Into the Open: Reflections on Genius and Modernity 9780814783320

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Into th e Ope n

Into th e Ope n Reflections on Genius and Modernity Benjamin Taylor

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New Yor k Universit y Pres s New York and London

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New Yor k and Londo n © 199 5 by Benjamin Taylo r All rights reserve d Library of Congres s Cataloging-in-Publicatio n Dat a Taylor, Benjamin, 1952 Into th e ope n : reflections o n genius an d modernity / Benjamin Taylor . p. cm . Includes bibliographica l reference s an d index . ISBN 0-8147-8213- 2 1. Gifte d person—Cas e studies . 2 . Genius—Cas e studies. 3 . Pater , Walter, 1839-1894 . 4 . Valery , Paul, 1871-1945. 5 . Freud , Sigmund, 1856-1939 . I . Title . BF416.A1T38 199 5 155.9'8—dc20 94-4134

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New Yor k University Pres s books are printed o n acid-fre e paper, an d thei r bindin g materials ar e chosen for strengt h and durability . Manufactured i n th e United State s of Americ a 10 9 8 7 6 5

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To A. T. and S. T., who provided.

There i s basicall y onl y on e proble m i n th e world an d i t i s this : ho w d o yo u brea k through? Ho w d o yo u ge t ou t int o th e open ? —Adrian Leverkuhn , i n Thoma s Mann's Doctor Faustus

Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: W e Romantics 1 Chapter 1. Walte r Pater's Eucharist 1

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Chapter 2. Pau l Valery, or the Unmixed Cu p 4

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Chapter 3. I n Faust's Den: The Lament o f Freud 6

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Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows 9

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Notes 107 Bibliography 125 Index 143 About the Author 147

Acknowledgments

Long ago , o n a wal k fro m Ezr a Stile s Colleg e t o Sterlin g Library, Harold Bloom helped me to find ou t what was murkily on my mind. I was no student at Yale, just an importunin g stranger. I t i s a pleasur e no w t o than k Professo r Bloo m fo r that first nudg e toward this book. At Columbi a Car l Woodrin g an d Fran k Kermod e directe d my doctoral research with wisdom and vigilance and friendli ness. I had , i n addition , th e benefi t o f unsparin g criticism s from Edwar d W. Said. I go t o n terms , afte r graduat e school , wit h thre e grea t books, Czesla w Milosz' s The Land of Ulro, Lesze k Kola kowski's Modernity on Endless Trial, an d Georg e Steiner' s Real Presences—our mos t powerful account s o f the modern , I woul d say . Al l I ha d though t require d rethinkin g afte r I read them , an d m y wor k i s a dingh y i n th e wak e o f thes e big ships. An earlie r versio n o f Chapte r 1 appeared i n Raritan, an d I am indebte d t o editor s o f tha t quarterl y fo r helpfu l advice . The lat e Howar d Mos s suggeste d improvement s t o a draf t of Chapte r 2 . Richar d Howard , Danie l Shea , Joe l Conarroe , Frances Kiernan , Pete r Matson , Jeannett e Haien , Davi d Ha das, Sanfor d Friedman , Naom i Lebowitz , Am y Hempel , an d Leonard Barka n hav e bee n particula r friend s t o Into the Open, a s t o me , an d I shal l alway s b e gratefu l wit h lov e to them . The late Sondra J. Stang, a mighty example of how to study XI

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Acknowledgments and ho w t o live , taugh t m e muc h i n th e to o fe w year s I knew her. Despina Papazoglo u Gimbel , a n exacting editor, has save d me ofte n fro m mysel f i n wha t follows . I a m oblige d t o he r and also to Jennifer Hammer and David Updike for assistanc e in seein g th e boo k t o print . I t i s a pleasure t o acknowledg e Colin Jones' s goo d counsel . Profoundes t thank s g o lastly t o Carlton Rochell, my publisher, for all his faith an d works. Memorial Day, 1994 East Hampton, New York

Introduction: W e Romantic s

Now, Ariel, I am that I am, your late and lonely master , Who knows now what magic is:—the power to enchan t That come s from disillusion . —W. H. Auden

Start wit h Animal Crackers, th e scen e wher e Chic o an d Harpo accos t a Mr . Rosco e W . Chandler—hai r briUiantine d and mustach e twitching , fai r gam e fo r th e Marxis t excori ation. "I'm-a kno w yo u from- a somewhere/ ' Chic o says . "My goo d man, " replie s Chandler , "ther e m u s t b e a mistake." "I'm. a-kno w you , I'm- a kno w you , just- a le t m e see . No w I'm-a remember . Yo u ar e Ab y th e fees h peddle r fro m Czech oslowakia." "Preposterous! Fantastic ! An outrage! " Chandle r cries . "Aby, an d here' s th e proof : yo u go t on- a you r ar m a bee g boythmark." With hel p fro m Harpo , Chic o throw s th e ma n o f doubtfu l identity t o th e groun d an d rip s of f th e sleev e o f hi s swallow tail coa t t o disclos e a larg e unpleasan t birthmark . Her e Ros coe Chandle r burst s int o sobs , break s dow n completely , bawling t o Chic o i n a heav y Yiddis h accent : "You'r e right , 1

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Introduction: We Romantics I'm Aby ! It wa s a lon g tim e ago ! Look, w e ca n mayb e kee p this between us? How much you want? I' m a rich man, I can pay you! " He offer s Chic o an d Harp o everything . They'l l hav e non e of it. Chico sets up a taunting cry: "Aby, the feesh man ! Aby, the feesh man! " Harpo honks his horn for joy. Jeering thus a t Roscoe Chandler, the y expres s an essentia l of ou r modernity—th e nihilisti c gesture , th e unmaskin g o f what i s "higher. " A s a youn g graduat e chameleon , wishin g to b e a s moder n a s coul d be , I' d rea d th e wis e me n o f th e moment an d take n a nihilistic colorin g from wha t the y ha d to say . Hell , I wante d t o b e a goo d Nietzschea n too , s o I resolved t o unmas k something—th e receive d notio n o f ge nius. A mere cultura l construct , I jeered. A Romantic ideol ogy. But genius had a way o f jeering back. Make sens e of ar t or scienc e withou t me , th e cultura l construc t said . An d I realized, a t length , tha t I coul d not . Wha t wa s "higher " turned ou t no t t o b e a cove r fo r somethin g else ; wha t wa s "higher" turne d ou t t o b e higher. Thu s I arrived a t m y con clusion, whic h I state here at th e outset: genius , the Roman tic idea o f man transcendin g himself , i s what w e cannot no t believe in. I mean tha t a humanistic fait h i n geniu s remains , despit e the latenes s o f th e day , a s spontaneou s t o u s a s wer e th e covenantal faith s o f halakhah o r o f Word-made-fles h t o ou r ancestors. This i s not , o f course , t o sugges t tha t humanisti c faith i s equa l t o religiou s faith . Dant e Alighier i di d not pos sess the word "genius " in our modern sense , nor did he need it. H e calle d Aristotl e "maste r o f al l me n wh o know. " H e called Virgi l "ligh t an d hono r o f al l poets. " W e woul d cal l them geniuses , implyin g tha t the y ar e case s o f ma n tran scending himself , escapin g th e tain t o f ordinariness . Bu t i t should b e remembere d tha t th e "maste r o f al l wh o know " and th e "ligh t o f al l poets" remain, accordin g t o Dante, per petual prisoners of themselves, residents of Hell despite thei r greatness, th e on e tru e wa y o f exoneratio n bein g b y a rout e

Introduction: We Romantics • unavailable t o them . Ma n transcend s man , accordin g t o Dante, through the grace brought about by Christ's death and resurrection—by tha t wa y and no other . We post-traditiona l men an d wome n ar e moder n precisel y becaus e w e d o no t believe thing s lik e this . Bu t i t ma y b e useful , callin g our selves modern , t o thin k bac k o n th e ol d wor d fo r wha t w e are—apostate. Conside r i n thi s light Simo n Magus, father of apostasy, fathe r o f us al l insofar a s we are modern, who bad e defiance t o Christian miracles with a wizardry of his own : There wa s a certain man , calle d Simon , whic h beforetim e i n th e same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself wa s some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.1 Those amon g u s wh o ar e good Nietzschean s have , i n effect , proposed a n analog y betwee n ourselve s an d thes e Samari tans, heeder s o f th e mage . W e moderns , too , hav e bee n lai d under a spell , s o th e argumen t goes . W e moderns , n o les s than ou r cultura l ancestors , hav e carve d tablet s o f la w an d declared the m sacre d truths , believe d i n somethin g rathe r than nothing. In this are we different fro m thos e who've gone before us : Greeks , Persians , Hebrews , Romans , Gnostics , Christians? A s the form o f spirit supervening on these others, Romanticism—the characteristi c moder n consciousness — has stood no less than its predecessors fo r a suddenl y eruptin g decisio n i n favo r o f ignorance , o f deliberat e exclusion, a shutting o f one' s windows , a n internal N o to thi s or that thing, a refusal to let things approach, a kind of state of defense against much that is knowable, a satisfaction wit h the dark, a Yea and Amen to ignorance.2 Successively, dow n th e ages , wha t hav e w e defende d ourselves against ? Nihilism, th e uncann y gues t Nietzsch e perceived a t Europe' s door . Wha t i s it ? Denia l o f th e exis -

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Introduction: We Romantics tence of higher values, of any truthful worl d (Platonic physis, the Hebrai c God , th e Christia n Word-made-flesh , th e Gnos tic pneuma, th e Romanti c sublime) , o f an y beyon d o r in itself exonerate d fro m th e shado w pla y o f wha t Platonist s call becoming, Jews and Christians call history, Gnostics cal l creation, an d Romantics cal l the universe of death—each a n alien elemen t fro m whic h yo u mus t ge t yoursel f redeemed . Such ha s bee n th e Platonic , Jewish , Christian , Gnostic , o r Romantic ai m o f life . An d precisel y her e lie s th e differenc e between al l these and tha t whic h is , according to Nietzsche , their necessar y successo r an d ultimat e consequence : "Wha t does nihilism mean? " h e asks . "That the highest values devaluate themselves. Th e ai m i s lacking; 'why? 7 finds n o an swer." 3 Nietzsche understood th e history of man's highest or redemptive value s (cal l the m tablet s o f overcoming , sacre d truths) a s s o man y decision s i n favo r o f ignorance—fondl y mistaken fo r truth , bu t whic h Nietzschea n psycholog y un masks a s expression s o f th e fundamenta l requiremen t fo r untruth, th e metaphysical need not to be without answer s t o the answerles s questions . Ther e ar e onl y interpretations , h e declares—which w e mistake for verities; the task o f his psychology i s t o unmas k thes e a s bewitchments , spells , Yea s and Amen s t o ignorance . Th e sacre d belief s a cultur e pro pounds Nietzsche would expose as its sacred delusions. Simon Magus must, fro m th e Nietzschean perspective , b e granted hi s du e fo r havin g retaile d a gospe l (eve n i f a faile d one) inimica l t o tha t o f th e primitiv e church . I n th e end, orthodox Christianit y no t Gnosticis m gaine d th e day , a s everybody knows. Simo n an d his tiding s endure d a long occultation. Bu t i f histor y cas t hi m down , i t di d no t thro w hi m out. H e skulke d throug h al l th e centuries , waitin g wit h hi s message—for u s apostates, us Romantics, us moderns. A little i s know n abou t him , muc h mor e figmented . Th e individual o f tha t nam e wh o turn s u p in Irenaeus an d i n th e paleographic finds a t Na g Hammad i ma y o r ma y no t b e th e same Simo n who bewitched Samaritan s i n the Book of Acts.

Introduction: We Romantics • What w e ca n sa y wit h certaint y i s tha t ther e i s a Simo n Magus associated earl y on with Gnosti c doctrines o f the ma leficence o f al l creation ; o f a n evi l demiurg e a s universa l instigator,- o f a Plenitude which lies beyond the demiurge and of which th e demiurge knows nothing ; an d last, o f a path of saving knowledge o r gnosis, a way ou t o f thi s acosmi c abor tion an d bac k t o th e tru e unknow n God . Thus th e teaching s of Gnosticism, which , various though they are, some heterodoxly Christian , other s Jewish , stil l other s pagan , d o hav e in commo n th e stres s o n ignoranc e versu s enlightenment , deficiency versu s fulfillment—no t si n versu s repentance . According to orthodox Christianity ou r birthright was squandered i n Ede n an d onl y throug h grac e ca n w e regai n it . Ac cording t o Gnosticism , b y contrast , th e huma n min d an d heart posses s boundles s unhampere d means , redee m them selves withou t benefi t o f th e divin e revelation . Gnosti c dis closures are, invariably, o f the godhead within. Simon Magus affirms tha t i n ever y human bein g "dwell s an infinite powe r . . . the roo t o f th e universe." 4 Cravin g fo r knowledg e lead s the pneumatikos o r spiritualize d man—wh o i s t o Gnosti cism wha t th e sain t i s t o orthodo x Christianity—upwar d from bondag e t o hi s redemption . A vehemen t impuls e t o know, an d not th e inclined heart mad e whole and capable of faith throug h God' s gif t o f grace , gain s hi m hi s release . Th e Gnostic beholds no impediment o f sin. He therefore feel s n o need for God' s propitiation. Amon g Nag Hammadi texts , th e Testimony of Truth define s th e Gnosti c a s " a discipl e o f hi s own mind," 5 whose goal is the liberating discovery that he— and no t tha t evi l demiurg e who m th e man y hav e mistake n for divine—is the sole source of truth. Similarly, a text called the Book of Thomas the Contender declare s tha t "whoeve r has no t know n himsel f ha s know n nothing , bu t h e wh o ha s known himself ha s at the same time already achieved knowledge about th e depth s o f al l things." 6 And th e Gnosti c Jesu s of th e Gospel of Thomas put s it , ver y succinctly , lik e this : "If yo u brin g forth wha t i s within you , wha t yo u brin g fort h

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Introduction: We Romantics will sav e you." 7 Sel f an d Go d tur n ou t t o b e identical , onc e the door s o f perceptio n hav e bee n cleansed . Accordin g t o Gnosticism, ma n ha s stil l a grea t birthright—no t forfei t i n Eden bu t rathe r eclipse d i n th e origina l catastroph e o f cre ation. Origina l sin ? I t i s the demiurge , not ourselves , who i s primordially a t fault. Th e Gnostic or "knowing one" reache s back o f th e demiurge' s botche d handiwor k t o reclai m ful fillment. Thi s i s gnosis, th e transpor t o f knowledg e tha t makes of him, according to the Gospel of Philip, "n o longer a Christian, but a Christ."8 Gnosis equate s the knower to God, as doe s neither fait h no r salvatio n i n orthodo x Christianity . What th e text s o f Na g Hammadi compe l u s t o acknowledg e is a fierce an d origina l humanism o f th e first an d secon d centuries, which th e emergent catholi c churc h rightly recognized a s inimica l t o it s ow n cree d an d hazardou s t o it s au thority. This humanism, lik e any other, ascribe s to man suf ficient greatnes s to make his own way out of the dark. Here I will venture a generalization an d say that accordin g to ever y humanism ther e i s a n inwar d vehemenc e fo r knowledge — what th e German s cal l a Wissensdrang —by whic h ma n works ou t his redemption. If this sounds too obviously Faustian t o be applicable t o th e Gnostics , i t i s well t o recall tha t when in Rome our Simo n Magus, father o f apostasy, went by the nom d e guerre o f Faustus—literally, "th e favored one." 9 Was th e notoriou s early-sixteenth-centur y blac k magicia n and sodomite who called himself Docto r Faustus, and whos e exploits wer e reporte d a t Kreuznach , Heidelberg , Erfurt , In golstadt, Minister , an d elsewhere, by his own choice a namesake o f th e Magus ? O r wa s th e nam e give n hi m b y others ? We don't reall y know, an d in either case the implications ar e clear enough . Her e was a purveyor, i n the gran d tradition, of forbidden things . I f overshadowe d i n hi s ow n da y b y mor e renowned alchemist s (Tritheim , Paracelsus , Agripp a vo n Nettlesheim, Nostradamus ) i t wa s nonetheless Faustu s wh o posthumously emerge d i n th e popular folkbooks, th e puppe t plays, th e ecclesiastica l lore , an d th e literatur e a s embodi -

Introduction: We Romantics • ment o f a n interdicted Wissensdrang. Th e devil , too, has hi s anointed ones , Christianit y ha d declare d lon g since : Habet diabolus christos suos, and worth mentioning in this connection i s tha t th e Manichea n sag e who m Sain t Augustin e s o ardently await s i n boo k 5 of th e Confessions, an d b y who m he i s s o miserably le t down , calle d himself Faustu s too . Th e German Faustu s inherit s thi s legac y o f th e devil' s anointe d ones, damne d lik e his predecessor s i n th e shameles s hungr y quest t o d o an d know , unti l transfigure d b y Lessin g an d Goethe i n th e secon d hal f o f th e eighteent h century . Onl y with the m doe s the Faustian Wissensdrang becom e a path of salvation. The Faust who emerges into the light, crying "Hie r ist e s Zeit , durc h Tate n z u beweisen , Das s manneswurd e nicht de r Gotterhohe weich" (The time has come to prove by deeds tha t mortal s hav e a s muc h dignit y a s God ) i s n o bounden agen t o f evil, but instea d th e heroic embodiment of a humanistic rage to know. Orthodox Christia n accounts , eage r t o discredi t Simo n Magus, ancien t origina l o f Faust , ha d reporte d o n a flyin g exhibition he gave for the Emperor Nero. It is said that whil e Simon di d manage t o get aloft , h e a s surely fell lik e a plummet bac k t o earth . Anothe r accoun t ha s i t tha t h e allowe d himself t o be buried alive , expecting to rise on the third day . Such wa s th e ide a o f th e mag e bequeathe d t o th e Christia n Middle Ages . H e wa s evil , o r impotent , o r bot h b y turns : a conjurer, a necromancer , a fake . T o b e sure , Renaissanc e culture, firs t i n Ital y an d late r i n transalpin e Europe , chal lenged thi s wholesal e contemp t fo r magic . Ove r agains t th e filthy doing s of Sycorax, the Renaissance acknowledged Prospero's book and staff. Here is how Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, greates t o f quattrocent o humanists , put s th e matter , distinguishing black from white : Just as that first form o f magic makes a man a slave and pawn of evil powers, the latter make s him thei r lord and master. The first form o f magic cannot justify an y claim to being either a n art o r a science while the latter, filled as it is with mysteries, embraces the

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Introduction: We Romantics most profound contemplatio n o f th e deepest secret s of things and finally the knowledge of the whole of nature. This beneficent magic, in callin g forth, a s it were , from thei r hidin g places into the light the powers which the largess of God has sown and planted in the world, does not itsel f wor k miracles, so much a s sedulously serve nature as she works her wonders.10 Magic is, for Pico , " a higher an d holier philosophy" u —"the highest realization of natural philosophy." 12 The white magician conjure s n o demon s fro m below ; t o th e contrary , h e summons influence s fro m above , makin g marriag e thereb y of th e timeboun d t o th e sempiternal : "A s th e farme r wed s his elms to the vines, so the magus marries earth to heaven," says Pico, "tha t i s t o say , th e forces o f inferio r thing s t o th e gifts an d propertie s o f superna l things." 13 Henc e hi s ser vices t o creation . Th e whit e magician' s Wissensdrang en ables a grea t conciliatio n o f ourselve s t o God . H e is , say s Pico, "th e ministe r o f natur e an d no t merel y it s artfu l imi tator." 14 Of course , Pico' s revaluatio n o f magi c form s par t o f a large-scale revaluatio n o f ma n whic h w e associat e wit h th e fifteenth-century Italia n revival of learning and, in particular, of neoplatonic philosophy. It was then, as I've indicated, tha t magic shed its old disedifying character . So far from implyin g demonic assistance , a s before , magica l practice s coul d b e taken a s proo f o f a superio r knowledg e o f th e interlockin g and all-pervadin g force s i n nature . I t ha s bee n a questio n o f scholarly interes t whethe r Leonard o d a Vinci , Pico' s elde r Florentine contemporary , understoo d hi s work—as scientis t and artist , artis t an d scientist , eac h endeavo r servin g th e other—in neoplatoni c an d magica l terms . W e kno w o f d a Vinci's contemp t fo r "alchemists , necromancer s an d othe r ingenious simpletons, " a s h e scathingl y put s it . W e kno w also tha t h e believe d "th e painter' s min d mus t o f necessit y transform itsel f int o th e ver y min d o f nature , . . . mus t b e able t o expoun d th e cause s o f th e manifestation s o f he r

Introduction: We Romantics • laws." 15 Natur e become s availabl e t o Leonardo's ar t onl y o n condition tha t sh e i s graspe d i n he r inne r necessity . Th e marvels ar e there—i n th e thing s o f th e worl d bein g a s the y are an d no t som e othe r way , an d i n thei r amenabilit y t o knowledge. H e regarde d hi s art , base d o n th e ver y min d o f nature, a s th e onl y rea l magic . An d h e place d paintin g firs t among human pursuit s becaus e it furnished th e synthesi s of all th e distinctiv e activitie s o f th e mind ; becaus e i t vouch safed a conclusio n t o scientifi c problems , showe d fort h th e ''marvelous" an d "stupendous " necessit y compellin g eac h observable effec t t o be the direc t resul t o f its cause . In orde r to pain t th e truth , th e visua l truth , hi s exploration s pierce d through t o unsee n ragioni o f experience . I n orde r t o depic t appearances, Leonard o researche d causes . Happ y th e ma n who know s these . Bu t happie r stil l h e wh o make s the m manifest i n a n image , thereb y reconcilin g th e unknow n t o the known . Leonardo' s notebooks , chaoti c thoug h the y are , imply a unitar y vie w o f reality—grounde d i n mechanica l principles an d susceptibl e o f mathematica l expression . Whereas we would cal l this perspective technologica l o r scientific, th e Italian fifteenth centur y was more apt to regard it as magical an d no schola r has com e nearer th e quic k o f th e da Vinci question than Kenneth Clar k when he writes, Just a s Leonardo, in his pursuit o f natural forces , hun g on with a kind o f inspired tenacity , s o in th e St . John we feel hi m pressin g closer round the form, penetrating further and further into the mystery, til l a t las t h e seem s t o becom e a part o f i t s o that, lik e his contemporaries, we no longer think o f him as a scientist, a seeker after measurabl e truth, bu t a s a magician, a man who, from clos e familiarity wit h th e processe s o f nature , ha s learn t a disturbin g secret of creation.16 The magicia n know s thing s w e other s canno t know . Suc h powers th e Renaissanc e regarde d a s proof o f his ingenium — his nature, not his nurture. To possess secrets of creation was

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Introduction: We Romantics a destiny, reveale d earl y on. Accordingly, i n Vasari's Lives of the Artists a peasant boy named Giotto leaves off herding his father's shee p t o dra w picture s o f the m o n th e rocks . Alon g comes Cimabu e and , knowin g a t a glanc e th e glor y an d promise o f th e child , take s hi m i n hand . Vasar i emphasizes , in the general preface to his Lives, a n inexplicable impulse or force o f natur e behin d grea t artisti c careers , a n untutore d invenzione, manifes t fro m yout h an d accompanyin g th e art ist throughout his life. The old in-born gifts o f divine inspiration whic h antiquit y ha d ascribe d t o th e poet , Renaissanc e Italy extend s t o th e grea t painter s an d sculptors . Vasar i speaks o f a furore dell 7arte, a creativ e ecstas y transfigurin g rather tha n jus t copyin g th e world . Thu s th e artis t prove s himself a secon d god— alter deus t a s Albert i ha d alread y i n the quattrocento put it . Legend says that while still a boy Leonardo sculpted terra cotta heads that seeme d the work of a great artist. His fathe r Ser Pier o too k hi m t o Florenc e an d apprentice d hi m t o An drea de l Verrochio , i n whos e bottega Leonard o eve n a s a journeyman shame d th e master, addin g to Saint John Baptising Christ a n ange l tha t rendere d th e res t o f th e paintin g commonplace by comparison. Legend says, further, tha t Verrochio coul d neve r agai n bring himself t o tak e u p brush an d palette. We kno w tha t throughou t Leonardo' s lif e suc h myth s o f the inexplicabl e g o on accruin g t o him , an d culminat e afte r his deat h i n Vasari' s "miraculou s an d heavenly " Maestr o who, dissatisfie d merel y t o represen t nature , debate s an d competes with her and makes himself, finally, maste r o f her, having acquired secre t an d total comprehensio n o f her ways. So when , i n th e 1850s , th e historia n Michele t refer s t o d a Vinci a s "th e Italia n brothe r o f Faust/ 717 h e i s invokin g a supernatural sens e of him that is certainly not new. Only th e doing an d knowin g o f al l thing s coul d satisf y Leonardo , a s only th e doin g an d knowin g o f al l thing s ca n redee m Faust .

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Only th e breachin g o f ever y boundary grant s fulfillment, con fers th e tru e mastery . Pico ha d writte n tha t man' s dignit y wa s th e resul t o f hi s freedom t o mak e a n essenc e o f hi s ow n rathe r tha n bein g assigned one . " I have give n you," say s Go d i n th e Oration on the Dignity of Man, no fixed abode , an d n o visag e o f you r own , no r an y specia l gift , i n order that whatever place or aspect or talents you yourself wil l have desired, yo u ma y hav e an d posses s the m wholl y i n accor d wit h your desir e an d your ow n decision. Othe r specie s are confined t o a prescribed nature , unde r law s o f m y making . N o limit s hav e bee n imposed upo n you , however ; yo u determin e you r natur e b y you r own free will, in the hands of which I have placed you. I have placed you at the world's very center, that you may better behold from thi s point whateve r i s in th e world. And I have made you neither celes tial o r terrestrial , neithe r morta l no r immortal , s o that , lik e your self, you may mold yourself wholl y in the form o f your choice. 18 Who i s man ? Th e indeterminat e creature , whos e dignit y i s his freedom t o d o or be anything. Who, then , i s m an a s mage ? The maestr o o f nature , th e limi t cas e o f greatness . Suc h i s the myster y Leonardo' s Wissensdrang cam e t o stan d for . It stil l does . Bu t w e Romantic s hav e give n th e myster y a new name . Th e Renaissanc e ha d it s magi , w e hav e ha d ou r geniuses. Thes e latte r continu e b y ne w mean s a n ol d m y t h of th e unaccountable . Th e genius , a s Nietzsch e put s i t earl y in hi s career , "augment s natur e wit h ne w livin g nature." 1 9 There i s i n thi s th e ech o o f a predecessor . Hi s earl y master , Schopenhauer, ha d writte n i n Parerga and Paralipomena that th e intellectual life, like some gift from heaven, hovers over the stir and movement o f th e world ; o r i t is , a s i t were , a sweet-scente d ai r developed out of the ferment itself—th e rea l life of mankind, domi nated b y will ; an d sid e b y sid e wit h th e histor y o f nations , th e history of philosophy, scienc e and art takes its bloodless way. . .. I t

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happens only now and then, let us say once in a century, that a man is born whose intellect s o perceptibly surpasses the normal measur e as t o amoun t t o a secon d facult y whic h seem s accidental , a s i t i s out o f al l relation t o th e will . He may remai n a long time withou t being recognize d o r appreciated , stupidit y preventin g th e on e an d envy th e other . Bu t shoul d thi s onc e com e t o pass , mankin d wil l crowd round him an d his works, in the hope that he may be able to enlighten som e o f th e darknes s o f thei r existenc e o r infor m the m about it . . .. A ma n o f learnin g i s a ma n wh o ha s learne d a grea t deal; a man o f genius , on e from who m w e lear n somethin g whic h the geniu s ha s learne d fro m nobody . Grea t minds , o f whic h ther e are scarcel y on e i n a hundre d million , ar e thu s th e lighthouse s o f humanity; an d without them mankind would lose itself i n a boundless se a o f monstrou s erro r an d bewilderment . Th e simpl e ma n of learning, in the strict sense of the word—the ordinar y professor, fo r instance—looks upon a genius much as we look upon a hare, which is good to ea t onc e i t ha s been kille d an d dressed , bu t aliv e is onl y good to shoo t at . . .. Thos e who emerg e from th e multitude , thos e who are called men of genius, are the lucida intervalla o f the whole human race. 20 These continu e b y new mean s a n ol d myth o f th e unaccount able. Man i s a great miracle ; ma n a s genius, creatin g afte r th e prototype o f God , th e greates t miracl e o f all . Genius: genie i n French , Genie i n German , genio i n Ital ian. Fro m a pai r o f Lati n words— genius, meanin g th e guard ian spiri t o f a famil y o r a n individual ; an d ingenium, mean ing th e inbor n capacit y o r natura l aptitud e tha t i s prio r t o technical training . Bot h hav e thei r roo t i n th e ver b gignere, to beget , aki n t o th e Gree k gignesthai, t o b e born , t o com e into being . Sinc e th e firs t quarte r o f th e eighteent h centur y "genius" ha s chiefl y signifie d nativ e intellectua l o r artisti c power o f a n exalte d kind , miraculou s creativ e capacit y a s distinct fro m talent . I n Englis h a s i n th e othe r vernacula r languages, th e wor d firs t indicate d tutelar y spirit s connecte d to a place , institution , o r wa y o f life . "Genius " wa s subse quently employed , a t leas t fro m th e seventeent h century , t o denote th e presidin g gift s o f a particula r natio n o r epoch .

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Hence, throug h a furthe r innovation , i t cam e t o mea n th e natural qualit y o f min d suitin g a n individua l t o a given task . In Addison's essa y numbe r 16 0 in The Spectator, date d 1711 , we fin d th e distinction—mor e an d mor e familia r a s th e eigh teenth centur y progresses—betwee n thos e wh o creat e ou t o f an inexplicable natura l endowmen t an d thos e who wor k onl y by mean s o f ar t o r learning . I n respons e t o Frenc h neoclassi cism Englishme n wil l poin t t o th e grea t irregula r poetr y o f their chie f nationa l writer—snatchin g "Grac e beyon d th e Reach o f Art, " Pop e said—a s a cas e incommensurat e wit h every receive d norm . (Indeed , i t i s abov e al l i n eighteenth century Shakespear e criticis m tha t th e triump h ove r neoclas sical constrain t wil l b e wo n an d tha t th e ide a o f th e individ ual o f genius , creatin g a s i f anothe r God , wil l becom e cus tomary parlance. ) Dr . Johnson' s Dictionary o f 175 5 offers , alongside olde r an d variousl y moldere d meaning s o f th e wor d "genius," a tam e formul a fo r ou r characteristi c moder n ac ceptation—one "endowe d wit h superio r faculties. " Fou r years later , Edwar d Youn g i n hi s Conjectures on Original Composition wil l spea k mor e wit h th e tru e voic e o f th e age: "Learnin g w e thank , Geniu s w e revere : Tha t give s u s pleasure, Thi s give s u s rapture ; Tha t informs , Thi s inspires ; and i s itsel f inspired ; fo r geniu s i s fro m heaven , learnin g from man. " The influenc e o f Youn g o n importan t continenta l figure s was rapid , par t o f a general wearin g dow n o f received neoclas sical standards . W e find , fo r example , th e ech o o f h i m i n Diderot's 176 5 entr y fo r "genius " i n th e Encyclopedic: The ma n o f genie i s he whose rangin g sou l occupie s itsel f wit h al l that i s i n nature , receivin g fro m he r n o ide a tha t i s no t rouse d b y his distinctiv e pla y o f emotion . Al l i s brough t t o life , turne d t o account; nothin g i s lost , nothin g wasted . . . . H e cast s upon natur e an ey e gifted fo r th e comprehensio n o f abysses . . .. A s for hi s con structs, they are too audacious for ordinary reason to inhabit. . . . I n the art s a s in th e science s . . . the genius seem s t o chang e th e ver y nature o f things ; hi s characte r envelop s whateve r i t touches ; h e

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Introduction: We Romantics casts into the future hi s piercing lights; he leaps ahead of his century, an d i t i s powerles s t o follo w him . H e leave s behin d thos e intellects whic h seek , eve n rightly , a s may be, to criticize—poo r lockstepped minds which leave nature as they found it. Behold him they may but are powerless to know him. For the genius alone may tell us truly who and what he is.21 In Germa n cultura l life , owin g partl y t o th e influenc e o f Young and othe r author s importe d fro m England , th e rol e of genie wa s immens e i n th e lat e eighteent h an d earl y nine teenth centuries . Stur m un d Dran g was know n als o t o Ger mans a s th e Geniepehode o r er a o f genius . Under thi s sign , Shakespeare wa s belatedl y discovere d t o them . Th e prodiga l figure o f Goethe, growing old and universal, becam e synony mous wit h Genie i n al l it s forms . A s previous culture s ha d taken thei r bearing s fro m th e hero , th e prophet , th e pneumatikos, th e saint , s o German y i n th e perio d o f highes t achievement an d influence too k its bearings from th e genius, who was Mustermensch der Menschlichkeit gegenuber. These ar e Goethe' s word s t o describ e Leonard o d a Vinci . The Maestr o i s th e measur e o f tru e humanity , Goeth e de clares. The Maestro and his Wissensdrang ar e what ar e most real. In Goethe' s formulatio n w e alread y fin d muc h o f wha t Schopenhauer ha s t o sa y abou t geniu s i n th e Parerga. And we hea r agai n thi s origina l Goethea n sens e o f genius , no w mediated by Schopenhauer, i n the young Nietzsche speakin g of "me n t o who m th e whol e o f natur e i s impelle d fo r it s redemption"—a phras e fro m Schopenhauer as Educator (1874J, third of the Untimely Meditations. But i n Nietzsche' s subsequen t wor k tha t Goethea n an d Schopenhauerian legacy—th e geniu s a s Mustermensch der Menschlichkeit gegenuber —gets unmasked , Rosco e Chan dler show n up , a s i t were , fo r Ab y th e fishmonger . Th e Nietzsche o f the middle o r so-called positivist period—fro m Human, All Too Human (1878 ) to The Gay Science (1882) — casts awa y genius , findin g i t a Romanti c reli c inconsisten t

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with hi s thoroughgoin g skepticism . H e argue s tha t w e Ro mantics hav e wrongl y bestowe d ou r reverence . "I f w e con sider al l tha t ha s bee n hithert o revere d a s 'superhuma n m i n d / a s 'genius / " he writes , we com e t o th e sa d conclusio n tha t th e intellectualit y o f mankin d must hav e bee n somethin g ver y lo w an d paltry.. . . The grea t hu man bein g i s still , i n precisel y th e greates t thin g tha t demand s reverence, invisibl e lik e a too distant star . . .. Th e orde r o f rank of greatness for all past mankind has not yet been determined. 22 Nietzsche look s ahea d t o a transvaluatio n o f value s tha t wil l obviate, alon g wit h al l metaphysica l need , ou r Geniebedurfnis o r nee d fo r genius . Fro m th e vantag e poin t o f tha t transvaluation—he call s i t th e overman—al l greatnes s hith erto, al l th e mos t resplenden t Wissensdrange w e hav e known, shal l b e disclose d a s not-ye t an d not-enough . Th e overman wil l laug h fro m th e heigh t o f a distan t sta r a t ou r Romantic nee d fo r genius , m u c h a s h e wil l laug h a t ou r fantasies o f a creato r God ; an d o f th e uniqu e an d immorta l soul h e ha s grante d t o eac h o f us ; an d o f th e freedo m o f eac h to liv e a life o f response t o his grac e or not. Th e overma n wil l repudiate al l thes e consolin g ol d thought s i n favo r o f a ne w one tha t console s no t a t all : What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "Thi s life as you now live it and have live d it , yo u wil l hav e t o liv e onc e mor e an d innumerabl e times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but ever y pain and every jo y an d ever y though t an d sig h an d everythin g unutterabl y small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the sam e succession an d sequence—eve n thi s spide r an d thi s moonligh t be tween th e trees , an d eve n thi s momen t an d I myself. Th e eterna l hourglass o f existenc e i s turne d upsid e dow n agai n an d again , an d you with it, speck of dust." 23 Nihilism ca n b e n o complete r tha n this . Eterna l recurrenc e of th e sam e means : omnipotenc e o f th e nil , eternally . Thi s

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Introduction: We Romantics Nietzschean mandal a o f meaninglessness—mos t difficul t and dangerous and destructive of thoughts, thinkable only by the Ubermensch —makes bombas t o f th e dignit y o f man , predicated a s tha t Renaissanc e teachin g is , accordin g t o Nietzsche, o n ou r delusion s o f fre e will . Fo r wher e i s th e liberum arbithum i n a spec k o f dust ? Nietzsche , hard-se t enemy o f all humanisms, Gnosti c o r Renaissance o r Romantic, think s hi s wa y throug h t o a nullity o f will raise d t o th e highest power . Nothin g coul d b e deadlie r t o th e fantasie s o f humanism tha n eterna l recurrence of the same; no determin ism could be more crushing. Has not thi s though t experimen t ( a better ter m fo r eterna l recurrence tha n argument , doctrine , o r teaching , fo r i t i s really none of these) remained our furthest ventur e into what is calle d th e "decenterin g o f th e subject" ? Nietzsch e an nounced himsel f Europe' s first perfec t nihilist , mine r o f a sacred Romantic truth—th e ide a of genius. Taking the limi t case of him fo r m y control , I will examin e thre e rather mor e anxious, les s perfec t representative s o f modernity—Walte r Pater, Pau l Valery , an d Sigmun d Freud . Leonard o d a Vinc i becomes a proble m fo r eac h o f thes e becaus e th e receive d sense of genius , o f selfhoo d a t it s highest reach , ha s for eac h been so deeply, if implicitly, calle d into question. Called int o question, I emphasize ; bu t no t repudiated . T o th e query , "How d o yo u ge t ou t int o th e open? " th e propounde r o f eternal recurrence would shou t out , "Yo u don't!" Nietzsche , Europe's first perfec t nihilist , exulte d i n the unselving of man-, i t i s a n exultatio n i n whic h Pater , Valery , an d Freu d refuse t o share, although the process of unselving, the waning of the Romantic, is as inherent t o their work as it is programmatic i n Nietzsche's . Th e elate d Romanti c humanis m fro m which ou r moder n notio n o f geniu s wa s bre d pall s her e t o uncertainty. Fo r Pater , Valery , an d Freud , Leonard o i s a means o f confrontin g wha t modernit y ha s take n fro m us . Each answer s th e question , "Ho w d o yo u brea k through? " with a vexed an d reluctan t "Yo u don't. " Eac h acknowledge s

Introduction: We Romantics • a marginality of personal volition, eac h make s o f encumberment th e abidin g metaphor . Ye t the y d o no t ventur e s o far a s Nietzsche ; the y d o no t relinquis h th e ide a o f genius , hedged about though it is in their works by skepticism. Pater , Valery, an d Freu d remai n equivocal , trouble d witnesses . W e may stud y i n the m th e encroachment s o f a n uncann y gues t into our long-lived culture of Romanticism .

