No More Learning

" Conscience Litteraire.
"Le citoyen est une variete de I'homme ; variete degen- eree ou primitive il est a I'homme ce que le chat de gou- tiere est au chat sauvage.
"Comma toutes les creations vraiment belles et noble- ment utiles, la sociologie fut I'oeuvre d'un homme de genie, M. Herbert Spencer, et le principe de sa gloire.
"La saine Sociologie traite de revolution a travers les ages d'un groupe de metaphores, Famille, Patrie, Etat, Societe, etc. Ces mots sont de ceux que Ton dit collec- tifs et qui n'ont en "soi aucune signification, I'histoire les a employes de tous temps, mais la Sociologie, par d'astu- cieuses definitions precise leur neant tout en propageant
leur culte.
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? i8o INSTIGATIONS
"Car tout mot coUectif, et d'abord ceux du vocabulaire sociologique sont I'objet d'un culte. A la Famille, a la Patrie, a I'Etat, a la Societe, on sacrifie des citoyens males et des citoyens femelles; les males en plus grand nombre; ce n'est que par intermede, en temps de greve ou d'emeute, pour essayer un nouveau fusil que Ton perforedesfemelles; ellesoffrentaucoupuneciblemoins defiante et plus plaisante; ce sont la d'inevitables petits incidents de la vie politique. Le male est I'hostie ordi- naire.
"Le caractere fondamental du citoyen est done le de- vouement, la resignation et la stupidite; il exerce princi- palement ces qualites selon trois fonctions physiologiques, comme animal reproducteur, comme animal electoral, comme animal contribuable.
"Devenu animal electoral, le citoyen n'est pas depourvu de subtilite. Ayant flaire, il distingue hardiment entre un opportuniste et un radical. Son ingeniosite va jusqu'a la mefiance : le mot Liberie le fait aboyer, tel un chien perdu. A I'idee qu'on va le laisser seul dans les tenebres de sa volonte, il pleure, il appelle sa mere, la Republique, son pere, I'Etat.
"Du fond de sa grange ou de son atelier, il entretient volontiers ceux qui le protegent contre lui-meme.
"Et puis songe: si tu te revoltais, il n'y aurait plus de lois, et quand tu voudrais mourir, comment ferais-tu, si le registre n'etait plus la pour accueillir ton nome? " Paradoxes sur le Citoyen.
"Si I'on est porte a souhaiter un deraillement, il faut parler, il faut ecrire, il faut sourire, il faut s'abstenir
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? REMY DE GOURMONT i8i
c'est le grand point de toute vie civique. Les actuelles organisations sociales ont cette tare fondamentale que I'abstention legale et silencieuse les rend inermes et ridicules. II faut empoisonner I'Autorite, lentement, en jouant. C'est si charmant de jouer et si utile au bon fonctionnement humain! II faut se moquer. II faut passer, Tironie dans les yeux, a travers les mailles des lois anti-liberales, et quand on promene a travers nos vignes, gens de France, I'idole gouvernementale, gardez- vous d'aucun acte vilain, des gros mots, des violences rentrez chez vous, et mettez les volets. Sans avoir rien fait que de tres simple et de tres innocent vous vous reveillerez plus libres le lendemain. " Les Faiseurs de Statues.
"Charmant Tzar, tu la verras chez toi, la Revolution, stupide comme le peuple et feroce comme la bourgeoisie tu la verras, depassant en animalite et en rapacite san- glante tout ce qu'on t'a permis de lire dans les tomes ex- purgesquifirenttoneducation. " LeDelireRusse.
"Or un ecrivain, un poete, un philosophe, un homm'e des regions intellectuelles n'a qu'une patrie: sa langue. " Querelles de Belgique.
"II faut encore, pour en revenir aux assassins, noter que le crime, sauf en des rares cas passionnels, est le moyenetnonlebut. " Crimes.
"Leverstraditionnelestpatriotiqueetnational; levers nouveau est anarchiste et sans patrie. II semble que la rime riche fasse partie vraiment de la richesse nationale on vole quelquechose a I'Etat en adoucissant la sonorite des ronrons : 'La France, Messieurs, manque de con- sonnes d'appui! ' D'autre part, I'emploi de I'assonnance a quelquechose de retrograde qui froisse les vrais demo- crates.
