DOCSLIB.ORG

Special Friendships

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Special Friendships SPECIAL FRIENDSHIPS A Novel by Roger Peyrefitte Translated from the French by Edward Hyams Flammarion, Paris 1953 Roger PEYREFITTE Les amitiés particulières Flammarion, Paris 1953, Copie papier original 20x28cm, en feuilles sous doubles chemises. Edition illustrée de 24 lithographies originales de Gaston Goor, un des 740 exemplaires numérotés sur pur chiffon, seul tirage. PART 1 1 This was Georges’ first good-bye and he was no longer sure of going through it creditably. His heart contracting, he leant against the door of the car which was to bear his parents from him. He could feel tears coming. His father said, “Come, now; you’re fourteen. A man. There was a schoolboy— not as old as you—Bonaparte, and when a schoolmaster at Brienne asked him who the deuce he thought he was, that’s what he said: a man!” Much Georges cared whether Bonaparte, as a schoolboy, took himself for a man! Watching the car vanish round a bend in the road, it seemed to him that he had been abandoned and left alone in the world. But at that moment he heard the shouts of his new schoolfellows and, as if by magic, his distress evaporated. Was he to appear a milksop to these spirited boys? He cared little for being a man, but a great deal for being a boy. He went back into the school with the nun who was acting as his chaperone. There was bustle everywhere, and it took his mind off his troubles. Once again, on the first floor, he saw the photographs of groups of pupils which decorated the walls of the corridor. But why on earth was the good Sister taking him to the infirmary? Ah, she was taking him to her own room. On the door, as she opened it, he again read the notice which had amused his parents: “T I S : I I C O I L- B I K.” The pointer indicated “O”. “Get over your first feelings,” the Sister said, “and wait for me in this room. I am going to unpack and put your outfit away myself. So, you see, I set the pointer to L-.” Georges smiled at the idea of her talking to him as if he were a child. If she were taking my photograph, he thought, she would certainly be telling me to watch for the dicky-bird! But all this had quite restored his self- confidence: he was himself again. With his elbows on the sill of the open window, he looked down into the inner courtyard. On the left were the doors to the assembly room and the study-room, with the class-rooms behind them and the dormitories above. On the right, the junior school. Facing him, the two doors of the chapel surmounted by a cross decorated with festoons. Under an open penthouse, the great bell, its rope swinging. Below the infirmary was the refectory which opened on to the main staircase leading to the Superior’s quarters. This courtyard was, no doubt, intended to resemble a garden, with trees, walks, a freshly mown lawn, a rock-and-shell basin with a statue of the child Jesus. The most notable trees were lilacs and cypresses; the flowers were meagre-looking dahlias and marguerites. The box hedges had been trimmed all out of shape by some abbe on holiday. The jets of the fountains surrounding the statue were thin trickles; the Fathers were economising the water. Georges thought of the great garden of his own house, with its fountain, its statue of the god Terminus, the rock gardens, flower-beds, and the big hot-house at the bottom of the garden, full of sweet scents. This college garden overlooked by the study-rooms was like Lancelot’s garden of “Greek roots”: it left “vain colours” to others, for it was designed only to foster wisdom in young souls. Souls: it was, indeed, for the good of his soul that Georges was here. His father had wanted td ensure the completion of what he called Georges’ character training by some terms of boarding-school. He considered that Georges was being spoilt at home, and reproached him with the excessive facility of his success at the lycée. It was, moreover, his opinion that every boy of good family should pass through the hands of the Reverend Fathers, since it was no longer customary to employ a private, clerical tutor. And St Claude’s, which only took boarders, had appealed to him, in its lonely mountain