Paul Bourget and the Nouvelle 9780231887809

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Paul Bourget AND THE NOUVELLE

PAUL BOURGET AND THE

NOUVELLE

WALTER TODD SECOR Department o f Modern Languages Denison University

Submitted in partial

fulfillment

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for the degree of Doctor of in the Faculty of Columbia

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Philosophy,

Philosophy,

University

KING'S CROWN PRESS Columbia

University,

1948

New

Vorh

Copyright WALTER

1948

TODD

by

SECOR

P r i n t e d in the U n i t e d S l a t e s o f A m e r i c a by Edwards

Brothers, A n n A r b o r , M i c h .

KING'S is a

division of C o l u m b i a

CROWN

University

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of m a k i n g c e r t a i n s c h o l a r l y m a t e r i a l a v a i l a b l e at m i n i m u m cost. T o w a r d that e n d , the p u b l i s h e r s h a v e a d o p t e d e v e r y r e a s o n a b l e e c o n o m y e x c e p t such as w o u l d interfere with a l e g i b l e format. substantially

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To the Memory MV

of

MOTHER

Preface

It Is a pleasure to express my deep appreciation to Professor Jean-Albert Bede of Columbia University who has directed my preparation of this work. His scholarship, his stimulating criticism and his kindly guidance have been of Invaluable assistance to me. His unfailing, constructive advice and the warmth of his friendship will always be remembered most gratefully. It Is a pleasure to acknowledge also my debt to Professor Horatio Smith, Professor Norman L. Torrey, and Professor Justin O'Brien for their helpful suggestions after reading the manuscript. It was In the classes of the late Horatio Smith that I first learned the true meaning and value of scholarship. I am deeply Indebted to him for the stimulation of his teaching. I wish to acknowledge the kind assistance of the librarians of Columbia University, New York Public Library, the Library of Congress and Denlson University. I am deeply grateful for the material help given me by my wife In the preparation of this work but more especially for her constant and sympathetic encouragement.

Introduction

IT IS THE PURPOSE of this study to show that Paul Bourget, known primarily as a critic and a novelist, was also successful as a novelll3te>1 that he, like Balzac had the gift for the brief narrative art of the nouvelle as well as for the more comprehensive form of the novel. One does not hear much about Paul Bourget as a writer of short stories; yet, his production of twenty-six volumes of nouvelles almost equals the number of his published novels. These brief narrative works are Interspersed throughout his literary career, and like the outstanding novels, mirror the changing aspects of his thought. They constitute one of the most attractive phases of his talent. In the appraisal of the works of this maréchal des lettres, It would be unreasonable not to give his nouvelles the attention they merit. Victor Glraud advocates such a study In his recent book, Paul Bourget: Je ne sais si l'on a Jamais étudié conme il le mériterait M. Bourget novelliste. Je crains que eon originalité à cet égard n'ait été comme recouverte par le succès même de ses grande romans et n'ait 2 failli sombrer dans leur gloire. A étudier d'un peu près ces vingt et un volumes, on pourrait en déduire une sorte d'esthétique de la nouvelle, peut-être aussi complète que celle qui est comme enveloppée dans lea écrits de Maupassant.

1. The term nouvelliate is used throughout this study to mean a writer of nouvelles, not in the sense of news writer. In his critical •works, Bourget uses the expression rather than novelller which he considers obsolete. Other critics as well as Bourget, use the term nouvelliste to designate an author of nouvelleB. The spelling novelllste, used by Victor Giraud, is to be noted. 2. Giraud, Victor, Paul Bourget, 1938, P. 99. 3. Ibid., p. 161. Victor Giraud's book has a chapter on the nouvelle. The following works also contain a chapter dealing with