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Chapter 1

Walter Pater' s Eucharis t But how does one feel? One grows used to the weather, The landscape and that; And the sublime comes down To the spirit itself, The spirit and space, The empty spirit in vacant space. What wine does one drink? What bread does one eat? —Wallace Stevens

W h a t woul d be fun, declare d the undergraduate Pater, would be to ge t onesel f ordaine d an d no t believ e a word o f it . An d he woul d hav e acte d o n th e impuls e ha d no t a devout class mate, alert to Pater's mischief, forestalled hi m with letters to the Bishop of London. Callow a s it is , the episode furnishes u s with a clue. Having put asid e the Christia n pietie s o f a boyhood spen t i n th e cathedral schoo l a t Canterbury , Pate r kept a n admiration fo r the Hig h Churc h liturgy . Wha t th e piou s yout h ha d sough t in Canterbur y Cathedral , th e matur e agnosti c woul d see k again i n Brasenos e Chapel—no t God , bu t th e go d tha t i s i n 18

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 1 9 the detail. He was led to the dubious extreme of aspiring to a Church vocatio n b y th e promis e o f momentar y perfection s he suspecte d h e coul d kno w onl y i n ritual—exaltation s whereby, i n hi s words , "th e element s o f ou r natur e refin e themselves to the burning point." To burn, he wrote in "Dia phaneite /; (1864) , his first survivin g essay , i s t o wil l onesel f into transparency, int o crystal. It is to attain to the conditio n of art : The artist and he who treats life in the spirit of art desires only to be shown to the world as he really is; as he comes nearer and nearer to perfection, th e veil of an outer life not simply expressive of the inward become s thinne r an d thinner . Thi s intellectua l thron e i s rarely won . Lik e th e religiou s life , i t i s a paradox i n th e world , denying th e first condition s o f man' s ordinar y existence , cuttin g obliquely the spontaneous order of things. Pater's wor k i s invariabl y a searc h fo r denial s o f th e first conditions o f ordinar y experience , a cuttin g o f spontaneou s orders b y th e obliqu e strategie s o f hi s artifice : a s th e sacre d rebuts th e profane , s o he intend s hi s sentence s t o dispe l th e ordinary. Accordingly , fro m th e outse t o f hi s caree r h e fas tens onto the liturgy as prototype of the artistic act. For what he finds i n priestl y gesture s i s a purging awa y o f al l tha t i s not form. I t is just this sense of the sacerdotal as purificatio n that lead s hi m t o plac e i t first amon g hi s tropes . Burnin g with a hard gemlike flame mean s for Pater the dissolution of ordinary experience into hieratic clarity, into art . But i s th e ritua l o f refinemen t h e will enac t i n th e essay s and "imaginary portraits" a case of burning always with hard, gemlike flame? I s it not, mor e modestly, a matter o f keepin g the self awak e and ready to answer experience, of taking care of th e self ? "Fo r al l Pate r say s abou t passion , eagerness , an d excitement/' say s Graha m Hough , "intensit y o f experienc e is not reall y what h e is after,- . . . whatever i t ma y be to bur n with a hard gem-lik e flame , i t i s somethin g tha t take s plac e at a rathe r lo w temperature." 1 Wittingl y o r not , Houg h

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Walter Pater's Eucharist echoes a remark Henr y Jame s had mad e i n a letter t o Edmun d Gosse a few month s afte r Pater' s death : He reminds me , i n th e disturbe d midnigh t o f ou r actua l literature , of one of those lucent matchboxe s which you can place, on going to bed, nea r th e candle , t o sho w yo u i n th e darkness , wher e yo u ca n strike a light : h e shine s i n th e uneas y gloom—vaguely , an d ha s a phosphorescence, not a flame. What i s o f permanen t valu e i n Pater , I wan t t o argue , i s the extraordinar y deman d mad e o n writin g itself . Ou t o f hi s certainty tha t word s alon e ar e certai n goo d come s a ne w kind o f fortitude , counterin g hope s fo r sublimit y wit h th e acknowledgment tha t a mer e phosphorescence , thi s sid e o f the sublime , i s al l o f ecstas y w e shal l get . Pate r i s alway s trying t o writ e hi s wa y ou t o f phosphorescenc e an d int o flame. Bu t th e releas e i s checke d agai n an d again, - wha t h e achieves i s a t bes t a momentar y semblanc e o f bein g se t free . Pater's performanc e doe s no t se t th e sel f o n fire ; i t struggles , far mor e modestly , t o kee p th e sel f fro m winkin g ou t alto gether. H e canno t rel y o n meditativ e recollection , year s tha t bring th e philosophi c mind , a s a sourc e o f ballas t an d equa nimity. A t ever y tur n i n hi s wor k th e sel f i s throw n bac k o n the bar e resource s o f mer e writing ; is , i n othe r words , neve r more i n an y writte n instan t tha n word s mak e o f it . Pater' s pen cut s "obliquel y th e spontaneou s orde r o f things " i n orde r to attemp t a ne w order , on e tha t ca n accommodat e th e writer's will . Jame s get s a t jus t thi s whe n h e say s o f him , I thin k h e ha s had—wil l hav e had—th e mos t exquisit e literar y fortune: i.e . t o hav e take n i t ou t all, wholly, exclusively , wit h th e pen (the style, the genius) and absolutely not a t all with the person . He is the mask without th e face. Because wh o h e i s alway s remain s fo r Pate r a matte r o f th e present tense—thu s th e emphati c argumen t o f th e Conclu sion t o hi s first book , Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873)—h e i s in eac h writin g momen t oblige d t o shap e

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 2 1 a further identit y fo r th e self. The program for livin g he lay s down in the Conclusion translates into a program for writing, the imperativ e o f bein g presen t t o experienc e int o tha t o f being present to the perfecting shape words confer upon experience. Th e concern s o f Pate r a s aesthet e an d a s write r re solve into a single urgent question: "Ho w shall we pass most swiftly fro m poin t t o poin t an d b e presen t alway s a t th e focus where the greatest number o f vital forces unit e in thei r purest energy? " In Marius the Epicurean (1885)—th e pros e romanc e h e wrote a s a n apologi a fo r th e scandalizin g Conclusio n t o hi s first book—Pate r say s of his young hero, In a shadowy world, his deeper wisdom had ever been, with a sense of economy, with a jealous estimate of gain and loss, to use life, not as the means to some problematic end, but as far as might be, from dying hour to dying hour, as an end in itself—a kin d of music, allsufficing to the duly trained ear, even as it died out on the air. And Pater' s deepe r wisdo m i s t o us e word s a s Mariu s use s life. "Not the fruit o f experience," sings the Conclusion, "bu t experience itsel f i s th e end. " No t th e frui t o f words—a n ethic, o r edification, o r image of life—but word s themselve s are the end . What I find i n Pater' s admittedl y peculia r pros e i s some thing wort h th e trouble : a record o f inevitabl y thwarte d in sights in a world where past is dead, future a conjecture, an d the present a knife's edge. 2 It is in just thi s insistence o n th e pure presen t o f lif e tha t Pate r strike s u s a s s o modern , re minds u s more o f ou r centur y tha n o f his own. Like Wallac e Stevens i n hi s poems , Pate r i n hi s pros e mus t continuall y find ou t wit h wha t win e an d wha t brea d t o nouris h "th e empty spiri t i n vacan t space. " Th e burde n thu s t o g o o n reinventing th e sel f b y mean s o f word s alon e i s typicall y caricatured an d cheapene d b y a ter m lik e "aestheticism, " fraught a s it is with the connotations of depletion and retreat. Pater has more in commo n with Emerso n tha n with Gautie r

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Walter Pater's Eucharist or Whistler, share s with the Concord sage a costly convictio n that "lif e onl y avails , no t th e havin g lived/ ' tha t "powe r ceases i n th e instan t o f repose, " tha t i t i s onl y withi n th e narrow compass of the present tha t a self i s won or lost. And yet , th e compariso n hold s onl y u p t o a point . Fo r Pater's Romanticis m i s o f th e wanin g kind . H e hasn' t any thing lik e th e sublim e Emersonia n uncontainment . I n th e present o f experience , where Emerso n found a n infinitude o f himself, Pate r will come only upon impassable boundaries. H e choose s prose as a medium i n order to get at "th e sal t of poetry": thos e minima l certaintie s th e unsparing exercis e of the intellect leave s intact. "Wh y do you always write verse?" he'd aske d Osca r Wild e whe n the y firs t met . "Pros e i s s o much mor e difficult. " An d Pate r i s seize d earl y o n b y th e fascination o f wha t i s difficult . I t lead s hi m simultaneousl y to abandon Christianit y an d verse making—for hi s faithless ness an d hi s pros e ar e relate d a s obvers e t o reverse , an d hi s literary productio n fro m "Diaphaneite " onwar d i s a long ritual o f unbelief . A s fo r youn g Mariu s th e Epicurean , s o fo r young Walte r Pater : "A n exac t estimat e o f realities , a s to wards himself , h e mus t have— a delicatel y measure d grada tion o f certaint y i n things—fro m th e distant , haunte d hori zon o f mere surmis e o r imagination, t o the feeling o f sorro w in hi s heart. " Bu t th e refinin g tha t Marius , lik e hi s author , pursues leave s him wit h onl y "th e shar p ape x of the presen t moment betwee n tw o hypothetical eternities. " Pater' s pros e will continuall y reaffir m thi s "sal t o f poetry, " thi s minima l certitude, besiegin g th e narro w ape x o f th e presen t fo r al l i t can be made to yield. There is profound philosophica l seriousnes s in him, a concerted epistemic inquiry that our term "aesthete " has mostly served t o obscure . Onl y i f w e tak e th e wor d etymologicall y can it show us Pater for who he was. The aisthetes, i n Greek , is one who sees. The modern aesthet e is one who keeps fait h with hi s seeing , for who m th e unseen, th e suprasensory , i s a

Walter Pater's Eucharist • conceit a t best , worke d u p fro m th e floo d o f sense . The aes thetic man is bound, then, to be agnostic not only about God, but abou t everythin g tha t i s higher—about truth , abou t th e past, finally abou t the self: That clear , perpetua l outlin e o f fac e an d limb i s but an image of ours, unde r whic h w e grasp them— a desig n i n a web, th e actua l threads of which pas s out beyond it. This at least o f flame-like our life has , that i t i s but the concurrence, renewe d fro m momen t t o moment, of forces parting sooner or later on their ways. These words put u s less in mind o f Lor d Henry Wotton tha n of Heraclitu s o f Ephesus , whos e mos t famou s text—"Al l things giv e way ; nothin g abides"—Pate r place s a t th e hea d of hi s Conclusio n t o The Renaissance. Translate d int o th e terms o f moder n skepticism , thi s means : "m y sel f reduce s without remainde r t o th e fleeting presen t o f m y empirica l experience." An d there , fo r Pater , lie s th e har d truth—tha t experience i s alway s an d onl y mine , tha t th e prisonhous e of sense, of subjectivity, i s not t o be evaded: Experience, alread y reduce d t o a swar m o f impressions , i s ringe d around for each one of us by that thic k wal l of personality throug h which no real voice has ever pierced on its way to us, or from u s to that which we can only conjecture to be without. Every one of those impressions is the impression of the individual in his isolation, eac h mind keepin g as a solitary prisoner its dreams of a world. Analysi s goes a step further still , and assures us that those impressions of the individual min d t o which, fo r each on e of us, experience dwindle s down, ar e in perpetual flight ; tha t eac h of them is limited by time, and tha t tim e i s infinitel y divisible , also ; al l tha t i s actua l i n i t being a single moment, gon e while we try to apprehend it, of which it may ever be more trul y sai d tha t i t has ceased to be than tha t it is. T o suc h a tremulou s wis p constantl y reformin g itsel f o n the stream, to a single sharp impression, wit h a sense in it, a relic more or les s fleeting , o f such moment s gon e by, what i s real i n our life fines itsel f down . I t is with thi s movement , wit h th e passage and dissolution o f impressions, images , sensations , tha t analysi s leave s off—that continua l vanishing away, that strange, perpetual weaving and unweaving of ourselves.

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Walter Pater's Eucharist Passages, dissolutions , vanishings—an d a n irremediabl e aloneness as the condition o f our receptivity. Thus the fined down realit y wherei n "afte r al l w e mus t need s mak e th e most o f things/' 3 Failur e her e wil l b e loneliness, th e impo tence o f th e sel f t o fin d a sufficienc y i n it s ow n opportuni ties—the incapacity for solitude. Fo r that and no mere intensity i s Pater' s grail . H e write s agains t a ceaseles s threa t o f loneliness, o f failure t o be "presen t a t th e focus." A s he ha d said earl y on , "Th e deman d o f th e intellec t i s t o fee l itsel f alive." I t i s i n th e redemptivenes s o f solitud e an d nowher e else tha t thi s deman d ca n b e met , fo r lonelines s i s Pater' s death-in-life o r absenc e fro m a longed-fo r stron g self . Th e profane ritua l he performs i n words is an attempt t o transubstantiate lonelines s int o solitude , absenc e int o presence , death into life. This cravin g for deliverance , a s salient i n th e criticis m a s in th e fiction , suggest s th e unbelieve r wh o wishe s h e wer e not one . Hankering afte r something , anything , t o put i n th e place wher e Go d ha d been , Pate r find s genius, an d thi s i s always hi s rea l subjec t whe n h e consider s literatur e o r art . His focus is not on the works themselves but on the "strang e souls" t o who m w e ow e them . Moreover , wha t seem s hi s impulse t o revere genius hides a deeper impulse t o be at on e with it , t o enjo y th e master' s solitud e a s hi s own . T o b e absent fro m th e focu s i s t o b e lonely ; t o b e presen t there , identified wit h genius , i s t o hav e achieve d th e self-suffi ciency o f solitude , o f presence. Encounters between Pateria n loneliness an d Pateria n solitud e registe r i n hi s criticis m a s the conflic t betwee n tw o irreconcilabl e form s o f sensibility : on th e on e hand , a conventionall y culture d lov e o f th e ol d things genius has wrought and , on the other , a visionary an d competitive wish to cancel out all distances between old and new, between th e earliness o f genius and the subsequenc e of mere appreciation . Jakob Burckhardt, th e great historian o f Renaissance Italy,

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 2 5 located th e psychi c source s o f th e appreciativ e o r cultivate d attitude i n "ou r unfulfilled yearnin g for tha t whic h ha s van ished"—unsere unerfullte Sehnsucht nach dem Untergegangenen.4 Pate r woul d certainl y recogniz e hi s ow n longing s in tha t formula . Bu t unlik e Burckhardt , Pate r canno t mak e do wit h th e ordinar y gesture s o f learne d retrospect . Instea d he i s drive n o n beyon d th e traditiona l sens e o f th e pas t to ward th e chanc e fo r a visionary succes s ove r time' s disjunc tions. His wil l t o th e unmediate d possessio n o f an d identifi cation wit h certai n vanishe d personalitie s i s stead y an d concerted, th e leadin g forc e i n hi s criticism . H e woul d breathe life into a master who is his own and himself throug h enabling exertions of style, the way things get turned . "The term is right," he says, "an d has its essential beauty , when i t becomes , i n a manner , wha t i t signifies. " Writin g acquires fo r Pate r a sacramental sens e inasmuc h a s he will s by styl e alon e t o wor k th e needfu l chang e o f no w fo r then . As a criti c hi s ai m wa s identificatio n wit h hi s subjects , th e commingling o f hi s ow n bloo d wit h th e bloo d o f genius . Having relinquishe d a youthfu l tast e fo r th e Hig h Churc h sacraments, th e mature writer conceive d for himself a n ulterior eucharist—overestimating th e power of his own (or any) enactment o f style , proposin g hi s sentence s themselve s a s the crucibl e whereb y th e longed-fo r passag e int o presenc e may tak e place, and alonenes s b e experienced a s sufficiency . Pater's criticism is an effort continuall y to draw the self fort h from it s lonel y confinemen t an d t o delive r i t int o identity , through strengt h o f fel t pois e an d radiance , wit h on e o r an other of the strange souls—Coleridge, Wordsworth, o r Lamb; Winckelmann, Leonardo , Botticelli, Pico , or Michelangelo— to who m h e ha s confide d sublim e an d uncompromisin g hopes. Imagined weddings of their flesh an d blood to his own put hi m i n possessio n neithe r o f knowledg e no r o f redemp tion bu t o f fugitiv e sufficiencie s tha t signif y a passing, fan cied perfectio n o f th e self , "gon e whil e w e tr y t o apprehen d

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Walter Pater's Eucharist it, o f whic h i t ma y eve r b e mor e trul y sai d tha t i t ha s cease d to b e tha n tha t i t is. " Lord Clark—b y wa y o f Bernar d Berenso n a spiritua l grand son t o Pater—believe d th e secon d pros e romance , Gaston de Latour, woul d hav e bee n stil l bette r tha n Marius ha d Pate r completed it. 5 Unfortunately , w e hav e onl y th e five chapter s which appeare d seriall y i n Macmillan's Magazine i n 1888 , plus thre e furthe r sequence s (on e o f whic h remain s unpub lished). I t i s od d tha t thi s tors o shoul d hav e bee n ignore d b y most o f Pater' s critics , fo r i t reveal s hi s philosophica l enter prise wit h particula r candor . I n a chapte r calle d "Suspende d Judgement"—an evocatio n o f Montaign e tha t deserve s t o rank wit h Emerson' s grea t essay—Gasto n come s fo r wha t turns int o a sta y o f nin e month s a t th e Sieur' s tower . Mon taigne i s thirty-six , ou r her o littl e mor e tha n a youth . Th e older man , hi s grea t boo k stil l ahea d o f him , put s befor e th e younger wha t wil l becom e th e fundamenta l avowa l o f th e Essais: th e sel f a s no t les s tha n a vocation , a dail y labo r an d lifework o f subjectiv e inspection . " I hav e n o othe r en d i n writing/ 7 Montaign e wil l insist , "bu t t o discove r myself. " "And what, " ask s Pater , was th e purport , wha t th e justificatio n o f thi s undissemble d ego tism? I t wa s th e recognition , ove r against , o r i n continuatio n of , that worl d o f floatin g doubt , o f th e individua l mind , a s fo r eac h one severally , a t onc e th e uniqu e organ , an d th e onl y matter , o f knowledge,—the wonderfu l energy , th e realit y an d authorit y o f that, i n it s absolut e loneliness , conformin g al l thing s t o it s law , without witnesse s a s without judge , without appeal , sav e t o itself . Whatever trut h ther e migh t be , mus t com e fo r eac h on e fro m within, no t fro m without . . . . One' s ow n experience!—that , a t least, was one' s own : lo w an d earthly , i t migh t be, - still, th e eart h was, emphatically , good , good-natured; an d he loved, emphatically , to recommend th e wisdom, ami d all doubts, of keeping close to it. The wisdo m o f keepin g clos e t o eart h i s anothe r versio n of th e aestheti c credo , anothe r wa y o f keepin g fait h wit h

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 2 7 appearances, th e real m o f thing s tha t com e t o b e an d pas s away. But , crucially , wha t Pate r ha s foun d i n th e "absolut e loneliness" o f Montaignia n self-reflexivit y i s n o brea k wit h but a continuatio n o f th e flu x o r "worl d o f floating doubt. " The aestheti c man , keepe r o f fait h wit h appearances , ha s no exonerate d substanc e o f hi s ow n t o se t ove r agains t th e mutability o f things. In the Heraclitean firs t chapte r o f Plato and Platonism (1893 ) Pate r wil l writ e tha t "th e principl e of lapse, o f waste " i s i n ourselve s an d no t jus t th e worl d w e confront, an d that w e are thus implicated withou t remainde r in thos e "masterfu l current s o f universa l change , stealthil y withdrawing th e apparentl y soli d eart h itsel f fro m beneat h one's feet. " Th e sel f i s nothin g mor e fo r Pate r tha n wha t i t has power at any given moment t o attend t o and admire; an d what i t attend s t o an d admire s canno t bu t vanish . Her e n o one an d nothin g enjoy s metaphysica l exemption . Th e onl y truth abou t th e sel f an d th e worl d i s thei r transit . (Suc h i s the notio n o f trut h tha t Emerson , himsel f acknowledgin g Montaigne a s predecessor, claime d t o write i n loyalt y to : "I t is the peculiarity o f Truth tha t i t must liv e every moment i n the beginning , i n th e middle , an d onwar d foreve r i n ever y stage of statement. I cannot accep t withou t qualificatio n th e most indisputabl e o f you r axioms . I se e tha t the y ar e no t quite true." 6) Truth a s becoming . Appearanc e a s th e onl y reality . Th e mask withou t th e face. This repudiation o f the metaphysica l forms on e powerfu l curren t i n Pater' s work . Bu t i t i s onl y half th e story . A s hi s cultivate d pietie s ar e crosse d i n th e criticism b y a visionary hankerin g t o b e identified with , no t simply t o admire , th e earlines s o f genius , s o his wil l t o im manence i s crosse d i n th e fictio n b y a countervailing wil l t o transcendence. Wha t h e call s i n Gaston "thos e problemati c heavenly lights that might find thei r way to one from infinit e skies" d o fin d thei r wa y resistlessl y t o him , an d nowher e more beautifull y tha n i n th e firs t an d most autobiographica l of hi s imaginar y portraits , "Th e Chil d i n th e House " (1878 )

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Walter Pater's Eucharist with it s renderin g o f Floria n Deleal , a boy simultaneousl y i n love with th e profan e an d th e sacred : A constan t substitutio n o f th e typica l fo r th e actua l too k plac e i n his thoughts . Angel s migh t b e me t b y th e way , unde r th e Englis h elm o r beec h tree ; mer e messenger s seeme d lik e angels , boun d o n celestial errands ; a dee p mysticit y broode d ove r rea l meeting s an d partings; marriage s wer e mad e i n heaven ; an d death s also , wit h hands o f angel s thereupon , t o bea r sou l an d bod y quietl y asunder , each t o it s appointe d rest . Al l th e act s an d accident s o f dail y lif e borrowed a sacred colour and significance; th e very colours of things became themselves weighty with meaning s like the sacred stuffs of Moses' tabernacle, full o f penitence or peace. Sentiment, congruou s in th e firs t instanc e onl y wit h thos e divin e transactions , th e dee p effusive unctio n o f th e Hous e o f Bethany , wa s assume d a s the du e attitude fo r th e reception o f our every-day existence; and for a time he walked through the world in a sustained, not unpleasurable awe, generated b y th e habitua l recognition , besid e ever y circumstanc e and event of life, of its celestial correspondent . But th e chil d i n th e hous e learns , a s d o al l o f Pater' s auto biographical heroes , tha t th e beautie s o f th e eart h ar e covenanted wit h death . An d a deat h tha t doe s no t tur n bac k into life . Henc e Gasto n d e Latour' s disma y o f a n Easte r Sunday: The sudde n gaietie s o f Easte r morning , th e congratulation s t o th e Divine Mother , th e sharpnes s o f th e recoi l fro m on e extrem e o f feeling t o another , fo r hi m neve r cleare d awa y th e Lente n pre occupation wit h Christ' s deat h an d passion; th e empt y tomb , wit h the whit e clothe s lying , wa s stil l a tomb ; ther e wa s n o huma n warmth i n th e " spiritual body ,;: th e whit e flowers, afte r all , wer e those o f a funeral, wit h a mortal coldness , ami d th e lou d Alleluias , which refused t o melt a t the startling summons, an y more than th e earth will do in the March morning because we call it Spring. But Gasto n i s o f tw o inclinations , an d wher e Easte r Mas s fails h i m th e feas t o f th e Pentecos t doe s not :

Walter Pater's Eucharist • It was altogethe r differen t wit h th e othe r festiva l whic h celebrate s the Descent o f th e Spirit , th e tongues , th e nameless impulse s gon e all abroad , t o soften , t o penetrate , al l things , a s wit h th e winnin g subtlety o f nature , o r o f huma n genius . Th e graciou s Pentecosta l fire seeme d t o be in allianc e wit h th e sweet , warm , relaxin g wind s of tha t later , securer , season , bringin g thei r spic y burde n fro m un seen sources . Into the close world, lik e a walled garden, abou t him , influences fro m remotes t tim e and space found thei r way, travelin g unerringly o n thei r lon g journeys , a s i f straigh t t o him , wit h th e assurance that things were not wholly left t o themselves. This, I think, unveil s th e essentia l cross-pla y i n Pater . Floria n Deleal's "misgiving s a s t o th e ultimat e tendenc y o f th e years" registe r i n al l th e book s a s a baffle d turnin g t o an d from th e large r hope . I t i s th e drea m o f a n adaman t o f Being , some inviolabl e assuranc e tha t thing s ar e no t lef t wholl y t o themselves, whic h agai n an d agai n break s i n o n th e Pateria n celebration o f th e univers e o f phenomena , exposin g i t a s a universe o f death . "As soo n a s w e imagin e someone, " Nietzsch e write s i n a note o f 1887 , "wh o i s responsibl e fo r ou r bein g thu s an d thus, etc . (God , nature) , an d therefor e attribut e t o hi m th e intention tha t w e shoul d exis t an d b e happ y o r wretched , w e corrupt fo r ourselve s th e innocence of becoming. W e the n have someon e wh o want s t o achiev e throug h u s an d wit h u s . " 7 Compar e Walte r Pater , wh o coul d neve r reall y ge t ri d of metaphysica l need , neve r reall y embrac e th e flux, neve r like Nietzsch e hai l th e innocenc e o f becoming . Pater' s muta ble univers e shimmer s wit h a treacher y hel d i n reserve . On e thinks o f tha t allurin g baske t o f apple s i n "Th e Chil d i n the House" : Coming i n on e afternoo n i n September , alon g th e re d gravel walk , to look for a basket of yellow crabapples left i n the cool, old parlour, he remembere d i t th e more , an d ho w th e color s struc k upo n him , because a was p o n th e bitte n appl e stun g him , an d h e fel t th e passion of sudden, severe pain.