setting, as ideal, for the well-being of the body as well as the mind. Such masters as Georges could see strolling about the garden walks, smiling at some, nodding to others, did not look very terrible. Georges recalled the visits he had just paid, in company with his parents, to the Superior, the Bursar and the Prefect. The Superior, whose name, like Georges’ own, had a “de” in it, had a pompous delivery, was measured in his gestures and distant in his look. Asking a question, he inclined his tall person. He had asked Georges in which church at M., his native town, he had taken his first communion. And he had rejoiced to hear that it had been the cathedral, where he himself had had the happiness of celebrating one of his first masses. Humane memories bound him to the same city—“To its university, if not to its lycée,” he said, smiling: it was there that he had read for his arts degree; discreetly, he let it be known that he was a Licencié ès Lettres. The Bursar, by reason of his height and his black beard, was a no less impressive figure. He had blown his nose with explosive violence into a handkerchief as big as a towel, which he had thereafter refolded with great precision. He had signed the receipt for the term’s fees holding the pen with the nib towards him: no doubt he had rheumatic hands. As for the Prefect, he was even taller than the Superior and the Bursar, doubtless to enable him to over-look everybody. He had shown them over the college from cellar to attics. He had shown Georges his place in study- hall and dormitory. He had introduced him to the college Sisters, and instructed the Infirmary Sister to take particular care of him. In the shower- bath room he had pulled the chain in one of the cubicles to show that the showers really worked, and had made his sleeve wet. The boys had a shower every Saturday. Taking leave of Georges’ parents he had said, “Your son will be quite at home with us.” And he had given Georges a copy of the rules. Georges took the booklet out of his pocket and read the first page. General Rule: A thoroughly Christian education, a sound cultivation of the mind and heart, such is the double aim we have set ourselves. Inveterate laziness, obstinate disobedience, and talking, writing, reading or behaving in a manner contrary to religion or morality are punished by expulsion. Here then, on the very threshold, were the Good Fathers attired as armed heralds offering peace or war. Were they really so warlike? Georges glanced over the clauses dealing with marks, places in class, reports, mail, the visitors’ room, exeats. He skipped the “Statutes of the Congregation” and read the “Statutes of the Academy”. It had never occurred to him to be a Congregationist, but he had sometimes dreamed of being a writer, a member of the Académie Française. There had been no academy at the lycee, but now the college one would enable him to try his hand at it. Candidates had to produce five French compositions with exceptionally high marks. At lycée Georges had been top in French; but how good were the Fathers’ pupils? Had they, as he had done, secretly read all Anatole France? All? Well, at least half: that author’s works are numerous and some among them are boring. The next page contained the “Rules for ordinary days”. And those ordinary days certainly began early enough! “5.30. Rise.” How could one possibly get up so early? “6.0. Meditation in Study-hall.” Georges could see himself at it already, meditating with his head in his hands—but meditating on what? “6.20. Mass.” What a quantity of masses were in prospect! Georges would never have heard so many. “7.0. Study” “7.30. Breakfast. Recreation.” “8.0. Lessons . .” Recreation. Study. Lunch. Recreation. Study. Lessons. Recreation. Lessons. Tea. Study. Sacred reading. Dinner. Bed. What a torrent! But going to bed immediately after dinner made up, on the whole, for rising at cock-crow. At home Georges did not get up until seven, but then he did not go to bed before ten or eleven at night: it came to the same thing. So much for the “ordinary days”. There was also a “Rule for Thursdays and Sundays” which varied according to the season, of which only two were recognised, “(a) Winter, (b) Summer.” Below that came the time-table proper to certain days. “First term: October: “3. Monday. First day of school. 