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? i82 INSTIGATIONS
"II est amusant de voir des gens qui ne doivent leur etat 'd'hommes modernes' qu'a la fauchaison brutale de toutes les traditions Frangaises, protester aussi sotte- ment contre des innovations non seulement logiques, mais inevitables. Ce qui donne quelque valeur a leur acri- monie, c'est qu'ils ignorent tout de cette question si com- plexe; de la leur liberte critique, n'ayant lu ni Gast(jn Paris, ni Darmesteter, ni aucun des ecrivains recents qui etudierent avec prudence tant de points obscurs de la phonetique et de la rythmique, ils tirent une autorite evi- dente de leur incompetence meme. " Le Vers Libre et les Prochaines Elections.
"Pelerin du Silence" (1896) contains "Fleurs de Jadis" (1893), "Chateau Singulier" (1894), "Livres des Litanies," "Litanie de la Rose"* (1892), Theatre Muet, "Le Fantome" (1893).
"LivRE des Masques" (1896), not particularly impor- tant, though the preface contains a good reformulation as, for example,
"Le crime capital pour un ecrivain, c'est le confor- misme, I'imitativite, la soumission aux regies et aux en- seignements. L'oeuvred'unecrivaindoitetrenonseule- mentlereflet,maislerefletgrossidesapersonnalite. La seule excuse qu'un homme ait d'ecrire c'est de s'ecrire lui- meme, de devoiler aux autres la sort de monde qui se mire en son miroir individuel; Sa seule excuse est d'etre original; il doit dire des choses non encore dites, et les direenuneformenonencoreformulee. IIdoitsecreer sa propre esthetique--et nous devrons admettre autant d'esthetiques qu'il y a d'esprits originaux et les juger d'apres ce qu'elles sont, et non d'apres ce qu'elles ne sont
pas.
* Quoted in L. R. , February, 1918.
? REMY DE GOURMONT 183
"L'esthetique est devenue elle aussi, un talent person- nel. "* Preface.
"Comme tous les ecrivains qui sont parvenus a com- prendre la vie, c'est-a-dire son inutilite immediate, M. Francis Poictevin, bien que ne romancier, a promptement renonce au roman.
"II est tres difficile de persuader a de certains vieillards --vieux ou jeunes--qu'il n'y a pas de sujets ; il n'y a en litterature qu'un sujet, celui qui ecrit, et toute la littera- ture, c'est-a-dire toute la philosophic, peut surgir aussi bien a I'appel d'un chien ecrase qu'aux acclamations de Faust interpellant la Nature: 'Oil te saisir, 6 Nature in- finie? Etvous,mamelles? '"FrancisPoictevin.
This book is of the '90s, of temporary interest, judg- ment in mid-career, less interesting now that the com- plete works of the subjects are available, or have faded from interest. This sort of criticism is a duty imposed on a man by his intelligence. The doing it a duty, a price exacted for his possession of intelligence.
In places the careless phrase, phrases careless of sense, in places the thing bien dit as in Verlaine. Here and there a sharp sentence, as
"M. Moreas ne comprendra jamais combien il est ridi- cule d'appeler Racine le Sophocle de la Ferte Milon. " or:
"Parti de la chanson de Saint Leger, il en est, dit-on, arrive au XVIIeme. siecle, et cela en moins de dix an- nees; ce n'est pas si decourageant qu'on I'a cru. Et maintenant que les textes se font plus familiers, la route s'abrege; d'ici peu de haltes, M. Moreas campera sous le vieux chene Hugo et, s'il persevere, nous le verrons at-
* Each oi the senses has its own particular eunuchs.
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? i84 INSTIGATIONS
teindre le but de son voyage, qui est sans doute de se re- joindrelui-meme. " JeanMoreas.
This first "Livre des Masques" is of historicaj interest, as a list of men interesting at their time. It is work done in establishing good work, a necessary scaffolding, the debt to ! )& Gourmont, because of it, is ethical rather than artistic. It is a worthy thing to have done. One should not reproach flaws, even if it appears that the author wastes time in this criticism, although this particular sort of half energy probably wouldn't have been any use for more creative or even more formulative writing. It is not a carving of statues, but only holding a torch for the public; ancillary writing. Local and temporal, introduc- ing some men now better known and some, thank Heaven, unknown or forgotten.
"Deuxieme LrniE des Masques" (1898), rather more important, longer essays, subjects apparently chosen more freely, leaves one perhaps more eager to read Al- fred Valette's "Le Vierge" than any other book men- tioned.