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Walter Pater's Eucharist Here i s quintessentia l Pater , th e promis e o f pleasur e instinc t with th e promis e o f pain . Innocenc e o f becomin g is , for him , the goodl y illusion , treacher y o f becomin g th e bitte r fact . Just befor e writin g "Th e Chil d i n th e House " h e had , i n th e original versio n o f "Th e Schoo l o f Giorgione, " muse d o n ou r desire tha t th e hig h occasion s o f experienc e no t b e fleeting: Who, i n som e suc h perfec t moment , whe n th e harmon y o f thing s inward an d outwar d bea t itsel f ou t s o truly , an d wit h a sens e o f receptivity, a s i f i n tha t dee p accord , wit h entir e inactio n o n ou r part, som e messenge r fro m th e rea l sou l o f thing s mus t b e o n hi s way to one , has not fel t th e desir e t o perpetuate al l that, jus t so , to suspend it in every particular circumstance, with the portrait of just that on e spray of leaves lifted jus t s o high against th e sky above th e well, forever?—a desir e how bewildering with the question whethe r there b e indee d an y plac e wherei n thes e desirabl e moment s tak e permanent refuge. 8 To as k abou t th e plac e wher e moment s tak e permanen t ref uge i s t o as k abou t forever . Pate r i s alway s tryin g t o writ e hi s way ou t o f lonelines s an d int o solitude , ou t o f th e ordinari ness o f Pate r an d int o th e grandeu r o f genius—ou t o f th e world o f floating doub t an d int o som e abidin g place , som e permanence. Hi s Montaign e counsel s Gasto n d e Latou r tha t doubt i s th e bes t o f pillow s t o slee p on ; bu t neithe r Gasto n nor hi s autho r ca n mak e d o wit h suspende d judgmen t a s a spiritual solution ; thei r Wissensdrang o r spiritua l cravin g i s for nothin g les s tha n th e sublime . What i s that ? Th e Peri Hupsos o f Longinus , rediscovere d in th e seventeent h century , basi c t o eighteenth - an d nine teenth-century thinkin g abou t poetics , adduce s a natura l greatness (to megalophues) o f th e mind , an d define s th e sub lime (to hupsos) a s an ech o in words o f that inwar d majesty — a certificatio n o f th e infinit e i n us . "Th e whol e universe, " writes Longinus , "i s no t sufficien t fo r th e extensiv e reac h and piercin g speculatio n o f th e h u m a n understanding . I t passes th e bound s o f th e materia l world , an d launche s fort h

Walter Pater's Eucharist • at pleasur e int o endles s space/ 7 Th e greates t moder n philoso pher o f th e sublime , Kant , define s i t i n hi s Critique of Judgment a s "tha t i n compariso n wit h whic h al l els e i s small/ 7 And Thoma s Weiskel , a recen t expositor , similarl y under stands th e sublim e a s a n argumen t abou t ou r hidde n kinshi p to wha t surpasse s u s withou t measure . "Th e essentia l clai m of th e sublime, " Weiske l writes , "i s tha t ma n can , i n feelin g and i n speech , transcen d th e h u m a n / 7 9 Wha t I want t o stres s in th e presen t connectio n i s tha t sublim e expectation, th e drive t o transcendence , surface s agai n an d agai n i n Pater , despite a wille d commitmen t t o becomin g a s th e onl y truth . Whatever hi s apparen t idea l o f self-cultur e a s a preparatio n for th e fai r moment s o f fleetin g experience , Pate r schoole d himself mor e deepl y fo r a n eventua l deliveranc e fro m th e treachery o f becoming , a s her e hi s her o i n th e culminatin g chapter o f Marius the Epicurean: Throughout th e elaborat e an d lifelon g educatio n o f hi s receptiv e powers, h e ha d eve r kep t i n vie w th e purpos e o f preparing himsel f towards possibl e furthe r revelatio n someday—toward s som e am pler vision, which would tak e up into itself an d explain thi s world' s delightful shows , as the scattered fragments o f a poetry, ti l then bu t half understood , migh t b e take n u p int o th e tex t o f a los t epic , recovered a t last . A t thi s moment , uncloude d receptivit y o f soul , grown so steadily through all those years, from experienc e to experience, wa s a t it s height ; th e hous e read y fo r th e possibl e guest , th e tablet o f the min d whit e an d smooth , fo r whatsoeve r divin e finger s might choos e to write there . The gues t doe s no t arrive , o f course . Divin e finger s inscrib e no text . Th e lonelines s o f th e sel f i s no t evaded . Receptivit y does no t becom e vision . Ignoranc e doe s no t becom e knowl edge. Hence, a t th e en d o f "Th e Poetr y o f Michelangelo, 77 th e old sculptor-painter-poe t ha s manage d t o shor e onl y hope an d ignorance agains t hi s ruin : What hop e h e ha s i s base d o n th e consciousnes s o f ignorance — ignorance o f man , ignoranc e o f th e natur e o f th e mind , it s origi n

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Walter Pater's Eucharist and capacities. Michelangelo is so ignorant o f the spiritual world, of the ne w bod y an d it s laws , tha t h e doe s no t surel y kno w whethe r the consecrate d hos t ma y not b e the body of Christ . And o f all tha t range of sentiment h e is the poet, a poet still alive and in possession of ou r inmos t thoughts—dum b inquir y ove r th e relaps e o f deat h into th e formlessnes s whic h precede d life , th e change , th e revol t from tha t change , then th e correcting , hallowing , consolin g rush of pity; a t last , fa r off , thi n an d vague , ye t n o mor e vagu e tha n th e most definit e thought s me n hav e had throug h thre e centurie s o n a matter tha t ha s been s o near their hearts , th e new body— a passin g light, a mere intangible , externa l effect , ove r thos e to o rigi d o r to o formless faces ; a drea m tha t linger s a moment, retreatin g int o th e dawn, incomplete , aimless , helpless ; a thin g wit h fain t hearing , faint memory , fain t powe r o f touch ; a breath, a flame i n th e door way, a feather i n the wind. A revelation , i n brief , tha t doe s no t tak e place . Pater' s Mi chelangelo canno t sa y whethe r th e drea m o f th e ne w body — of th e triump h ove r death—i s mocke d b y time . Poe t o f th e longing tha t i t no t b e so , thi s Michelangel o come s a t las t t o Christian suretie s onl y becaus e no t knowin g ha s wor n hi m out; unde r th e shelte r o f belie f h e i s "console d an d tranqui l ised, a s a travele r migh t be , restin g fo r on e evenin g i n a strange city , b y it s statel y aspec t an d th e sentimen t o f it s many fortunes , jus t becaus e wit h thos e fortune s h e ha s noth ing to do. " His Christianit y is , then, th e facad e behin d whic h he goe s o n tendin g hi s doubt ; lik e th e othe r geniuse s o f The Renaissance, Pater' s Michelangel o authenticate s himsel f b y all he canno t know . More tellin g stil l i s Pater' s Leonardo , wh o neve r does — like hi s younge r contemporary—succum b t o th e "sunles s pleasures" o f Christia n observance . "Leonard o d a Vinci " i s Pater's firs t signe d piec e o f work , firs t Renaissanc e study , and th e centerpiec e o f hi s firs t book . Lik e Mariu s i n th e las t clause o f life, th e dyin g Leonardo o f Pater's imaginatio n look s "forward t o th e vagu e land " an d experience s "th e las t curios ity." Bu t unlik e hi s Michelangelo , hi s Leonard o gain s n o

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 3 3 rest fro m th e rigor s o f no t knowing ; i n al l o f Pater' s wor k he remain s th e leadin g her o o f unbelief . Thi s mos t movin g of th e essay s (written , a s i t happens , i n th e yea r ou r wor d "agnostic" wa s firs t coined ) bear s a subtitl e fro m Bacon , Homo Minister et Interpres Naturae —which mean s littl e until w e rea d th e entir e aphoris m i n th e Novum Organum from whic h i t i s drawn : "Man , a s th e ministe r an d inter preter o f nature , ca n d o and understan d onl y s o much a s h e has observed , i n fac t o r thought , o f nature' s order, - beyon d this h e know s nothin g an d ca n d o nothing. " Her e i s th e keynote t o Pater' s essay—Leonard o a s th e figure o f meta physical impotence an d want. Th e first painte r t o have stud ied ho w natur e work s i n orde r t o represen t her , who , a s Michelet says , fel t al l o f natur e t o b e "a s i f his , love d b y him," 10 als o experiences a great poverty in being confined t o nature an d havin g nothin g beyon d he r t o kno w an d love . Leonardo expend s hi s geniu s a s i f i n th e spel l o f som e grea t melancholy, boun d b y the pattern o f hesitation, indifference , disgust. Dimmi semmai fu fatto chose, he scribbles over an d over int o th e margin s o f hi s notebooks—"Tel l m e i f any thing eve r was done." 11 Turned resolutel y t o a world tha t i s all that is the case, his eye—"whether i n sorrow or scorn"— cannot hel p deridin g tha t world : "Legion s o f grotesque s sweep unde r hi s hand, - fo r ha s no t natur e to o he r gro tesques—the ren t rock , th e distortin g light s o f evenin g o n lonely roads, the unveiled structur e of man in the embryo, or the skeleton?" Pater's Leonardo is an artist gifted fo r what Flaubert calle d "the bitte r undertast e i n everything. " "Becaus e I alway s sense the future," th e latter had written to Louise Colet, "th e antithesis o f everythin g i s alway s befor e m y eyes . I hav e never see n a child without thinkin g it would grow old, nor a cradle withou t thinkin g o f a grave . Th e sigh t o f a nake d woman make s m e imagin e he r skeleton. " Pate r profoundl y admired Flauber t an d woul d i n 188 9 review a volume o f th e letters t o "Madam e X, " a s Louis e wa s the n known , letter s

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Walter Pater's Eucharist identifying bette r tha n anythin g els e I kno w wha t Pate r i s after i n hi s Leonard o essay : a sensibilit y no t onl y addin g strangeness t o beaut y (thi s wil l b e hi s formul a fo r Romanti cism), bu t insistin g o n a variety o f strangenes s tha t shades — suavely, implacably—int o th e grotesque . His choic e o f Leonard o a s subjec t wa s surel y a response t o Ruskin, wh o ha d written earlie r tha t sam e year i n The Queen of the Air tha t d a Vinc i "deprave d hi s fine r instinct s b y caricature, an d remaine d t o th e en d o f hi s day s th e slav e o f an archai c smile. " Standin g u p t o thi s mean t refutin g th e greatest authorit y o n th e visua l art s t o hav e writte n i n En gland befor e o r since , an d Pater , a ma n o f intellectua l darin g but persona l reserve , wa s no t on e fo r th e direc t assault . Ye t as th e embodimen t o f a n untrammele d curiosit y wedde d t o the desir e fo r beauty , hi s Leonard o represent s th e obsoles cence o f th e sacre d an d th e ful l clai m o f modernity—al l tha t Ruskin mos t abhorred . I n th e beaut y o f th e Gioconda , fo r example, Pate r finds th e whol e religiou s gamu t o f Europe , pagan a s wel l a s Christian , bu t sicklie d ove r b y ou r estrang ing secularism , ou r distanc e fro m thos e numinou s source s o f power an d feeling . Hi s Mon a Lis a embodie s the animalis m o f Greece , th e lus t o f Rome , th e mysticis m o f th e middle ag e wit h it s spiritua l ambitio n an d th e imaginativ e loves , the retur n o f th e Paga n world , th e sin s o f th e Borgias . She is olde r than the rocks among which she sits,- like the vampire she has been dead many times, and learned the secrets of the grave; and has been a dive r i n dee p seas , an d keep s thei r falle n da y abou t her ; an d traffiked fo r strange webs with Eastern merchants, and, as Leda, was the mothe r o f Hele n o f Tro y and , a s Sain t Anne , th e mothe r o f Mary; an d al l thi s ha s bee n t o he r a s bu t th e soun d o f lyre s an d flutes, an d live s onl y i n th e delicac y wit h whic h i t ha s moulde d the changin g lineaments , an d tinge d th e eyelid s an d th e hands . The fanc y o f a perpetua l life , sweepin g togethe r te n thousan d experiences, i s a n ol d one ; an d moder n philosoph y ha s conceive d the ide a o f humanit y a s wrough t upo n by , an d summin g u p i n itself, al l mode s o f though t an d life . Certainl y Lad y Lis a migh t

Walter Pater's Eucharist • stand a s the embodimen t o f th e ol d fancy, th e symbo l o f th e mod ern idea. Most o f Pater' s critic s hav e attempte d t o interpre t thi s ver y famous passage , bu t onl y Harol d Bloo m ha s mad e rea l in roads, I think , identifyin g th e lad y bot h wit h th e unredemp tive univers e o f becomin g and wit h th e intimate d promis e o f a triump h ove r time . "Pate r dread s an d desire s h e r / ' Bloo m writes, or perhap s desire s he r precisel y throug h hi s dread . . . . Th e Lad y Lisa, as an inevitable object for the quest for all which we have lost, is herself a process moving towards a final entropy, summing up all the estrangement s w e hav e suffered . . . . She incarnate s to o much , both fo r he r ow n goo d an d fo r ours . The cycle s o f civilization , th e burden ou r consciousness bears , render us latecomers, but th e Lady Lisa perpetually carries the seal of a terrible priority. 12 The overdetermine d lad y balance s enticemen t an d dismissa l in her leve l gaze. Embodying to o much, sh e seems simultane ously t o ministe r t o an d ridicul e u s i n ou r incomprehension , refusing eithe r t o dispe l o r affir m th e large r hope . Sh e grant s only tha t thing s ma y o r ma y no t b e wha t the y see m i n a world woun d dow n an d desacralized . N o w t o he r neighbo r i n th e Louvre , St. John the Baptist, " whose delicat e brow n flesh," Pate r writes , "n o on e woul d go ou t int o th e deser t t o seek , an d whos e treacherou s smil e would hav e u s understan d somethin g fa r beyon d th e outwar d gesture o r circumstance. " Wha t h e find s i n th e Baptis t i s a pagan deit y i n Christia n disguise , on e o f Heine's god s in exil e who catc h a s catc h ca n i n a worl d tha t ha s renounce d them . A finge r point s heavenward , true , bu t thi s Sain t John—reall y a Bacchu s i n disguise—seem s onl y t o taun t u s wit h th e prospect o f eternity . "H e point s t o heaven, " Gautie r ha d written i n a n essa y o f 186 4 tha t Pate r knew , "bu t h e deride s it, an d seem s t o laug h a t th e credulit y o f th e spectators." 1 3 A year late r Hippolyt e Tain e woul d fin d i n Leonardo' s Baptis t the archtrop e o f spiritua l perversity . Bu t i t wa s Michele t

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Walter Pater's Eucharist who, earliest , ha d looke d deepes t an d give n Pate r hi s bes t lead, pronouncing th e Baptist an d all of Leonardo's figures i n the Louvr e "gods , bu t sic k gods/ 714 force d fro m thei r hig h seats int o anonymit y when , a s Heine put s it , "th e tru e lor d of th e worl d plante d hi s crusadin g banne r o n th e castl e o f heaven/' 15 Constrained t o a life out of due time, Denys l'Auxerrois of the stor y b y tha t nam e an d Apdllyo n o f "Apoll o i n Pi cardy"—Pater's two overt versions in the imaginary portraits of pagan divinit y i n Christia n exile—stan d fo r a n amplitud e of existenc e tha t Christianit y ha s everywher e ru n t o earth . Like Renan , who m h e ha d read , lik e Nietzsche , who m h e almost certainl y ha d not , Pate r regard s th e Gree k pantheo n as a transfiguring mirror : th e all-too-huma n gaze s back, ren dered perfect, fo r what th e archaic Greeks did was to fashio n gods after thei r ow n image , divinizin g existenc e itsel f rathe r than som e essenc e beyond . "Ho w else, " ask s Nietzsch e i n The Birth of Tragedy, publishe d on e year before The Renaissance, "coul d thi s people , s o sensitive, s o vehement, s o sin gularly capable of suffering, hav e endured existence , if it ha d not bee n reveale d t o the m i n thei r gods , surrounde d b y a higher glory?" Pater understands the difference betwee n pagan and Christian deit y very simply: th e on e proclaims th e innocence, th e other th e guilt , o f becoming . H e set s forth i n hi s first book , as does Nietzsche i n his, a "Helleni c ideal , i n whic h ma n i s at unit y wit h himself , wit h hi s physica l nature , wit h th e outward world. " Th e mor e w e contemplat e it , h e writes , "the mor e w e ma y b e inclined t o regre t tha t h e shoul d eve r have passed beyond it, to contend for a perfection tha t make s the blood turbid, an d frets th e flesh, an d discredits the actua l world abou t us. " Pate r posit s a Greec e i n whic h lif e itsel f suffices, i s th e en d o f life . Fo r him , th e hear t o f Gree k pa ganism is the plenary Yes it says to earth. In this connection , it ma y b e recalled tha t h e places a t th e fron t o f The Renaissance a biblica l motto : "Ye t shal l y e b e a s th e wing s o f a

Walter Pater's Eucharist • dove." Th e whol e passag e i n th e Boo k o f Psalm s runs , "Though y e hav e lai n amon g th e pots , ye t shal l y e b e a s th e wings o f a dov e covere d wit h silver , an d he r feather s wit h yellow gold. " I t i s jus t thi s longin g fo r deliveranc e tha t Pa ter's an d Nietzsche' s earl y Greek s d o not feel . Morta l i n thei r expectation, the y li e withou t regre t amon g th e potsherd s of becoming . The Renaissance i s notoriousl y a boo k wit h a n argument . Everywhere i n it s rhetori c i s th e chan t o f lif e itsel f a s the en d of life : While al l melts unde r ou r feet, w e may wel l grasp at an y exquisit e passion, o r an y contributio n t o knowledg e tha t seem s b y a lifte d horizon t o se t th e spiri t fre e fo r a moment , o r an y stirrin g o f th e senses, strang e dyes , strange colors , curious odours , or work o f th e artist's hand s o r the fac e o f one' s friend . No t t o discriminat e ever y moment som e passionate attitude in those about us, and in the very brilliancy o f their gifts som e tragic dividing of forces o n their ways, is, on this short day of frost an d sun, to sleep before evening . Here i s th e unmistakabl e curren t b y whic h w e kno w Pater . But trea d thi s pros e mor e deepl y an d yo u canno t bu t fee l th e undertow. Hi s Renaissanc e i s a n outbrea k o f paga n senti ment withi n th e renunciator y contex t o f medieva l life : "th e older god s ha d rehabilitate d themselves, " h e write s i n th e essay o n Pico , "an d men' s allegianc e wa s divided. " Accord ingly, ar t begin s th e tur n fro m mystica l t o sensuou s aims , t o "the lif e o f th e sense s an d th e blood—bloo d n o longe r drop ping fro m th e hand s i n sacrifice , a s wit h Angelico , bu t a s with Titian , burnin g i n th e fac e fo r desir e an d love." 1 6 Ma n unlearns "th e crucifixio n o f thes e senses" 1 7 an d train s him self instea d t o a responsivenes s "makin g th e eart h golde n and th e grap e fier y fo r h i m . " A ne w aestheti c cultur e defie s the ol d asceti c claims : The spiritualist is satisfied a s he watches the escape of the sensuou s elements fro m hi s conceptions ; hi s interest grows , as the dye d garment bleache s i n th e keene r air . Bu t th e artis t steep s hi s though t

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Walter Pater's Eucharist again and again into the fire of color. To the Greek this immersion in th e sensuou s wa s religiousl y indifferent . Gree k sensuousness , therefore, doe s not fever th e conscience: it is shameless and childlike. Christia n asceticism , o n th e othe r hand , discreditin g th e slightest touch of sense, has from time to time provoked into strong emphasis th e contras t o r antagonis m t o itself, o f th e artisti c life , with its inevitable sensuousness. But Pate r i s no t content , lik e conventiona l aesthete s fro m Gautier onward, merely to worship at the altar of strangenes s added t o beauty . H e i s als o inten t o n reckonin g th e cost . Like the figures of his Botticelli—"always attractive , clothe d sometimes b y passion wit h a character o f loveliness an d en ergy, bu t saddene d perpetuall y b y the shado w upo n the m of the grea t thing s fro m whic h the y shrink"—Pater' s aestheti cism is a troubled and sorrowful repudiatio n o f ultimate con cern, a gran rifiuto tha t count s the wages of abstention and is not cheered . Lik e Botticelli' s madonnas , Pate r i s "on e o f those wh o ar e neither fo r Jehova h nor for hi s enemies, " an d this retracte d neutralit y i s fo r hi m th e littl e provin g groun d of art , "i n whic h me n tak e n o sid e i n grea t conflicts , an d decide no great causes." This art of the "middl e world" is for its own sake and not, like Dante's, for a Love that move s th e sun and the other stars. Pater accept s unflinchingl y tha t deat h ha s se t it s sea l o n the beautiful . Suc h i s his onl y stabl e assuranc e i n th e worl d of floating doubt , impartin g a n inferna l resonanc e t o thos e pure avowals of art that are , for him, testimony to our loss of an absolut e criterion . Ar t fo r it s ow n sak e ha s alread y become in Pater's first book—albei t very quietly—what i t wil l be for the mature Nietzsche: "th e virtuoso croakings of shivering frogs , despairin g i n thei r swamp." 18 Radica l wedding s of beaut y t o becomin g consig n Pate r t o wha t conventiona l aesthetes fro m Gautie r t o th e ninetie s mistoo k fo r paradise , but whic h Pater , lik e Herman n Broc h a half-centur y later , knows to be "the hells of Vart pour Vart. "19 And indeed, i n The Renaissance, a book about th e histori-

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 3 9 cal momen t whe n ar t (a t leas t accordin g t o Pater ) slip s it s theological moorings, eac h of the great ones has, in virtue of his singula r estrangemen t fro m God , a n infern o al l his own . Here is Pico, who lies "dow n to rest in the Dominican habit , yet ami d thought s o f th e olde r gods" ; her e d u Bellay , con soled onl y b y hi s sentimen t o f la grandeur du rieri) her e Winckelmann, th e "bor n heathen " (a s Goeth e calle d him ) who makes a show of converting t o Catholicis m a s the pric e of his passage to Rome, but arrives with the works of Voltaire scandalously i n hi s possession . An d here , o f course , stand s "the profanes t o f painters," maste r o f th e Cenacolo a t Sant a Maria dell e Grazie , whos e Chris t sit s amon g a compan y o f ghosts a s "fain t a s th e shadow s o f th e leave s upo n th e wal l on autumn afternoons. " Pate r clearl y prefers th e Last Supper in it s blighte d sorr y state , choose s t o find ther e Leonardo' s original intent . Fo r he see s that tim e has folded int o a single party th e eleve n bound , b y tradition, fo r th e highes t heave n and th e on e bound , b y tradition , fo r th e deepes t hell . Thes e twelve belon g neithe r t o Go d no r t o hi s enemies . The y belong instea d t o time , whic h ha s mad e shadow s o f them , a s time will . An d "thi s figure," write s Pate r o f th e thirteenth , the man a t th e center , "i s but th e faintest, th e most spectra l of them all. " W h e n a student brough t hom e wor d t o his parents tha t th e author o f The Renaissance ha d on e day pronounced fait h " a loathsome disease, " th e boy' s fathe r dispatche d a letter tak ing Pater t o task . Pate r answere d wit h doubt s tha t h e woul d have used a word lik e "loathsome " an d suggeste d tha t fait h might mor e accuratel y b e calle d " a beautiful disease. " An d what, you wonder, di d the boy's father sa y to that? Walter Pater' s spiritua l place lies somewhere between th e beautiful diseas e and what Nietzsch e calle d the great health . I am arguing that this in-betweenness is what Pater is writing against, that he is in search of a deliverance from th e habitual vagaries. Hi s directio n i s ou t o f coming-to-b e an d int o th e

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Walter Pater's Eucharist ultimate. But always the ecstatic movement i s thwarted an d Pater returne d t o a n abidin g rhetorica l loneliness . H e doe s not eve n begi n t o discer n hi s wa y int o th e solitud e o f Zara thustra's Ye s and Amen. Repudiating the way back to orthodoxy, he does not thereb y gain the way forward t o an earthl y absolute. H e i s lef t alon e wit h time—whic h i s t o sa y he' s left lonely , unabl e t o cr y with th e Nietzschea n hero , " I love you, O eternity! " an d thereb y mea n onl y becomin g an d de struction exalte d int o th e godhea d o f a n eterna l recurrence . Pater's eucharist cannot expiate the guilt of becoming. Words remain words. Time remains time. Death remains death . And s o i t mus t be , fo r th e on e go d Pate r know s i s muta tion. A s fo r hi s maste r Heraclitus , s o fo r him : th e on e i s the many . Th e Ephesia n late r antiquit y calle d "th e weepin g philosopher"—first t o collaps e th e metaphysica l int o time , Being into becoming , th e on e into manyness—find s onl y i n turnings o f fire upo n itsel f a suitable trop e o f th e real : "Th e ordering, th e sam e fo r all , n o go d nor ma n ha s made , bu t i t ever was an d i s an d wil l be : fire everliving , kindle d i n mea sures and in measure s goin g out." 20 Heraclitea n deit y is thi s fire, a chao s o f coming-to-be , a manyness tha t admit s o f n o reference t o a n origin : "Th e god : da y an d night , winte r an d summer, wa r an d peace , satiet y an d hunger. " Wit h th e col lapse o f th e metaphysica l int o shee r becoming , th e logi c of identity collapse s too. Things are not onl y what the y are but also what the y ar e not, fo r thinghoo d itsel f i s a fiction; pur e becoming i s th e pure chao s i n which opposite s embrac e an d the very basis for an intelligibility of things is undermined. Yet Heraclitus, ancient father o f our modern unbelief, per haps saw his way clear to a kind of providence identical wit h random chaos: "Lifetime is a child at play," he says, "movin g pieces i n a game . Kingshi p belong s t o th e child. " Thi s i s the strang e argumen t fo r a worl d i n whic h simultaneousl y nothing an d everythin g i s lef t t o itself . Th e unsearchabl e moves o f th e chil d playin g ca n equall y wel l b e glosse d a s cosmos or chaos, which may be what Heraclitus means when he writes , "Th e faires t orde r i n th e worl d i s a hea p o f ran -

Walter Pater's Eucharist • 4 1 dom sweepings. " Th e Heraclitea n chil d playing , lik e th e Nietzschean eterna l recurrence, signifie s a total assimilatio n of transcendenc e t o immanence , providenc e t o chance , eter nity to time, meaning to meaninglessness. Pater, o f course, does not ge t so far. What became for Her aclitus one and the same remains for him an alternative,- thu s he can but shuttle between two poles, neither of which satisfies him . Th e bes t critica l summatio n o f Pate r ma y stil l b e Sidney Colvin's revie w o f The Renaissance wher e he praise s "a philosophy which accepts objects as relative, experience as everything, th e Absolute as a dream—life a s a flux, an d con sciousness as an incident i n the encounter o f forces." 21 If Pater call s "flux " wha t Nietzsch e mor e aggressivel y term s "chaos," h e i s a s surel y declarin g a n absenc e o f intrinsi c meaning, o f a thing-in-itself beyon d th e play of appearances . The shape s an d identitie s an d substance s w e discer n i n th e world are , for Pate r a s for Nietzsche , huma n addition s mad e in accordance with human need. As the latter says, "The total character o f th e worl d . . . i s i n al l eternit y chaos—i n th e sense not of a lack of necessity but of a lack of order, arrangement, form, beauty, wisdom, and whatever other names there are for our aesthetic anthropomorphisms." 22 Yet what we nowhere find in Pater is the sheer destructiv e ebullience o f Nietzsche' s enterprise . Pate r understand s tha t designating the total character of the world as flux means th e death of one and all gods. He understands, moreover, that th e death of one and all gods means the death also of the subject , of substantial human identity ; consciousnes s i s thus, as they say, decentered , demote d t o the statu s o f "a n incident i n th e encounter o f forces." Lik e Nietzsche, Pate r grasps all of this, but unlik e Nietzsch e h e grasp s i t unwillingl y an d wit h a sense of dereliction : Such thought s see m desolat e . . . a t time s al l th e bitternes s o f lif e seems concentrate d i n them . The y brin g th e imag e o f on e washe d out beyon d th e ba r i n a se a a t ebb , losin g eve n hi s personality , a s the elements of which he is composed pass into new combinations .

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Walter Pater's Eucharist Struggling, as he must, t o save himself, i t is himself tha t h e loses at every moment. 23 Pater's inmos t nee d i s fo r th e perishe d real m o f origin s tha t could giv e substantia l identit y t o th e subject , resolv e th e chaos o f shee r consciousnes s int o th e stabl e contour s o f th e individual, liberat e selfhoo d fro m it s wastin g context . Everywhere, t o tha t end , h e is riveted t o issues o f personal ity. Thes e ar e th e burden , formulate d i n hi s prefac e t o The Renaissance, o f th e "aestheti c critic/ ' a s Pate r like d t o styl e himself: In al l age s ther e hav e bee n som e excellen t workmen , an d som e excellent wor k done . Th e questio n [th e aestheti c critic ] ask s i s always:—In who m di d th e stir , th e genius , th e sentimen t o f th e period find itself ? Wher e wa s th e receptacl e o f it s refinement , it s elevation, its taste? What geniu s signifie s fo r Pate r i s personalit y a t it s highes t attainment, a revelatio n ou t o f th e welter , a disclosur e o f meaning withi n th e governin g contex t o f meaninglessness . These radiances , thes e grea t one s redeemin g th e wast e o f history, remin d u s o f epiphanie s o f experienc e tha t i n Pate r stand fort h fro m th e wast e o f sensation : A sudde n ligh t transfigure s som e trivia l thing , a weathervane , a windmill, a winnowing-fan, th e dust in the barn door. A moment— and the thing has vanished, becaus e it was pure effect; bu t i t leave s a relish behind it, a longing that th e accident may happen again . As th e intens e an d isolate d momen t i s relate d t o wha t stretches befor e an d after , s o th e sublimit y o f geniu s t o ou r common days , belyin g chao s onl y t o b e belied i n it s turn . W e cannot hel p finding i n th e evidenc e o f geniu s a n intimatio n of orde r i n th e world , fo r al l tha t w e acknowledg e th e maste r an accident , par t an d parce l o f th e flux . Pater i s i n th e en d a s agnosti c abou t geniu s a s h e i s abou t God, it s prototype . Bu t agnosticism , s o ofte n a n uninterest ing stance , ha s i n hi s versio n a baffled dignit y tha t move s us .

Walter Voter's Eucharist • Avowing onl y a pur e mutabilit y a t th e hear t o f things , h e i s stricken b y th e absenc e o f inheren t meaning . Ye t h e relie s on tha t sam e mutabilit y a s hi s sol e resourc e fo r everythin g beautiful. An d th e occasion s o f beaut y impl y alway s fo r h i m the shad e o f a presentiment—here an d gone—tha t thing s ar e not lef t wholl y t o themselves . His philosophica l fathe r ha d declare d tha t n o m a n step s twice int o th e sam e river . An d Cratylu s wen t stil l further , claiming tha t n o ma n step s i n eve n once , fo r n o ma n pos sesses eve n tha t m u c h substantia l being . Nietzsche , profoun dest o f Cratyleans , write s i n th e notebook s fro m hi s climac tic phase , The "subject " i s no t somethin g given , i t i s somethin g adde d an d invented an d projected behin d wha t ther e is . . . . "Th e subject" : interpreted fro m withi n ourselves , s o that th e eg o counts a s a substance, as the cause of all deeds, as a doer. The logical-metaphysica l postulates , th e belie f i n substance , accident, attribute , etc. , deriv e thei r convincin g forc e fro m ou r habi t of regardin g all ou r deed s as consequence s o f ou r will—so tha t th e ego, as substance , doe s not vanis h i n th e multiplicit y o f change. — But there is no such thing as will. 24 Something lik e Nietzsche' s "continua l transitorines s an d fleetingness o f th e subject " i s Pater' s ow n theme . H e know s with Nietzsch e tha t eve n th e las t stronghol d o f meaning , th e personal will , i s a fiction, a mas k superinduce d lik e th e oth ers o n chao s i n orde r t o stabiliz e an d gran t identit y t o wha t is onl y a perpetual weavin g an d unweaving . Finally, Pate r understand s this : fo r th e worl d t o hav e meanings, th e worl d mus t hav e a Meaning . H e wait s upo n that Meaning , beguilin g hi s tim e wit h th e provisiona l put ting o f meaning s int o th e world . I n othe r words , h e make s literature. Bu t alway s i n th e knowledg e tha t meaning s ravel , that literatur e i s a procedure undertake n agains t th e inheren t meaninglessness tha t mus t agai n an d agai n prevail—i n de fault, tha t is , of a Meaning .

4

3

Chapter 2

Paul Valery , or th e Unmixe d Cu p

N a r c i s s u s bend s t o wha t i s not . Penche-toi. . . . Baise-toi. Tremble de tout ton etre. 1 Kneelin g befor e hi s reflectio n i n a pool, h e dream s o f th e ultimat e exclusion . Scornin g nymph s to lus t afte r a semblanc e o f himself, Narcissu s woul d abolis h the claim s o f otherness . "M y thirst/ 7 h e declares , "i s fo r th e unmixed cup" 2 —selfhood, tha t is , without th e admixtur e o f a world. " I am m y ow n drink." 3 Beaut y beholdin g onl y itself , thought thinkin g itsel f alone : . . . moi , Narcisse aime, je ne suis curieu x Que de ma seule essence; Tout autre n'a pour moi qu'un coeu r mysterieux . Tout autre n'est qu'absence. 4 But when h e lean s ou t fo r th e final consummation , Narcissu s finds onl y distance , minut e bu t unbesiegable : Je suis si pres de toi que je pourrais te boire, 6 visage. . .. M a soif es t un esclave n u . .. . 5 Self-knowledge—hovering there , intimatel y near . Bu t un real, a semblanc e only . Ho w yo u glea m a t last , pur e goa l o f m y striving ! . . . . Et bientot, je briserais, baiser, Ce peu qui nous defend d e Pextreme existence, Cette tremblante, frele, e t pieuse distanc e 44

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 4 5 Entre moi-mem e e t Ponde , e t mo n ame , e t le s dieux! . . . 6 What th e poem s o f Pau l Valer y press towar d i s a n alway s receding promis e o f th e pure . Comprise d o f deferrals , the y make o f expectancy th e essentia l poeti c stat e o f mind . Fo r the goal of the poem is, as he writes, " a frontier o f the world; one ma y no t settl e there." 7 Languag e i s promiscuous . Th e work o f th e poe t i s t o reclai m fo r languag e a putative chas tity. Poems , say s Valery, "creat e a n artificia l an d ideal orde r by mean s o f materia l o f vulga r origin/' 8 Bu t th e poeti c im pulse is , in fact , Utopian . "Nothin g s o pure ca n coexis t wit h the circumstance s o f life/ 7 Poetr y seek s t o recover fo r word s a virtue that they never in the first instance had. For no poem can jus t be, self-enfolded , absolut e i n it s refusals ; i t i s als o bound to mean. An d meaning is tincture, fallenness, implica tion in the world. A major perplexit y track s al l o f Valery 7s work, poetr y an d prose alike . I t i s tha t th e purifyin g project s o f though t h e gives his energies to are bound alway s to remain stigmatize d by a worldliness the y profess t o outbid, by what he calls "th e whole complex of incidents, demands , compulsions, solicita tions o f ever y kin d an d degre e o f urgency , whic h overtak e the mind withou t offerin g i t an y inner illumination, mov e i t only t o disturb , an d shif t i t awa y fro m th e mor e importan t toward th e less/ 79 Thinking remains , for him, contaminate d from th e outse t b y it s circumstances : a proces s o f purifica tion, yes, but on e that neve r reall y cleanses, vexed as it i s i n consequence o f wha t Valer y call s th e origina l "injustice 77— the fall int o tim e an d contingenc y tha t ha s engendere d u s a s natural beings , beholde n t o a worl d no t o f ou r desig n o r preference. Accordingly , th e enactment s o f min d h e prize s most ar e always denaturing movements awa y from thi s ordinary psyche—consciousness a s given—and towar d the unat tainable marve l h e call s "cogito " o r consciousnes s a s such . As "pur e poetry 77 remain s fo r hi m a n uninhabitable paradis e

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup of word s beyon d th e barren s o f everyda y language , s o cogit o beyond the wasteland o f our habitual consciousness . He liked to say of his master Mallarme's work that it stoo d in relatio n t o al l previou s poetr y a s algebr a t o arithmetic . Or a s non-Euclidean geometrie s t o traditiona l geometry . H e credited Mallarm e wit h th e mos t significan t innovatio n i n the histor y o f words : a n autoteli c writing , absolut e for m seeking its own cause rather than discovering it in the experience of life. "H e was unwilling to write/' Valery says, "with out knowing what writing means and what that strang e practice may signify." 10 This deman d for th e fundamenta l implicatio n o f writin g issued i n a poetr y to o ric h fo r anybody' s blood , conceive d as i f th e autho r ha d himsel f devise d languag e fro m scratch . Mallarme propounde d th e poe m a s a syste m o f reciproca l resonances constitutin g a n absolute , a n inhuma n discourse . "The subject," writes Valery, is no longer the cause of the form: it is one of its effects. Each line becomes a n entit y havin g physica l reason s fo r existence . I t i s a discovery, a sort of "intrinsi c truth" tha t has been wrenched fro m the domai n o f chance . A s for th e world , al l realit y ha s n o othe r excuse for existenc e excep t t o offer th e poet th e chanc e to play a sublime match against it—a match that is lost in advance.11 A notation fro m on e o f th e las t o f Valery' s notebook s reads , "Poetry, fo r Mallarme , wa s th e essentia l an d uniqu e object . For me , a particular applicatio n o f th e mind' s powers . Thi s was th e contrast." 12 Lik e his forebear , Valer y is a n idolator . But wherea s Mallarme' s idolatr y waite d upo n a suppose d Orphic powe r fo r overtakin g th e worl d i n orde r t o delive r i t up t o som e termina l artifice—th e Book , h e like d t o cal l it—Valery subscribe s t o a n idea l o f pur e consciousnes s b y definition irreconcilabl e wit h an y produc t o r en d result . H e depreciates poems , paintings , edifices , philosophica l sys tems, whatever sets a formal ter m to thinking, in favor of th e hidden processe s o f though t whic h stan d behin d them . An d

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 4 7 while he does share Mallarme's sens e of a harassing disjunc tion betwee n creativ e wil l an d creativ e act , h e i s shielde d from th e sense of sterility that dogged Mallarme, foredoome d literalist o f the imagination, becaus e he asks so much les s of those shape s int o whic h though t deposit s itself . Th e poem , the painting , th e edific e ar e alway s fo r hi m a n ebauche o r moment i n the moving contour , neve r a finality o r apotheosis of form. Valery in this way substitutes a Utopia of the intelligenc e for th e Mallarmea n Utopi a o f th e Book . Propoundin g a supreme fiction o f menta l self-possessio n an d power, h e sum mons for himself a charmed identity to glister infinitely hig h above hi s own . Such i s his profoundl y skeptica l accoun t of genius. Ou t o f "th e rea l poverty " o f worldliness , Valer y evokes th e "imaginar y wealth " o f a Utopian self. 13 Thu s h e again and again escape s despondence , attain s i n fact t o comedy: b y doubling consciousnes s a s given int o a Active gian t of itself, a poesie pure o f the mind. Dreams mean t nothin g t o him . Mere sludg e o f sleep . Th e great thin g was waking up. Toward daw n eac h da y for mor e than hal f a century , Valer y woul d g o t o th e notebook s i n which h e exactingly chronicle d hi s consciousness. Ther e he found renewal , a s i n "Aurore, " th e grea t openin g poe m o f Charmes [1922): J'approche la transparence De l'invisible bassin Ou nage mon Esperance Que l'eau porte par le sein.14 Mind i s figured a s th e scen e o f a self-replenishin g avidity . Thinking acquire s th e character o f loving—it mus t b e done again: Son col coupe le temps vague Et souleve cette vague Que fait un col sans pareil. . .