7 pm Evening Service to the Holy Sacrament.” Georges looked at his watch. Service in twenty minutes. “4. Tuesday. Classes begin. From Rhetoric to Sixth form, French composition. Beginning of school-year Retreat.” The year, then, began well, with French composition: it would give him a chance to show what he was made of immediately. But what was this Retreat, which lasted four days and had its own special rule? Instruction, rosary, lectures and services? November began with: “Visit to cemeteries.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • El Ysium Books
    EL YS IUM BOOKS Shortlist #10 1. ALCIBIADE (Rocco, Antonio). Alcibiade Enfant a l'Ecole. Amsterdam and Paris: Aux depens d'une Socièté d'Amateurs [Marcel Seheur]. (1936). This uncommon and controversial text on ped- erasty bears an introduction by "Bramatos." The illustrations are not present. Pia 12. One of 250 hand numbered copies, this example #26. Very good in original salmon colored wrappers and contemporary 3/4 leather binding. Quite uncommon. $275. 2. ANONYMOUS. Circusz. [Budapest, c. 1940s]. 16to, 32 pp. An amusing collection of erot- ic circus acts, with rhyming text (in Hungarian). Most of the images involve assorted heterosexual couplings, but one image involves two male performers. Good in somewhat soiled illustrated wrappers, light wear. Undoubtedly an underground production that was only sold in limited numbers. Quite uncommon. $250. 3. ANONYMOUS. Guirlande de Priape. Texte et dessins par deux illustres médecins parisiens. A l'étal de gomorrhe, l'an de grace 1933. Sixteen erotic vignettes are accompanied by twenty quite explicit illus- trations by Jean Morisot. One of the texts is entitled "Soliloque de Corydon" and is attributed to "Victor Hugo." The twenty illustrations are ribald and encompass a range of sexual activities. One of 300 numbered copies. A very good example in original wrappers, chemise and slip- case, with only light wear. Dutel 1684. $250. 4. (ANONYMOUS). A Housemaster and His Boys (By one of them). London: Edward Arnold (1929). 120pp. First hand account of life in a boys school, with details on hazing, etc. Very good in mustard boards, lightly spotted. $120. 5. BERARD, Christian.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry De Montherlant
    MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE O BIBLIOGRAPHY. Philippe Jullian,Prince to the movies, and then home to bed. of Aesthetes, New York: Viking, 1968. Montherlant soon fell in with one particu- Stephen Wayne Foster lar youth, who was fourteen, with the knowledge of the boy's mother. Although MONTHERLANT,HENRY not a novice in these matters, the older novelist came to rely on Peyrefitte's ad- DE (1875-1770) French novelist, dramatist and vice as to how to conduct the affair. After essayist. A Parisian by birth, Montherlant Montherlant settledin thesouth of France, was educated in an elite Catholic board- their friendship continued on a weekly, ing school, whose atmosphere of particu- sometimes daily postal basis, thoughwith lar friendships and ambivalent student- verbal dodges to fool the censor. Through teacher relations left an abiding impres- the tragic events of the declaration of war, sion. At the age of sixteen he fell passion- the defeat of France, and the beginning of ately in love with a younger boy-an inter- the Occupation, the two remained obses- est evoked in La Ville dont leprince est un sively preoccupied with their affairs with boys. Both men got into scrapes with the enfant (1952) and Les Garcons (written in 1929 but published posthumously). authorities, but while Montherlant was In World War I he used family able to use influence to smooth things connections to make sure that he had a over, Peyrefitte lost his job with the Quai taste of combat without really being en- d1Orsay. dangered by it. His first novel, Le songe Although a first version of the (1922),is an account of the war initiating novel Les Gargons was written in 1929, the full text, which shows the pupils of a lifelong personal cult of virility and courage that many have subsequently Sainte-Croix in an almost frantic ballet of found spurious.