"Etre nul arrete dans son developpement vers une nullite equilibree. "
We find typical Gourmont in the essay on Rictus:
"Ici c'est I'idee de la resignation qui trouble le Pauvre comme tant d'autres, il la confond avec I'idee bouddhiste de non-activite. Cela n'a pas d'autre importance en un temps ou Ton confond tout, et ou un cerveau capable d'associer et de dissocier logiquement les idees doit etre considere comme une production miraculeuse de la Nature.
"Or I'art ne joue pas ; il est grave, meme quand il rit, meme quarid il danse. II faut encore comprendre qu'en
:
? REMY DE GOURMONT 185
art tout ce qui n'est pas necessaire est inutile ; et tout ce qui est inutile est mauvais. " Jehcm Rictus.
He almost convinces one of Ephraim Mikhail's poetry, by his skillful leading up to quotation of
"Mais le ciel gris est plein de tristesse caline Ineffablement douce aux coeurs charges d'ennuis. "
The essay on the Goncourt is important, and we find in it typical dissociation.
'Avec de la patience, on atteint quelquefois I'exacti- tude, et avec de la conscience, la veracite; ce sont les qualites fondamentales de I'histoire.
"Quand on a goute a ce vin on ne veut plus boire I'ordi- naire^ vinasse des bas litterateurs. Si les Goncourt etaient devenus populaires, si la notion du style pouvait penetrer dans les cerveaux moyens! On dit que le peu- ple d'Athene avait cette notion.
"Et surtout quel memorable desinteressement! En tout autre temps nul n'aurait songe a louer Edmond de Goncourt pour ce dedain de I'argent et de la basse popu- larite, car I'amour est exclusif et celui qui aime I'art n'aime que I'art: mais apres les exemples de toutes les avidites qui nous ont ete donnes depuis vingt ans par les boursiers des lettres, par la coulisse de la litterature, il est juste et necessaire de glorifier, en face de ceux qui vivent pour I'argent, ceux qui vecurent pour I'idee et pour I'art.
"La place des Goncourt dans I'histoire litteraire de ce siecle sera peut-etre meme aussi grande que celle de Flaubert, et ils la devront a leur souci si nouveau, si scandaleux, en une litterature alors encore toute rhetori- cienne, de la "non-imitation'; cela a revolutionne le
? 1 86 INSTIGATIONS
monde de I'ecriture. Flaubert devait beaucoup a Cha- teaubriand: il serait difficile de nommer le maitre des Goncourt. lisconquirentpoureux,ensuitepourtousles talents, le droit a la personnalite stricte, le droit pour un ecrivain de s'avouer tel quel, et rien qu'ainsi, sans s'in- quieter des modeles, des regies, de tout le pedantisme universitaire et cenaculaire, le droit de se mettre face-a- face avec la vie, avec la sensation, avec le reve, avec I'idee, de creer sa phrase--et meme, dans les limites du genie de la langue, sa syntaxe. " Les Gonicourt.
One is rather glad M. Hello is dead. Ghil is men- tionable, and the introductory note on Felix Feneon is of interest.
Small reviews are praised in the notes on Dujardins and Alfred Vallette.
"II n'y a rien de plus utile que ces revues speciales dont le public elu parmi les vrais fideles admet les discussions minutieuses, les admirations franches. " On Edouard Dujardins.
"II arrive dans I'ordre litteraire qu'une revue fondee avec quinze louis a plus d'influence sur la marche des idees et par consequent, sur la marche du monde (et peut- etre sur la rotation des planetes) que les orgueilleux re- cueils de capitaux academiques et de dissertations com- merciales. " OnAlfredVallette.
"PromenadesPhilosophiques"(1905-8). Onecan- notbriefsuchworkasthePromenades. Thesoleresult is a series of aphorisms, excellent perhaps, but without cohesion ; a dozen or so will show an intelligence, but convey neither style nor personality of the author:
"Sans doute la reHgion n'est pas vraie, mais I'anti-re- ligion n'est pas vraie non plus: la verite reside dans un etat parfait d'indifference.
? REMY DE GOURMONT
187
"Peu importe qu'on me sollicite par des ecrits ou par des paroles; le mal ne commence qu'au moment ou on m'yplieparlaforce. " AutrePointdeVue.
"L'argent est le signe de la liberty. Maudire I'argent, c'est maudire la liberte, c'est maudire la vie qui est nulle si elle n'est libre. " L'Arg'ent.