INTRODUCTION

X

The present d i s s e r t a t i o n has b e e n further p r o m p t e d b y the I m p o r t a n t p o s i t i o n g i v e n the n o u v e l l e s by P r o f e s s o r A l b e r t F e u l l l e r a t I n his a n a l y s i s of P a u l Bourget, H i s t o i r e d ' u n e s p r i t sous la T r o i s i è m e République. 4 Professor F e u l l l e rat, a i d e d b y a close relationship to B o u r g e t and a thoro u g h a c q u a i n t a n c e v l t h e v e r y a s p e c t of his life a n d his w o r k s , has p r o d u c e d a scholarly, Impartial b o o k , d e f i n i t i v e In n a t u r e . 5 He has b e e n kind e n o u g h to encourage me In this study b y w r i t i n g me as follows: "I quite agree w i t h you that the subject of B o u r g e t nouvelliste has n e v e r b e e n a d e q u a t e l y treated a n d that It is a very Interesting subject w h i c h o c c u p i e d B o u r g e t ' s thoughts all his life." I do n o t pretend to arrive at a n y absolute d e f i n i tions of the F r e n c h 3hort story b u t a m concerned p r i m a r i l y w i t h the n o u v e l l e as p r e s e n t e d b y Bourget. The f i r s t task w i l l be to e s t a b l i s h B o u r g e t 1 s a e s t h e t i c s of the n o u v e l l e as e x p r e s s e d I n references to technique made i n some of the short stories t h e m s e l v e s a n d m a i n l y In those of his critical w r i t i n g s w h i c h d e a l w i t h some of the f o r e m o s t a u t h o r s who h a v e e x c e l l e d in the genre. The a p p l i c a t i o n of the a u t h o r ' s technical p r i n c i p l e s will then be studied t h r o u g h close e x a m i n a t i o n of his brief narratives I n a n e n d e a v o r to show w h e r e i n he m a y or m a y not have f o l l o w e d his a e s t h e t i c p r i n c i p l e s i n his o w n writings. T o complete the I n v e s t i g a t i o n of the rich m a t e r i a l c o n t a i n e d in the brief n a r r a t i v e s , I shall strive to assemble a p i c t u r e of the a u t h o r of the E s s a i s de p s y c h o l o g i e c o n t e m p o r a i n e , the m a n a n d the w r i t e r , as it is g i v e n throughout the n o u v e l l e s . F o r in them, B o u r g e t m a k e s freq u e n t use of the a u t o b i o g r a p h i c a l m e t h o d and thus a l l o w s the r e a d e r to p e n e t r a t e more d e e p l y Into his inner life. A s c a n be r e a d i l y seen, the question of the Inf l u e n c e of the w r i t e r s of short forms of fiction u p o n B o u r g e t I n h i s d e v e l o p m e n t of a technique for the n o u v e l l e the nouvelle : D v o r s k i , Sylvia, P a u l B o u r g e t , Novellat a n d S h o r t Story W r i t e r , 19^1, R l v a s s o , R . de, l'Unité d'une pensée. (Essai sur l'oeuvre de P a u l B o u r g e t ) , 1911*.

M y count of twenty-sli volumes of n o u v e l l e s ,

rather t h a n the tWBnty-one volumes as Indicated by Glraud,

includes

the border-line cases of some of the long nouvelles, which are

some-

times llstedia8 novels. Paris, 1937. 5. A n e x c e l l e n t review of P r o f e s s o r Feulllerat's book,

stressing

Its originality a n d Its importance, Is given by Albert Schinz, R o m a n i c R e v i e w . 28 (1937), 298-300. 6. A l b e r t Feulllerat, letter to the writer, May 7, 1939.

INTRODUCTION

xl

Is almost Inextricably bound up with his essays of criticism In which he establishes the theory of that art form. Appraisal of Influences will, therefore, be considered In the section on aesthetics. In the course of the survey of the variety of subjects treated In his short stories, especial attention will be given to those social groups not studied in his novels. Throughout, the salient aspects of the nouvelles will be compared with those of the novels, to show the similarities and the differences between the two genres, for the study of Bourget as a short story writer complements the study of Bourget, the novelist. It is hoped that these efforts will be a contribution to a comprehensive study which may someday be made of the briefer forms of narration.

Contents

Preface Introduction

vli lx

I. Philosophy of the Nouvelle - Bourget's Position in the History of the Nouvelle

1

II. Philosophy of the Nouvelle - Aesthetic Theories and Technical Practices of the Nouvelle as presented by Bourget

22

III. Genesis and Periods of Production IV. Subject Matter and Characters V. Significance, Intenseness and .Credibility VI. Composition VII. Enfin