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup Elle sent sous l'onde unie La profondeur infinie , Et fremit depuis l'orteil.15 Limpid mornin g joy s testif y t o th e infinit e recours e o f thought. "Nothing is ever finished in the mind."16 Here there is n o ultimat e graspin g fo r height s o r depths , onl y th e renewed lateral reach of the intelligence. "Th e mind in itself," he writes, "ha s no means of setting a limit on its own fundamental activity , an d ther e i s n o suc h thin g a s a though t which i s its last thought." 17 Valer y i s everywhere inten t o n this gladness of mental beginnings, the Intellectual Comedy , mind at its elated outset . But repeatedly , helplessly , intellec t i s in defaul t o f itself . "Sometimes I think, " h e observe s i n th e notebooks , "an d sometimes I am."18 Fo r the thinker's lif e canno t be wholly a matter of thinking, any more than the dancer's can be wholly a matter o f dance. To the axiom "I t must b e done again" we must ad d the corollary, "I t must hav e a stop." I think thi s is the nerv e o f Valery's dialogu e "Danc e an d the Soul " (1921) , in which Phaedrus, Eryximachus, and Socrates behold in motion "th e astonishin g an d extrem e dancer , Athikte. " Socra tes explains, Just as in our minds hypotheses take shape symmetrically and possibles line up and are counted—so this body exercises itself i n all its parts, joins in with itself, assume s shape upon shape, and goes out of itself incessantly! 19 It is as a continual burgeoning , no t as the reach for truth , that Valer y understand s consciousness . It s essence , lik e Athikte's, i s t o g o ou t o f itself . "Sh e i s a wave! " declare s Phaedrus. "D o you not feel," ask s Socrates , "tha t sh e is the pure act of metamorphosis?"20 Her dance unfurls no t what is but what is not—not "reality, " but the unfailing exorbitanc e of th e real. "Loo k a t that body, " say s Socrates , "loo k ho w it spurns an d betrample s wha t i s true ! Ho w it furiously , joy ously destroy s th e ver y plac e upo n whic h i t is , and how i t

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 4 9 intoxicates itsel f wit h th e exces s o f it s changes." 21 Fo r Valery, min d i s metamorphosi s o r i t i s nothing . "Wha t ar e mortals for? " ask s Eryximachus: "thei r busines s i s to know. Know? An d wha t i s t o know?—I t i s assuredly : no t t o b e what on e is." 22 Mind introduces into the deadly actualities a saving "leave n o f wha t i s not." Min d i s th e metamorphose s of the real. So thinkin g i s lik e dancing . An d dancin g i s lik e love . " I cannot gro w fon d o f anyone, " Valer y writes, "withou t mak ing him s o vividly present t o my mind tha t he becomes ver y different fro m himself." 23 An d i n anothe r place : " I under stand t o th e ful l wha t lov e migh t be . Exces s o f th e real!" 24 Yet alongsid e th e fabulou s characte r o f loving , h e put s it s self-frustration. Desir e spend s itsel f a t th e "impassabl e threshold," 25 longin g always for an I-know-not-what beyond . "Even a s w e deman d o f ou r sou l man y thing s fo r whic h i t was not made," concludes the Socrates of "Dance and Soul," and require of it t o illumine us, to prophesy, t o divine the future , adjuring it even to discover the God—even so the body . .. wishes to attain to an entire possession of itself, and to a point of glory that is supernatural. . .. Bu t our body fares a s does the soul, for which the God and the wisdom, and the depth demanded of it are and can only be , moments, flashes, fragments o f a n alie n time , desperat e leaps out of its form. 26 Thus dancing , thinking , lovin g emerg e a s Valery' s thre e types o f th e runawa y wh o neve r gain s hi s goal . H e cannot , any more than Narcissus ca n consummate his self-love . From thi s assertio n o f th e similitud e betwee n Ero s an d thinking, a poetr y o f grea t powe r emerges . It s them e i s th e intermittences o f mind , th e wa y min d ha s o f spendin g it self—the failur e o f min d a t it s inmos t effor t o f self-posses sion. Valery' s poem s ar e th e chronicl e o f "tha t magnificent , eternal, crazy attempt to see that which sees and express tha t which expresses," 27 a n ar t o f consciousnes s strivin g t o ben d back upo n itsel f fo r it s nourishment , " a poetr y o f th e ver y

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup things o f the mind." 2 8 Absur d b y what i t seeks , great b y wha t it finds, Valerya n consciousnes s gaze s int o th e poo l o f itsel f for culminatio n bu t come s upo n poem s instead , testimonie s to th e impassabl e threshold : Comme le fruit s e fond en jouissance, Comme en delice il change son absenc e Dans une bouche ou sa forme se meurt, Je hume ici ma future fumee , Et le ciel chante a l'ame consume e Le changement de s rives en rumeur. 29 For Valery , ever y poe m i s th e sit e o f a failure , a s her e i n th e graveyard a t Set e wher e h e answer s th e glar e o f Mediterra nean noon : Midi la-haut, Midi sans mouvemen t En soi se pense et convient a soi-meme . . . Tete complete et parfait diademe , Je suis en toi le secret changement. 30 The mind' s desir e i s fo r finalities. Bu t th e fat e o f th e min d i s to liv e withou t them , eve r a puls e o f chang e i n wha t abides . The refulgence s o f thinkin g ar e provisional , passing—lik e lives. Consciousnes s remain s a n earthl y fragmen t offere d u p to th e definitiv e radiance . Accordingly , "L e Cimetier e Marin" ha s a s it s symbo l fo r th e min d a necropolis . Under th e headin g "E x Nihilo " Valer y write s i n hi s note books, "Go d mad e everythin g ou t o f nothing . Bu t th e noth ingness show s through." 3 1 A t th e cemeter y b y th e sea , th e poet outface s a worl d riddle d wit h it s ow n undoings , wit h absence. "Allez! " crie s consciousness . "Tou t fuit ! M a pres ence es t poreuse." 3 2 Consciousnes s stand s it s groun d entre le vide et l'evenement pur 33—between nullit y an d th e Activ e apotheosis o f min d o r last thought . French modernis m bega n wit h Charle s Baudelaire' s unre alizable drea m o f attainin g t o "th e new"—releas e fro m th e boring bitte r roun d o f sameness . Fo r hi s poeti c grandso n

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 5 1 Valery, by contrast, th e new is all there ever is. Each moment is perforc e th e new , i t bein g th e natur e o f min d alway s t o slough of f th e though t I momentarily a m an d mak e wa y fo r another, equall y momentary , me . Heav y wit h hi s burde n of regret, Baudelair e sough t solac e i n a convulsiv e self-disclo sure—le coeur mis a nu. Fo r Valery , o n th e othe r hand , nothing coul d b e less t o th e poin t tha n a heart lai d bare . "I t must b e rathe r fun, " h e writes , "b y th e mer e fac t o f unbut toning one' s fly , t o give oneself an d other people the impression of discovering America. We all know perfectly well what we shall see, but at the first move everybody is excited." 34 Baudelaire believe d i n sinfulnes s an d unworthines s an d saw each human sel f a s if minte d wit h thes e defects, confer ring on it a n identity not t o be evaded. The indefeasibility o f selfhood i n Baudelaire is the indefeasibility o f sin. To be sure, he propound s a magica l ailleurs wher e al l i s pleasure—bu t stays moore d fas t t o th e sa d actualit y o f hi s self-disgust . Nothing ne w fo r him , n o mean s o f escape , n o grace ; th e infamy canno t b e extirpated. Sinfulnes s give s the sel f some thing to be for a lifetime. In Valer y ther e i s nothin g thu s t o ti e u p selfhood . Th e perdurable imposition o f sin is replaced by the episodic grandeurs o f thinking . Unmoored , w e acknowledg e a n abys s opening to the right, but sail on by with a smile. For the wind is rising , an d w e mus t tr y t o live—whic h fo r Valer y mean s being alway s elsewher e an d othe r tha n wher e an d wha t w e are: . . . Debout! Dans l'ere successive ! Brisez, mon corps, cette forme pensive! Buvez, mon sein, la naissance du vent! Une fraicheur, d e la mer exhalee, Me rend mon ame. . .. O puissance salee! Courons a l'onde en rejaillir vivant ! Oui! Grande mer des delires douee Peau de panthere et chlamyde troue e

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup De mille et mille idoles du soleil, Hydre absolue, ivre de ta chair bleue, Qui te remords l'etincelante queue Dans un tumulte au silence pareil... .35 His proverbia l symbo l o f Necessit y wa s th e serpent , neve r more expressive than here in "L e Cimetiere Marin" where i t is th e Mediterranea n tha t writhe s an d coruscates , bitin g it s tail i n th e gestur e o f a n eternit y a t onc e tumultuou s an d mute. Th e devic e Valer y love d drawin g bes t wa s a snak e twined aroun d a key. T o th e questio n hi s wor k everywher e puts i n on e for m o r another— Que peut un hommel —this colophon furnishes, I think, th e emblematic response: reptilian caress of Necessity. A man ca n do something always, but never manag e what i s most fundamentall y willed , neve r cu t les noeuds De Peternelle halte 36—"the knot s o f th e eterna l cordon." If the mind nee d never feel stymied , neithe r ma y i t ever fee l wholl y released . Pau l Valer y is , b y reputation , a s pagan a s they come . But it ma y be that hi s work secrete s it s own unwittin g sens e o f sin . I t ma y b e tha t h e i s mor e pro foundly th e descendant of Baudelaire than we have imagined. Yes, the new is for Valer y all there is; but thi s ever-earlines s turns ou t no t t o b e th e deliveranc e i t seems . Fo r th e ne w intimates i n eac h instan t a recovere d sens e o f wha t a ma n not only can but als o cannot do. H e understoo d b y "civilization " thos e energie s that ar e un related t o ou r survival . "Fo r man's bread , clothing , an d shel ter, an d hi s physica l ills , neithe r Dante , no r Poussin , no r Malebranche coul d d o anythin g whatever." 37 Civilization s have th e fragilit y o f lives , h e like d t o say . Hi s remarkabl e political intelligenc e le d hi m agai n an d again , followin g th e autumn o f 1914 , to question th e outlook for a free and disin terested exercise of the mind. In 192 5 he asks: Can we be sure that bread , . . . tha t al l the things essential to lif e may not one day be denied those men whose disappearance would

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in n o wa y distur b th e productio n o f tha t brea d an d thos e things ? The first t o perish would be all those who cannot defend themselve s by foldin g thei r arms . Th e res t woul d d o likewise , o r g o bac k t o practical work , overtake n b y the rising poverty; an d th e progress of their exterminatio n would , fo r som e observer , demonstrat e th e actual hierarchy o f the true needs of human lif e at its simplest. 38 Fifteen year s afte r h e wrot e thes e words , th e Thir d Republi c fell. Eulogizin g Henr i Bergso n i n th e earl y months o f Germa n occupation, Valer y tol d hi s audienc e a t th e Frenc h Academ y that the y ha d burie d mor e tha n jus t a n ol d philosopher i n th e Jewish cemeter y a t Garches : "Wit h eac h da y tha t passes , civilization i s furthe r reduce d t o th e memorie s an d vestige s we kee p o f it s multifariou s riche s an d it s fre e an d abun dant intellectua l production . . . . Bergso n seem s alread y t o belong t o a pas t ag e an d hi s nam e t o b e th e las t grea t nam e in th e histor y o f th e Europea n m i n d / ' 3 9 (Thi s wa s splendi d and brave , wher e an d whe n i t wa s uttered , an d remarkabl e coming fro m on e wh o ha d bee n anti-Dreyfusar d i n hi s youth.) He felt , i n tha t firs t yea r o f Hitler' s ne w Europea n order , that th e intelligenc e itsel f ha d com e unde r occupation , an d would b e hounde d t o it s death . "Th e abys s o f histor y i s dee p enough t o hol d u s a l l / ' 4 0 he' d writte n year s before . T o th e poetry o f th e ver y thing s o f th e mind , th e longed-fo r Comed y of Intellect , histor y ha d give n an d woul d giv e it s retort . I n June o f 194 0 cam e th e defea t o f everythin g "Europe"—cher ished word—ha d eve r signifie d fo r Valery . Hi s respons e wa s Mon Faust, th e fragmentar y theate r piec e summin g up , i n a harsh mino r key , man y o f th e concern s tha t orien t hi s ca reer. 41 Th e titanis m o f Goethe' s Faust , hi s eterna l restles s will t o d o an d know , Valer y her e replace s wit h a figure who , already whe n w e mee t him , ha s don e an d know n al l things . Mind a s such , purified , absolve d o f it s labors , Valery' s Faus t constitutes i n himsel f a first draf t o f tha t culminatin g boo k Mallarme longe d t o achieve :

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup Well, I have thi s grea t wor k i n mind . I want i t t o rid m e finall y o f myself, o f the sel f fro m whic h I already feel s o detached. . . . I want to end up light, disburdened forever from anythin g . . . like a traveler who has thrown dow n his baggage and sets out a t random, withou t a care for what he leaves behind. 42 Valery's Faus t i s a t th e en d o f hi s project—th e termina l European, diveste d o f th e ol d humanisti c wil l t o accumulat e and t o master : I am th e present moment . . . . Nothing left over . No hidden depths . Infinity ha s become finite. Wha t doesn't exis t can no longer exist. If knowledge is what th e mind must create , so that what IS may BE, I, FAUST, am becom e a pure and full knowledge . I am plenitude an d consummation. I am he who I am. I am at the summit o f my art. 43 Faust ha s ri d himsel f o f hi s depths , attaine d t o a conscious ness tha t i s mathematical i n clarit y an d distinctness . "I a m tire d o f bein g Me ! Bu t that' s sayin g ver y little — 111 sa y more ! I a m tire d o f bein g a Me—becaus e tha t i s to s u b m i t / ' 4 4 A lat e entr y i n th e notebook s ascribe s thi s indifferently t o Faus t o r Monsieu r Teste , th e protagonis t o f Valery's so-calle d nove l o f th e sam e name . Bot h figure s em body hi s Utopia n standar d o f genius— a protes t agains t al l forms o f min d sav e th e mos t fantasticall y pellucid ; bot h "compensate th e irregularity , th e anisotrop y o f conscious ness." 4 5 H e understand s a mind tha t unceasingl y anatomize s its ow n processe s a s havin g escape d th e defil e o f personality , of selfhood , th e all-too-human . Edmon d Test e i s on e such — Valery's Activ e absolut e o f thinking—th e thinke r clamber ing ato p hi s ow n shoulders , jumpin g acros s hi s ow n shadow . He i s th e demo n o f pur e possibility , a n impossibl e thing , fo r Teste ha s go t fre e o f hi s conditions . H e evade s th e Valer y an axiom tha t cognitio n ma y reig n bu t canno t rule . I n Test e cognition i s absolute , release d fro m th e importuning s o f th e hankering flesh an d th e historica l world . Wha t woul d hav e constituted a self , th e feelin g fo r th e presen t tempere d b y past experienc e an d futur e prospect , i s replace d i n Test e b y

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the self-sufficien t energie s o f though t thinkin g itself . A n en try fro m th e notebook s unde r th e headin g "Teste " reads , Nothing i s mor e humiliatin g tha n t o fee l suddenl y tha t on e i s o f one's ow n time, one' s own country , tha t on e has an origin, a name, a past, a bit o f future ; an d abov e all , what a disgrace t o feel regret , hope—that muck , tha t excremen t befoulin g th e best moment. 46 Why th e brie f agains t personality ? Becaus e personalitie s ar e accidental rathe r tha n axiomatic . An d i s no t genius , a t leas t in Valery' s utopi c version , immiscibl e wit h accident s o r cir cumstances o f an y kind ? Nothin g s o pur e ca n coexis t wit h life. H e mus t regretfull y ow n u p t o chanc e a s the su m o f ma n and t o th e inessentia l a s ou r essence , rehearse d i n anythin g we d o o r make . Act s o f intellec t bea r perforc e th e compro mising mark s o f selfhood . "Ther e i s n o theory, " h e says , "that i s no t th e fragment , carefull y prepared , o f som e autobi ography." 47 Persistentl y imaginin g a versio n o f th e min d de tached fro m thes e circumstances , Valer y acknowledge s a sin gle heroism—that o f th e Sel f tha t outstrip s selfhood . Test e i s one suc h comi c giant , Valery' s Descarte s another . "Wha t delights m e i n him, " h e write s o f th e first moder n philos opher, and make s hi m aliv e fo r m e i s hi s consciousnes s o f himself—hi s whole bein g summone d t o hi s ow n attention ; a penetratin g con sciousness o f th e working s o f his ow n thought ; a consciousness s o precise and s o dominating that i t transforms th e Self into an instru ment whos e infallibilit y depend s onl y o n th e degre e o f hi s con sciousness of it. 48 Descartes, a s mythologize d b y Valery , i s a min d heroicall y disenthralled fro m otherness—th e projec t o f pur e though t realized. Sel f thereb y evade s bein g a bundl e o f accident s an d conditions, attain s t o Vextreme hauteur 49 o f " I think. " Th e Cartesian metho d o f doub t i s fo r Valer y a successfu l sum moning o f th e whol e min d t o it s ow n power s o f attention . This ac t make s o f consciousnes s a n infallibl e instrument .

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup "There i s onl y on e thin g t o be done/ 7 h e writes i n th e note books, "an d tha t i s t o remak e oneself." 50 An d yet , th e on e thing t o be done canno t b e done, he tacitl y concedes . A Self remade alon g hi s lines , a purebre d res cogitans, woul d b e logically prio r t o everythin g else , unpledge d t o otherness . Consciousness ca n enjo y n o suc h priority . Consciousnes s i s vowed to the world, fleshed, incarnate—le dieu dans la chair egare51—and ca n clai m n o ran k outsid e o f o r abov e it s con text. Wh o i s Descartes ? A her o o f th e mind' s priority . Bu t who is Descartes, really? A Brer Rabbit struggling to get loose of the world, his tar baby. Valery's signa l trai t i s a doublenes s i n hi s conceptio n o f man: wretche d becaus e o f what h e is , great becaus e o f wha t he imagine s himsel f t o be . Rea l poverty , imaginar y wealth . "I a m simultaneousl y o n th e cres t o f th e wav e an d i n it s trough, watchin g i t towe r abov e me," 52 he writes i n a notebook. I n the ches s game played between bein g and thinking , being is bound alway s to remain a t least one move ahead, h e allows. But the game is never finished, min d can always star t again. Lik e th e pal m i n hi s poe m o f tha t name , reachin g u p and dow n t o sho w bot h th e pul l o f heave n an d th e make weight o f earth , though t i s a middle term betwee n plenitud e and nothingness, betokening both: Ce bel arbitre mobile Entre Pombre et le soleil, Simule d'une sibylle La sagesse et le sommeil. Autour d'une meme place L'ample palme ne se lasse Des appels ni des adieux.53 Valery's quarre l wit h himsel f renovate s th e ol d an d distin guished quarre l betwee n philosoph y an d poetry . "Poetr y i s not thought ; i t i s the divinizatio n o f the Voice," 54 he writes. Poetry doe s no t nee d t o b e thought , becaus e i t doe s no t aim t o b e truth . Philosophy , b y contrast , signifie s a will —

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 5 7 inherently cuttin g acros s th e inten t o f poetry—t o complet e the tas k o f knowledge,- t o articulate a universe in words tha t exhaustively lay s bare the universe itself; t o "comprehend, " in th e stronges t sens e o f th e word . Whe n h e wrot e tha t Mallarme ha d undertake n i n th e Coup de des "t o rais e a printed pag e t o th e powe r o f th e midnigh t sky/' 55 h e wa s pointing, I think , t o th e distinctivel y philosophica l projec t that stranges t o f poems implies : a will t o overcom e th e sec ondariness o f word s vis-a-vi s th e world—t o furnis h a suffi cient accoun t o f wha t i s tha t thereb y become s th e world' s double, elevatin g word s t o th e ran k o f things . Mallarme' s extremest ambition , avowe d i n th e pla n t o writ e a n insur mountable Book , i s th e longed-fo r transmutatio n o f th e au thority of poetry into the authority o f metaphysics. Thus th e "alchemy" o f hi s art , a s he himsel f calle d it . (Wh y was tha t second-rate autho r Edga r Allan Po e le cas litter aire absolu 56 in Mallarme's opinion ? Becaus e Poe had in Eureka sough t t o overtake th e universe . Indeed , i t ma y no t b e to o muc h t o understand Mallarme' s notio n o f a Great Wor k o f literature , completing th e labors of poetry by fulfilling th e objectives of metaphysics, a s a result o f his having read Poe' s cosmogoni cal meditation. ) Mallarme wa s a poet i n revol t agains t literatur e a s it ha d everywhere bee n practice d befor e him . Hi s greates t disciple , Valery, perseveres impressively i n the quarrel with poetry by foreswearing fo r fifteen crucia l year s hi s practic e o f it . "Rather tha n seekin g a furthe r nuanc e o r complicatio n o f style," write s Josep h Frank , "Valer y brok e wit h literatur e altogether a s th e firs t ste p i n discoverin g hi s ow n literar y path." 57 Th e seaso n wa s earl y autumn , th e yea r 1892 , th e place Genoa , wher e h e ha d journeye d wit h hi s parents . I n imitation—surely—of th e ecstati c evenin g durin g whic h Descartes ha d formulate d hi s mirabilis scientiae fundamenta, youn g Valer y stay s u p lat e o f a storm y night : " I resolved t o think wit h rigor—t o not believe —to conside r a s null an d voi d everythin g tha t coul d no t b e brough t t o tota l

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup precision. "5 8 Th e mode l o f rationalit y her e i s mathematics , beside whose stringency poems seem an unacceptable "sacri fice o f intellect." Literatur e fail s t o acquit itsel f a t th e bar of scientific seriousness . Poetr y prove s incompatibl e wit h th e new standar d o f rigor . Hi s Cartesia n legac y silence s Valery , the poet , a t twenty-two . H e embrace s mathematic s a s "th e essential and unique object/' 59 th e immaculate grammar an d Orphic explanatio n t o whic h everythin g els e mus t b e sacri ficed. An indifferen t studen t o f la w a t Montpellier , h e ther e chances t o mee t a self-dedicated youn g man , Pierr e Louys , who introduce s hi m t o anothe r o f tha t sam e stock , Andr e Gide. Valery avail s himsel f o f holiday s t o visi t Paris , wher e he knows his future t o lie. In 189 4 he comes to the capital t o stay, settin g u p i n lodging s o n ru e Gay-Lussac . H e start s i n on the first o f the two hundred fifty-seve n notebook s he wil l ultimately fill . Represente d b y onl y a handfu l o f publishe d poems—of which , h e claims , ther e wil l b e n o more—h e presents himsel f t o th e literar y grea t o f th e age : Huysmans , Heredia, Mallarme . H e confide s hi s reflection s dail y t o th e notebook. H e attends th e Lamoureux concerts . Above all, he does nothing: Nothing visible. My friends began not to understand. Even I did not know wher e I wa s headed . . . . Bu t enormou s menta l activity . I studied mathematics, but in a very odd spirit, as a model of acts of the mind.60 Crossing th e Alm a Bridg e on e afternoo n wit h Mallarme , h e remarks tha t h e ha s "dreame d o f a ma n wit h th e greates t gifts—who woul d d o nothing wit h them , bein g sur e tha t h e had them . . . . I said to him tha t i t would b e a fine gestur e t o reject th e gif t on e i s sur e o f having , an d t o see k . . . some thing else." 61 At abou t thi s tim e Juliett e Adam , edito r o f La Nouvelle Revue, invite s Valer y t o contribut e a n essay o n Leonardo . The resulting work, "Introductio n to the Method of Leonardo

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da Vinci/ ' sound s hi s groun d bas s fo r a lifetime. 62 Declarin g the historica l Leonard o irrelevant , h e posit s a n absolut e cog nitive acumen, a self miraculousl y superior , an d call s it "Leo nardo/ 7 Hi s purpose, h e insists , i s pure hypothesis. Abou t th e chronologies, catalogue s raisonnes , an d anecdote s o n whic h the Leonard o schola r typicall y depends , h e writes , My tas k abov e al l i s t o omi t them , s o tha t a conjectur e base d o n very genera l term s ma y i n n o wa y b e confuse d wit h th e visibl e fragments o f a personality completel y vanished , leavin g us equall y convinced both of his thinking existence and of the impossibility of ever knowing it better. 63 Not th e sel f tha t come s int o histor y bu t "th e potentia l self/ 7 as h e wil l late r cal l it , i s Valery 7 s subject . Thirty-si x year s after writin g th e articl e fo r Mme . Adam , h e wil l ad d i n a scholium, "Ma n an d Leonard o wer e th e name s I gave t o wha t then impresse d m e a s bein g th e powe r o f th e mind. 7764 Th e vaunted metho d o f Leonard o turn s ou t t o be , quit e simply , his mind , an d hi s min d turn s ou t t o b e min d a s such — unvitiated b y th e particular s o f selfhood , raise d t o th e statu s of a n insurmountabl e law . The twenty-two-year-ol d Valer y finds i n d a Vinci 7 s Hostinato Rigore —his obstinat e rigor— a centra l enablin g attitud e worthy o f th e nam e method . I t i s th e gif t fo r seizin g o n connections unavailabl e t o othe r mind s tha t make s a ma n rigorous i n thi s sense . Disorde r i s fo r Valer y a functio n o f discontinuity. An d her e is the kingdom o f his Maestro. Wher ever th e understandin g i s staye d b y voids , Leonard o intro duces th e prodigie s o f hi s mind . Hi s intelligenc e reconsti tutes th e world , forgin g continuitie s b y a ceaseles s powe r t o wed th e disparat e form s o f nature : He passe s fro m th e headlon g o r seemingl y retarde d movemen t o f the avalanche an d landslide, from massiv e curve s to multitudinou s draperies; fro m smok e sproutin g o n roof s t o distan t tree-forms , t o the vaporou s beeche s o f th e horizon ; fro m fish t o birds ; fro m th e sea glitterin g i n th e su n t o birc h leave s i n thei r slende r mirrors ;

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Paul Valeiy, or the Unmixed Cup from scale s and shells to the gleams that sail over gulfs; from ear s and ringlets to the frozen whorls of the nautilus. From the shell he proceeds to the spira l tumescence o f the waves,- from th e skin on the wate r o f shallo w pool s t o th e vein s tha t woul d war m it , an d thence t o th e elementa l movement s o f crawling , t o th e fluid serpent. He vivifies. He molds the water round a swimmer into clinging scarves, draperies that sho w the effort o f the muscles in relief. As fo r th e air , h e transfixe s i t i n th e wak e o f soarin g lark s a s ravelings of shadow; i t i s pictured i n the frothy flight s o f bubbles which thes e aerial journeys and delicate breaths must distur b and leave trailing across the blue-tinted pages of space, the dense vague crystal of space.65 The min d o f Leonard o passes without stin t fro m disorde r t o order by means of its unfailing gift for analogy. Discontinuit y is overcom e b y "ou r facult y o f changin g images , o f makin g part o f on e co-exis t wit h par t o f another , an d o f perceiving , voluntarily o r involuntarily , th e connection s i n thei r struc ture/ 766 What , anyhow , i s th e min d bu t a progressio n o f metaphors substitute d on e for th e other ? "I n thi s way, wha t was not possible becomes so. //67 Yet i n th e mids t o f s o muc h broodin g o n th e form s o f nature an d s o much penetratio n int o thei r comple x instabil ity—not t o mentio n a productio n tha t include s plan s fo r churches, fortresses , trivia l entertainments , baubles , me chanical contraption s o f every kind and, o f course , painting s such as Florence had never beheld—he retains "th e charm of always seeming to think o f something else." 68 Valuing nothing abov e consciousness , Valer y posit s a n absolut e instanc e of i t i n th e ma n whos e endeavor s ar e sufficientl y variou s t o demand a n accoun t i n more-than-huma n terms . " I propos e to imagine a man," h e writes a t th e outse t o f th e "Introduc tion," "whos e activitie s ar e s o divers e tha t i f I postulate a ruling ide a behin d the m all , ther e coul d b e non e mor e uni versal." 69 The "Not e an d Digression, " hi s secon d Leonard o essay , offers a n interesting contrast . Wherea s th e Leonard o o f 189 4

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 6 1 retains a transitive relatio n t o the world, dissectin g its parts, reconstituting it s forms , th e Leonard o o f "Not e an d Digres sion/' writte n a quarter-centur y later , ha s withdraw n fro m "the strugglin g mas s o f ordinar y truths" 70 t o th e absolve d ground of thought thinkin g itself. The man who, in the thic k of s o muc h doin g an d making , ha d alway s seeme d t o thin k of somethin g else , become s i n "Not e an d Digression " th e principle o f lucidity , "th e substantia l awareness, " th e pur e I or min d withi n th e mind , th e inne r la w sufficien t t o itself , no longe r dependen t fo r it s identit y o n wha t i t discover s o r invents. Disjunc t fro m ever y act , superio r t o an y object , ge nius thus evades the world. "In m y oute r darkness, " Valer y writes , lookin g backwar d to the 189 4 text, " I loved the inner law of the great Leonardo. I wa s no t intereste d i n hi s biography , no r eve n th e produc tions o f hi s mind . O f tha t bro w loade d wit h laurels , I dreamed onl y of the kernel." 71 I n his second Leonardo essay , Valery imagines th e d a Vincian heaven o f the min d i n term s of a n invariabl e standard , a principl e o f consciousnes s logi cally prior to any object encountered : The characteristic of man is consciousness; and that of consciousness is a perpetual emptying, a process of detachment without cease or exceptio n fro m anythin g presente d t o it , whateve r tha t thin g may be. An inexhaustible act, independent o f the quality as of the quantity of things presented; an act by which the man of intellect must finally reduce himself, deliberately, to an indefinite refusal t o be anything whatsoever.72 Except, that is, what he invariably remains: consciousness a s such. If we encounter min d onl y in the trappings of personality, we may yet extrapolate mind in its nakedness. The invincible core , dependen t o n nothin g beyon d itself , detache d o r detachable fro m ever y objec t o f reflection , i s Valery' s "uni versal pronoun, " a perspicuit y that , lik e th e cogit o o f Des cartes, affirm s itsel f b y referenc e t o itsel f alone . Divested of the corruptive traits of individuality, o f the whole experienc e

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup of th e sel f a s accidental , consciousnes s disclose s th e inne r law validatin g a n orde r o f bein g beyon d th e merel y existen tial. Consciousnes s a s such—pur e consciousness—ha s nei ther pas t no r future , inasmuc h a s it s independenc e fro m out ward circumstanc e bear s it harmless an d unmodified throug h time. Fo r i f i t i s th e natur e o f a sel f qu a personalit y t o defin e itself i n relatio n t o other s an d t o thing s made , done , o r en dured, i t i s th e natur e o f th e pur e I t o d o nothin g a t all , t o reside instea d i n a n intransitiv e calm , unperturbe d b y mem ory o r prospect, unacquainte d wit h vicissitude . None o f whic h i s t o sugges t tha t Valer y characterize s th e pure min d a s immortal . I t is , a s w e woul d expect , coexten sive wit h th e body . Bu t deat h come s t o i t not , a s i t come s t o a personality , t o confe r meanin g o r completion . Onl y tha t which ha s ha d a history ca n b e culminate d i n th e momen t o f extinction. Pur e consciousness , self-sam e i n ever y h u m a n head, untrouble d b y time , i s rendered n o mor e meaningfu l o r intelligible b y it s conclusion . There is , avowedl y then , a god in Valery' s house . Fro m th e myriad o f idols , on e o f whic h mus t b e worshipped, h e select s the d a Vincia n Hostinato Rigore. "Wha t coul d b e mor e se ductive/' h e writes , than a god who rejects mystery,- who does not base his power on the agitation o f ou r senses , o r addres s hi s powe r t o th e darkest , mos t tender, mos t siniste r par t o f ou r natures ; wh o force s ou r mind s t o agree, not t o submit; whos e miracle is to clarify an d whose profun dity i s a carefull y deduce d perspective ? I s there an y sure r sig n o f a real an d legitimat e powe r tha n it s no t bein g exercise d unde r a veil? 73 In th e spiri t o f Descartes , Valer y ha s asked , Wha t persist s i n the mind ? "Wha t i s i t tha t resist s th e fascinatio n o f th e senses, th e dissipatio n o f ideas , th e fadin g o f memories , th e slow variatio n o f th e organism , th e incessan t an d multifor m action o f th e universe?" 7 4 His answe r is , of course , th e auton omy o f th e cogito , a n uncircumstance d lucidit y ami d th e