'Quand on voudra definir la philosophic du XlXeme siecle, on s'apercevra qu'il n'a fait que de la theologie.
"Apprendre pour apprendre est peut-etre aussi grossier que manger pour manger.
"C'est singulier en litterature, quand la forme n'est pas nouvelle, le fond ne Test pas non plus.
"Le nu de I'art conteroporain est un nu d'hydrotherapie.
"L'art doit etre a la mode ou creer la mode.
"Les pacifistes, de braves gens a genoux, pres d'une balance et priant le ciel qu'elle s'incline, non pas selon les lois de la pesanteur, mais selon leurs voeux.
"La propriete est necessaire, mais il ne I'eSt pas qu'elle reste toujours dans les memes mains.
"II y a une simulation de 1' intelligence comme il y a une simulation de la vertu.
"Le roman historique. II y a aussi la peinture his-
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torique, I'architecture historique, et, a la mi-careme, le costume historique.
"Etre impersonnel c'est etre personnel scion un mode particulier:VoyezFlaubert. Ondiraitenjargon:Tob- jectif est une des formes du subjectif.
"La maternite, c'est beau, tant qu'on n'y fait pas atten- tion. C'est vulgaire des qu'on admire. ?
"L'excuse du christianisme, ga a ete son impuissance sur la realite. 11 a corrompu I'esprit bien plus que la vie. "Je ne garantis pas qu'aucune de ces notes ne se trouve deja dans un de mes ecrits, ou qu'elle ne figurera pas dans un ecrit futur. On les retrouvera peut-etre meme dansdesecritsquineserontpaslesmiens. " DesPassur
le Sable.
Those interested in the subject will take "Le Prob-
LEME DU Style" (1902) entire; the general position may perhaps be indicated very vaguely by the following quo- tations :
"Quant a la peur de se gater le style, c'est bon pour un Bemho, qui use d'une langue factice. Le style peut se fatiguer comme I'honune meme ; il vieillira de meme que I'intelligenceetlasensibilitedontilestlesigne; maispas plus que I'individu, il ne changera de personnalite, a moins d'un cataclysme psychologique. Le regime ali- mentaire, le sejour a la campagne ou a Paris, les occupa- tions sentimentales et leurs suites, les maladies ont bien plus d'influence sur un style vrai que les mauvaises lec- tures. Le style est un produit physiologique, et I'un des plus constants; quoique dans la dependance des diverses fonctions vitales.
"Les Etats-Unis tomberaient en langueur, sans les
;
? REMY DE GOURMONT 189
voyages en Europe de leur aristocratie, sans la diversite extreme des climats, des sols et par consequent des races en evolution dans ce vaste empire. Les echanges entre peuples sont aussi necessaires a la revigoration de chaque peuple que le commerce social a I'exaltation de I'energie individuelle. On n'a pas pris garde a cette necessite quand on parle avec regret de I'influence des litteratures etrangeres sur notre litterature.
"Aujourd'hui I'influence d'Euripide pourrait encore de- terminer en un esprit original d'interessantes oeuvres; I'imitateur de Racine depasserait a peine le comique in- volontaire. L'etude de Racine ne deviendra profitable que dans plusieurs siecles et seulement a condition que, completement oublie, il semble entierement nouveau, en- tierement etranger, tel que le sont devenus pour le public d'aujourd'hui Adenes li Rois ou Jean de Meung. Euri- pide etait nouveau au XVIIeme siecle. Theocrite I'etait alors que Chenier le transposait. 'Quand je fais des vers, insinuait Racine, je songe toujours a dire ce qui ne s'estpointencoreditdansnotrelangue. ' AndreChenier a voulu exprimer cela aussi dans une phrase maladroite
et s'il ne I'a dit il I'a fait. Horace a bafoue les serviles imitateurs ; il n'imitait pas les Grecs, il les etudiait,
" 'Le style est I'homme meme' est un propos de natural- iste, qui sait que le chant des oiseaux est determine par la forme de leur bee, I'attache de leur langue, le diametre de leur gorge, la capacite de leurs poumons.
"Le style, c'est de sentir, de voir, de penser, et rien plus. "Le style est une specialisation de la sensibilite.
? I90 INSTIGATIONS
"Une idee n'est qu'une sensation defraichie, una image efFacee.
"La vie est un depouillement. Le but de I'activite propre d'un homme est de nettoyer sa personnalite, de la laver de toutes les souillures qu'y deposa I'education, de la degager de toutes les empreintes qu'y laisserent nos admirations adolescentes.