    [Show full text]
  • DIVINE MISSION and HUMAN DESTINY Amicis Caris Gratus Auctor
    DIVINE MISSION AND HUMAN DESTINY MAURICE DRUON’S ALEXANDER ROMANCE FIFTY YEARS LATER amicis caris gratus auctor Abstract: Written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the pub- lication of Maurice Druon’s historical novel on Alexander the Great (1958), the present article aims at putting this literary product in its historical context: the personal and familial background and literary career of the famous French novelist (1918-2009), the social and ideo- logical shifts of the late 1950s, other contemporary Alexander novels like those of Roger Peyrefitte and Julien Tondriau. Having stated the value and impact of high-quality historical novels in general, the arti- cle analyzes the proper qualities and basic ideas of Druon’s narrative, which presents itself as the diary of Alexander’s main seer Aristandros. Inspired in part by certain ‘egyptosophic’ currents, the author tries to detect a global, basically religious, sense in history. Interpreted as one of the great ‘divine bastards’ of humankind, the Macedonian king is credited with a providential rôle. The study concludes with a rudimen- tary attempt to confront some aspects of Drion’s seductive views with Alexander’s own ideas and historical reality. In 1958, now almost exactly half a century ago, Maurice Druon published his Alexandre le Grand ou le roman d’un dieu (475 p.)1. Released in Paris by Cino Del Duca and his ‘(Les) Éditions Mondiales’, it would soon prove to be one of Druon’s most exquisite historical (and, to a certain extent, also ‘mythological’) novels. Two years later, in 1960, ‘La Guilde du Livre’ in Lausanne produced an ‘édition hors commerce’, exclusively for its own members, under the abbreviated title Alexandre le Dieu.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard T. Arndt
    THE FIRST RESORT OF KINGS ................. 11169$ $$FM 06-09-06 09:46:22 PS PAGE i RELATED TITLES FROM POTOMAC BOOKS Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution by Melanie R. Miller Napoleon’s Troublesome Americans: Franco-American Relations, 1804–1815 by Peter P. Hill The Open Society Paradox: Why the Twenty-First Century Calls for More Openness—Not Less by Dennis Bailey ................. 11169$ $$FM 06-09-06 09:46:23 PS PAGE ii ● ● THE FIRST RESORT OF KINGS A MERICAN C ULTURAL D IPLOMACY IN THE T WENTIETH C ENTURY ● ● RICHARD T. ARNDT Potomac Books, Inc. Washington, D.C. ................. 11169$ $$FM 06-09-06 09:46:24 PS PAGE iii First paperback edition published 2006 Copyright ᭧ 2005 by Potomac Books, Inc. Published in the United States by Potomac Books, Inc. (formerly Brassey’s, Inc.). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arndt, Richard T., 1928– The first resort of kings : American cultural diplomacy in the twentieth century / Richard T. Arndt. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57488-587-1 (alk. paper) 1. United States—Relations. 2. Cultural relations—History—20th century. 3. Diplomats—United States—History—20th century. 4. United States. Dept. of State—History—20th century. 5. United States Information Agency— History—20th century. 6. Educational exchanges—United States—History—20th century. I. Title. E744.5.A82 2005 327.73Ј009Ј04—dc22 2004060190 ISBN 1-57488-587-1 (hardcover) ISBN 1-57488-004-2 (paperback) Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39-48 Standard.
    [Show full text]
  • Motion Pictures Movement, Homosexual
    9 MONTHERLANT, HENRY DE anarchist who has never believed in anar- ment thinkers as Voltaire and Diderot had chism. ambivalent attitudes toward sexual non- conformity. While opposing barbaric op- BIBLIOGRAPHY. Henry de Montherlant pression, they clung to the notion that the and Roger Peyrefitte, Correspondence, Paris: Robert Laffont, 1983; Pierre church remained the arbiter of "moral- Sipriot, Montherlant sans masque, I: ity," which in practice meant sexual L'Enfant prodigue, 1895-1 932, Paris: morality, and that same-sexrelations, being Robert Laffont, 1982. "unnatural," were destined to disappear in Wayne R. Dynes a truly enlightened polity. During the French Revolution two pamphlets MOTIONPICTURES appeared, Les enfans de Sodome and Les See Film. petits bougres au man8ge, purporting to give information on adherents to a proto- MOVEMENT, liberation movement for homosexuals, but HOMOSEXUAL this anticipation remains shadowy. Modernlife has seen many move- A lonely precursor was Heinrich ments for social change, including those Hoessli (1784-1864), a Swiss milliner from intended to secure the rights of disenfran- the canton of Glarus, who in 183648 chisedgroups. Thehomosexualmovement published in two volumes Eros: Die is a general designation for organized po- Miinnerliebe der Griechen: ihre litical striving to end the legal and social Beziehungen zur Geschichte, Erziehung, intolerance of homosexuality in countries Literatur und Gesetzgebung aller Zeiten where it had been stigmatized as both a (Eros: The Male Love of the Greeks: Its vice and a crime, and where the revelation Relationship to the History, Education, of an individual's homosexuality almost Literature and Legislation of All Ages). inevitably led to social ostracism and Amateur that he was, Hoessli collected economic ruin.