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 6 3 wool and welter o f ordinary mental life , whose rigor consist s in a n independenc e fro m whateve r appear s t o it. Conscious ness a s suc h scout s ever y objec t i n favo r o f it s preferre d condition o f self-reflexivity . Th e labo r ordinar y intelligenc e "devotes t o a n objec t o f reflection " Valery' s res cogitans ex pends instead "o n the subject tha t reflects." 75 The fundamenta l categorie s her e ar e not trut h versu s fal sity, bu t rathe r seemin g versu s nothingness , a s Ciora n ha s remarked.76 Valer y save s himsel f fro m th e ful l Nietzschea n encounter wit h nihilis m b y worshippin g a grave n imag e o r semblance that h e knows to be nothing more. Its falsity doe s not dissuad e him . Min d a s suc h i s th e belove d imag e i n th e pool—an untruth , a n idol . Bendin g t o it , lik e Narcissus , h e adores onl y wha t i s not , onl y "th e strang e omnipotenc e o f the nil. ,/77 Likewise , Valery' s putativ e heroe s o f possibility , his exemplary geniuses—Teste, Leonardo , Descartes—stan d more profoundly fo r all we cannot d o or be. Each is an apparition maskin g a void . Pur e consciousness , indeed : ''Pure, meaning th e sig n o f nothing/' 78 Valer y rebuke s humannes s with the semblance thus conjured. "Onl y when we are thinking o f nothing, " h e write s i n th e notebooks , "d o w e reall y think o f ourselves." 79 Only th e voi d creates . "Th e proper , uniqu e an d constan t object o f thought," h e says, "is that which does not exist." 80 Now, t o insis t o n semblanc e a s ou r fi t nourishmen t i s t o insist o n th e foo d o f th e gods . This Valer y doe s ever y time . But havin g furnishe d fort h th e heavenl y table , h e bid s u s drink dee p with him fro m th e bitter mixed cu p of our worldliness. The project s o f metaphysic s hav e use d u p thei r credit , say s Valery. Ye t w e ma y "sav e th e noumena" ; w e ma y admir e intrinsic beautie s o f th e metaphysica l system s apar t fro m any trut h value . Wha t motivate d metaphysic s i n th e firs t place? "Th e passion for conceivin g everything tha t exists," 81 as Valery puts i t i n "Leonard o an d th e Philosophers " (1929),

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup his thir d an d fina l essa y o n d a Vinci . "W e migh t pictur e philosophy/' h e writes , as the attitude of concentration an d restraint owin g to which someone, a t moments , think s hi s lif e o r live s hi s thinkin g i n a sor t o f equivalence, o r in a reversible state , between being and knowing — while h e trie s t o suspen d al l conventiona l expressio n an d wait s eagerly fo r a combinatio n muc h mor e preciou s tha n th e other s t o take shap e an d revea l itself , a combinatio n o f th e realit y h e feel s impelled to offer wit h the reality he is able to receive. 82 Now, a reversible stat e betwee n bein g and knowin g woul d b e what w e mea n b y truth . Bu t aler t a s h e wa s t o development s in th e physica l sciences , Valer y understoo d tha t i n thei r do mains, n o les s tha n i n philosophy , th e naiv e assumptio n o f truth a s correspondenc e o r equivalenc e betwee n wha t i s an d what i s thought canno t withstan d inspection : We are witnessing an extraordinary phenomenon: th e very development o f th e science s i s tendin g t o weake n th e concep t o f Knowl edge. I mea n tha t a seemingl y impregnabl e are a o f science , on e that i t share d wit h philosoph y (i n othe r words , wit h fait h i n th e intelligible an d belie f i n th e inheren t valu e o f menta l acquisitions ) is gradually yielding ground to a new fashion o f conceiving or evaluating th e functio n o f cognition . N o longe r ca n th e effor t o f th e intellect b e regarde d a s convergin g towar d a n intellectua l limit , toward the True. 83 Stupendous successe s i n th e sciences , n o les s tha n th e de mise o f metaphysics , poin t t o th e dissolutio n o f a n indemni fied standard . Physica l law s com e t o b e reinterpreted a s rule s that ar e bindin g onl y a t th e give n leve l o f experimen t o r observation. Success replace s trut h a s the standard : Science consists , I woul d say , o f th e tota l su m o f formula s an d processes tha t ar e invariabl y successful , an d i t i s comin g progres sively close r t o bein g a tabl e o f correspondence s betwee n huma n actions and phenomena, a n always longer and more definite tabl e of such correspondences, recorded in the most precise and economica l systems of notation. Infallibility i n prediction is , in simple fact, th e

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 6 5 only characteristic that modern man regards as having more than a conventional value . H e i s tempte d t o say , "Al l th e res t i s liter ature. "84 What the Greek s called theoria, th e pure act of metaphysica l contemplation, lose s al l clai m o n meaning , inasmuc h a s i t implies " a contemplato r differen t i n essenc e fro m our selves/' a knower wh o i s not als o the shape r o f whatever h e knows. Which , then , o f ou r proposition s ar e meaningful ? Which pas s muste r a s clea r an d distinct ? Onl y thos e tha t experiment goe s o n corroborating . Th e res t i s literature — sacrifice o f intellect : Knowledge of this sort is never separated from action or from instruments of execution or control, without which, moreover, it has no meaning—whereas if it is based on them, if it refers back to them at ever y moment, i t enable s us to deny meaning to knowledge of any other sort.85 He write s "Leonard o an d th e Philosophers " i n orde r t o pu t forward d a Vinci a s firs t t o hav e live d an d worked i n accor dance wit h thi s criterio n o f meaningfulness . Leonardo , her o of the anti-metaphysical stance—i n this way, Valery ascribes to hi s Maestr o th e disabuse d moder n min d h e i n fac t pride s himself on . Where doe s thi s positivism—fo r w e mus t cal l i t that — stem from ? Nietzsche , no t Comte . Valeryan , lik e Nietz schean, trut h i s comprise d o f all those falsehoods w e canno t expose a s such , canno t no t believ e in . Valeryan trut h i s an y bridge that span s the void and bears our weight. He mad e a point throughou t hi s caree r o f reviling Pascal , greatest o f al l Frenc h thinkers . Why ? Becaus e Pascal , rathe r than flinging his bridge across the void, looked down and saw terror there . Th e tru e pagan , Valer y onc e said , i s distin guished b y hi s convictio n tha t n o on e thin g i s wort h th e whole o f hi s being . H e despised—o r mayb e feared—Pasca l precisely fo r havin g conclude d fro m th e experienc e o f noth ingness tha t on e thin g onl y i s needful . "Thi s infinit e abys s

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup can b e filled onl y wit h a n infinit e object/ ' a s th e Pensees implacably argues. For al l tha t h e woul d hav e denie d it , Valery' s sleeples s night a t Genoa , overtl y imitativ e o f Descartes ' night o f rea son, ma y b e mor e profoundl y linke d t o a differen t event , Pascal's plenitudinous night of faith : The year of grace 1654 . Monday, 23 November. . . . From about half past ten in the evening until half pas t midnight. Fire. . . . Certainty, certainty, heartfel t joy , peace . . . . The worl d forgotten , an d every thing except God. . . . Greatness of the human soul . . .. Joy , joy, joy, tears of joy. . . . And this is life eternal .

The autho r o f thes e famou s word s o f mystica l affirmation , who was on e o f th e five or six best mathematica l an d scien tific mind s o f th e seventeent h century , deride d Pic o dell a Mirandola fo r havin g entitle d a wor k On All That Can Be Known. Assuredl y no t becaus e h e doubte d th e efficac y o f knowledge. But what h e did doubt—and mor e than doubt — was it s powe r t o sav e us . A s comprehensivel y learne d a s anyone i n Europe , Pasca l laughe d a t attempt s t o mak e a gnosis o f mere learning, whether scientifi c o r humane. There is n o heave n o f th e intellect , h e argued ; ther e i s onl y ou r need o f grace. What ca n be known amount s t o no more tha n "an imperceptibl e do t i n nature' s ampl e bosom. " I f reaso n were reasonable, it would give up the vanity of attempting t o know al l the rest. "Reason' s las t step, " Pascal wrote, "i s th e recognition tha t ther e is an infinite numbe r o f things beyond it. I t i s merel y feebl e i f i t doe s no t g o s o fa r a s t o realiz e that." This is why atheism—one of reason's notable works— signifies strengt h o f min d onl y u p t o a point, beyon d whic h it ma y perhap s signif y blindnes s an d folly . Fo r reaso n ca n furnish onl y propositions . Behin d these , t o first principles , reason cannot go. Propositions ar e proved ; principle s ar e felt . Reaso n trie s in vai n t o confut e thos e first principle s t o whic h th e hear t inclines. For example, that we have lost our true nature. This

Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup • 6 7 condition o f loss—called origina l sin—is irrefutable t o those who fee l it . Muc h a s grace, its opposit e an d antidote , i s irrefutable. I n othe r words , th e matte r o f ou r "whence, " no les s than o f ou r "whither/ 7 lie s beyon d th e competenc e o f intel lect. Suc h i s th e scanda l o f th e cogit o o r reason . Withou t God's revelation i n the first boo k o f Holy Writ, we should be ciphers t o ourselves , powerless t o account fo r th e breathtak ing versatility o f evil in us, unable eve n to recognize that w e are fallen, no t as we ought t o be. We've los t ou r tru e natur e an d ther e lie s frightfulness , for anythin g ca n no w becom e ou r nature . Thi s argumen t o f Pascal's i s base d no t o n reaso n bu t rathe r o n th e heart' s intuition. We'v e los t ou r tru e nature , an d min d a s suc h i s powerless t o restore it . S o it i s not withi n ourselve s tha t w e find wha t i s needful , eve n i f th e variou s humanism s woul d have it so . Where they put th e Wissensdrang tha t set s a man free, gains him his new life, Pascal puts only our insurmount able nee d o f grace . Whe n h e ha s occasio n t o speak , a s h e surely does , of the grandeur o f man, wha t h e affirms i s but a contingent greatness , hel d i n equipois e with misery . Not , t o be sure , th e misere o f dum b animals , bu t rathe r o f a grea t lord, a dispossessed king. Is one not reminded o f Paul Valery, who similarly declares man to be both great and abject? How ever, wha t Pasca l mean s i s tha t ma n i s wretched becaus e of what h e is , grea t becaus e o f what , throug h God , h e ma y become, whereas Valery means that man is wretched becaus e of wha t h e is , great becaus e o f wha t h e imagines himsel f t o be. Ma n ma y evad e th e sens e o f nullit y b y positin g appari tions o r Activ e giant s o f himself—bu t mus t com e hom e again an d agai n t o hi s poverty : "Sometime s I think , an d sometimes I am." What Valery sponsors is in effect a false o r imaginary sublime , freely acknowledge d a s such. To which Pasca l replies, "imaginatio n canno t mak e fool s wise, but it ca n make them happy." It has been said that in a dark time Paul Valery stands for light, " a man who, in an age that worship s th e chaoti c idol s o f blood , earth , an d passion ,

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Paul Valery, or the Unmixed Cup preferred alway s the lucid pleasures of thought and the secret adventures o f order/' 86 Thi s assessment b y Jorge Luis Borges is jus t an d handsome . Bu t i s ther e no t a shado w sid e t o Valery's luci d pleasures ? Neve r wa s a n autho r les s confes sional; t o la y th e hear t bar e was not hi s way, no t wit h suc h secrets a s h e ha d t o keep , darkes t o f whic h ma y b e tha t h e was th e frowar d descendan t o f Blais e Pascal—fro m who m doubleness, Valery' s majo r trop e for th e human , derives . "I s it not cleare r than day, " the author of the Pensees had asked , "that w e fee l withi n ourselve s th e indelibl e mark s o f excel lence, an d i s i t no t equall y tru e tha t w e constantl y experi ence the effects o f our deplorable condition?" Misere et grandeur. What became an acknowledged fiction, a painted thin g for Valery , ha d bee n a disclaime d forebear' s certitud e on e jubilant, ferven t night . Th e certitude , th e fiction : Vhomme passe Vhomme—man transcend s man .

Chapter 3

In Faust ; s Den : The Lamen t o f Freu d Auch die Kultur, die alle Welt beleckt, Hat auf den Teufel sich erstreckt. —Goethe

Storm trooper s pai d a courtesy cal l t o Berggass e 1 9 in mid March o f 1938 , an d a wee k late r cam e th e Gestapo . No t a surprise t o th e ol d Galitsiane r wh o lived there . In a letter t o Arnold Zweig four year s earlier, Freu d had likened his life i n Vienna t o "waitin g in a hotel room for th e second sho e to be flung agains t th e wall/ ' O n Marc h 11 , 1938 , Hitle r entere d Austria. The second shoe had been flung . Freud read the Anschluss, a s he'd rea d previous outbreak s of history , b y th e ligh t o f hi s science . "Yo u se e th e fac t o f Man a s i t i s / ' 1 Zwei g ha d writte n t o hi m i n th e previou s summer, neatl y summin g up the ambition o f psychoanalysi s from it s inception . A s a scienc e o f th e fac t o f man , Freud' s theory an d practic e prid e themselve s o n th e abjurin g o f illu sion. " I canno t b e a n optimist, " h e wrot e t o Lo u Andrea s Salome durin g th e Firs t Worl d War , "an d I believ e I diffe r from the pessimists only in so far as wicked, stupid, senseles s things don't upset me because I have accepted them from th e beginning as part of what th e world is composed of." 2 69

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud Between 191 4 and 194 5 seventy millio n peopl e would b e done t o deat h i n tw o world wars . Freu d wa s witness t o the European Walpurgis Night, an d while he did not live to learn of its culmination in the camps where four of his own sisters would perish , h e may have understoo d bette r tha n anybod y else has the buried dynamis m o f our twentieth-century poli tics of evil, for his metapsychology grasp s the internal nexu s between barbarit y an d culture, betwee n th e psychic solicita tions to sink and to rise. While h e would, I think, hav e agree d wit h Schopenhaue r that th e geniuses a civilization ca n produce are but the lucid intervals i n a n otherwis e bitte r tale, 3 h e woul d doubtles s have adde d th e insistence—distinctivel y psychoanalytic — that th e lucid interva l and the bitter tale are interdependent, that th e radiance and the darkness implicate eac h other,- and that th e genius is , accordingly, bu t a heightened instanc e of the fracture o f man. Like us, only more so. This self-divided , self-qualifying characte r o f geniu s i s th e self-divided , self qualifying characte r o f cultur e itself . Freud' s final argumen t about ma n bind s togethe r Ero s an d Thanato s int o a monu mental myt h o f self-division. "Doe s not every scienc e com e in the end to a kind of mythology?"4 he asked Einstein in an open letter o f 1932 . Freud' s is a myth th e century tha t bega n in Augus t o f 191 4 has reaso n t o recogniz e a s it s own . But there ar e poten t resistance s comin g betwee n u s an d th e metapsychological theor y o f a n instinc t unt o death . Fo r within it s solem n terms , th e linkag e betwee n ou r driv e t o love, o n th e on e hand , an d t o destroy , o n th e other , turn s out t o b e mor e intimat e tha n perhap s an y o f u s ca n bea r to believe. He coul d no t help lookin g bac k wit h nostalgi a t o the old century, o f course. What he tended t o see in our own was an unredemptive en d of days. "I do not doubt," he wrote to Frau Lou in 1916, that mankind will surmount eve n this war, but I know for certain that I and my contemporaries will never again see a joyous world. It

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 7 1 is all too hideous. And the saddest thing about it is that it has come out just as from our analytic expectations we should have imagined man and his behaviour.... My secret conclusion was: since we can only regard the highest civilization of the present as disfigured by a gigantic hypocrisy it follows that we are organically unfitted fo r it. We have t o abdicate , an d th e Grea t Unknown , H e o r It , lurkin g behind Fate , wil l sometim e repea t suc h a n experimen t wit h an other race.5 Freud's "secre t conclusion " wa s tha t Europea n man , lik e the neuroti c individual s o f th e consultatio n room , ha d live d beyond hi s psychi c means . Europea n man' s civilizatio n wa s a splendid pretense belying the dark core. When Freud write s of Europe' s "hypocrisy, " h e mean s Europe' s neurosis. Wha t is that ? Clinicall y speaking , a n illnes s tha t set s a sou l a t enmity wit h it s ow n instinctual needs , repressing the drive s and sufferin g the m t o b e known onl y i n a disfigured, symp tomatic way. Freud sa w in the Grea t War a huge and ghastl y neurotic symptom , a return o f the repressed. What the blood of Verdun an d th e Somm e betokened fo r hi m wa s a collaps e of the mendacious front. "Lif e has, in truth, become interest ing again, " he' d writte n i n 1915 . "I t ha s regaine d it s ful l significance."6 Indeed , Europea n lif e ha d gotte n bac k t o ba sics, she d it s fagade . Th e prou d ol d claim s o f Kultur lay disaffirmed. A vas t instinctua l deb t ha d com e due , an d th e reckoning would be in human lives. It i s a vie w o f wha t th e wa r mean t tha t wa s familia r i n German-speaking culture . Decisivel y influence d b y Freud , Thomas Mann conclude d The Magic Mountain (1924 ) with a plangency tha t seem s al l bu t addresse d t o th e founde r o f psychoanalysis: "Ou t o f thi s universa l feas t o f death , ou t of this extremit y o f fever, kindlin g th e rainwashed evenin g sk y to a fiery glow , ma y i t b e tha t Lov e on e da y shal l mount? " Freud ha d alread y answere d Mann' s questio n i n Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920) ; he would answer it again in Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) . The answer , bot h times , was—No. Preemptio n o f th e Utopia n yearning is Freud' s in tellectual signature. "There are few things," as Richard Woll-

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud heim writes , "tha t s o effectivel y divid e hi m fro m ou r ow n more enthusiasti c ag e than his refusal t o believe that i t i s i n any wa y th e mar k o f a goo d o r generou s min d t o giv e wa y to hope/' 7 But th e quic k o f Freud' s understandin g lie s deepe r tha n any antiutopianism , howeve r resolute . H e belong s t o tha t tough-minded Sophoclea n company for whom th e wisdom of Silenus, spoke n t o Kin g Midas , i s final . Stor y goe s tha t th e king, knowing Silenu s to possess the secret of what i s happiness, lure d th e saty r t o th e roya l garden, go t him drunk , an d coerced th e great secre t from him . What h e learned is that i t is best never to have been born, second best to die as quickly as possible. Seeking to crown his good fortune wit h wisdom , the king is instead mocked in the delusive hope that he could ever be happy. Wha t abou t a view o f lif e tha t seem s thu s t o strike a t th e wil l t o live ? W e don' t kno w wha t Mida s di d with hi s fel l knowledge , bu t h e has descendant s mor e forth coming. "I can' t g o on, " Becket t write s i n a famou s passage . "I'l l go on." Kafka allow s a s there i s infinite hop e in th e universe, bu t none of it for us. The vei l o f maya lifte d fro m hi s eyes , Schopenhaue r see s only inanit y an d madnes s i n ou r wil l t o live—ye t eac h day , prior to a bountiful lunch , plays Rossini on the flute. "Although I continuousl y understand, " write s Leopardi , "in fac t I intensely feel , th e futilit y o f everythin g human , I am still grieved and disturbed by how much there is to do." The nobl e exponent s o f pessimis m ar e never conten t jus t to registe r a sens e o f th e futilit y o f life , thoug h th e wil l t o live i s genuinel y a t ris k i n thei r writings . Th e puzzl e i s al ways this: reared on despair, their stance is also the indemnification agains t despair . Ciora n write s o n behalf o f the m all , "We ca n endur e an y truth , howeve r destructive , provide d i t replaces everything , provide d i t afford s a s muc h vitalit y a s the hop e fo r whic h i t substitutes." 8 Despai r a s resolution .

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 7 3 The preponderanc e o f evi l ove r goo d a s a spu r t o life . Pessi mism a s vitality . T o liv e knowin g wha t Silenu s know s in volves us in a strange exoneration from whos e height suicid e looks merel y puerile , a mistake. Giacom o Leopard i o r Sam uel Becket t a suicide ? Preposterous . "It' s no t wort h th e bother o f killin g yourself/ 7 Ciora n explains , "sinc e yo u al ways kill yourself too late." 9 Once you're born, th e mischie f has been made. Is thi s no t th e lesso n Oedipu s carrie s wit h hi m fro m Thebes? I n th e triumpha l tyrannos, solve r o f th e riddl e o f the Sphinx , Freu d foun d th e patter n o f hi s ow n intellectua l powers. I n defeated , outcas t Oedipus , solve r o f th e riddl e of himself, h e foun d somethin g else , a mora l postulat e o n which t o base his theoretica l claims . Freud states this postu late simply, much in fact a s a Sophoclean choru s might: "T o endure lif e remains , whe n al l i s said , th e first duty." 10 H e loves in Oedipu s th e inexorable deman d for self-discovery — but stil l moreso , th e steadfastnes s t o life . I n th e solitud e of his self-analysi s Freud , a s docto r an d patien t i n one , estab lished a new pattern o f the ol d Oedipal tenacity . By contrast to Jocasta, who prefers untruth an d perishes, Oedipus abjure s illusion an d lives . He i s blin d an d vagrant , true . But pai n i s not th e en d o f th e tale , a s Freu d wel l understood . Fo r th e knowledge Oedipus has endured at Thebes, a blessing await s him i n th e sacre d grov e a t Colonus , hom e o f th e Furie s turned Kindl y Ones . Freu d doe s acknowledg e a little refug e from history , a sacre d grov e wher e histor y i s mastered . I t consists of two people and—potentially—a blessing : the psychoanalytic situation . T h e psychoanalyti c situatio n implies a superior and a subordinate. Betwee n analys t an d analysan d ther e exist s a n in equality i t i s th e functio n o f analysi s t o remedy . Freud' s mature techniqu e i s a n educativ e strateg y whereb y th e pa tient's resistance s t o unconsciou s material—th e love s an d hates and reprehended wishes of early childhood—are in du e

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud course wreste d fro m him . "Th e analyst/ ' write s Jiirge n Ha bermas, instructs the patient i n reading his own texts, which he himself ha s mutilated an d distorted, an d in translatin g symbol s from a mode of expression deforme d a s a private languag e into the mod e of expression as public communication . The analyst , tha t is , teache s th e analysan d a wa y o f unrid dling himself : At th e en d o f analysi s i t shoul d b e possibl e t o presen t narrativel y those event s o f th e forgotte n year s o f lif e tha t neithe r th e patien t nor th e analys t kne w a t th e beginning o f th e analysis.. . . Only th e patient's recollectio n decide s the accurac y o f the construction . I f i t applies, i t mus t als o "restore " t o th e patien t a portion o f los t lif e history: that is, it must be able to elicit a self-reflection. 11 Analysis deliver s u p t o th e prudentia l orde r o f th e eg o wha t otherwise coul d no t mak e it s wa y int o consciousness : th e prehistoric emotion s an d th e internalize d syste m o f inhibi tions b y which thes e ar e held i n check . The conceptua l keyston e her e i s repression— Verdrangung—the censoria l mechanis m actin g t o disow n dangerou s impulses an d t o consig n the m t o th e nethersid e o f conscious ness. Patient s ente r analysi s becaus e the y ar e suffering . The y are sufferin g becaus e o f unconscious—tha t is , repressed — conflicts betwee n instinc t an d inhibition . Thes e conflict s are calle d neuroses, th e spaw n o f ou r earl y an d catastrophi c adventures i n love . In "Analysi s Terminabl e an d Interminable " (1937) , a mag isterial statemen t o f therapeutic purpose, Freu d likens repres sion t o th e textua l deletion s mad e b y certai n ancien t an d medieval scribes : The offensiv e passage s wer e heavil y score d throug h s o tha t the y were illegibl e . . . coul d no t b e transcribe d an d th e nex t copyis t of the book produced a text t o which no exception coul d be taken bu t which ha d gap s i n certai n places... . Repressio n i s t o th e othe r

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 7 5 methods of defence what the omission of words or passages is to the corruption of a text, and in the various forms of this falsification we can discover parallel s to th e manifol d way s in which th e ego can be modified.12 These modifications—usually calle d defense mechanism s o r resistances—by whic h th e eg o protect s itsel f fro m unwel come truths , becom e importan t text s fo r th e docto r an d hi s patient. Th e latte r i s instructe d b y th e fundamenta l rul e of their compac t t o sa y whatever come s int o hi s head ; an d ye t he cannot; unconscious resistances within the ego itself kee p him fro m doin g so. Freud note d fro m th e outse t thi s typica l inability of his patients to free associate , but only much late r did h e com e t o theoriz e abou t it . Psychoanalysi s bega n a s a symptom-treating therapy . Bu t a s its focu s graduall y shifte d from th e represse d content s o f th e min d t o th e eg o mecha nisms tha t keep reprehende d idea s an d affect s ou t o f con sciousness, Freudian practice modified itsel f int o a characteraltering therap y requirin g no t month s bu t year s o f intensiv e sessions. Th e essentia l tur n wa s awa y fro m th e premis e o f depth psychology—tha t th e patien t fre e associatin g his wa y back t o secrete d impulse s could , b y bringin g thes e t o con sciousness, depriv e th e pathogeni c element s o f thei r force , what becam e Freud' s ne w focu s wa s th e repressin g force s themselves tha t consistentl y kep t patient s fro m obeyin g th e fundamental rule . He di d no t abando n dept h psychology , o f course . Bu t h e came t o believ e tha t a n analysi s o f the repressin g forces wa s at leas t a s important a s analysis o f th e represse d itself . S o it was tha t i n th e las t phas e o f hi s wor k h e tende d t o under stand treatmen t a s a tacking between dept h and ego psychologies. Freud writes in the late essay already quoted , Our theoretical work swings to and fro during the treatment like a pendulum, analysing now a fragment o f the id and now a fragment of the ego. In the one case our aim is to bring a part of the id into consciousness and in the other to correct something in the ego. The

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud crux of the matter is that the mechanisms of defence against former dangers recur in analysis in the shape of resistances to cure.13 What recur , also , in ever y psychoanalytic situation , ar e ne w editions o f th e ol d child-paren t relationships . Th e patien t unwittingly repeats , "act s out " vis-a-vi s hi s docto r i n th e here an d now , a forgotte n bu t eve r operativ e dram a o f th e remote past. This repetition Freud calls the transference, an d far fro m seein g i t merel y a s a featur e o f th e consultatio n room, h e cam e t o regar d al l stron g persona l relationship s a s transferential, ou r love s a s well a s ou r hatred s shadowe d b y the emotional agendas of childhood . The therapeutic significanc e o f the transference canno t b e overstated. Freu d i n fac t believe d tha t a treatmen t onl y de serves the name psychoanalysis if, a s he puts it in "Beginnin g the Treatment" (1913) , "the intensity o f the transference ha s been utilize d fo r th e overcomin g o f resistances." 14 Thi s ca n happen onl y whe n th e repetitiv e patter n o f actin g ou t i s broken an d replace d b y remembering, fo r th e resistance s t o cure are fundamentally resistance s t o memory. Transferenc e is repetition . An d i t i s onl y throug h th e exactin g proces s of what Freu d call s "workin g through " tha t th e analysan d ca n be le d o f hi s ow n wil l t o recognize , i n hi s comportmen t toward his analyst, th e loves and hatreds of early life. It is , then , fro m wha t th e patient' s emotion s deman d i n the present fro m hi s doctor , alon g with hi s unwitting strata gems for disobeying the fundamental rul e of free association , that bot h docto r an d patient ma y dra w the mos t tellin g con clusions abou t wha t happene d i n th e latter' s earl y years . A new epistemologica l categor y i s thu s born : psychoanalytic knowledge, whos e trut h is , a s Jane t Malcol m ha s written , that "o f wha t th e presen t betray s abou t th e past." 15 Rathe r than th e historicis t idea l o f reconstruction—Ranke' s wie es eigentlich gewesen ist —this ne w notion o f truth serve s doctor an d patien t a s a directin g standard : no t th e pas t a s i t really happened , bu t th e pas t insofa r a s i t survive s t o mak e

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • mischief i n th e present. "I t may indee d be questioned," Freu d writes i n "Scree n Memories " (1899) , whether w e have an y memorie s a t al l from ou r childhood : memo ries relating to ou r childhoo d ma y b e al l tha t w e possess . Ou r childhood memories show us our earliest years not as they were but as the y appeare d a t th e late r period s whe n th e memorie s wer e revived. In these periods of revival, the childhood memories did not, as people ar e accustomed t o say , emerge; they were formed a t tha t time. And a number of motives, which had no concern with historical accuracy, ha d thei r par t i n thu s formin g the m a s well a s in th e selection of the memories themselves. 16 Superficial resemblance s notwithstanding , psychoanalyti c science i s n o all y o f th e historica l sciences . I t doe s no t car e about th e pas t fo r it s ow n sake . "Th e patien t i n analysis, " writes Frenc h analys t O . Mannoni , "doe s no t ben d ove r hi s past lik e a n ol d m an writin g his memoirs . H e is less occupie d with restorin g hi s pas t tha n wit h goin g beyon d it , whic h i s the onl y rea l wa y o f preservin g it." 1 7 Psychoanalysi s goe s athwart th e pas t i n orde r t o brin g abou t a chang e i n th e present: namely , t o wide n th e scop e an d discretionar y pow ers of the ego— das Ich —on al l its fronts, temperin g involun tary drive s wit h deliberat e responses , unconsciou s prohibi tions with self-knowin g prudence . " A psychoanalysis," Freu d writes, "i s no t a n impartia l scientifi c investigation , bu t a therapeutic measure . It s essence i s not t o prove anything , bu t . . . t o alte r something." 1 8 If less pessimistic abou t th e consultatio n roo m tha n abou t the world , h e wa s nonetheles s quic k t o insis t tha t therapeu tic result s ar e fa r fro m eas y o r guaranteed . Th e ne w an d stronger synthesi s o f th e eg o whic h analysi s seek s t o instat e is a poise o f spiri t neve r spontaneousl y attaine d to ; rather , i t is th e alway s contingen t en d resul t o f a prolonged , arduous , and rule-governe d labo r o f inquiry . Wher e i d was , analys t and patien t togethe r instal l th e reig n o f self-knowledge , o f deliberation—of ego . An d o n th e strengt h o f thi s gai n i n

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud self-knowledge, analyti c practic e base s it s clai m t o hav e healed. It i s no w mor e tha n thirt y year s sinc e Norma n O . Brow n suggested, i n hi s influentia l boo k Life against Death, tha t "psychoanalytic consciousness , a s a higher stag e in the consciousness o f mankind , ma y b e . . . th e fulfillmen t o f th e historical consciousness , tha t eve r widenin g an d deepenin g search fo r origin s tha t ha s obsesse d Wester n though t sinc e the Renaissance." 19 What ha s impelle d u s backwar d t o ou r sources ? Brown' s answer is that our historicism represents a slow return of the repressed, ou r secre t progressivel y mor e exposed , neare r i n its manifestation "t o the original impulse and to the original forbidden ac t itself/ 720 Ou r search fo r origin s i s for Brown a symptom of our modernity. What, then, is the repressed con tent o f historicism , ou r backwar d impetus ? A less an d les s well-buried urge , Brow n says , t o b e qui t o f th e past , t o lay down the burden of history. For history is the story of repression: histor y is neurosis—th e neurosi s o f th e species—an d man, th e historical animal , i s by that toke n th e animal who is sick. Historical processe s ar e engendere d an d sustaine d b y a human wis h t o be other, t o make o f the given place anothe r place an d of the given sel f anothe r self . An d here, accordin g to Brown , i s the unconscious o f history, th e inten t i t keep s hidden fro m it s makers . Apocalypti c visionar y tha t h e is , Brown forecast s a resolutio n o f historica l consciousness — the hol d o f what come s earlie r ove r what come s later—int o "psychoanalytical consciousness, " th e escape into an unmediated present . Historica l consciousnes s h e see s a s a symp tom o f th e diseas e calle d ma n a t a lat e stage . A s wit h th e burden ever y patien t bring s t o analysi s so , accordin g t o Brown, wit h th e burde n w e brin g t o modernity : th e wa y out is through. Historical consciousnes s mus t b e aggravated, completed s o that i t may in the end defeat itself , brea k apar t

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 7 9 to yield up, beyond th e last weariness o f history, a renovated human nature . "I f historica l consciousnes s i s finall y trans formed int o psychoanalytical consciousness/ ' Brown writes, the grip of the dead hand of the past on life in the present would be loosened, and man would be ready to live instead of making history, to enjoy instea d o f paying back old scores and debts, and to ente r that state of Being which was the goal of his becoming.21 Life against Death (lik e th e whol e o f Brown' s subsequen t career) is the seeking of a way out of repression as the precondition of culture. Fixing his sights on a future i n which civilization wil l n o longe r lev y it s instinctua l tol l (an d ma n n o longer be "the sic k animal, " a s Nietzsche calle d him) Brown declares th e prospec t o f a lif e base d o n th e fre e pla y o f th e instincts. Where Philip Rieff ha s seen the era of "psychologi cal man, " Brow n ha s see n th e porta l t o a n apocalyps e i n whose aftertim e th e labo r o f spiri t wil l n o longe r involv e u s in fractur e an d self-division , n o longe r exac t th e displace ment from belo w to above. That i s to say , no longer requir e sublimation, th e psychi c process by which instinctua l energ y is turned fro m sexua l t o cultural aims . Freud foun d i n i t th e intrapsychi c representa tive o f art , science , spirit—o f al l tha t i s higher . Intelligenc e was, as he saw it, th e cumulative result not o f any purporte d "instinct towar d perfection " i n th e species , bu t rathe r o f the desexualizin g tren d o f th e min d tha t make s u s culture producing animal s i n th e firs t place . The displacemen t fro m the solipsisti c t o th e shared , fro m flesh t o spirit , create s th e conditions o f cultur e ou t o f a negation , a repressio n o f th e original satisfaction s tha t w e ar e compelle d t o relinquis h i n early childhood . I n thei r stead , th e eg o proposes t o itself th e substitute satisfactions o f the spirit: sublimations . Culture is, in Freud's view, an elaborate consolation—an d a costl y one . For if repression s ar e the conditio n o f sublima tion, the n we may expec t the m t o take their gradual reveng e on culture itself. Freud writes in The Ego and the Id (1923),