"Depuis un siecle et demi, les connaissances scien- tifiques ont augmente enormement; I'esprit scientifique a retrograde; il n'y a plus de contact immediat entre ceux qui lisent et ceux qui creent la science, et (je cite pour la seconde fois la reflexion capitale de Buffon) : 'On n'acquiert aucune connaissance transmissible qu'en voyant par soi-meme' : Les ouvrages de seconde main amusent 1 'intelligence et ne stimulent pas son activite.
"Rien ne pousse a la concision comme I'abondance des idees. " LeProbUmeduStyle,1902.
Christianity lends itself to fanaticism. Barbarian ethics proceed by general taboos. The relation of two individuals in relation is so complex that no third person can pass judgment upon it. Civilization is individual. The truth is the individual. The light of the Renais- sance shines in Varchi when he declines to pass judgment on Lorenzaccio.
One might make an index of, but one cannot write an essay upon, the dozen volumes of Gourmont's collected discussions. There was weariness towards the end of his life. It shows in even the leisurely charm of "Lettres aI'Amazone. " Therewasafinalflashinhisdrawingof M. Croquant.
? REMY DE GOURMONT 191
The list of his chief works published by the Mercure da France, 26 Rue de Conde, Paris, is as follows:
"Sixtine. "
"Le Pelerin du Silence. "
"Les Chevaux de Diomede. "
"D'un Pays Lointain. "
"Le Songe d'une Femme. "
"Lilith, suivi de Theodat. "
"Une Nuit au Luxembourg. "
"Un Coeur Virginal. "
"Couleurs, suivi de Choses Anciennes. " "Histoires Magiques. "
"Lettres d'un Satyre. "
"Le Chat de Misere.
"Simone. "
Critique
"Le Latin Mystique. "
"Le Livre des Masques" (ler. et Heme).
"La Culture des Idees. "
"Le Chemin de Velours. "
"Le Probleme du Style. "
"Physique de I'Amour. "
"Epilogues. "
"Esthetique de la Langue Frangaise. "
"Promenades Litteraires. "
"Promenades Philosophiques. "
"Dialogue des Amateurs sur les Choses du Temps. " "Nouveaux Dialogues des Amateurs sur les Choses du
Temps. "
"Dante, Beatrice et la Poesie Amoureuse. " "Pendant I'Orage. "
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192 INSTIGATIONS
De Gourmont's readiness to cooperate in my first plans for establishing some sort of periodical to maintain com- munications between New York, London and Paris, was graciously shown in the following (post-mark June 13, '15):
Dvmanche.
Cher Monsieur:
J'ai lu avec plaisir votre longue lettre, qui m'expose si
clairement la necessite d'une revue unissant les efforts des Americains,desAnglais,etdesFran^ais. Pourcela,je vous servirai autant qu'il sera en mon pouvoir. Je ne crois pas que je puisse beaucoup. J'ai une mauvaise sante et je suis extremement fatigue; je ne pourrai vous donner que des choses tres courtes, des indications d'idees plutot que des pages accomplies, mais je ferai de mon mieux. J'esperequevousreussirezamettredeboutcette petite affaire litteraire et que vous trouverez parmi nous des concours utiles. Evidemment si nous pourions ame- ner les Americains a mieux sentir la vraie litterature fran- Qaise et surtout a ne pas la confondre avec tant d'oeuvres courantes si mediocres, cela serait un resultat tres heu- reux. Sont-ils capables d'assez de liberte d'esprit pour lire, sans etre choques, mes livres par example, elle est bien douteux et il faudrait pour cela un long travail de preparation. Mais pourquoi ne pas I'entreprendre ? En tous les pays, il y a un noyau de bons esprits, d'esprits libres, il faut leur donner quelque chose qui les change de la fadeur des magazines, quelque chose qui leur donne confiance en eux-memes et leur soit un point d'appui. Comme vous le dites, il faudra pour commencer les amener a respecter I'individualisme franqais, le sens de la liberte que quelques uns d'entre nous possedent a un si haut point. lis comprennent cela en theologie. Pour- quoi ne le comprendraient-ils pas en art, en poesie, en
--
? REMY DE GOURMONT 193
litterature, en philosophic. II faut leur faire voir--s'ils ne le vbient pas deja--que rindividualisme fran(;ais peut, quand il le faut, se plier aux plus dures disciplines.
