, the character of the bourgeoisie, the nature of though, memory, art, and the phenomenology of perception. Sartre‟s mostambitous literary endeavor is a series of four novels (the last still incomplete) entitled The Highroads of Liberty (Les Chemins de la liberte, 1945). Dealing with, respectively, prewar Europe, the Munich crisis, and the fall of France in World War II, all of the first three books contain a study of people asserting or denying their freedom in order to achieve their fullness of being. Indecision and time are important factors in the creation of the individual‟s essence.The Wall (Le Mur, 1939), set against the Spanish civil war, is a collection of short stories in which “unauthentic” beings refuse to accept their liberty. Sartre‟s dramas are based on the same themes of liberty, responsibility, and heroism. The Flies(Les Mouches, 1943) is in the form of a Greek drama. The Respectful Prostitute([La Putain respectueuse, 1946) is set in the Deep South of the United States. The Chips Are Down (Les Jeux sont faits, 1947), written as a scenario, shows the futility of life.

Sartre is the exponent of an existentialism (inspired in part by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger) midway between Christian spiritualism and Marxist materialism. In his works he seeks to illustrate the propositions that: God does not exist; therefore man emerges in an absurd world which has no more reason or finality than man himself, and man is NOTHING—nothing more than a body indissolubly bound to a conscience which is perceptible only when something fills it. But man has one attribute: freedom of choice. He is free to construct his life as he will without benefit of a nonexistent deity or of a nonexistent human nature; we are what we make of ourselves, and the hero, for Sartre, chooses spontaneously outside of all conformity the act which truly expresses his nature. It is these tenets which underlie Sartre‟s formula: “Existence precedes essence.”

Sartre shows exceptional power of observation, but has a deformed conception of existence and systematically downgrades human values. It his artistic style which makes him acceptable; he is direct; his pages give the impression of being spoken rather than written;and he employs the language of the people, which is slangfilled picturesque, strong, imperious, and teeming with images.

NONFICTION

BIOGRAPHY

Andre Maurois (pseudonym of Emile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog, 1885- ). Maurois is well known for his amusing sketches ofBritishcharacter types of the First World War — especially The Silenceof Colonel Bramble(Le Silence de Colonel Bramble, 1919). More famous, perhaps, are his biographies. In the first of these, Ariel: The Life of Shelley (Ariel: La Vie de Shelley, 1923), Maurois showed himself a disciple of Lytton Strachey. A romanticized biography ora“psychological romance,” Ariel established a vogue which was popular for twelve or fifteen years. Maurois has also written novels and essays.

Notes

1 Quoted (in French) by Butler, II, 326. 2 Nitze and Dargan, p. 787. 3 Edward H. Weatherly and Others, The Heritage of European Literature (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1949), II, 691. 4 The English titles of the whole cycle and of each book (except the last one) are those used by Charles Scott-Moncrieff, who took the title for the cycle from Shakespeare‟s Sonnet XXX, 1-2. 5 Nitze and Dargan, p. 789. 6 Nitze and Dargan, p. 790. 7 C. H. C. Wright, A History of French Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1925), p. 879. 8 Butler, II, 328. 9 Butler, II, 328. 10 Van Meter Ames, Andre Gide(New York: New Directions, 1947), p. 143. 11 Ames, p. 143. 12 The English translation of the work bears the title Beethoven the Creator. 13 Nitze and Dargan, p. 785. This identification is part of his “unanimism” (see Romains, p 147). 14 Wallace Fowlie, Clowns and Angels: Studies in Modern French Literature (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1943), p. 62. 15 Denis Saurat, Modern French Literature, 1870-1940 (New York: G. P. Putnam‟s Sons, 1946), p. 122. 16 Saurat, p. 122. 17 Nitze and Dargan, p. 781.

Bibliography for Modern French Literature

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Dowden, Edward. A History of French Literature. New York:D. Appleton abd Co., 1898.

Duclaux, Agnes Mary. Twentieth Century French Writers. London: W. Collins Sons and Co., 1919.

Faguet, Emile.A Lİterary History of France. New York: Charles Scribner‟s Sons, 1907.

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Nitze, William A., and E Preston Dargan. A History of French Literature. 3rd ed. New York: H. Holt and Co., 1950.

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A Short History of French Literature. 5th ed. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1897. Saurat, Denis. Modern French Literature, 1870-1940. New York: G. P. Putnam‟s Sons, 1946.

Schwarz, H. Stanley. An Outline History Of French Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1912.

Thody, Philip, Albert Camus, A Study of His Work. Hew York: Grove Press, 1959.

Thompson, Stith, and John Gassner. Our Heritage of World Literature. New York: Dryden Press, 1947.

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