5° 99 143 171 228

Alphabetical List of the Nouvelles

231

Works of Paul Bourget

236

Selected Bibliography

240

Index

249

I PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

Bourget'a Position In the History of the Nouvelle AMONG RECOGNIZED AUTHORS of the nouvelle In France, Paul Bourget stands out as the only one who has discussed at any great length the theory of this type of fiction. Paul Baatler, during the course of a thorough Investigation of the nouvelle In Germany, 7 points out how the lack of technical studies In France led Splelhagen to conclude that the French nouvelle was Inferior to the German because: "En France on n'établit guère de différence théorique entre Nouvelle et Roman." 8 The fact that good art Is not dependent on treatises on theory is demonstrated by Bastler's defense of the vitality of the French nouvelle, which has risen to great heights In spite of the scarcity of such treatises. In making this affirmation, he lists Bourget among the great short story writers of French literature: "Mais, en vérité, la Nouvelle Française affirme même sans théorie sa vitalité, et la Princesse de Clèves et les Nouvelles de Balzac, de Vigny, de Mérimée, de Flaubert, Daudet, Maupassant de MM. Bourget et LeMaître peuvent dédaigner le dédain de l'auteur des Beltraege." 9 Paul Bourget belongs to the company of the gens de métier, and his twenty-six volumes of short stories, 1° which contain many admirable productions, speak for themselves. No one, perhaps, was better prepared to speak with 7. Bastler, Paul, La Nouvelle Individualiste en Allemagne, 1910. 8. Ibid.. P. 23, Splelhagen's study: BeItrafle zur Theorle und Technlk dee Romans, Leipzig,

1833.

9. rbid., p. 21. 10. Throughout this work I use the term short story to refer to all of Bourget's brief narratives which he calls nouvelles In contrast with his novels. I do not Imply a highly restricted definition of the term as presented b y some American critics of the brief narrative field.

2

PAUL BOUEGET AND THE NOUVELLE

authority and Intelligence about the nature of the art of the brief narrative than he. He was well acquainted with the works of the foremost artists of the nouvelle and his critical studies of such writers as Balzac, Merlmee, Maupassant, Turgenef and Barbey d'Aurevilly gave him a thorough foundation in the technique of the genre. We may trace a part of Bourget's literary development in the field of the short story to his early reading in the excellent library of his father, Justin Bourget.11 Books and people were the main interests of the young Bourget. If he did not know a literary figure personally, he sought the fundamental traits of that author's personality in his writings. His essays, dealing with the authors who influenced the young writers of his day, attest admirably to that fact. It is not difficult to picture the eager Bourget in his exciting discovery of the great personalities of literature, native and foreign. We are concerned with but one part of his gleanings from the field of literature, that of the brief narrative which he encountered in all of its varying aspects. The ancestry of the French nouvelle is found in the Italian novella of Boccaccio and the Spanish novels of Cervantes. The Italian novella were originally adventures told by travelers to help beguile the tedious hours of their journeys. A literary genre was created when Boccaccio gave them an artistic form. The Italian influence in France is evident in the fifteenth century stories of such writers as Antolne de la Salle and the authors of the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles. This Influence continues in sixteenth century with Bonaventure des Perlers, Marguerite de Navarre and Noel du Fall. The novella dealt with a variety of subjects but required a standard, almost invariable form which relied for interest upon the extraordinary or unheard of events of life. An Intrigue which created interest by the singularity of its theme was the outstanding characteristic of Boccaccio's stories. Paul Bourget does not speak of Boccaccio but expresses admiration for Cervantes. In an early preface to 11. Professor Feuillerat states that in addition to the works of French writers, Justin Bourget's library contained Topffer's nouvelles, Shakespeare, Dickens, Scott, Goethe and others.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

5

an edition of Le Roman comique, the critic recognizes the Influence of the Spanish writer upon Scarron.12 Sorel, Segrais, Ancelln, beside Scarron, wrote nouvelles, modeled on the Spanish patterns of the Novelas exemplares. The brief narrative form was introduced in opposition to the exaggerated heroic novels of the précieuses : "On voulait quelque chose de plus court, de plus aisé, de plus naturel: les chefs-d'oeuvre de Madame de la Fayette ont été de simples nouvelles."13 Research on the contribution of Cervantes to the genre of the nouvelle has shown that he made innovations which mark him as a forerunner of the modern nouvelle as significant as Boccaccio: Nous ne songeons pas à nier, d'ailleurs, que la nouvelle telle que l'avait formulée celui-ci, et la nouvelle telle que l'avait rendue possible Cervantes ne représentent deux conceptions du genre également susceptibles de produire des chefB-d'oeuvre. Il n'en est pas moins vrai que la nouvelle de type cervantesque est venue s'installer, définitivement, à côté de la nouvelle de type Italien, et qu'il y a toujours désormais un certain nombre de nouvellistes qui se réclameront de Scarron, de Segrais et de Cervantes plutôt que de Boccace. C'est que Cervantes a mis à la disposition des auteurs qui veulent en profiter, des ressources qui 'Jamais ne leur auraient pu venir de la novella. Nul doute que, si les Novelas exemplares ont été reconnues en France dès le IVII siècle connue l'un des modèles du genre, c'est qu'elle méritaient parfaitement ce titre que rien, dans la nouvelle postérieure, ne devait, ni ne pouvait leur arracher. 14