Conquerir I'Americain n'est pas sans doute votre seul but. Le but du Mercure a ete de permettre k ceux qui en valent la peine d'ecrire franchement ce qu'il pense seul plaisir d'un ecrivain. Cela doit aussi etre le votre.
Votre bien devoue,
Remy de Gourmont.
"The aim of the Mercure has been to permit any man, who is worth it, to write down his thought frankly this is a writer's sole pleasure. And this aim should be yours. "
"Are they capable of enough mental liberty to read my books, for example, without being horrified? I think this very doubtful, and it will need long preparation. But why not try it ? There are in all countries knots of intelligent people, open-minded ; one must give something to relieve them from the staleness of magazines, some- thing which will give them confidence in themselves and serve as a rallying point. As you say, one must begin by getting them to respect French individualism; the sense of liberty which some of us have in so great degree. They understand this in theology, why should they not understand it in art, poetry, literature ? "
If only my great correspondent could have seen letters I received about this time from English alleged intellec- tuals ! ! ! ! ! ! ! The incredible stupidity, the ingrained re- fusal of thought ! ! ! ! ! Of which more anon, if I can bring myself to it. Or let it pass? Let us say simply that De Gourmont's words form an interesting contrast with the methods employed by the British literary epis-
:--
? 194 INSTIGATIONS
copacy to keep one from writing what one thinks, or to punish one (financially) for having done so.
Perhaps as a warning to young writers who can not afford the loss, one would be justified in printing the following
50a. Albermarle Street, London W.
22 October, '14: Dear Mr. Pound:
Many thanks for your letter of the other day. I am afraid I must say frankly that I do not think I can open the columns of the Q. R. --at any rate, at present--^to any one associated publicly with such a publication as Blast. It stamps a man too disadvantageously.
Yours truly,
G. W. Prothero.
Of course, having accepted your paper on the Noh, I could not refrain from publishing it. But other things would be in a different category.
I need scarcely say that The Quarterly Review is one of the most profitable periodicals in England, and one of one's best "connections," or sources of income. It has, of course, a tradition.
"It is not that Mr. Keats (if that be his real name, for we almost doubt that any man in his senses would put his real name to such a rhapsody)"
write their Gifford of Keats' "Endymion. " My only com- mentisthattheQuarterlyhasdoneitagain. TheirMr. A. Waugh is a lineal descendant of Gifford, by way of mentality. A century has not taught them manners. In the eighteen forties they were still defending the review
? REMY DE GOURMONT I9S
)fKeats. AndmorerecentlyWaughhaslifteduphis ienile slobber against Mr. Eliot. It is indeed time that :he functions of both English and American literature were taken over by younger and better men.
As for their laying the birch on my pocket. I compute ;hat my support of Lewis and Brzeska has cost me at the lowest estimate about i20 per year, from one source ilone since that regrettable occurrence, since I dared to discern a great sculptor and a great painter in the midst jf England's artistic desolation. ("European and Asiatic papers please copy. ")
Young men, desirous of finding before all things smooth berths and elderly consolations, are cautioned to behave more circumspectly.
The generation that preceded us does not care much whether we understand French individualism, or the difference between the good and bad in French literature. Nor is it conceivable that any of them would write to a foreigner: "indications of ideas, rather than work ac- complished, but I will send you my best. "
De Gourmont's next communication to me was an in- quiry about Gaudier-Brzeska's sculpture.
? IV
IN THE VORTEX
Eliot
Joyce
Lewis
An historical essayist The new poetry Breviora
T. S. ELIOT
// n'y a de livres que ceux oil un ecrivain s'est raconte lui-meme en racontant les moeurs de ses contemporains-- leurs reves, leurs vanites, leurs amours, et leurs folies. -- Remy de Gourmont.
De Gourmont uses this sentence in writing of the in- contestable superiority of "Madame Bovary," "L'fiduca- tion Sentimentale" and "Bouvard et Pecuchet" to "Sa- lammbo"and"LaTentationdeSt. Antoine. " Acasual thought convinces one that it is true for all prose. Is it true also for poetry? One may give latitude to the in- terpretation of reves; the gross public would have tlie poet write little else, but De Gourmont keeps a propor- tion. The vision should have its place in due setting if we are to believe its reality.
*Prufrock and Other Observations, by T. S. Eliot. The Egoist, London. Essay first published in Poetry, 1917.