    [Show full text]
  • Entretien Roger Peyrefitte AR-Infos
    d Entretien accordé par Roger Peyrefitte à deux animateurs de l’émission radiophonique belge Antenne-Rose infos en 1982 c Tableau de l’artiste Pierre Peyrolle intitulé Le festin d’Alexandre le Grand (1990) Le peintre a représenté sur son tableau, de gauche à droite : Alexandre de Villiers, Roger Peyrefitte, Joe F. Bodenstein, Arno Breker, Salvador Dali et Ernst Fuchs. ❀ Walter — Je vous ai découvert lorsque j’étais à Copenhague, où je m’ennuyais superbement. En me promenant, j’ai vu tout à coup « Librairie française » – c’est pas vrai ! J’y ai découvert vos Propos Secrets 1, Les Ambassades, et j’ai acheté deux ou trois de vos livres d’un coup. Je les ai dévorés, alors que je ne vous connaissais pas. Mais c’est un souvenir personnel... Roger Peyrefitte — Il n’y a que les choses personnelles de passionnantes. Voyez : chaque chose en son temps, chaque chose à son heure : je n’ai donc pas été découvert par votre enfance, mais presqu’au sortir de l’adolescence, et je ne suis pas étonné que Copenhague ait mes livres dans ses vitrines. Il se fait que j’ai été en rapport déjà, avant que la France ne devienne plus ouverte concernant le phénomène qui nous intéresse et qui est l’homosexualité, j’étais en rapport avec une librairie un peu spécialisée de Copenhague ; le nom du directeur m’échappe, mais il voulait publier un extrait de mon livre Les Amours singulières, où je parle du Baron von Gloeden, le photographe des éphèbes, qui est maintenant très connu et dont on voit les photographies à travers le monde – le monde gai, par définition.
    [Show full text]
  • Peyrefitte, Roger (1907-2000) by Michael D
    Peyrefitte, Roger (1907-2000) by Michael D. Sibalis Encyclopedia Copyright © 2015, glbtq, Inc. Entry Copyright © 2006 glbtq, Inc. Reprinted from http://www.glbtq.com As one of the most famous homosexuals in France in the latter half of the twentieth century, Roger Peyrefitte, the best-selling author of both novels and gossipy non-fiction, shaped the public perception of homosexuals in the days before gay liberation. He became an object of ridicule and derision to homophobes and gay liberationists alike. The French public saw him as a cultured, supercilious, snobby, and waspish "folle" ("queen") or "tante" ("auntie") who preyed on underage adolescents. And despite Peyrefitte's claim to be serving the homosexual cause, by the 1970s most gay men and lesbians found him something of an embarrassment. Peyrefitte was born in Castres in southwestern France on August 17, 1907 and educated in Catholic boarding schools in the region. The most lasting effect of this religious education was his life-long hostility to the Roman Catholic Church. He went on to study at the University of Toulouse and the prestigious Sciences Po' (the Free School for Political Sciences) in Paris. He had his first homosexual experience at eighteen and thereafter led an active sex life, hunting for teenage boys across Europe. He also had occasional affairs with women, whom (by his own account) he introduced to the delights of anal sex. Peyrefitte entered the French diplomatic service in 1931 and served as secretary at the French embassy in Athens from 1933 to 1938. Forced to resign in October 1940 because of his relations with a fourteen-year- old boy, he was recalled to duty three years later to serve the collaborationist Vichy government in German-occupied Paris.