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud By . .. getting hold of the libido from the object-cathexes and desexualizing or sublimating the libido of the id, the ego is working in opposition to the purposes of Eros and placing itself at the service of the opposing instinctual impulses.22 When turne d inward , thes e impulse s ar e calle d th e deat h drive b y Freu d i n Beyond the Pleasure Principle) whe n turned outward , the y ar e calle d aggression . A dualis t throughout hi s career , Freu d i n hi s las t phas e replace s th e opposition o f self-protectiv e o r eg o instinct s t o sexua l in stincts wit h a new oppositio n o f Ero s to death . Freud' s fina l theory o f th e drive s assimilate s th e self-preservativ e t o th e erotic; what th e new dualism announced i n 192 0 posits ove r against the drive to love, to make more of life, is an antithetical driv e t o cancel , t o dissolve , t o obliterate , an d thu s t o recover wha t Schopenhaue r calle d "th e los t paradis e o f non existence." 23 These two primordial instincts are always found i n combination, Freu d argues . Whe n i n th e twentie s an d thirtie s h e writes Trieb, Freu d mean s Ero s a s alloye d b y death . Wha t disturbs him in The Ego and the Id is the particular way they combine i n sublimation , afte r whic h "th e eroti c componen t no longer has the power to bind the whole of the destructive ness tha t wa s combine d wit h it , an d thi s i s release d i n th e form o f an inclination t o aggression and destruction." 24 Or, alternatively , i n th e for m o f a wil l t o master . Freu d had alread y i n 191 5 identifie d a n impuls e o f cruelt y a t th e bottom o f ever y instinc t fo r control. 25 Fiv e year s late r h e would see in that impulse the death instinct turne d outward . When Freud speaks of the drive for mastery, h e of course has his ey e o n it s mos t favorabl e versions , scienc e an d art . Bu t they, too , n o les s tha n mastering s o f th e mor e basi c kind , would see m i n Freud' s accoun t t o bea r a n intrinsi c relatio n to aggressivenes s o r destruction . Alread y i n 1915 , h e ha s begun to discern within cultur e a gainsaying countertrend . His final theor y o f the instincts, by putting death in opposition t o Eros , thereb y put s i t i n oppositio n t o th e claim s

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 8 1 of culture . Fo r thes e claims , Freu d argue s throughou t th e twenties, ar e th e selfsam e objective s o f Ero s i n it s struggl e with death . Culture, like love, comes to stand for the perpetual "renewa l o f life/' 26 inasmuc h a s the aim o f culture, a s of Eros, is the unification o f life into ever larger units. Intellect, science, an d ar t unite , eve n a s th e mor e fundamenta l form s of civilizatio n (agriculture , technology , law) . Bu t sublima tion, th e psychi c proces s whereb y energie s ar e mad e avail able t o th e purpose s o f culture , bring s unexpectedl y i n it s train th e ol d enem y principl e o f strif e an d disunion . I n th e process o f displacemen t fro m a sexua l t o a nonsexua l aim , aggressiveness i s released fro m it s subordinatio n t o libidina l trends. Thus , i n Freud' s final reckoning , cultur e cast s th e shadow o f it s opposite—a s surel y a s lov e cast s th e shado w of hate. Any attempt, lik e Norman O . Brown's, to read the huma n story as romance must answe r Freud's determination t o read it a s irreconcilabl e conflict , a s tragedy . Fo r Freud's dialecti c of Eros and deat h brooks no resolution. He was the foundin g teacher of a discipline of healing; and yet it may be as a rabbi of th e irremediable , lik e Kafka , tha t h e shal l figure largest . It ma y b e a s a ma n without answer s tha t w e shal l nee d Freud most. America bemuse d an d embarrassed him, perhaps because h e could no t tak e seriousl y a cultur e foundin g itsel f o n th e right o f individuals t o be happy. Indeed, th e happiness o f th e individual is, according to his metapsychology, what civiliza tion alway s subordinate s t o it s grande r scheme . "America, " he explained to Ernest Jones, "is a mistake." 27 Crossing th e Atlanti c fo r th e first an d las t tim e i n th e autumn o f 190 9 to deliver a series of introductory lecture s a t Clark University , Freu d worrie d alou d o n boar d th e George Washington, th e ocea n line r bringin g hi m here , tha t i n America psychoanalysi s woul d b e perverted int o a panacea , its antithetica l conten t forgotten . Year s late r whe n Samue l

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud Goldwyn, tha t addic t o f happ y endings , cam e t o Vienn a t o try lurin g Freu d t o Hollywoo d a s a scriptwrite r an d on-the set advisor , th e fathe r o f psychoanalysi s mus t hav e ha d hi s worst suspicion s abou t u s confirmed . "Ther e ar e som e peo ple/ 7 Goldwy n complaine d afterward , "yo u can' t tel l the m a goddam thing . Lik e him. Freud." 28 The m a n yo u couldn' t tel l a goddam thin g certainl y didn' t see himsel f a s introducin g a recip e fo r happines s t o th e United States . "W e ar e bringin g the m th e plague," 2 9 h e said . But Freu d di d conced e i n hi s las t Clar k lecture , perhap s partly ou t o f deferenc e t o th e hos t country , tha t "th e satisfac tion o f th e individual' s happines s canno t b e erase d fro m among th e aim s o f ou r civilization. " H e wen t o n t o tel l a story abou t th e littl e Germa n tow n o f Schilda , whos e citizen s decided t o brea k thei r workhors e o f hi s ba d habi t o f consum ing s o man y oats . The y graduall y reduce d th e beast' s ration s to th e poin t wher e h e wa s eatin g onl y on e stal k a day. But o n the mornin g h e wa s deprive d o f eve n this , th e workhors e spitefully la y dow n an d died . Moral : a bod y need s it s oats . "The plasticit y o f th e component s o f sexuality, " Freu d sai d to his America n audience , shown b y thei r capacit y fo r sublimation , ma y indee d offe r a grea t temptation t o striv e fo r stil l greate r cultura l achievement s b y stil l greater sublimation . But , just a s we d o not coun t o n ou r machine s converting mor e tha n a certain fractio n o f th e hea t consume d int o useful mechanica l work, we ought not to seek to alienate the whole amount o f th e energ y o f th e sexua l instinc t fro m it s prope r ends . We canno t succee d i n doin g so ; an d i f th e restrictio n o n sexualit y were t o b e carrie d to o fa r i t woul d inevitabl y brin g wit h i t al l th e evils of soil exhaustion. 30 He seem s t o hav e returne d t o Europ e preoccupie d b y thi s issue o f desexualization ; a s soo n a s th e Five Lectures wa s readied fo r prin t h e turne d himsel f i n earnes t t o it . Th e re sult, i n Ma y o f 1910 , wa s Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood, Freud' s mos t sustaine d attemp t t o giv e content t o th e ide a o f sublimation .

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 8 3 "How nicely, " say s Nietzsche' s Zarathustra , "th e bitch , sensuality, know s ho w t o be g fo r a piece o f spiri t whe n de nied a piec e o f meat." 31 Sublimatio n i s thi s precisely : th e substitution o f spiri t fo r meat . An d Freu d propose s hi s Leo nardo to stan d fo r th e heroism o f that displacemen t upward . But his d a Vinci must als o be understood a s standing for th e tragic contradiction s embedde d i n cultur e a s psychoanalysi s will ultimatel y conceiv e it . Fo r Freud, Leonard o i s th e limi t case o f sublimatio n an d al l it s sorrows . Freud' s Leonard o i s an unhapp y man , an d fo r Freu d i t i s thi s unhappines s tha t sets the seal of genius on him, make s o f da Vinci the cultur e hero. The Leonardo i s a work a s tense with ambivalenc e a s any he wrote . I n th e immensit y o f d a Vinci's spirit—give n ove r first t o art , the n t o scientifi c researc h i n th e servic e o f hi s painting, stil l late r t o researc h a t th e expens e o f his art , an d finally t o paintin g onc e again—Freu d perceive s th e stead y elaboration o f a self-underminin g impulse . Hi s wis h t o find in Leonard o th e replet e embodimen t o f cultura l values , o f sublimated energy, comes up against the record of Leonardo's procrastination an d inability t o make decisions , his frequen t refusal t o finish works, his disastrous choice of a medium fo r the Last Supper, and so on. In the end Freud is obliged to se e in hi s invente d her o a being irremediabl y self-divided . Hav ing stated in the first chapter tha t this will be a case study i n "the perfectio n o f th e great, " Freu d i s move d b y th e las t t o stamp hi s Leonard o wit h "th e tragi c mar k o f failure. " Th e book belie s it s ow n ferven t wis h tha t th e scientifi c exercis e of th e wil l t o trut h migh t constitut e a principle o f freedo m and health , a n escap e fro m historicall y roote d instinctua l conflicts int o a lif e unfraugh t wit h th e ne w edition s o f ol d contests betwee n instinc t an d inhibition . Instead , Freud' s Leonardo carries th e whole sickenin g burden o f his past int o the fortress o f the intellect with him . Ten year s afte r th e Leonardo, Freu d write s i n Beyond the Pleasure Principle,

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud It ma y b e difficult . . . fo r man y o f u s t o abando n th e belie f tha t there i s a n instinc t toward s perfectio n a t wor k i n human beings, which has brought them t o their present high level of intellectual achievement an d ethica l sublimatio n an d which may be expected to watch over their development into supermen.32 But this was a naively self-flattering belie f Freu d felt we must abandon. H e would hav e nothing t o d o with an y "suppositi tious instinc t toward s perfection" i n human nature . Twent y years afte r th e Leonardo h e writes , "W e hav e bee n carefu l not t o fal l i n wit h th e prejudic e tha t civilizatio n i s synony mous wit h perfecting , tha t i t i s th e roa d t o perfectio n pre ordained fo r men." 33 An d yet Freu d share d Nietzsche' s fait h in "me n wh o ar e destinies , wh o b y bearing themselve s bea r destinies"—incommensurable men , "th e whol e specie s o f heroic bearer s of burdens." 34 Freud's obliqu e pronouncement s o n geniu s ma y bes t b e understood, I think , a s fragment s o f a n autobiography . In deed, his self-analysis—the constitutiv e even t in the histor y of hi s science—become s fo r hi m th e very pattern o f genius . Without benefi t o f preexisting concept s or techniques, Freu d undertook in 189 7 to fathom hi s own hiddenmost self . Afterward, h e declare d thi s solitar y labo r o f self-interpretatio n t o be uniqu e an d unrepeatable . A s Phili p Rief f ha s written , "Freud reserve d t o himself , a s h e wh o firs t foun d th e way , the skil l t o dismantl e hi s ow n dream s accuratel y withou t another's aid . Nobod y psychoanalyze d th e firs t psychoan alyst." 35 With thi s unaccountable , unrepeatabl e feat , Freu d be lieved himsel f t o hav e take n hi s plac e i n tha t republi c o f geniuses of which Schopenhaue r spoke . As he puts it in "O n the History o f the Psychoanalytic Movement " (1914) , "I was one o f thos e wh o hav e disturbe d th e slee p o f th e world." 36 Freud understoo d th e cultura l achievement , th e Kulturarbeity o f his self-analysi s a s a testament o f incommensurabil ity. Here we gain a crucial insight into what genius meant t o him, for it is always in his view the inexplicably great cultur e

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 8 5 work tha t validate s claim s t o th e highes t title . His youthfu l wish for genius , s o evident i n th e earl y letters t o friends an d to hi s fiancee, i s onl y realized i n th e exercis e o f a new for m of self-interrogation , a Wissensdrang entirel y o f hi s ow n de vising. That process of introspection results in a literary masterpiece, The Interpretation of Dreams (1899-1900 ) an d represents Freud' s emergence , a t th e ag e o f forty-four , int o mastery. But how is his sense of his own genius related to his sens e of Leonardo's ? Hi s "analysis " o f d a Vinc i amounts , b y hi s own admission , t o a kin d o f "psychoanalyti c novel"—a n apologue abou t Kulturarbeit an d it s woes . Leonard o i s Freud's symbo l a t midcaree r fo r what, twent y year s later, h e will cal l th e inevitabl e disconten t o r uneas e (das Unbehagen) of the culture-producing animal . The sacrifice s cultur e impose s hav e thei r epitome , fo r Freud, i n th e sacrifice s o f genius, which i s for him, a s it wa s for Schopenhauer , th e ultimat e justificatio n o f culture . Bu t genius is for Freud, as it was not for Schopenhauer, a n outsize mirror in which we may see all the confrontations o f psychic life giantly recapitulated. Read from th e vantage point Civilization and Its Discontents provides , Freud's Leonardo begins to look like a first version of the war between primal Yes and primal No , bewee n Ero s an d death . I n th e tex t o f 1930 , Freud's earlie r ambivalenc e abou t sublimatio n ha s turne d into a profoun d pessimism . Wha t ha d onc e bee n see n a s a "way out , a wa y i n whic h th e claim s o f th e eg o ca n b e met without involvin g repression," 37 ha s become by the las t decade o f Freud' s caree r a psychica l proces s contaminate d from th e outse t b y th e specte r o f internalize d aggression . Sublimation implie s th e renouncin g o f instinct . Instinct , b y the latter part of Freud's career, always means Eros as alloyed by death. But after energ y is displaced, afte r libid o is desexu alized, th e elemen t o f aggressio n tha t wa s compac t wit h i t evades, a t leas t i n part , th e hegemon y o f Ero s and pursue s a course of its own as self-destructiveness .

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud To grasp this ster n line of thought, on e must firs t appreci ate the innovation i n Freud's metapsychology represente d by the 191 4 paper "O n Narcissism: An Introduction." Fro m this point onward , h e understand s libid o essentiall y a s narcissistic overflow . A s h e explain s i n 1923 , "Th e eg o i s t o b e re garded a s th e grea t reservoi r o f libid o fro m whic h libid o i s sent out to objects and which is always ready to absorb libido flowing bac k from objects." 38 Thi s reconceptio n o f libid o as fundamentall y narcissisti c enable s th e refinemen t i n th e concept o f sublimatio n tha t w e fin d i n The Ego and the Id. Freu d ther e argue s tha t befor e libidina l energ y ca n b e desexualized an d thereb y transmute d int o cultura l energy , i t must firs t g o through a n intermediate phase in which object libido i s returne d t o th e reservoi r o f th e ego . Bu t i t i s jus t here that th e ego enters into complicit y with th e silent driv e to destruction . Fo r th e eg o canno t desexualiz e th e libid o of the i d withou t consignin g t o repressio n th e destructivenes s that wa s combined with it . And that destructivenes s thence forth ha s a new, howbei t unconscious , lif e o f its own . Freu d argues in The Ego and the Id what he had refused t o conced e outright i n th e Leonardo bu t late r assume s i n Civilization and Its Discontents: tha t th e sublimation s neve r ar e "per fect," tha t the y always involve a return of the repressed . In the 191 0 book Freud had gingerly asserted that in scien tific inquiry , highes t o f th e sublimations , "th e libid o evade s the fat e o f repressio n b y bein g sublimate d fro m th e ver y beginning int o curiosit y an d b y becomin g attache d t o th e powerful instinc t fo r researc h a s a reinforcement." 39 Bu t b y 1930 h e ha s com e roun d t o Ferenczi' s poin t i f view : tha t sublimations satisf y th e instinct s onl y t o th e sam e degre e maps satisf y th e wis h t o travel . As I see it, th e poignanc e of the Leonardo i s its theoretical instability . I would argu e tha t the book' s over t (an d ver y Schopenhauerian ) deprecatio n o f happiness i n favo r o f herois m i s countervaile d b y a sub merged argumen t interpretin g thos e fantastical smile s o f th e

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 8 7 Mona Lisa , the Virgin, th e Baptist a s so many rebukes t o th e all-too-human i n u s settlin g for a trade-off o f flesh fo r spirit . Against th e vertical axis along which instinct is transcended , Freud shadow s fort h i n hi s Leonardo a horizontal axi s alon g which fantas y proliferate s despit e sublimation . Because Eros implies a mobility, a transitiveness o f the self, it must b e the effort o f civilization , a s Le o Bersani ha s pu t it , "t o plo t th e immobilization o f desire." 40 Thu s Freu d "plots " hi s Leo nardo,- but th e horizonta l productivit y o f Ero s goes o n o f it s own accord . Fo r if fantasy ha s its origins , a s Freud argues, i n an irrecoverabl e experienc e o f blis s a t th e mother' s breast , then al l late r gratification s mus t b e incomplete an d includ e an ulterio r supplemen t tha t doe s no t find discharge . Se x i s bound, then, to fail o f its aim, inasmuch a s it remains alway s a circle of partial satisfactions . As I'v e indicated , afte r 192 0 Freu d introduce s int o thi s circle, int o ever y instanc e o f desiring , a principl e beyon d that o f pleasure . Th e maintenanc e o f tension s a t a leve l o f constancy gets bound up, in the new metapsychology, wit h a more primordial tendency, on e shared by all animate matter : to reduce tension s t o zero, to return t o th e pre-organic state . Hence desir e get s riddle d throughout , i n Freud' s secon d o r "structural" topograph y o f th e mind , wit h th e ultimat e fan tasy proffering a n absolute en d to all desire: nirvana. Santay ana writes in his essay on Beyond the Pleasure Principle: We must not confuse th e itch which our unsatisfied instinct s continue to cause with the pleasure of satisfying and dismissing each of them i n turn. Coul d they all be satisfied harmoniousl y we should all be satisfied onc e for al l and completely. Then doing and dying would coincide throughout and be a perfect pleasure. 41 The total discharge of tensions, the perfect pleasure, is death. Mingled wit h Eros , th e wil l t o union , i s a still mor e funda mental (thoug h hidde n an d silent ) wil l t o fin d peac e i n ex tinction. I s this no t th e strang e secre t tha t Bacchu s an d th e

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud Baptist ar e keepin g fro m Freu d i n 1910 ? "The y d o no t cas t their eye s down/ ' h e write s i n th e Leonardo, "bu t gaz e i n mysterious triumph , a s if the y kne w o f a great achievemen t of happiness abou t which silenc e must b e kept. The familia r smile o f fascinatio n lead s on e t o gues s tha t i t i s a secre t o f love." 42 Victor s ove r life , the y smil e wit h th e knowledg e of an ultimat e fantasy , a termina l satiation . The y kno w th e trouble wit h wha t th e Elizabethan s calle d "dying"—tha t i t isn't really , tha t i t i s alway s onl y partial release. Entir e es cape woul d amoun t t o a triump h ove r biolog y itself . Leo nardo, th e putativ e exceptio n case , i s no t thu s triumphant . The geniu s turn s ou t t o b e all-too-human , too , n o les s en cumbered b y instinctua l self-divisio n tha n w e others . Leo nardo's traged y i s th e huma n on e o f bein g n o apotheosi s a t all, but merely an "experiment" wherein the countless "ragioni of nature force their way into experience." 43 We are, then, trial s an d tentatives o f nature, not lord s an d masters, Freu d argues . Psychoanalysis ha s n o transcendenc e to offer , n o dignit y o f th e huma n min d ove r it s natura l cir cumstances, and is therefore not a gnosis. (Here , incidentally, is on e wa y t o understan d th e differenc e betwee n Freudia n analysis an d th e r e visionary Jungia n variant : th e latte r i s compatible wit h idea s o f a gnosis o r savin g knowledge , th e former i s not. ) Freudia n theor y an d practic e refrai n fro m all redemptive claims . This certainl y includes the modern kind , the claim s o f Romanti c humanism , fo r al l tha t the y for m a crucial background t o Freud's science. The task he conceive s is strictly this : to enabl e human being s to face th e unrectifi able truths of their nature—with grief, with bitter regret, but without fals e consolation . Accordin g t o Freud , w e ar e founded o n a dualism o f instinct which conflicts an d encum bers an d heap s u s inescapably . "Leonardo " i s hi s nam e i n 1910 for what h e will later put fort h a s the involution o f th e two drives , calling them Ero s and death. From the retrospec t Civilization and Its Discontents provides , Leonardo' s sor -

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 8 9 rows ma y b e see n t o stan d fo r tha t antagonism . Th e tragi c tangle of biology and cultur e which make s for bein g human , makes also , in Freud, for a burden o f failure harnesse d t o th e flesh, a n intrinsic pathos of desire. u

\ a m the spirit that negates/ 7 says Mephisto to Faust, And rightly so, for all that comes to be deserves to perish wretchedly,'Twere better nothing would begin. Thus everything that your terms, sin, Destruction, evil represent— That is my proper element.44 The scen e i s Faust' s den . Th e tim e i s evening . Th e so n o f chaos is explaining himself t o the so n of light: " I am part of the part that once was everything," he says, Part of the darkness which gave birth to light, That haughty light which envies mother night Her ancient rank and place and would be king— Yet it does not succeed: however it contend, It sticks to bodies in the end.45 Goethe i s th e on e figur e i n Germa n literatur e wit h who m Freud unreservedly identified , an d it i s unsurprising tha t hi s conception of man has its analogue in the Faustian dilemma : Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast, And one is striving to forsake the other.46 As th e figure o f genius , reache r afte r "th e crow n o f man kind," Faus t embodie s al l tha t say s Yes , al l tha t i s culture . But i n hi s de n ar e tw o spirits—th e othe r bein g Mephisto . Faust's struggl e with hi m i s self-division mad e dramatic, th e bargain betwee n the m bein g actuall y betwee n height s an d depths in Faust himself. Here, then , i s th e precurso r o f Freud' s ultimat e myt h o f man. Ye t Goethe' s Faus t i s redeemed , thereb y affirmin g th e

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud dominion o f ligh t ove r darkness . Th e spiri t o f negatio n i s revealed a s Part of the force which woul d Do evil evermore, and yet creates the good. 47 For Mephist o is , fro m th e outset , feckles s agains t a greate r strength, th e h u m a n capacit y t o striv e an d t o affirm . Appro priately, h e i s a comi c figure . Servant s typicall y ar e i n dram a and, fo r al l his pretenses , Mephist o i s a servant . But i f Freu d inherit s hi s mythi c dualis m o f Ye s an d N o from Goethe , i n Freud' s accoun t th e powe r o f Yes has yielde d its supremacy . Deat h i s her e n o subordinat e o f Eros , bu t rather a t onc e it s swor n enem y an d nex t o f kin . A s Adria n Leverkuhn, Thoma s Mann' s compose r versio n o f Faust , "takes back " Beethoven' s N i n t h wit h hi s Wehe-klag, hi s Lamentation, s o th e Freu d o f Civilization and Its Discontents take s bac k th e Goethea n goo d tidings . And yet , ther e i s i n Freud' s late r work , a s i n Mann's , a strain o f wha t Eric h Kahle r calle d "immanen t transcen dence." 4 8 Wha t remain s a t th e prayerfu l conclusio n o f Doctor Faustus i s wha t remain s a t th e en d o f Freud' s career — "a hop e beyon d hopelessness, " a s Serenu s Zeitblo m put s it . (Serenus Zeitblom , seren e flowe r o f th e age , good-hearted , long-winded, th e ungeniu s pa r excellenc e whos e ungeniu s i s his licens e t o speak . A s narrato r o f Doctor Faustus, h e tell s a thoroughly Freudia n parabl e abou t th e traged y o f Germa n culture: inspired , bu t poisoned ; pledge d t o beauty , ye t th e abettor o f barbarism. ) "Liste n t o th e end, " say s Zeitblo m o f the Doktor Fausti Wehe-klag, Leverkiihn' s retor t upo n Bee thoven, Listen wit h me : on e grou p o f instrument s afte r anothe r retires , and wha t remains , a s th e wor k fade s o n th e air , i s th e high G o f a cello, the last word, the last fainting sound , slowly dying in a pianissimo-fermata. The n nothin g more : silence , an d night . Bu t tha t tone whic h vibrate s i n th e silence , whic h i s n o longe r there , t o which onl y the spiri t hearkens , an d which was the voice of mourn -

In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud • 9 1 ing, is s o no more. It change s its meaning ; i t abide s as a light i n the night.49 Leverkiihn's faintin g hig h G supplant s i n authorit y th e stri dent majo r chord s o f the Beethoven finale. "Sinner s al l shal l be forgiven/ 7 sing s th e chorus , "an d hel l shal l b e no more. " Thus Beethoven's Nint h unfold s it s promise o f transcenden t remedy. T o thi s exaltatio n th e Wehe-klag offer s th e fiercest possible rebuke: for in Leverkiihn's last testamen t i t is "onl y out o f th e sheerl y irremediable " tha t th e wil l t o g o on , t o endure life, may germinate. Freud's lament, lik e Leverkiihn's, has at its heart the repudiation o f ever y "lullab y abou t Heaven" 50 wit h whic h ou r nursemaids sough t t o appeas e us . H e wa s th e unallaye d en emy o f attempt s t o comprehen d ou r conditio n i n othe r tha n natural terms ; metaphysiches Bediirfnis, th e nee d fo r tran scendent criteria , h e regarde d a s belongin g t o th e intellec tual childhood of mankind. "Th e moment on e inquires about the sense or value of life," he wrote to Marie Bonaparte, "on e is sick , sinc e objectivel y neithe r o f the m ha s an y exis tence." 51 Yet in Freud , a s in th e Wehe-klag, ther e is "imma nent transcendence, " the light abiding in the night. "Ou r god Logos," h e calle d it , th e on e drea m hel d dea r agains t th e welter o f hi s time , fo r h e require d a prospec t o f rationalit y with whic h t o answe r th e unprecedente d enormitie s o f thi s century. Our go d Logos . Bu t a s Rief f ha s written , "Freu d foun d intellect onl y a hope, not a description, an d the essential an d fundamental thin g instinct." 52 A s Moses found Canaa n onl y a hope, an d th e essentia l an d fundamenta l thin g wilderness . In Jun e o f 1938 , Londo n greete d a s a conquerin g her o th e Viennese docto r i n fligh t wit h hi s family . Withi n a fe w months' time he would install himself, along with books and antique statuary , i n th e prett y hous e a t 2 0 Maresfiel d Gar dens, Hampstead. Pessimists, too, have their promised lands; but th e suburb s o f Londo n wer e no t Freud's . H e calle d hi s

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In Faust's Den: The Lament of Freud Canaan b y th e nam e o f Logos . "W e ma y insis t a s ofte n a s w e l i k e / ' h e ha d writte n i n The Future of an Illusion (1927) , that man's intellect is powerless in comparison with his instinctua l life, an d we ma y b e right i n this . Nevertheless, ther e i s somethin g peculiar abou t thi s weakness . Th e voic e o f th e intellec t i s a sof t one, but i t doe s not res t til l i t ha s gained a hearing. Finally , afte r a countless successio n o f rebuffs , i t succeeds . This i s on e o f th e fe w points o n whic h on e ma y b e optimisti c abou t th e futur e o f man kind, bu t i t i s in itsel f a point o f no small importance. And from i t one can deriv e yet othe r hopes. The primacy o f the intellect lies , i t is true , i n a distant , distan t future , bu t probabl y no t a infinitel y distant one. 53 Pessimists, too , hav e thei r promise d lands . Bu t wha t Kafk a said abou t God-fearin g Mose s applie s equall y wel l t o th e atheist Freud : h e faile d t o ge t t o Canaa n no t becaus e hi s lif e was to o shor t bu t becaus e i t wa s a h u m an life .

Conclusion: Bulwark s an d Shadow s The dispersio n an d th e reconstitutio n o f th e Self . That's the whole story. —Charle s Baudelaire

In 176 9 pilgrims first made their way to Stratford-upon-Avo n to traips e throug h a half-timbere d hous e i n Henle y Stree t where England' s greates t autho r ma y have been born, Davi d Garrick having in that year endowed the place as a shrine. Travel th e hundre d fift y kilometer s northwes t o f Londo n sometime; experienc e fo r yoursel f th e lurkin g phonines s o f Henley Street. Henry James did, and readers of his will recal l a ghostly tal e for whic h Stratfor d furnishe d th e donnee. Th e protagonist o f James's "Th e Birthplace/' a Mr. Morris Gedg e newly arrive d with hi s wife t o assum e their dutie s as live-in caretakers, finds himsel f hunted , searche d ou t b y a myster y there—deeper tha n th e bardolotrous fibs he's oblige d to purvey t o tourist s comin g through . "Acros s tha t threshold, " Gedge declares for their satisfaction , He habitually passed; through those low windows, in childhood, H e peered out into the world tha t H e was to make so much happier by the gift o f His genius,- over the boards of this floor . . . His little fee t often pattered . . . . In this old chimney-corner, th e quaint inglenoo k of ou r ancestors—jus t ther e i n th e fa r angle , where Hi s littl e stoo l

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and Shadows

was placed . . . w e se e the inconceivable chil d gazing into the blaz e of the old oaken logs and making out there pictures and stories. . . . Gedge understand s onl y to o wel l th e fals e positio n h e i s in . Whatever mysti c presenc e ther e i s o f " H i m " i s everywher e and nowhere , no t i n thes e particula r half-timbers . Eve n should i t happe n tha t Henle y Stree t i s no t a n historica l im posture, i t i s certainl y a spiritual irrelevance . Pilgrim s fobbe d off b y a n inglenoo k haven' t a purchas e o n th e rea l secre t there. An d Gedg e i s gla d o f this , fo r h e mean s t o sav e " H i m " from "His " admirers . Into "Th e Birthplace " no w wal k a Mr . an d Mrs . B . D . Hayes o f N e w York , an d Gedg e know s soo n enoug h tha t these ar e tw o "t o w h o m h e hadn' t t o talk , a s h e phrase d it , rot." Tru e votarie s unfailingl y kno w on e another , an d kno w their differenc e fro m th e touristicall y curiou s wh o surg e t o Henley Street . After all , shoul d th e Sunda y sentiment s o f you r Aun t Helen an d Uncl e Jac k resemble th e passio n o f Teresa o f Avil a and Joh n o f th e Cross ? Th e differenc e a t Stratfor d betwee n true devotee s an d th e commo n ru n i s analogou s t o tha t be tween grea t mystic s an d ordinar y churchgoers . Bot h cal l mystery b y th e sam e name , ye t haven' t th e sam e inwar d relation t o it—a s Gedg e an d th e tourist s cal l thei r moder n mystery, whic h i s genius , b y on e name , ye t "Shakespeare " doesn't mea n i n hi s m o u t h wha t i t mean s i n theirs . Mr . an d Mrs. Haye s provid e hi m wit h a respite fro m th e fraudulence . For neithe r nosines s no r biographomani a (whic h i s nosines s in excelsis ) ha s coaxe d the m t o thi s hol y ground . Th e ma n born ther e wa s o f a n age . Bu t th e ghos t o r familia r spiri t o r portent o f th e plac e i s fo r al l time , impalpabl e bu t sure , an d it i s thi s nimbu s " H e " make s i n th e mind , i t i s thi s abidin g presence, o n accoun t o f whic h Mr . an d Mrs . B . D . Haye s o f New Yor k hav e come . I n thi s wa y Jame s telescope s th e wor d "genius" i n on e o f it s origina l meanings—a s geniu s loci , spirit o f place—wit h ou r ow n Romanti c usage . Th e auror a

Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows • 9 5 of Shakespear e tha t invest s Henle y Stree t Jame s liken s b y implication t o th e auror a o f geniu s investin g modernity . Such is the revelation that, though it does not take place, has held Gedge , and that th e Hayeses have entered into. Ghostl y as it is indubitable, thi s tutelary spirit goes nameless in "Th e Birthplace." On e waits i n vai n fo r "Shakespeare " t o tur n u p on an y pag e o f James' s tale—onl y "He " an d "Him " ar e there—much a s Morris Gedge waits in vain for the revenan t of Henley Street to show himself. The spectra l presenc e i s no t Shakespear e a man wh o wa s born an d die d i n Stratford , bu t anothe r Shakespeare , illimit able, th e auspic e o f ou r freedom . Faithles s fait h i s wha t w e have i n "Him, " th e fait h Wallac e Steven s invoked , beauti fully summin g u p wha t we'v e los t an d gained, whe n h e wrote: "Moder n realit y i s a realit y o f decreation , i n whic h our revelation s ar e not th e revelation s o f belief, bu t th e precious portent s o f ou r ow n powers. " Wha t Shakespear e ha s been fo r u s Romantic s i s just suc h a portent. B y standing a s the limi t cas e o f greatness , "He " ha s stoo d als o a s a mor e mysterious an d mor e efficaciou s nam e fo r ou r freedom . W e Romantics hav e looke d n o furthe r tha n Shakespeare , fo r what coul d ther e b e beyon d "Him" ? W e Romantic s hav e found i n wha t i s human th e onl y glory, th e onl y freedom i n an otherwis e deterministi c universe . "Th e greates t trut h w e could hope t o discover," say s Stevens, "i n whatever field w e discovered it , i s tha t man' s trut h i s th e fina l resolutio n o f everything." Suc h ha s bee n th e quic k o f ou r Romanti c hu manism. I've argued in this book that an idea of genius presides over modernity. M y purpos e ha s bee n t o sho w ho w thre e majo r modern figure s ar e variousl y a t grip s wit h tha t idea . Thei r shared fascinatio n wit h Leonard o d a Vinci—as hero , o r fan tasy, o r conundrum—has bee n my register throughout . Thi s has bee n a way o f keepin g contro l o f wha t woul d otherwis e be unwieldy, for the question of genius trenches on the vaster question o f our freedom .