196
? IN THE VORTEX 197
The few poems which Mr. Eliof has given us maintain this proportion, as they maintain other proportions of art. After much contemporary work that is merely factitious, much that is good in intention but impotently unfinished and incomplete ; much whose flaws are due to sheer igno- rance which a year's study or thought might have reme- died, it is a comfort to come upon complete art, naive despite its intellectual subtlety, lacking all pretense.
It is quite safe to compare Mr. Eliot's work with any- thing written in French, English or American since the death of Jules Laforgue. The reader will find nothing better, and he will be extremely fortunate if he finds much half as good.
The necessity, or at least the advisability of comparing English or American work with French work is not readily granted by the usual English or American writer. If you suggest it, the Englishman answers that he has not thought about it--he does not see why he should bother himself about what goes on south of the channel; the American replies by stating that you are "no longer American. " This is the bitterest jibe in his vocabulary. The net result is that it is extremely difficult to read one's contemporaries. Afteratimeonetiresof"promise. "
I should like the reader to note how complete is Mr. Eliot's depiction of our contemporary condition. He has not confined himself to genre nor to society portraiture. His
lonely men in shirt-sleeves leaning out of windows are as real as his ladies who
come and go Talking of Michelangelo.
His "one night cheap hotels" are as much "there" as are his
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four wax candles in the darkened room, Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead, An atmosphere of Juliet's tomb.
And, above all, there is no rhetoric, although there is Elizabethanreadinginthebackground. WereIaFrench critic, skilled in their elaborate art of writing books about books, I should probably go to some length discussing Mr. Eliot's two sorts of metaphor: his wholly unrealiz- able, always apt, half ironic suggestion, and his precise realizable picture. It would be possible to point out his method of conveying a whole situation and half a char- acter by three words of a quoted phrase; his constant aliveness, his mingling of very subtle observation with the unexpectedness of a backhanded cliche. It is, how- ever,extremelydangeroustopointoutsuchdevices. The method is Mr. Eliot's own, but as soon as one has re- duced even a fragment of it to formula, some one else, not Mr. Eliot, some one else wholly lacking in his apti- tudes, will at once try to make poetry by mimicking his externalprocedure. Andthisindefinite"someone"will, needless to say, make a botch of it.
For what the statement is worth, Mr. Eliot's work in- terests me more than that of any other poet now writing in English. * The most interesting poems in Victorian English are Browning's "Men and Women," or, if that statement is too absolute, let me contend that the form of these poems is the most vital form of that period of English, and that the poems written in that form are the least like each other in content. Antiquity gave us Ovid's "Heroides" and Theocritus' woman using magic- The form of Browning's "Men and Women" is more alive
*A. D. 1917.
;
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than the epistolary form of the "Heroides. " Browning included a certain amount of radocination and of purely intellectual comment, and in just that proportion he lost intensity. SinceBrowningtherehavebeenveryfewgood poems of this sort. Mr. Eliot has made two notable ad- ditions to the list. And he has placed his people in con- temporary settings, which is much more difficult than to render them with mediaeval romantic trappings. If it is permitted to make comparison with a different art, let me say that he has used contemporary detail very much as Velasquez used contemporary detail in "Las Meninas" the cold gray-green tones of the Spanish painter have, it seems to me, an emotional value not unlike the emotional value of Mr. Eliot's rhythms, and of his vocabulary.
James Joyce has written the best novel of my decade, and perhaps the best criticism of it has come from a Bel- gian who said, "All this is as true of my country as of Ireland. " Eliot has a like ubiquity of application. Art does not avoid utiiversals, it strikes at them all the harder in that it strikes through particulars. Eliot's work rests"'! apart from that of the many new writers who have used the present freedoms to no advantage, who have gained no new precisions of language, and no variety in their cadence. His men in shirt-sleeves, and his society ladies, are not a local manifestation; they are the stuff of our/ modern world, and true of more countries than one. I would praise the work for its fine toile, its humanity, and its realism ; for all good art is realism of one sort or an- other.
It is complained that Eliot is lacking in emotion. "La Figlia che Piange" is an adequate confutation.
If the reader wishes mastery of "regular form," the "Conversation Galante" is sufficient to show that symmet- rical form is within Mr. Eliot's grasp. You will hardly
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findsuchneatnesssaveinFrance; suchmodernneatness, save in Laforgue.