    [Show full text]
  • ! ! ! Queer American Expatriate Writers in France and the Birth of the Gay Modernist Subject by Chase Foster Dimock Dissertation
    ! ! ! QUEER AMERICAN EXPATRIATE WRITERS IN FRANCE AND THE BIRTH OF THE GAY MODERNIST SUBJECT BY CHASE FOSTER DIMOCK DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Nancy Blake, Chair Professor Dale Bauer Professor Emeritus Cary Nelson Professor Kathryn Bond Stockton, University of Utah ABSTRACT This dissertation is a comprehensive critical history of forgotten or neglected queer American writers in the international expatriate community in France who used their time in the French mainland and colonies to construct early narratives of gay identity. This project argues that French literature and art, which had already articulated discourses and paradigms of queer sexuality through writers like Proust, Gide, and Colette, and French cultural spaces in which a vibrant underground queer culture was present, were integral to the imagination of American gay identity and culture in the early to mid 20th century. This dissertation contends that through modernist French and European philosophies and literary movements such as surrealism, psychoanalysis, orientalism, and existentialism, queer American writers were able to imagine and express queer identity and desire in ways previously unspeakable in an American context. By considering unpublished manuscripts from the archives and reevaluating overlooked queer- themed works from the Lost Generation era through the 50s in France, this study uses this new history of queer writers in France to explore the wide range of queer expression in pre-Stonewall American literature before it would eventually be consolidated under the term “gay.” ! ii! Dedicated to the Memory of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • A SHRINE to LOVE and SORROW. Jacques D'adelswärd-Fersen
    FRÈRE JACQUES: A SHRINE TO LOVE AND SORROW. Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen (1880-1923). Fourth, revised edition Will H.L. Ogrinc In memoriam Heini J.A. Ogrinc (1946-1951) Some historians feel defeated when forced to silence by a paucity of source material. Others, perhaps with fewer scruples, look upon such lacunae as an opportunity to give free rein to their imagination. The conflict between these two approaches is mainly methodological, although we might observe that lack of evidence deters the scientific investigator, whereas perhaps inspiring the literary scholar. As a medievalist, I find that a lack of sources typifies the period, and one simply has to make the best of what is available. However, as a historian I find it painful when primary source material exists but is inaccessible because of legal restrictions. But my admiration grows for the "literati," who, faced with fragments, are inspired to piece words together, as an archaeologist assembles potsherds.1 What we know about the French poet and novelist, Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd2 consists very much of pieced together shards, some dubious, others probably assembled in the wrong positions, and many more simply missing. The image which emerges is thus full of guesswork, and will probably remain so. The first fragments I discovered were in Les Amitiés particulières (1943/1944), Les Amours singulières (1949), Du Vésuve à l’Etna (1952) and Notre amour (1967) by the French writer Roger Peyrefitte (1907-2000). It was only in 1977 that I was able to examine a copy of his L'Exilé de Capri which had appeared in 1959.
    [Show full text]
  • Shades of Gay: Representations of Male Same-Sex Desire in French Literature, Culture, and Ideology from 1789-1926
    ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: SHADES OF GAY: REPRESENTATIONS OF MALE SAME-SEX DESIRE IN FRENCH LITERATURE, CULTURE, AND IDEOLOGY FROM 1789-1926 Carl Joseph Gomolka Jr, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation directed by: Professor Valérie Orlando Department of French “Shades of Gay: Representations of Male Same-Sex Desire in French Literature, Culture, and Ideology from 1789-1926,” provides a critical overview of ways of representing homosexuality in France from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. More specifically, I contend that the emergent nineteenth-century gay subculture influenced not only the way socio-political and medico-juridical sources represented and defined sexual and gender identity but that nineteenth and early twentieth century authors followed suit, contributing to the construction and deconstruction of social definitions of sexual and gender identity through literature. The first chapter of my thesis, titled “Preparing the Palette: Gay Male Literature from 1792-1910,” surveys the works of nineteenth century authors who created the framework for a homosexual epistemology that would structure representations of homosexuality during and after the nineteenth century. In the second chapter, entitled “Through the Looking-Glass: Representations of Fin- de-Siècle Homosexuality in the Works of Jean Lorrain,” I explore the influence of science on representations of homosexuality, especially with regard to criminal and degenerate images of the homosexual in the works of Jean Lorrain. My third chapter, entitled “Scandalous Sexualities: the Baron Jacques d’Adelswärd- Fersen and the World of Apologetic Impropriety,” addresses the relationship between scandal, journalism, and literature in the works of Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen. This chapter also questions whether Akadémos, the journal orchestrated by Fersen, can be considered France’s first gay journal.