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Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows But ho w t o tak e hol d o f this , a s elusive a ghost a s Shakespeare in Henley Street ? Kan t is the great moder n authority . He argue s i n hi s Critique of Pure Reason tha t freedo m i s an Idea , no t a concept ; i n othe r words , tha t i t exceed s th e competence of knowledge, is without application to anything in our sens e experience. Like immortality an d God, our free dom resides beyond all possibility of verification . How, then , d o we come to be so fundamentally i n possession o f th e Idea , seein g a s i t form s n o par t o f knowledge ? Man a s phenomenon belong s t o th e causa l orde r o f nature , answers Kant ; ma n a s phenomenon i s a mere turnspit , sub ject t o necessar y forces ; bu t ma n a s noumenon i s free. Thi s is to say , a s Karl Jaspers puts i t i n his commentar y o n Kant , that freedom i s "the point where the supersensible is present in this world, where we can, as it were, grasp it in our hands, though w e ca n neve r kno w i t a s somethin g i n th e world. " We ar e inviolabl y i n possessio n o f a n Ide a o f freedom—w e know i t t o b e o f ou r nature—fo r al l tha t nothin g i n th e causal orde r ca n correspond t o it, fo r al l that i t ca n therefor e never be an object of knowledge like those which come under the purview of the natural sciences . Observing tha t grea t metaphysician s befor e hi m ha d suc ceeded onl y i n contradictin g on e anothe r o n th e basic ques tions, Kan t conclude s tha t thes e question s mus t b e by thei r nature insoluble . Wha t h e propose s i s a turnin g awa y fro m metaphysics, a pensioning off o f the old quarrels by showin g those quarrel s t o b e based o n illusion s abou t th e natur e an d limits of knowledge. This Kan t doe s in hi s Transcendenta l Dialecti c b y mean s of th e antinomie s o f pure reason, pairing s o f opposed , appar ently incompatible propositions. His first antinomy posits as thesis that th e world has an origin in time and is enclosed by spatial boundaries , an d posits a s antithesis tha t th e worl d i s without tempora l beginning s an d i s no t spatiall y enclosed . His secon d antinom y posit s tha t everythin g i n th e worl d i s reducible to a primary substance , and posits, in revenge, tha t

Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows • no such reduction from th e many to the on e is possible, tha t the world admits only of variety. Consider now his third antinomy, which pairs the proposition tha t ther e ar e n o uncause d cause s wit h th e contrar y proposition tha t ther e ar e uncause d causes . Kant' s wa y o f resolving th e apparen t impass e i s t o sho w tha t whil e phe nomena canno t b e uncaused , noumen a ar e no t thu s subjec t to th e rul e o f causality . A s phenomena w e ar e necessitated , but a s noumena w e are free. Th e supersensory , th e uncondi tioned—unamenable t o scientifi c knowledge , ye t requisit e to huma n self-understanding—shin e fort h int o ou r ken . Here in the third antinom y o f Kant's Transcendental Dialec tic i s wher e w e ma y locat e a crucia l sourc e o f Romanti c modernity, tha t bindin g curv e o f cultura l energ y joinin g Wordsworth, Byron , Novalis , Holderlin, Emerson , an d Whit man t o ourselves . Fo r thei r Romanticism s flower fro m th e new ide a o f freedom, a Kantian noumeno n o r thing-in-itself , a grea t moder n parado x o f freedom supplantin g th e ol d liberum arbitrium affirme d b y Scriptur e an d th e religiou s tradi tions. Romanticism has given us glories such as Alsator an d The Fall of Hyperion; innocuou s notions such as art for art's sake; but also , i t mus t b e said , ruthles s creeds—th e abolitio n o f private propert y i s on e example , a highe r destin y fo r Ger mans another . Romanticism s all . The intellectual source s of this mixed blessing of ours, this checkered Romanticism, ar e said to lie in four monumenta l thinkers , Rousseau an d Kant , Hamann an d Herder , an d i n a great historica l upheaval , th e French Revolution . Whil e i t i s Roussea u an d Haman n an d Herder, neve r Kant , wh o ar e variousl y referre d t o a s forefa thers o f th e Romantic , I woul d argu e tha t i t i s Kant , bequeathing t o th e nineteent h centur y hi s Idea s (unknowabl e yet indispensible ) o f pur e reason , wh o become s th e grea t philosophical enabler. For it is when his Transcendental Dia lectic get s rent asunder—a s i t wil l b y Fichte, Schelling , an d Hegel—that Romanticis m results .

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Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows According t o Kant' s philosophy , idea s o f Go d an d immor tality are no less inherent t o us than the idea of freedom. I t is precisely thi s trinit y o f freedom , immortality , an d Go d tha t the Romanti c philosopher s an d poet s wil l dismember . Re fraining fro m th e Christia n Go d and the Christian immortal ity, the y wil l clai m t o mak e an adequacy of freedom alone among thos e idea s o f whic h Kan t sai d w e fin d ourselve s i n possession. Romanticis m wil l b e jus t this : the attempt to make freedom suffice. Bu t i t flourishes i n Europ e fo r goo d and fo r ill , a s w e a t th e en d o f a centur y o f fals e prophet s know. Th e wors t tha t huma n being s ca n d o t o on e anothe r has bee n done , an d i n th e world s Bolshevis m an d Nazis m made, the byword was freedom, whethe r o f the proletariat o r of the Volk, th e perfect freedo m tha t was, in practice, perfec t servitude. Th e outstandin g tyrant s o f ou r centur y hav e bee n Romantic intellectual s o r faile d Romanti c intellectuals , characteristic product s o f thei r tim e an d place , scribblin g away in th e exil e of Zurich o r the confinemen t o f Landsber g Prison, determinin g wh o shal l b e mad e t o disappea r whe n the mor e perfec t freedo m i s secured , th e ne w orde r instated . The founder o f the Cheka , th e founde r o f the Gestapo , thes e too wer e Romantics . W e prefe r t o thin k abou t th e glories , but w e ha d bette r no t neglec t th e atrociou s paro dies of greatness ou r Romanticism ha s cast up. The founder s of th e Chek a an d o f th e Gestapo—eac h wa s i n hi s da y proclaimed a "genius/ ' inevitabl e Napoleoni c appellation , fas tened als o t o Stalin ; and , i n ou r ow n time , t o Mao, Castro , Amin, Po l Pot , Qaddafi , Ki m 1 1 Sung , Ceaugescu—totalitar ian cult s o f personalit y bein g th e cul t o f geniu s turne d t o homicidal ends . Thu s th e wor d ha s ru n it s darke r course , thriving i n debase d form , a n ideologica l treacl e force-fe d t o various of the world's poorest and most desperate . But that ghastliness is another story , not mine to tell here. I have sough t i n thi s boo k t o sho w tha t th e idea of genius— subset o f a freedom unyoke d fro m th e ol d Go d an d th e ol d

Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows • 9 9 immortality—has existe d t o mak e goo d th e losse s ou r Ro mantic modernit y entails . Th e geniu s ha s stoo d fort h t o af firm that, among human lives, some have sacramental shape; that, amon g huma n lives , som e put int o abeyanc e th e equa tion betwee n lif e an d loss . Rilke , whos e caree r exemplifie s much o f th e Romanti c modern , say s abou t Cezanne , th e painter wh o mean t mos t t o him , tha t h e too k apple s an d bedspreads an d win e bottle s an d force d the m "t o b e beauti ful, t o stan d fo r th e whol e worl d an d al l joy and al l glory." * Such is the post-theological, post-metaphysica l rol e we hav e compelled ou r geniuse s into . The y mak e fo r u s a last clai m on the sublime,- in them alone , man transcends man. In their unaccountable creativity—i n th e shee r gratuitousnes s o f their works , th e marve l tha t thes e are rathe r tha n ar e not , and i n th e ecstati c deman d thei r ar t place s upo n u s ("Yo u must chang e your life!")—we Romantic s have looked for and found th e sufficient witnes s of freedom . Rilke likened th e positio n o f th e geniu s amon g us t o tha t of an oarsma n he had observed , on e of sixtee n aboar d a large sailing vessel embarked from th e island of Philae: He san g . . . a t quit e regula r entervals , an d b y n o mean s alway s when exhaustion increased; on the contrary, his song occurred more than onc e when al l o f the rower s were vigorous o r even exuberant , but eve n then it was the right thing ; eve n then it was appropriate. I do not kno w t o wha t exten t th e moo d o f ou r cre w communicate d itself t o him; the y were all behind him, he rarely looked backwards, and wa s no t affecte d whe n h e di d so . What di d see m t o influenc e him wa s th e pur e movemen t o f hi s feelin g whe n i t me t th e ope n distance, i n whic h h e wa s absorbe d i n a manne r half-melancholy , half-resolute. I n him th e forwar d thrus t o f ou r vesse l an d th e forc e opposed to us were continually held in counterpoise—from tim e t o time a surplu s accumulated : the n h e sang . Th e boa t overcam e th e opposition; bu t what coul d not be overcome (was not susceptibl e of being overcome) he , th e magician , transmute d int o a series o f lon g floating sounds , detached in space, which eac h appropriated t o him-

100 • Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows self. Whilst thos e about him were always occupied with the most immediate actuality and the overcoming of it, his voice maintained contact with th e farthest distance , linking us with it until we felt its power of attraction.2 Nowhere, t o m y mind , i s th e Romanti c sublim e bette r fig ured tha n her e b y perhaps it s greates t twentieth-centur y ex emplar. Th e pur e movemen t o f th e sublim e poet' s feeling , when i t meets th e open distance, overcomes that distanc e i n feeling and in speech, reclaiming transcendence. The Romantic genius , deprive d o f th e ol d Go d an d th e ol d immortality , with onl y th e assuranc e o f hi s freedo m t o orien t him , achieves a faithless faith , a natural supernaturalism , a n im manent transcendence . Thus, against ever y precept of a posttheological an d post-metaphysica l age , ma n stil l transcend s man. Th e poe t o f th e sublim e accomplishe s hi s lin k t o far thest distance s and, in so doing, affiliates us . So it i s tha t i n th e voic e o f genius , belongin g wholl y an d savingly t o th e orde r o f freedo m an d no t t o th e orde r o f causality, w e find th e uncause d cause—gratuitou s an d un predictable—that anothe r poe t o f th e sublime , Wordsworth , had invoked as "awful power /; from "th e mind's abyss" when he crossed the Alps in book 6 of The Prelude: . . . i n such strength Of usurpation, when the light of sense Goes out, but with a flash that has revealed The invisible world, doth greatness make abode. Along thes e line s Romanticis m respond s t o th e questio n o f where greatnes s lies . Ho w differen t fro m earlie r Europea n answers. On e di d no t alway s hav e t o loo k s o fa r t o certif y the realit y o f freedom . Freedo m wa s no t alway s a Kantia n noumenon, inapplicabl e to matters of fact; freedo m wa s once man's foremos t articl e o f evidence , th e thin g leas t t o b e doubted. Europea n ma n di d no t alway s requir e a speciall y exalted instanc e o f himself—th e genius—t o verif y tha t h e was free. "Tha t ther e be a beginning," wrote Saint Augustin e

Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows • in The City of God f "ma n wa s created , befor e who m ther e was nobody." 3 Augustin e sa w i n humankin d a histor y o f unique an d irreducibl e souls—souls , no t selves , immorta l and free lik e their Maker, beginner s o f things, accomplisher s of end s dictate d b y n o necessity . Accordin g t o Sain t Au gustine, beginner s ar e wha t w e are ; bein g free , w e ar e her e to begin. But th e Bisho p o f Hipp o ha d th e certaint y o f whenc e h e came an d whither h e was going , an d w e d o not. Nothin g h e needed t o kno w wa s "verificatio n transcendent. " A radica l freedom, atteste d b y man's nature , wa s reveale d t o him , be yond al l need o f furthe r confirmation , i n th e firs t chapte r of the first boo k o f Hol y Writ, wher e Go d makes th e light , th e land an d water , th e seed-bearin g plant , th e sun , moon , an d stars, and all the rest, and sees that i t is good. But only at th e summit o f his works, only on the sixt h day , does he create a being wit h choices . Th e ligh t an d darkness , th e sun , moo n and stars , th e birds , beast s an d flowers, remai n unde r God' s sovereign compulsion . Ma n alon e h e doe s no t compel , bu t rather commands , i n recognitio n o f th e inheren t freedo m o f man t o disobey. 4 An d onl y the n doe s Go d find hi s creatio n not jus t goo d bu t ver y good . Her e i n unassailabl e Scriptur e was wha t Sain t Augustin e required , th e intact , intimatel y present voice of the Creator , comin g from farthes t distances , declaring a graceful similitude—tha t w e are beginners in th e image o f th e Absolut e Beginner , uncause d cause s i n th e im age of the Uncaused Cause . Like al l saints , h e ha d mysterie s t o contemplate ; bu t no t the myster y o f wha t prisoner s w e are . Tha t ha s been—dis tinctively—our moder n theme . "Ho w d o yo u brea k through?" asks Leverkuhn, extremes t embodimen t o f the dilemma. "Ho w d o yo u ge t ou t int o th e open? " Th e moder n answer is, "You don't." I have attempted t o show that "Ho w do yo u ge t ou t int o th e open? " i s th e questio n m y thre e moderns, Pater, Valery, and Freud, are asking in their explor ations o f Leonardo , an d tha t "Yo u don't " i s the answe r the y

101

102 • Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows are, in their severa l ways, compelled t o give. They choos e da Vinci t o stan d fo r th e moder n pathos , th e all-too-human , our incapacity. I would defin e thi s modern pathos a s the devolution from soul to self that it has been the task of Romanticism to remedy. Ho w do you break through ? I t would see m tha t by the sublime , an d by no other means , ca n the Romantic sel f feel allie d t o eternity, fee l itsel f t o be a soul. What a forme r time ha d granted t o all in virtue o f being human , Romanti cism grants uniquely to the genius. Mere men are fragments, riddles, accidents. The genius alone—no longer a fragment or mere self, instead a soul or site of encounter with eternity — guesses riddles , redeem s accidents . Th e geniu s alon e tran scends man. And wha t come s afte r thi s attemp t t o make freedo m suf fice? Wha t comes after th e characteristic late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century reclamatio n o f soul , know n t o u s fro m Blake and Wordsworth, Shelle y and Keats, from Novali s and Holderlin, fro m Emerso n an d Whitman? Wha t come s afte r the Romantic sublime ? A perpetua l compositio n an d decomposition , a weavin g and unweaving , a n ongoin g dispersa l an d reconstitution o f the self . Thi s i s a brie f answer ; I hav e attempte d i n th e preceding chapter s a fuller respons e by examining the works of thre e moder n skeptics . Wha t the y hav e fundamentally i n common, I find, i s severance from the essential Romantic premise: our freedom. Pater , Valery , an d Freud sho w wha t prisoners w e are , whethe r o f th e senses , o r o f th e mind' s intermittence, o r of the instinctual drives . We ar e nowadays incline d t o spea k o f Romanticis m no t just as a literary and philosophical movemen t bu t as a perdurable environmen t o f though t an d feeling t o which w e ourselves belong . Th e majesty o f thi s Romanti c culture , a s of any other , i s t o hav e criticize d itself . Conside r Blake' s o r Byron's o r Keats ' stricture s agains t Wordsworth . Conside r Hegel's respons e t o Schelling. O r Melville's t o Emerson. Ex-

Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows • 10 3 amples could be multiplied, comin g forward int o the twenti eth and even late twentieth century . It seems probable, to me at least, tha t thi s Romantic self-scrutin y i s with us still, an d that movement s calle d modernis t an d postmodernis t wil l ultimately b e understood a s antithetica l passage s i n th e un finished Romanti c story . Our fierces t o f Romanti c self-scrutinizers , ou r mos t de structive o f modernists , Nietzsche , asked , "Wa s is t vor nehm?" H e an d hi s Zarathustr a answe r tha t al l name s fo r good and evil , all laws, are only parables; tha t thos e who ar e noble (vornehm) creat e ne w parables , ne w tablet s o f over coming, while the merely good are satisfied t o obey whatever is inscribe d o n ol d tablets , believin g i t t o b e "truth/ 7 Bu t what i s truth ? Accordin g t o Nietzsche , onl y thos e error s which cannot be refuted : A mobile arm y o f metaphors , metonyms , anthropomorphisms — in short , a su m o f huma n relations , whic h hav e bee n enhanced , transposed and embellished poetically an d rhetorically, an d which after lon g us e see m firm, canonical , an d obligator y t o a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are ; metaphor s whic h ar e worn-ou t an d withou t sensuou s power.5 The Greek , fo r example , hang s ove r himsel f th e tablet s o f being first i n excellenc e an d o f lovin g non e bu t th e friend . The Persia n speak s trul y an d handle s th e bo w an d arro w well. The Je w honors fathe r an d mother, elevatin g thei r wil l to a sacre d law . Th e Roma n conceive s a publi c loyalt y fo r whose sak e all deeds, even dreadful ones , are permitted. Th e Christian devises a god of infinite pity , humiliated on a cross, who by dying abolishes all dominion of death over those who have faith i n him. . . . Thus thei r parable s becom e thei r sacre d truths . " A thou sand goal s hav e ther e bee n s o far, " Zarathustr a declares . These goal s compris e th e histor y o f "values"—o r opposi tions o f good and evil , implying ou r freedom t o choose . And

104 • Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows every new "Tho u shalt" has its genealogy in some old "Tho u shalt" now dishonored, smashe d as Abram smashed the idols in Terach' s shop . Every new goo d and evi l is an overcomin g and ruinatio n o f som e prio r goo d an d evil . Ever y ne w goo d and evi l i s th e tellin g o f a ne w parable , newl y mistake n for truth. 6 And what o f our own times? Wha t tablets did the Roman tics han g ove r themselves , an d us ? Wha t errors , i n othe r words, could they not refute ? Freedom, genius, the sublime. Zarathustra aver s tha t n o one , s o far , ha s go t beyon d graven image s o f on e kin d o r other , mistake n fo r sacre d truths. The Vornehmheit o f the future, a n unexampled nobility, remot e fro m th e Romanticis t an d hi s idols , will consis t in a strength to bear the hardest thought; t o shake the nut of existence, hea r tha t i t i s hollow , an d rejoice . S o far , say s Zarathustra, ther e ha s bee n n o suc h Ubermensch, onl y th e Ubertier o r overanima l wh o (unlik e hi s contente d fello w beasts) make s histor y b y bindin g himsel f t o th e thousan d different "Tho u shalts"—Greek , Persian , Jewish , Roman , Christian . . . and now Romantic . "Neve r ye t ha s ther e bee n an overman. Naked I saw both the greatest an d the smallest : they ar e stil l all-too-simila r t o eac h other . Verily , eve n th e greatest I found all-too-human. " Thus spoke Zarathustra, passin g by the priests, custodian s of a thousan d "Tho u shalts. " A s prelud e t o th e overman , Nietzsche's her o laughs to scorn the value of all values hith erto. Wha t hav e thes e been , anyhow ? Man' s sta y an d pro p against nihilism—th e disattributio n an d disesteemin g o f al l values, the dogma of Silenus that everythin g means nothing , that not to have been born is best. Nihilism obtain s when al l choices hav e becom e meaningles s becaus e ma n ha s abjure d the fait h i n hi s freedom , outgrow n th e logical-metaphysica l postulate o f a n eg o o r subjec t a s caus e o f hi s deeds . Th e Ubermensch, overcome r of Romanticism, miner of its sacred truths, wil l no longer require this faith i n th e subject , no r i n

Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows • 10 5 these opposit e values , goo d agains t evil , b y which w e Ubertiere hav e all-too-humanl y sough t t o ascertai n ou r freedom . The Wissensdrang characteristi c of every humanism will not beset th e overman . H e will searc h ou t n o redemptive mean ing t o existence , rathe r lov e onl y fate , hanke r onl y fo r th e nuptial rin g o f rings , everlastin g recurrence , nihilisti c eter nity o f th e same . H e wil l bea r th e pas t n o ressentiment but rathe r recreat e ever y "S o i t was " int o a n exultan t "S o I willed it. " In th e centra l sectio n o f Thus Spoke Zarathustra entitle d "On th e Visio n an d th e Riddle, " Zarathustr a say s t o th e pestering dwar f o f himself , embodimen t o f a n oleaginou s spirit of gravity, Behold.. . this moment! From this gateway, Moment, a long eternal lane leads backward: behind us lies an eternity. Must not whatever can walk have walked on this lane before? Mus t not whatever can happen have happened, have been done, have passed by before? And if everything has been there before—what d o you think, dwarf , of this moment? And are not all things knotted together so firmlythat this momen t draw s after i t all that i s to come? Therefore—itsel f too? For whatever can walk—in this long lane out there too, must walk once more. And this slow spider, which crawls in the moonlight, an d thi s moonligh t itself , an d I an d yo u i n th e gateway , whispering together, whispering of eternal things—must not all of us have been there before? And return and walk in that other lane, out there, before us, in this long dreadful lane—mus t we not eternally return? This is the hardest, mos t abysma l thought . Onl y a chanting , glorying, affirmin g philosophe r o f th e futur e ca n bea r t o think it . Neithe r Pater , Valery , no r Freu d fit s th e bill . True , they stan d remot e fro m logical-metaphysica l illusions : the y are al l thre e dee p kindre d o f Nietzsche . Bu t the y d o no t pronounce th e Zarathustrian Yes . Acknowledge thoug h the y may a metaphysica l meaninglessnes s an d a n illusorines s o f freedom, the y lac k wha t Nietzsch e calle d th e "Dionysia n relationship t o existence, " exultan t roisterin g amor fati.

106 • Conclusion: Bulwarks and Shadows They do not affir m th e mandala o f recurrence, eternal mean ingless determinism o f the same. Such will be the overman's task. No one has accomplishe d it. No on e has loved fate a s Zarathustra counseled , hence n o one ha s foun d th e wa y ou t o f ou r Romanti c modernity . Fo r disillusion doe s not suffice . Th e harshly magisterial achieve ments o f Kafk a an d Becket t n o mor e constitut e amor fati than did those of Leopardi and Schopenhauer. All are human, all to o huma n fro m th e overman' s poin t o f view , an d Thus Spoke Zarathustra remain s wha t Nietzsch e calle d it— a book for all and none. With Pater, Valery, and Freud the sacred truths o f Roman ticism hav e entere d int o crisis . These thre e ar e participant s in a Romanti c wanin g tha t ha s coexiste d alongsid e o f th e abiding hig h Romanticism s in , fo r instance , Yeats , Rilke , Stevens. Take n together , Pater , Valery , an d Freu d ma y b e said t o represen t th e laps e fro m a humanis m veste d i n Ro mantic ideas . The y exhibit , however , nothin g lik e th e Nietzschean affirmatio n o f becomin g an d destruction . In deed, wha t strike s mos t i s thei r distinctl y un-Dionysia n re gret or bereavement. Greeks, Persians , Hebrews , Romans , Gnostics , Chris tians—these hav e i n commo n tha t the y behel d thing s t o believe in , bulwark s i n th e stream . T o tha t extent , th e Ro mantic is like them. But what remains for lapsed Romantics ? Only shadow s wher e th e bulwark s were . Pater , Valery , an d Freud are in their Leonardo portraits left wit h but the apparition o f genius, our ol d sacred truth, t o dream on . And yet d o not sacre d truth s hav e a wa y o f subsistin g i n th e bone s o f those wh o laps e fro m them ? An d i s no t a stubbor n subsis tence eviden t i n thes e three ? W e do not kno w ye t wha t th e half-life o f Romanticis m is . May i t b e long. May w e remai n human, al l too human a long good while, even if never agai n to kno w th e lik e o f Ralp h Wald o Emerso n o r Wallac e Ste vens, Friedric h Holderli n o r Rainer Mari a Rilke , Perc y Shel ley or W. B. Yeats.

Notes

Notes to Introduction 1. Act s of the Apostles 8:9-12. But for a modern account se e the late Danil o Kis' s masterly tal e "Simo n Magus/ ' i n The Encyclopedia of the Dead, trans . Michae l Henr y Hei m (Ne w York , 1989) , 3-24. 2. Friedric h Nietzsche , Beyond Good and Evil, trans . Walte r Kaufmann (Ne w York, 1966) , 160. 3. Friedric h Nietzsche , The Will to Power, trans . Walte r Kauf mann (Ne w York, 1967) , 9. 4. A s quoted i n Elain e Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (Ne w York, 1979,) 162 . The ancien t tex t from whic h Professo r Pagel s quotes i s Hippolytus's Refutationis Omnium Haeresium. 5. Ibid. , 158. 6. Ibid. , 162. 7. Ibid. , 152. 8. Ibid. , 161. 9. Th e bes t Faus t scholarshi p i s stil l i n Eliz a M . Butler , The Myth of the Magus (Cambridge , 1948 ) an d The Fortunes of Faust (Cambridge, 1952) , superb books that I am obligated t o in my argu ment a s it touches on Faust and the magical tradition . 10. Giovann i Pic o dell a Mirandola , Oration on the Dignity of Man, trans . A. Robert Caponigri (Chicago, 1956), 56-57. 11. Ibid. , 54. 12. Ibid. , 53. 13. Ibid. , 57. 14. Ibid. , 56. 15. A s quote d b y E . M. Gombric h i n "Leonard o an d th e Magi -

107

108 • Notes to Chapter 1 cians: Polemic s an d Rivalry/ ' i n New Light on Old Masters (Chi cago, 1986) , 73 . I hav e benefite d greatl y fro m thi s essay , an d als o from Eugeni o Garin' s "Th e Universalit y o f Leonardo/ ' i n Science and Civic Life in the Italian Renaissance, trans . Peter Munz (Gar den City, N.Y., 1969), 49-74. 16. Kennet h Clark , Leonardo da Vinci, rev . ed . (Middlesex , 1959), 16 . For an exhaustive , brillian t examinatio n o f th e them e of the artist a s magician, see Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz, Legend, Myth, and Magic in the Image of the Artist: An Historical Experiment (New Haven , Conn. , 1979) . Thi s book , on e o f th e ver y greates t examples of Warburgian research, has been for me a constant sourc e of learning , alon g wit h Erwi n Panofsky' s Idea: A Concept in Art Theory (Columbia , S.C. , 1968) . 17. Jule s Michelet, Histoire de France, vol. 7 (Paris, 1891), 88. 18. I us e her e th e translatio n tha t Marguerit e Yourcena r an d Grace Fric k includ e a s a mott o t o Yourcenar' s The Abyss, trans . Grace Frick in collaboration with the author (New York, 1976). 19. Friedric h Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator, trans. James Hillesheim and Malcolm Simpso n (South Bend, Ind., 1965) , 78. 20. Arthu r Schopenhauer , "O n Genius/' in The Will to Live: Selected Writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, trans , and ed. Richard Taylor (New York, 1962) , 321-29 passim. Translation slightly altered. 21. Deni s Diderot, "Genie, " in the Encyclopedic ou dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts, et des metiers, ed . Alain Pons (Paris, 1963), 334-39 passim. Translation mine. 22. Friedric h Nietzsche , Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, trans . R. J. Hollingdale (Cambridge, 1982) , 549-50. 23. Friedric h Nietzsche , The Gay Science, trans . Walte r Kauf mann (New York, 1974) , 273. Notes to Chapter 1 1. Graha m Hough, The Last Romantics (London , 1947) , 144. 2. I a m indebte d her e t o critica l insight s o f Professo r Richar d Poirier, particularl y i n The Performing Self (Ne w York , 1971 ) an d The Renewal of Literature: Emersonian Reflections (Ne w York , 1987). 3. Walte r Pater, "Style, " in Appreciations (London , 1889) , 1. 4. Jako b Burckhardt , Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen, i n fa-

Notes to Chapter 1 • 10 9 kob Burckhardt-Gesamtausgabe, vol . 7 (Stuttgart , 1929) , 206 . Translation mine . 5. Kennet h Clark , "Walte r Pater, " i n Moments of Vision (Ne w York, 1981) , 130-42. 6. A journa l entr y fro m Augus t 14 , 1939 . Se e Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed . Stephen Whicher (Boston, 1957) , 135. 7. Friedric h Nietzsche , The Will to Power, trans . Walte r Kauf mann (Ne w York, 1967) , 299. 8. Walte r Pater , "Th e Schoo l o f Giorgione, " i n th e Fortnightly Review, Octobe r 1877 . Quoted in Donald L. Hill's critical edition of the 189 3 text of The Renaissance (Berkeley , 1980) , 241-42. 9. Thoma s Weiskel, The Romantic Sublime (Baltimore , 1976) , 3. 10. Quote d by Hill, op. cit., 363. 11. Marti n Kemp , Leonardo da Vinci (Cambridge , Mass. , 1981) , 26. 12. Harol d Bloom , "Walte r Pater/ 7 i n Figures of Capable Imagination (Ne w York, 1976) , 32-33. 13. Theophil e Gautier , "Leonar d d e Vinci, " i n Les dieux et les demi-dieux de la peinture (Paris , 1864), 19-20. 14. Jule s Michelet , Introductio n t o Histoire de France, vol. 7 (Paris, 1833-1867) , 88-92. As quoted by Hill, op. cit., 363. 15. Hein e translated "Le s Dieux en Exil," which had appeared in the Revue des deux mondes fo r Apri l 1 , 1853 , into Germa n late r that same year, and it is this second version that Pater consults. See the Samtliche Werke, vol . 8 , ed . Adolp h Strodtman n (Hamburg , 1861-1869), 209-300 . Th e phras e I quote i s translate d b y Hill, op . cit., 322. 16. A passage that appeared only in the first, unsigne d version of "Winckelmann," Westminster Review 3 1 (Januar y 1867) : 80-110 . Quoted in full b y Hill, op. cit., 268. 17. Anothe r suppresse d phrase from th e Westminster "Winckel mann." Se e Hill, op. cit, 266. 18. Nietzsche , op. cit., 427. 19. Herman n Broch , "Jame s Joyc e un d di e Gegenwart, " i n Essays, vol. 1 (Zurich, 1955) , 207. 20. I quote here from Professo r Charle s Kahn's translation o f th e fragments, an d hav e bee n educate d i n Heraclitu s b y hi s splendi d commentary. Se e The Art and Thought of Heraclitus (Cambridge , 1979).

110 • Notes to Chapter 2 21. Sidne y Colvin, Pall Mall Gazette, Marc h 1 , 1873, 12. 22. Friedric h Nietzsche , The Gay Science, trans . Walte r Kauf mann (Ne w York, 1974) , 168. 23. Walte r Pater , "Poem s by William Morris/ 7 Westminster Review 3 4 (October 1868) : 300-12. Six of the last seve n paragraphs of this unsigned review go to form the conclusion to The Renaissance; I quote here from th e one that was not reprinted . 24. Nietzsche , The Will to Power, 267-70. Notes to Chapter 2 1. Pau l Valery, Oeuvres, vol. 1 , (Paris, 1957) , 130. 2. Pau l Valery, The Collected Works of Paul Valery, vol. 3 (New York, 1960) , 331. (The translator here, to whom my title is owed, is the lat e Rober t Fitzgerald. ) [Oeuvres, 1:410— je n'ai pour soif qu'une amour sans melange. . . . ] 3. The Collected Works, 3:339 . [Oeuvres, vol . 1:413— Je m'abreuve de moi. . . . / 4. Oeuvres, 1:128 . 5. Oeuvres, 1:125-26 . 6. Oeuvres, 1:130 . 7. The Collected Works, 7:46 . [Oeuvres, 1:1275—Ca r c'est une limite du monde qu'une verite de cette espece; il n'est pas permis de s'y etablir. Rien de si pur ne peut coexister avec les conditions de la vie.] 8. The Collected Works, 7:192 . [Oeuvres, 1:1463— lelangage du poete . . . constitue . . . u n effor t d e l'homm e isol e pour creer un ordre artificiel et ideal, au moyen d'une matiere d'origine vulgaire.] 9. The Collected Works, l:xv . [Oeuvres, 1:304—J'appelle "monde," ici, Vensemble d'incidents, d'injonctions, ^interpellations et de sollicitations de toute espece et de toute intensite, qui surprennent Vesprit sans Tilluminer en lui-meme, qui Temeuvent en le deconcertant, qui le deplace de plus important vers le moins ....]

10. The Collected Works, 8:270 . [Oeuvres, 1:679—11 ne consentait pas a ecrire sans savoir ce que c'est que d'ecrire, et ce que peut signifier cette etrange pratique.] 11. The Collected Works, 8:298 . [Oeuvres, 1:710— le "fond" n'est plus caus e de la forme: il en est Tun des effets. Chaque vers

Notes to Chapter 2 • 11 1 devient une entite, qui a ses raisons physiques d'existence. II est une decouverte, une sorte de "verite" intrinseque arrachee du hasard. Quant au monde, 1'ensemble du reel n'a d'autre excuse d'etre que d'offrir au poete de jouer contre lui une partie sublime, perdue d'avance.] 12. The Collected Works, 8:395 . 13. The Collected Works, 6:38 . [Oeuvres, 2:40— Mon denuement reel engendre une richesse imaginaire: et je suis cette symetrie: )e suis Vacte qui annule mes desirs.] 14. Oeuvres, 1:113 . 15. Oeuvres, 1:113 . 16. The Collected Works, 8:331. 17. The Collected Works, 8:33 1 [Oeuvres, 1:662— l'esprit n'acheve hen par soi-meme, ne possede aucun moyen d'en finir avec son activite essentielle, et il n'y a point de pensee qui lui soit une derniere pensee.] 18. The Collected Works, 14:38 . [Oeuvres, 2:500— Parfois je pense-, et parfois, je suis.] 19. The Collected Works, 4:57 . [Oeuvres, 2:172 —comme dans notre esprit se forment symetriquement les hypotheses, et comme les possibles s'ordonnent et sont enumeres, —ce corps s'exerce dans toutes ses parties, et se combine a lui-meme, et se donne forme apres forme, et il sort incessamment de soil] 20. The Collected Works, 4:52. [Oeuvres, 2:164-165. ] 21. The Collected Works, 4:56 . [Oeuvres, 2:17 1 — Voyez-moi ce corps, qui bondit comme la flamme remplace la flamme, voyez comme il foule et pietine ce qui est vrail Comme il detruit furieusement, joyeusement, le lieu meme ou il se trouve, et comme il s'enivre de l'exces de ses changements!] 22. The Collected Works, 4:52 . [Oeuvres, 2:168— Pour quoi sont les mortelsl —Leur affair est de connaitre ^ Et qu'est-ce que connaitrel—C'est assuremen t n'etre point ce que l'on est. ] 23. The Collected Works, 9:79. [Oeuvres, 1:850— fe ne sais pas aimer quelque personne sans me la rendre si presente a Vesprit qu'elle en devient fort differente de soi-meme.] 24. The Collected Works, 15:27 . [Oeuvres, 1:1091 — Je comprends a Vextreme ce que Vamour pourrait etre. Exces du reel!] 25. The Collected Works, 14:331 . [Oeuvres, 2:752— un seuil eblouissant et infranchissable.]