De Gourmont's phrase to the contrary notwithstanding, the supreme test of a book is that we should feel some unusualintelligenceworkingbehindthewords. Bythis test various other new books, that I have, or might have, beside me, go to pieces. The barrels of sham poetry that every decade and school and fashion produce, go to pieces. It is sometimes extremely difficult to find any other particular reason for their being so. unsatisfactory. I have expressly written here not "intellect" but "intelli- gence. " Thereisnointelligencewithoutemotion. The emotionmaybeanteriororconcurrent. Theremaybe emotion without much intelligence, but that does not con- cern us.
Versification:
A conviction as to the rightness or wrongness of vers libre is no guarantee of a poet. I doubt if there is much use trying to classify the various kinds of vers libre, but there is an anarchy which may be vastly overdone; and there is a monotony of bad usage as tiresome as any typical eighteenth or nineteenth century flatness.
In a recent article Mr. Eliot contended, or seemed to contend, that good vers libre was little more than a skilful evasionofthebetterknownEnglishmetres. Hisarticle was defective in that he omitted all consideration of metres depending on quantity, alliteration, etc. ; in fact, he wrote as if metres were measured by accent. This may have been tactful on his part, it may have brought his article nearer to the comprehension of his readers (that is, those of the "New Statesman," people chiefly concerned with sociology of the "button" and "unit" vari- ety). But he came nearer the fact when he wrote else-
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where : "No vers is libre for the man who wants to do a good job. "
Alexandrine and other grammarians have made cubby- holes for various groupings of syllables; they have put names upon them, and have given various labels to "metres" consisting of combinations of these different groups. Thus it would be hard to escape contact with somegrouporother; onlyanencyclopedistcouldeverbe half sure he had done so. The known categories would allow a fair liberty to the most conscientious traditional- ist. The most fanatical vers-librist will escape them with difficulty. However, I do not think there is any cry- ing need for verse with absolutely no rhythmical basis.
On the other hand, I do not believe that Chopin wrote toametronome. Thereisundoubtedlyasenseofmusic that takes count of the "shape" of the rhythm in a mel- ody rather than of bar divisions, which came rather late in the history of written music and were certainly not the first or most important thing that musicians attempted to record. The creation of such shapes is part of the- matic invention. Some musicians have the faculty of in- vention, rhythmic, melodic. Likewise some poets.
Treatises full of musical notes and of long and short marks have never been convincingly useful. Find a man with thematic invention and all he can say is that he gets what the Celts call a "chune" in his head, and that the words "go into it," or when they don't "go into it" they "stick out and worry him. "
You can not force a person to play a musical master- piece correctly, even by having the notes "correctly" printed on the paper before him; neither can you force a person to feel the movement of poetry, be the metre "regular" or "irregular. " I have heard Mr. Yeats try- ing to read Burns, struggling in vain to fit the "Birks o'
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Aberfeldy'' and "Bonnie Alexander" into the mournful l<eenofthe"WindamongtheReeds. " Eveninregular metres there are incompatible systems of music.
I have heard the best orchestral conductor in England read poems in free verse, poems in which the rhythm was so faint as to be almost imperceptible. He read them with the author's cadence, with flawless correctness. A distinguished statesman read from the same book, with the intonations of a legal document, paying no attention to themovementinherentinthewordsbeforehim. Ihave heard a celebrated Dante scholar and mediaeval enthusi- ast read the sonnets of the "Vita Nuova" as if they were not only prose, but the ignominious prose of a man de- void of emotions : an utter castration.
The leader of orchestra said to me, "There is more for a musician in a few lines with something rough or un- even, such as Byron's
There be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee;
than in whole pages of regular poetry. "
IJnless a man can put some thematic invention into
I'ers lihre, he would perhaps do well to stick to "regular" metres, which have certain chances of being musical from their form, and certain other chances of being musical throughhisfailureinfittingtheform. Inverslibrehis musical chances are but in sensitivity and invention.
Mr. Eliot is one of the very few who have given a personal rhythm, an identifiable quality of sound as wdl as of style. And at any rate, his book is the best thing in poetry since . . . (for the sake of peace I will leave thatdatetotheimagination). Ihavereadmostofthe poemsmanytimes; Ilastreadthewholebookatbreak- fast time and from flimsy proof-sheets: I believe these are"testconditions. " And,"confoundit,thefellowcan write. "
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JOYCE *
Despite the War, despite the paper shortage, and de- spite those old-established publishers whose god is their belly and whose god-father was the late F.