    [Show full text]
  • FRENCH LITERATURE – 20 Century Frederic Will, Ph.D
    HUMANITIES INSTITUTE th FRENCH LITERATURE – 20 Century Frederic Will, Ph.D. Contents Overview Poetry (Aragon – Valéry – Breton - ) Drama (Beckett) Fiction (Gide – Proust – Mauriac – Malraux – Sartre – Camus ) 20TH CENTURY Overview A new idealism and positive faith, which permeated French thinking toward the end of the l9th century—powered by faith in science, economic progress, exuberant forms of nationalism—found expression in the vitalist philosophies of such pan European thinkers as Bergson and Nietzsche. However intimations of upcoming political strife, of ominous force, were on the horizon. The boiling conflicts within Germany came to the surface as early as 1905, when the Kaiser insulted France at Tangiers; there was more friction at Agadir in l911. Then in l914, came the First World War, and with it the destruction not only of the German Empire but virtually of France along with it. The era between the first and second world wars was one of disillusionment, frustration, and cynicism. Conflicting economic and political beliefs made for instability in governments, and pacifism met opposition from those who feared the resurgence of German militarism, especially after Hitler‘s rise to power in l933. The pragmatic philosophy of William James and the psychology of Sigmund Freud had deep effect on French thought during this interim period. Like the period following World War I, the years since the end of the last conflict, were filled with insecurity, disillusionment and fear—especially, in the United States, the fear of Russia and communism. In literature, many of the fin de siècle writers continued to produce into the twentieth century. Naturalism and symbolism were already on the decline, but no new school of significance took their place.
    [Show full text]
  • Oct. 1957, Vol. 03 No. 10
    It«.-: 50c OCTOBER 1957 Second Annual INTERNATIONAL ISSUE SIX FEATURE ARTICLES FROM FOREIGN AUTHORS and EUROPEAN HOMOPHILE MAGAZINES Prejudice Against Homosexuality How Churchill Became Marlhorough Let Us Be Proud I The Mutiny On The Rack ^ Homosexual Literature--A Partial Picture . I' ■ I I'-; H T P ' fU ‘ M S row THINKING ADULTS the Review's 50c OCTOBER 1957 bound volume Second Annual In rtsponse to roquotts from roodor«, wo kovo hod INTtRNATIONAl ISSUE on additional quantity of volomos bound— for both yoors 1955 and 1956. Thoy oro on bond NOW for immodioto obip« SIX FEATURE ARTICLES FROM FOREIGN AUTHORS and mont. Orders mailed some day received. EUROPEAN HOMOPHILE MAGAZINES f These ttvo volumes are in matching blue cloth, udth gold stamping. Volume I (1955) contains more than 300 pages Prejudice Agoiiut Homosexuality and includes the Society’s Yellow Booklet of General Information. Volume II (1956) contains 448 pages, in- cluSng copies of INTERIH, national news quarterly for How Cliurdiill tetame Marlliorougii mem hers, Let Us Be ProudI PRICE OF EACH VOLUME, SHIPPED PREPAID TO ANY ADDRESS IN THE UNITED STATES: k — r The Mutiny (California residents must add 4% sales tax to die above) SEND ORDERS TO ► On The Rath Homosexual Literature--A Partial Picture mattadiine REVIEW ► Sen Fraocifco 3, Calif. OFFICE OF THE BOARD Of DIRfCrORS Mattachine ^orictg, 3nc.. aittacliine w n n x i y CO Pm C H T 19S7 BY THE MATTACHINE SOCIETY, INC. Volume III October 1957 Number 10 Second Annual INTERUTIONAL ISSUE CONTENTS ARTICLES PREJUDICE AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY, In view of the dearth of suit­ Our first International Issue a Dr.
    [Show full text]