112 • Notes to Chapter 2 26. The Collected Works, 4:57. [Oeuvres, 2: 172—dememe que nous demandons a notre ame bien des choses pour lesquelles elle n'est pas faite, et que nous en exigeons qu'elle nous eclaire, qu'elle prophetise, qu'elle devine Vavenir, Tadjurant meme de decouvrir le Dieu,—ainsi le corps qui est la, veut atteindre a une possession entiere de soi-meme, etaun point de gloire surnaturel!... Mais il en est de lui comme de Tame, pour laquelle le Dieu, et la sagesse, et la profondeur qui lui sont demandes, ne sont et ne peuvent etre que des moments, des eclairs, des fragments d'un temps etranger, des bonds desesperes hors de sa forme. ... ] 11. The Collected Works, 14:259 . [Oeuvres, 2:696— ce grand essai eternel et absurde de voir ce qui voit et d'exprime r c e qui exprime.] 28. The Collected Works, 1:410 . 29. Oeuvres, 1:148 . The best translation int o English is Howard Moss's The Cemetery by the Sea (West Chester, Pa. : Aralia, 1985) . 30. Oeuvres, 1:149 . 31. The Collected Works, 14:522 . [Oeuvres, 2:907—Dieu a tout fait de hen. Mais le hen perce.] 32. Oeuvres, 1:150 . 33. Oeuvres, 1:149 . 34. The Collected Works, 9:190. [Oeuvres, 1:565— Apres tout, il doit etre assez agreable de se donner a soi-meme, et de donner aux gens, par le seul fait de se deboutonner, la sensation de decouvrir VAmerique. Tout le monde sait bien ce que Ton verra; mais il suffit d'ebaucher le geste, tout le monde est emu. C'est la magie de la litterature.] 35. Oeuvres, 1:151 . 36. From"Auplatane, " Oeuvres, 1:114 . 37. The Collected Works, 10:84 . [Oeuvres, 1:1054— Le pain des hommes, leur vetement, leur toit, leurs maux physiques, Dante, ni le Poussin, ni Malebranche n'y peuvent hen.] 38. The Collected Works, 10:88 . [Oeuvres, 1:1057— Savonsnous si le pain, quelque jour, si les choses necessaires a la vie ne seront pas refusees a ces hommes dont la dispahtion ne troublerait en hen la production de ce pain et de ces choses I On verrait pehr tout d'abord tous ceux qui ne peuvent se defendre en se croisant les bras. Tout le reste suivrait ou reviendrait aux taches materielles, gagne par la misere montante, et les progres de cette extermi-

Notes to Chapter 2 • 11 3 nation manifesteraient dans le reel, pour quelque supreme observateur, la hierarchie positive des besoins vrais de la vie humaine la plus simple.] 39. The Collected Works, 9:306 . Oeuvres, 1:886— [dans une epoque du monde ou le monde va pensant et meditant de moins en moins, ou la civilisation semble, de jour en jour, se reduire au souvenir et aux vestiges que nous gardons de sa richesse multiforme et de sa production intellectuelle libre et surabondante, cependant que la miser e, les angoisses, les contraints de tout or die deprimant ou decourageant les enterprises de Yesprit, Bergson semble deja appartenir a un age revolu, et son nom, le dernier grand nom de rhistoire de Vintelligence europeenne.] 40. The Collected Works, 10:23 . [Oeuvres, 1:988— Etnous voyons maintenant que Vabime de Yhistoire et assez grand pour tout le monde. Nous sentons qu'une civilisation a la meme fragilite qu'une vie.] 41. Th e bes t insight s int o Valery' s Faus t ar e still thos e o f Mau rice Blanchot in La Part du Feu (Paris, 1949) , 273-88. 42. The Collected Works, 3:34 . [Oeuvres, 2:298-99— f'ai done ce grand ouvrage en tete, qui doit finalement me debarrasser tout a fait de moi-meme, duquel je suis deja si detache.. . . fe veux finir leger, delie a jamais de tout ce qui ressemble a quelque chose . . . comme un voyageur qui a fait abandon de son bagage et marche a Vaventure, sans souci de ce qu'il laisse apres soi.] 43. The Collected Works, 3:64 . [Oeuvres, 2:321-22— Me void le present meme. Ma personne epouse exactement ma presence, en echange parfait avec quoi qu'il arrive. Point de reste. lln'y a plus de profondeur. L'infini est defini. Ce qui n'existe pas n'existe plus. Si la connaissance est ce qu'il faut produire par l'esprit pour que SOIT ce qui EST, te void, FAUST, connaissance pleine et pure, plenitude, accomplissement. fe suis celui que je suis. fe suis au comble de mon art. . . . ] 44. The Collected Works, 6:145 . 45. The Collected Works, 6:108 . 46. The Collected Works, 6:134-35 . 47. The Collected Works, 7:58 . [Oeuvres, 1:1320. ] 48. The Collected Works, 9:28 . [Oeuvres, 1:805—C e qui m'enchante en lui et me le rend vivant, e'est la conscience de soi-meme, de son etre tout entier rassemble dans son attention; conscience

114 • Notes to Chapter 2 penetrante des operations de sa pensee; conscience si volontaire et se precise qu'il fait de son Moi un instrument dont Yinfaillibilite ne depend que du degre de cette conscience qu'il en a.] 49. Fro m th e first stroph e o f "Profusio n d u Soir, " i n Oeuvres, 1:86. 50. The Collected Works, 14:482 . [Oeuvres, 2:876—11 n'y a qu'une chose a faire: se refaire. Ce n'est pas simple.] 51. Fro m th e concludin g stroph e o f "L a Pythie, " i n Oeuvres, 1:136. 52. The Collected Works, 14:269 . [Oeuvres, 2:704— Je suis a la fois au plus haut de la vague et au pied d'elle qui la regarde haute.] 53. Fro m "Palme/ 7 in Oeuvres, 1:154 . The poem has been unsurpassably rendere d int o Englis h b y Jame s Merrill ; se e hi s Late Settings (Ne w York, 1985) , 72-74. 54. The Collected Works, 9:221 . [Oeuvres, 1:597. ] 55. The Collected Works, 8:312 . [Oeuvres, 1:626—11 a essaye, pensai-je, d'eleve r enfi n un e page a la puissance du ciel etoile!] 57. A s quote d i n E . M. Cioran , Valery Face a ses Idoles (Paris , 1970), 17. 57. In his introduction t o volume 9 of The Collected Works, xvi. 58. The Collected Works, 15:7 . 59. The Collected Works, 8:395 . 60. The Collected Works, 15:8 . 61. The Collected Works, 15:387-88 . 62. I am indebted i n what follow s t o Professor Edwar d W. Said's pages o n Valer y i n Beginnings: Intention and Method (Ne w York , 1975). 63. The Collected Works, 8:7-8 . [Oeuvres, 1:1156 — Une telle erudition ne ferait que fausser Tintention tout hypothetique de cet essai. Elle ne m'est pas inconnue, mais j'ai surtout a ne pas en parler, pour ne pas donner a confondre une conjecture relative a des termes fort generaux, avec des debris exterieurs d'une personnalite bien evanouie qu'ils nous off rent la certiude de son existence pensante, autant que celle de ne jamais la mieux connaitre.] 64. The Collected Works, 8:5 . [Oeuvres, 1:1155. ] 65. The Collected Works, 8:34-35 . [Oeuvres, 1:1176-77— Des precipitations ou des lenteurs simulees par les chutes des terres et des pierres, des courbures massives aux draperies multipliees; des fumees poussant sur les toits aux arborescences lointaines, aux

Notes to Chapter 2 • 11 5 hetres gazeux des horizons; des poissons aux oiseaux; des etincelles solitaires de la mer aux mille minces miroirs des feuilles de bouleau; des ecailles aux eclats marchant sur les golfes; des oreilles et des boucles aux tourbillons figes des coquilles, il va. 11 passe de la coquille a Yenroulement de la tumeur des ondes, de la peau des minces etangs a des veines qui la tiedirainent, a des mouvements elementaires de reptation, aux couleuvres fluides. Il vivifie. L'eau, autour du nageur, il la colle en echarpes, en langes moulant les efforts des muscles. Uair, il le fixe dans le sillage des alouettes en effilochures d'ombre, en fuites mousseuses de bulles que ces routes aeriennes et leur fine respiration doivent defaire et laisser a trovers les feuillets bleuatres de l'espace, Yepaisseur du cristal vague de Yespace.] 66. The Collected Works, 8:11 . [Oeuvres, 1:1159— Car Yanalogie n'est precisement que la faculte de varier les images, de les combiner, de faire coexister la partie de Yune avec la partie de Yautre et d'apercevoir, voluntairement ou non, la liason de leurs structures.] 67. The Collected Works, 6:96 . 68. The Collected Works, 8:6 . [Oeuvres, 1:1155. ] 69. The Collected Works, 8:6 . [Oeuvres, 1:1155— Je me propose d'imaginer un homme de qui auraient paru des actions tellement distinctes que si je viens a leur supposer une pensee, il n'y en aura pas de plus etendue.J 70. The Collected Works, 8:102 . [Oeuvres, 1:1228— Uoeuvre capitale et cachee du plus grand esprit n'est-elle pas de soustraire cette attention substantielle a la lutte des verites ordinairest] 71. The Collected Works, 8:70 . [Oeuvres, 1:1204— J'aimais dans mes tenebres la loi intime de ce grand Leonard. Je ne voulais pas de son histoire, ni seulement des productions de sa pensee. . . . De ce front charge de couronnes, je revais seulement a l'amand e ....]

72. The Collected Works, 8:97-98 . [Oeuvres, 1:1225—L e caractere de Yhomme est la conscience; et celir de la conscience, une perpetuelle exhaustion, un detachement sans repos et sans exception de tout ce qu'y par ait,quoi qui paraisse. Acte inepuisable, independant de la qualite comme de la quantite des choses apparues, et par lequel Thomm e de Pesprit doit enfin se reduire sciemment a un refus indefini d'etre quoi que ce soit.]

116 • Notes to Chapter 2 73. The Collected Works, 8:67 . [Oeuvres, 1:1201—Quo i deplus seduisant qu'un dieu qui repousse le mystere, qui ne fonde pas sa puissance sur le trouble de notre sens; qui n'adresse pas ses prestiges au plus obscur, au plus tendre, au plus sinistre de nousmemes; qui nous force de convenir et non de ployer; et de qui le miracle est de s'eclair cir-,la profondeur, une perspective bien deduitel Est-il meilleur marque d'un pouvoir authentique et legitime que de ne pas s'exercer sous un voile!] 74. The Collected Works, 8:99 . [Oeuvres, 1:1226— Qu'est-ce qui resiste a Ventrain des sens, a la dissipation des idees, a l'affaiblissement des souvenirs, a la variation lente de l'organisme, a Taction incessante et multiforme de Tuniversl] 75. The Collected Works, 8:95 . 76. E . M. Cioran, op. cit., 16-1 7 and passim. 77. Oeuvres, 1:146— Tetrange Toute-Puissance du Neant. 78. The Collected Works, 15:309 . [Oeuvres, 2:1520—Pure , c'est-a-dire qui n'est le signe de hen.] 79. The Collected Works, 14:406 . [Oeuvres, 2:814—On nepense reelement a soi et que Ton est soi que quand on ne pense a hen.] 80. The Collected Works, 14:370 . [Oeuvres, 2:785—L'object propre, unique et perpetuel de la pensee est: ce qui n'existe pas.] 81. The Collected Works, 8:141 . Oeuvres, 1:1257 . 82. The Collected Works, 8:150 . [Oeuvres, 1:1264 — On pourrait se representer la philosophie comme Vattitude, Yattente, la contrainte, moyennant lesquelles quelqu'un, parfois, pense sa vie ou vit sa pensee, dans une sorte d'equivalence, ou d'etat reversible, entre l'etr e et l e connaitre, essayant de suspendre toute expression conventionelle pendant qu'ilpressent que s'ordonne et va s'eclairer une combinaison, beaucoup plus precieuse que les autres, du reel qu'il se sent offrir et de celui qu'il peut recevoir.] 83. The Collected Works, 8:117 . [Oeuvres, 1:1239-40— On assiste a ce phenomene extraordinaire: le developpement meme des sciences tend a diminuer la notion du Savoir. fe veux dire que cette partie de la science qui paraissait inebranlable et qui lui etait commune avec la philosophie, (c'est-a-dire avec la foi dans l'intelligible et la croyance a la valeur propre des acquisitions de Vesprit), le cede peu a peu a un mode nouveau de concevoir ou d'evaluer le role de la connaissance. L'effort de Vintellect ne peut plus etre regarde comme convergent vers une limite spihtuelle, vers le Vrai.]

Notes to Chapter 3 • 11 7 84. The Collected Works, 8:135 . [Oeuvres, 1:1253— fe dis: qu e la Scienc e es t 1'ensembl e de s recette s e t procede s qu i reussissen t toujours, et qu'elle va se rapprochant progressivement d'une tabl e de correspondance s entr e no s acte s e t de s phenomenes , table de plus en plus nette et riche de telles correspondances, notees dans les systemes de notations les plus precis et les plus economiques. L'infallibilite dans la prevision est, en effet, le seul caractere auquel le moderne reconnaisse une valeur non conventionale. 11 est tente de dire: tout le reste est Litterature. . . . ] 85. The Collected Works, 8:137-38 . [Oeuvres, 1:1255—L e savoir de cette espece ne s'ecarte jamais des actes et des instruments d'execution et de controle, loin desquels, d'ailleurs, i l n ; a poin t d e sens, tandis que, fonde sur eux, et s'y refer anta chaque instant, il permet au contraire de refuser tout sens a tout autre savoir. . . . ] 86. Jorg e Lui s Borges , Other Inquisitions (Austin , Tex. , 1964) , 74. Notes to Chapter 3 1. Thi s quotatio n an d th e previou s on e ar e draw n fro m The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Arnold Zweig, ed . Erns t L . Freud , trans. Elaine and William Robson-Scott (Ne w York, 1970) , 65, 44. 2. The Letters of Sigmund Freud, ed . Ernst L. Freud, trans. Tania and Jame s Ster n (Ne w York , 1960) , 311 . [Sigmun d Freud , Briefe, 1873-1839, ed . Ernst L. Freud (Frankfurt a m Main, 1960) , 308— Ich kann nicht Optimist sein, unterscheide mich von den Pessimisten, glaube ich, nur dadurch, dass mich das Bose, Dumme, Unsinnige nicht aus der Fassung bringt, weil ich's von vorneherein in die Zusammensetzung der Welt aufgenommen habe.] 3. Arthu r Schopenhauer , "O n Genius, " i n The Will to Live, ed . Richard Taylor (New York, 1962) , 329. 4. Sigmun d Freud , "Wh y War? " i n Character and Culture, ed . Phillip Rief f (Ne w York , 1962) , 143 . [Sigmund Freud , Gesammelte Werke, vol . 16 , ed . Ann a Freu d e t al. , (London , 1950) , 22— lauft nicht jede Naturwissenschaft auf eine solche Art von Mythologie hinausl] 5. A s quote d i n Ernes t Jones , The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, vol. 2 (New York, 1955) , 177. 6. Sigmun d Freud , "Reflection s upo n Wa r and Death, " i n Character and Culture, 124 . [Gesammelte Werke, 10:344— Das Leben

118 • Notes to Chapter 3 ist freilich wieder interessant geworden, es hat seinen voUen Inhalt wieder bekommen.] 7. Richar d Wollheim, Sigmund Freud (New York, 1971) , 255. 8. E . M . Cioran , The Trouble with Being Born, trans . Richar d Howard (New York, 1976) , 4. 9. Ibid. , 32. 10. Freud , "Reflection s upo n Wa r an d Death/ ' 133 . [Gesammelte Werke, 10:354— Das leben zu ertragen, bleibt ja doch die erste Pflicht aller Lebenden.j 11. Jiirge n Habermas , Knowledge and Human Interests, trans . Jeremy J. Shapiro (Boston, 1971) , 228, 230. 12. I n Therapy and Technique, ed . Philli p Rief f (Ne w York , 1963), 254. [Gesammelte Werke, 16:81-82—Entweder die anstossigen Stellen wurden dick durchgestrichen, so dass sie unleserlich waren; sie konnten dann auch nicht abgeschrieben werden und der nachste Kopist des Buches lieferte einen tadellosen Text, aber an einigen Stellen luckenhaft und vielleicht dort unverstandlich.. . . Die Verdrangung verhalt sich zu den anderen Abwehrmethoden wie die Auslassung zur Textentstellung, und in den verschiedenen Formen dieser Verfalschung kann man die Analogien zur Mannigfaltigkeit der Ichveranderung finden.J 13. I n Therapy and Technique, 256 . [Gesammelte Werke, 16:84—Unsere therapeutische Bemuhung pendelt wahrend der Behandlung bestandig von einem Stiickchen Esanalyse zu einem Stiickchen Ichanalyse. Im einen Fall wollen wir etwas vom Es bewusst machen, im anderen etwas am Ich korrigieren. Die entscheidende Tatsache ist namlich, dass die Abwehrmechanismen gegen einstige Gefahren in der Kur als Widerstande gegen die Heilung wiederkehren.] 14. I n Therapy and Technique, 156 . [Gesammelte Werke, 8:478.] 15. Jane t Malcolm , "Si x Rose s o u Cirrhose? " i n The New Yorker, Januar y 24 , 1983 , 103 . I have als o profited fro m Malcolm' s Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (New York, 1981) . 16. Sigmun d Freud , "Scree n Memories, " i n The Collected Papers of Sigmund Freud, vol. 5, ed. James Strachey, (New York, 1959), 69. [Gesammelte Werke, 1:553-54— Vielleicht ist es uberhaupt zweifelhaft, ob wir bewusste Erinnerungen aus der Kindheit haben,

Notes to Chapter 3 • 11 9 oder nicht vielmehr bloss an die Kindheit Unsere Kindheitserinnerungen zeigen uns die ersten Lebensjahre, nicht wie sie war en, sondern wie sie spateren Erweckungszeiten erschienen sind. Zu diesen Zeiten der Erweckung sind die Kindheitserinnerungen nicht, wie man zu sagen gewohnt ist, aufgetaucht, sondern sie sind damals gebildet worden, und eine Reihe von Motiven, denen die Absicht historischer Treue fern liegt, hat diese Bildung sowie die Auswahl der Erinnerungen mitbeeinflusst.] 17. O . Mannoni, Freud, trans. Renau d Bruc e (Ne w York , 1971) , 8. 18. "Analysi s o f a Phobi a i n a Five-Year Ol d Boy, " i n The Collected Papers of Sigmund Freud, vol. 3 (Ne w York , 1959) , 246 . [Gesammelte Werke, 7:339— Ein Psychoanalyse ist eben keine tendenzlose, wissenschaftliche Untersuchung, sondern ein therapeutischer Eingriff; sie will an sich nichts beweisen, sondern nur etwas dndern.J 19. Norma n O . Brown, Life against Death (Middletown , Conn. , 1959), 19. 20. Ibid. , 12. 21. Ibid. , 19. 22. Sigmun d Freud, The Ego and the Id, trans. Joan Riviere (New York, 1960) , 36. [Gesammelte Werke, 13:274-75— Indem es sich in solcher Weise der Libido der Objektbesetzungen bemachtigt, sich zum alleinigen Liebesobjekt aufwirft, die Libido des Es desexualisiert oder sublimiert, arbeitet es den Absichten des Eros entgegen, stellt sich in den Dienst der gegnerischen Triebregungen.] 23. Arthu r Schopenhauer , "O n Deat h an d It s Relatio n t o th e Indestructibility o f Our True Nature/' i n The Will to Live, 121. 24. The Ego and the Id, 44-45 . [Gesammelte Werke, 13:284 85—Die erotische Komponente hat nach der Sublimierung nicht mehr die Kraft, die ganze hinzugesetze Destruktion zu benden, und diese wird als Aggressions- und Destruktionsneigung frei.] 25. Sigmun d Freud , Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, trans. James Strachey (New York, 1962) , 59. 26. Sigmun d Freud , Beyond the Pleasure Principle, trans . James Strachey (New York, 1961) , 40. [Gesammelte Werke, 13:48. ] 27. Jones , op. cit., 60. 28. Garsi n Kanin, Hollywood (Ne w York, 1974) , 351.

120 • Notes to Chapter 3 29. A s quoted in Mannoni, op. cit., 168. 30. Sigmun d Freud , Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, trans . James Strachey (Ne w York, 1952) , 54. [Gesammelte Werke, 8:59 — Die Plastizitat der Sexualkomoponenten, die sich in ihrer Fdhigkeit zur Sublimierung kundgibt, mag ja eine grosse Versuchung herstellen, durch deren immer weiter gehende Sublimierung grossere Kultureffekte zu erzielen. Aber so wenig wir darauf rechnen, bei unseren Maschinen mehr als einen gewissen Bruchteil der aufgewendeten Warme in nutzbare mechanische Arbeit zu verwandeln, so wenig sollten wir es anstreben den Sexualtrieb in seinem ganzen Energieausmass seinen Eigentlichen Zwecken zu entfremden. Es kann nicht gelingen, und wenn die Einschrankung der Sexualitat zu weit getrieben werden soil, muss es alle Schadigungen eines Raubbaues mit sich bringen.] 31. Friedric h Nietzsche , Thus Spake Zarathustra, i n The Portable Nietzsche, ed . an d trans . Walte r Kaufman n (Ne w York , 1954) , 167. 32. Beyond the Pleasure Principle, 36 . [Gesammelte Werke, 13:44—Vielen von uns mag es auch schwer werden, auf den Glauben zu verzichten, dass im Menschen selbst ein Trieb zur Vervollkommnung wohnt, der ihn auf seine gegenwartige Hohe geistiger Leistung und ethischer Sublimierung gebracht hat, und von dem man erwarten darf, dass er seine Entwicklung zum Obermenschen besorgen wird.] 33. Sigmun d Freud , Civilization and Its Discontents, trans , fames Strache y (Ne w York , 1962) , 43 . [Gesammelte Werke, 14:456—Dabei haben wir uns gehiltet, dem Vorurteil beizustimmen, Kultur sei gleichbedeutend mit Vervollkommnung, sei der Weg zur Vollkommennheit, die dem Menschen vorgezeichnet ist.] 34. Friedric h Nietzsche , The Will to Power, trans. Walter Kauf mann (Ne w York, 1967) , 509. 35. Phili p Rieff , Freud: The Mind of the Moralist (Ne w York , 1959), 115. 36. Sigmun d Freud , The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement, ed . Phili p Rief f (Ne w York , 1963) , 55 . Translatio n slightl y altered. Freud' s quotatio n i s fro m th e nineteenth-centur y Germa n playwright Freidrich Hebbel. [Gesammelte Werke, 10:59-60. ] 37. Sigmun d Freud , "O n Narcissism: A n Introduction," i n Gen-

Notes to Chapter 3 • 12 1 eral Psychological Theory, ed . Phili p Rief f (Ne w York , 1963) , 75 . [Gesammelte Werke, 10:162— die Sublimierung stellt den Ausweg dar, wie die Anforderung erfullt werden kann, ohne die Verdrangung herbeizufuhren.] 38. Sigmun d Freud , " A Difficult y i n th e Pat h o f Psychoanaly sis/ 7 a s quote d i n appendi x B of The Ego and the Id, 53 . [Gesammelte Werke, 12:6— Das Ich ist ein grosses Reservoir, aus dem die fur die Objekte bestimmte Libido ausstromt, und dem sie von den Objekten her wieder zufliesst.j 39. Freud , Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood, trans. Ala n Tyso n (Ne w York , 1964) , 30 . [Gesammelte Werke, 8:147-48—die Libido entzieht sich dem Schicksal der Verdrangung, indem sie sich von Anfang an in Wissbegierde sublimiert und sich zu dem kraftigen Forschertrieb als Vertsarkung schlagt.] 40. Le o Bersani , Baudelaire and Freud (Berkeley , Calif. , 1977) , 61. I a m indebte d i n wha t follow s t o Professo r Bersani' s accoun t of Freud. 41. Georg e Santayana , " A Lon g Wa y Roun d t o Nirvana, " i n Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy (Ne w York , 1933) , 99. 42. Leonardo da Vinci, 67. [Gesammelte Werke, 8:189— sie schlagen die Augen nicht nieder, sondern blicken geheimnisvoll triumphierend, als wiissten sie von einem grossen Gluckserfolg, von dem man schweigen muss-, das bekannte beruckende Lacheln ldsst ahnen, dass es ein Liebesgeheimnis ist] 43. Leonardo da Vinci, 87 . [Gesammelte Werke, 8:211— Jedes von uns Menschenwesen entspricht einem der ungezahlten Experimente, in denen diese ragion i der Natur sich in die Erfahrung drangen.] 44. Goethe's Faust, trans . Walter Kaufman n (Ne w York , 1961) , 161. 45. Ibid . 46. Ibid. , 145 . Translation altered slightly . 47. Ibid. , 159. 48. Erich Kahler, "Gedenkred e auf Thomas Mann," in Die Neue Rundeschau 67 (1955):547. 49. Thoma s Mann , Doctor Faustus, trans . H . T . Lowe-Porte r (New York, 1948) , 491.

122 • Notes to Conclusion 50. Civilization and Its Discontents, 69 . [Gesammelte Werke, 14:481 — Und diesen Streit der Giganten wollen unsere Kinderfrauen beschwichtigen mit dem "Eiapopeia vom Himmel!"] 51. A s quoted i n Jones, op. cit., 3:465. [Briefe, op. cit., 429— Im Moment, da man nach Sinn und Wert des Lebens fragt, ist man krank, denn beides gibt es ja in objektiver Weise nicht] 52. Rieff , Introductio n t o General Psychological Theory, op . cit., 10. 53. Sigmun d Freud, The Future of an Illusion, trans . James Strachey (New York, 1961) , 53. [Gesammelte Werke, 14:377 —Wir mogen noch so oft betonen, der menschliche Intellekt sei kraftlos im Vergleich zum menschlichen Triebleben und Recht damit haben. Aber es ist doch etwas Besonderes um diese Schwache; die Stimme des Intellekts ist leise, aber sie ruht nicht, ehe sie sich Gehor geschafft hat. Am Ende, nach unzahlig oft wiederholten Abweisungen, fmdet sie es doch. Dies ist einer der wenigen Punkte, in denen man filr die Zukunft der Menscheit optimistisch sein darf, aber er bedeutet an sich nicht wenig. An ihn kann man noch andere Hoffnungen ankniipfen. Der Primat des Intellekts liegt gewiss in weiter, weiter, aber wahrscheinlich doch nicht in unendlicher Feme.] Notes to Conclusion 1. Raine r Mari a Rilke , Letters on Cezanne, ed . Clar a Rilke , trans. Joel Agee (New York, 1985) , 40. 2. "Concernin g th e Poet/ ' i n Where Silence Reigns: Selected Prose, trans. G. Craig Houston (New York, 1978) , 65-66. "Concern ing the Poet" was written a t Duino Castle in January 191 2 and firs t published in the Nachlass o f 1929. 3. A s quoted by Hannah Arend t i n The Human Condition (Chi cago, 1958) , 177 . This Augustinia n them e o f ma n th e beginne r re curs throughout Arendt's work. 4. Se e Martin Buber' s grea t essa y "Th e Tre e o f Knowledge " i n Good and Evil (New York, 1953) , 67-80. 5. Fro m a posthumously publishe d earl y essay , "O n Trut h an d Lie in a n Extra-Mora l Sense, " which excellentl y sum s u p perspectivism, th e epistemologica l doctrin e tha t ther e ar e n o facts , onl y

Notes to Conclusion • interpretations, t o whic h Nietzsch e wil l adher e throughou t hi s working life. 6. I have profite d fro m suggestion s b y Leo Straus s i n hi s "Not e on the Plan of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil," published in the posthumous volume of Strauss's work, Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, ed . Thomas Pangle (Chicago, 1983) , 174-91 .

12 3

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14 1

Index

Adam, Juliette, 58-5 9 Addison, Joseph, 1 3 Alberti, Leone Battista, 1 0 Andreas Salome, Lou, 69-70 Angelico, Fra, 37 Arendt, Hannah, 12 2 Aristotle, 2 Auden, W. H., 1 Augustine, Saint, 7, 100-10 1

Cezanne, Paul, 99 Cimabue, Giovanni, 1 0 Cioran, E. M., 72-7 3 Clark, Kenneth, 9, 26 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 25 Colet, Louise, 33 Colvin, Sidney, 41 Comte, Auguste, 65 Cratylus, 43

Bacon, Francis, 33 Baudelaire, Charles, 50-52, 93 Beckett, Samuel, 72-73, 106 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 90-91 Berenson, Bernard, 26 Bergson, Henri, 53 Bersani, Leo, 87 Blake, William, 10 2 Blanchot, Maurice, 11 3 Bloom, Harold, 35 Bonaparte, Marie, 91 Borges, Jorge Luis, 68 Botticelli, Sandro, 25, 38 Broch, Hermann, 38 Brown, Norman O., 78-79, 81 Buber, Martin, 12 2 Burckhardt, Jakob, 24-25 Butler, E. M., 107 Byron, Lord, 10 2

Dante, 38, 52 Descartes, Rene, 55-56, 61, 63 Diderot, Denis, 13-1 4 Einstein, Albert, 70 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 21-22, 26-27, 102 , 106 Ferenczi, Sandor, 86 Fichte, J. G., 97 Flaubert, Gustave , 33 Frank, Joseph, 57 Freud, Sigmund, 16-17 , 69-92, 101-2, 106 Garin, Eugenio, 108 Garrick, David, 93 Gautier, Theophile, 21 , 35, 38 Gide, Andre, 58 Giotto, 9

143

144 • Index Goethe, J . W. von, 7 , 14 , 3 9 Goldwyn, Samuel , 8 2 Gombrich, E . M., 10 7 Gosse, Edmund , 2 0 Heine, Heinrich , 3 6 Heraclitus, 23 , 27, 40, 4 1 Heredia, Jos e Maria, 5 8 Holderlin, Friedrich , 10 6 Hough, Graham , 1 9 Huysmans, J.-K , 5 8 James, Henry , 20 , 9 3 - 9 5 Jaspers, Karl , 9 6 John o f th e Cross , Saint , 9 4 Johnson, Samuel , 1 3 Jones, Ernest , 8 1 Jung, C . G. , 8 8 Kafka, Franz , 72 , 81 , 92, 10 6 Kahler, Erich , 9 0 Kahn, Charles , 10 9 Kant, Immanuel , 31 , 96-9 8 Keats, John , 10 2 Kis, Danilo , 10 7 Kris, Ernst , 10 8 Kurz, Otto , 10 8 Lamb, Charles , 2 5 Leonardo d a Vinci, 8 - 1 1 , 14 , 16 , 25, 32-39, 58-65 , 82-89, 101- 2 Leopardi, Giacomo , 72-73 , 10 6 Lessing, Gotthol d Ephraim , 7 "Longinus," 3 0 Louys, Pierre , 5 8 Malcolm, Janet , 7 6 Malebranche, Nicola s de , 5 2 Mallarme, Stephane , 46-47 , 57 , 58 Mann, Thomas , 71 , 90-9 1 Mannoni, O. , 7 7

Marx, Chico , 1- 2 Marx, Harpo , 1- 2 Melville, Herman , 10 2 Merrill, James , 11 4 Michelangelo, 25 , 3 1 - 3 2 Michelet, Jules , 10 , 33, 35 Montaigne, Miche l de , 26 , 27, 3 0 Moss, Howard , 11 2 Nietzsche, Friedrich , 3 - 4 , 11 , 14 — 1 7 , 3 6 , 3 8 - 4 1 , 8 3 , 103- 6 Novalis, 10 2 Pagels, Elaine , 10 7 Panofsky, Erwin , 10 8 Pascal, Blaise, 6 5 - 6 8 Pater, Walter, 16-43 , 101-2 , 106 Pico dell a Mirandola , Giovanni , 7-8, 1 1 , 2 5 , 3 7 , 6 6 Poe, Edga r Allan , 5 7 Poirier, Richard , 10 8 Pope, Alexander, 1 3 Poussin, Nicolas , 5 2 Ranke, Leopol d von , 7 6 Renan, Ernest , 3 6 Rieff, Philip , 79 , 84, 9 1 Rilke, Raine r Maria , 99-100 , 10 6 Rossini, Gioacchino , 7 2 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques , 97 Ruskin, John , 3 4 Said, Edward . W. , 11 4 Santayana, George , 8 7 Schelling, F . W. J. von, 97 , 10 2 Schopenhauer, Arthur , 11 , 14, 70, 72, 86 , 10 6 Shakespeare, 1 3 - 1 4 , 9 3 - 9 6 Shelley, Perc y Bysshe , 102 , 10 6 Simon Magus , 3 - 5 Sophocles, 72-7 3

Index • 14 5 Stevens, Wallace, 18 , 21, 95, 106 Strauss, Leo, 123 Taine, Hippolyte, 35 Teresa of Avila, Saint, 94 Titian, 37 Valery, Paul, 16-17 , 44-68, 1012, 106 Vasari, Giorgio, 9-1 0 Verrochio, Andrea del, 10 Virgil, 2 Voltaire, 39

Weiskel, Thomas, 31 Whistler, J. A. M., 22 Whitman, Walt, 10 2 Wilde, Oscar, 22 Winckelmann, J . J., 25 Wollheim, Richard, 7 2 Wordsworth, William, 25, 100, 102 Yeats, William Butler, 10 6 Young, Edward, 1 3 Zweig, Arnold, 69

About the Author Benjamin Taylo r is a graduate of Haverford College , where he stud ied Philosoph y an d French , an d o f Columbi a University , wher e h e earned th e doctorat e i n Englis h an d comparativ e literature . H e ha s taught a t Columbia , Th e New Schoo l for Socia l Research, and eac h spring term i s at Washingto n Universit y i n Sain t Louis . His essays and journalis m hav e appeare d i n Antaeus, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Raritan, Threepenny Review, Salmagundi, The Georgia Review, New England Review, an d other publications. He is the author of a novel, Tales Out of School.