The Personalism of Denis De Rougemont
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! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The personalism of Denis de Rougemont: ! Spirituality and politics in 1930s Europe! ! ! ! ! ! Emmanuelle Hériard Dubreuil! ! St John’s College, 2005! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This dissertation is submitted for the degree of! Doctor of Philosophy! !1 ! ! !2 Abstract! ! ! ! ! ! Neither communist, nor fascist, the personalist third way was an original attempt to remedy the malaise of liberal democracies in 1930s Europe. Personalism puts the emphasis on the human person – understood to be an individual in relation to others – as the foundation and aim of society. Yet, because of the impossibility of subjecting the human person to a systematic definition, personalism remains complex and multifaceted, to the extent that it might be best to speak of ‘personalisms’ in the plural. The various personalist movements that emerged in France in the 1930s are little known, and the current historiography in English misrepresents them. ! This dissertation is a study of the various personalist movements based in France in the 1930s, examining their spiritual research and political philosophy through the vantage point of Swiss writer Denis de Rougemont (1906-1985). In Rougemont lies the key to understanding the personalist groupings because he was the only thinker to remain active in the two foremost movements (Ordre Nouveau and Esprit) throughout the 1930s. The personalism of Ordre Nouveau was the most original, in both senses of the term. It deserves particular attention as an important political philosophy and an attempt to justify political and economic federalism in 1930s Europe. Whilst an Ordre Nouveau activist, Rougemont can be looked upon as the mediator and federator of personalisms in the 1930s. ! However, Rougemont’s particular contribution to personalist thought was more spiritual and theological than political or economic. Rougemont saw it as his vocation, in a strict religious sense, to oppose ‘totalitarian’ regimes. In the final analysis, Rougemont’s personalism was best expressed in the minor classic L’Amour et l’Occident (1939). Love, as the affirmation of personal freedom and responsibility vis-à-vis other persons, is the closest illustration of what lies at the heart of the personalism of Denis de Rougemont. ! !3 ! !4 Preface! ! ! ! ! ! This dissertation is my own work and contains nothing which is the outcome of work done in !collaboration with others, except as specified in the text and Acknowledgements. ! The dissertations does not exceed the regulation length of 80,000 words excluding footnotes, !references, and bibliography. ! Primary texts have been quoted in the original French, including any inconsistencies in the !spelling of names. ! ! !5 Acknowledgements! ! ! ! ! ! My gratitude goes first to the scholars who have preceded me in writing about personalism and about Denis de Rougemont. Here, I thank especially Bruno Ackermann, who has not only supported the idea of another researcher working on Denis de Rougemont, but also opened up the archives for me, helped to arrange my research visits, and provided me with photocopies of many of Rougemont’s articles. Christian Roy has also helped me with a great generosity of spirit. I thank him for sharing his expertise on personalism in six languages, for his constant stimulus,! and for his invaluable aid in reading the whole of the finished manuscript. I am most grateful to Dr Robert Tombs for giving generously of his time to supervise me on a subject initially far from his expertise. I could not have done without his ability to decode Franglais, and his encouragement and advice have been most important to me. Stephen Thomas has made some crucial suggestions on my draft introduction and Chapter 1, helping me to accept that a comprehensive introduction to personalism (as indeed of any – ism) was an impossible task, and thus making the final product come out earlier and I hope clearer. Marcus Plested has read the entire draft as a friend and I thank him for his special sense of! le mot juste in English. Research for this dissertation was made possible by St John’s College, the British Council, and the Cambridge European Trust. On various occasions the History Faculty supported my research visits to Neuchâtel and Paris. I thank all these institutions. The following libraries and archives and their staffs are gratefully acknowledged: the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Neuchâtel and, in particular, Madame Maryse Schmidt-Surdez, Conservatrice des Manuscrits; the Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe and, in particular, Monsieur Henri Rieben and Madame Claire Camperio-Tixier; the Centre d’Archives Européennes in Coppet and, in particular Monsieur Lubor Jilek; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France; the Bibliothèque de l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris; the Bibliothèque de l’Institut Catholique de Paris; the Cambridge University Library; the British Library of Political and Economic Science; and St John’s College Library. Thanks to the assistance of Bruno Ackermann, Madame le Professeur Doris Jakubec and Madame José-Flore Tappy, I was able to spend a month working at the Centre de Recherche sur les Lettres Romandes, at the Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire de Lausanne, which is my most pleasant library !experience to this day. Finally, my gratitude goes to all the family and friends who have taken care of me in the last three years. For their hospitality during my research visits, I should like to thank warmly Martine and Nicolas Zaech, Lucie and Maxime Egger, Laurence and Sophie Muguet, as well as Dominique and Alain Jacquet. I dedicate this dissertation to my father and his Cambridge! group. !6 ! !7 Abbreviations! ! ! ! ! ! B.P.U.N.: Bibliothèque Publique! et Universitaire de Neuchâtel AF: Action! Française NRF: Nouvelle Revue! française ! ON: Ordre Nouveau ! ! !8 ! ! ! !9 ! Table of contents! ! ! ! Abstract ......................................................................................................................................3 Preface ........................................................................................................................................5 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................6 Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................8 Table of contents ......................................................................................................................10 Introduction .............................................................................................................................13 Personalism: the problem of definition ....................................................................................................13 Denis de Rougemont: an unjustly neglected personalist ..........................................................................18 Historiographical issues: method and interpretation ................................................................................19 Structure of the dissertation ......................................................................................................................22 Chapter 1. Emergence of personalism in 1930s France: contingency and continuity .........25 1. Personalism in 1930s France: invention, renewal and transfer ...............................................25 Generational identity .....................................................................................................................................26 Realist vs. spiritual paradigm ........................................................................................................................30 Cultural transfer and cultural exchange ........................................................................................................33 2. Senses of the person .....................................................................................................................36 Layers of meaning .........................................................................................................................................36 Person / individual .........................................................................................................................................40 Personalism / humanism ...............................................................................................................................43 Person / system ..............................................................................................................................................47 PART I: Rougemont as a mediator between personalist movements ....................................51 Chapter 2. French Swiss connection ......................................................................................53 1. Swiss and Protestant ....................................................................................................................54 Neuchâtel .......................................................................................................................................................55 Literary fields ................................................................................................................................................60 Littérature romande .......................................................................................................................................62 Aesthetics