With Cervantes, the presentation was much more Important than the striking character of the material. His intrigues are Interesting but they are not given the unrestricted value of the Italian form. With Cervantes, the .responsibility rests upon the story teller who has the right to arrange his material as he wishes. It goes without saying, then, that, if he is an artist at all, he can make ordinary subjects interesting. Simple themes can be given particular intensity by the dexterity of the nouvelliste In the arrangement of his materials. In any study of the technique 12. Scarron, Paul, Le Boman comique, 1880, preface de Paul Bourget. 15. Morillot, Paul, L? Reman en France, 1896, p. >+91+. lU. Hainsvorth, G., Lee

Novelas Exemplares" de Cervantes en

France au XVII e eiecle, 1933, p. 2 3 8 .

1»

PAUL BOUFGET AND THE NOUVELLE

of the nouvelle, one must always refer to distinct contributions made to the genre by Cervantes, as aptly shown by the following criticism of Cervantes by Halnsworth: D'une part, il enseignait à raconter, avec le •maximum d'effet, une histoire déjà intéressante en elle-même. De l'autre, en revendiquant les droits de l'artiste, il libérait le genre de l'esclavage des intrigues extraordinaires, et rendait possible la nouvelle moderne, dont la base n'est souvent qu'une série d'incidents banals, une scène de moeurs, ou un caractère. 1 5

Prosper Mérimée, whom Bourget praises as one of the leading nouvellistes of the nineteenth century, was greatly Influenced by Cervantes. Mérimée's debt to the Spanish writer is emphasized In Pierre Trahard's extensive work dealing with the author of Colomba. Speaking of Mérimée's preparation, he writes: "Cervantes et Xavier de Malstre lui ont appris l'art de conter,18 . . . S i , donc, avant d'avoir manifesté son originalité, puisque celle-ci n'apparut ni dans le choix des sujets ni dans celui des personnages, Mérimée renverse le fragile édifice de Nodier, c'est grâce à Scarron et à Cervantes." 17 In his critical studies, Bourget refers rarely to the conte and the nouvelle of the eighteenth century. This lack of emphasis upon the brief narratives of that period is an oversight although, in all fairness to the author, he never attempted a history of the evolution of the briefer forms of fiction. Bourget makes a cursory survey of the eighteenth century novel in an article 1 8 dealing with Flaubert's rank in the development of the French novel. After speaking of Gil Bias, Manon Lescaut, Candide, Le Neveu de Rameau, La Nouvelle Héloise,and Les Liaisons dangereuses , he writes: Mais comparez ces ouvrages les uns avec les autres, et voyez comee la technique du genre demeure incertaine. Voyez aussi le peu de eau que les écrivains font de leurs réussites dans ce genre. Le Sage tient si peu à son Gil Blas, écrit par imitation des nouvelles espagnoles et pour gagner de l'argent ... Prévost avait noyé sa merveilleuse

15. Ibid.. p. 29. 16. Trahard, Pierre, La Jeunesse de Prosper Mérimée, 192k, II, Jk. 17. Ibid., p. 8 3 . 18. "La Place de Flaubert dans le Roman Français," Nouvelles Pages de critique et de doctrine, pp. 55-61i.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

5

Manon dans les Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité ... Rousseau avait fait de son roman un véhicule d'Idées sociales ... Candide est une fantaisie pour Voltaire ... Diderot ne publie même pas Le Meveu, qui ne paraît qu'en 1823, découvert par Goethe ... Laclos ne donne pas de suite à son atroce chef-d'oeuvre.19 Bourget's statement Indicates that he was at least acquainted with eighteenth century fiction writers. Many brief narratives of varied types, such as the conte oriental, conte philosophique and the contes moraux, were written In the eighteenth century. Voltaire comes immediately to mind as one of the preeminent story-tellers of his time. André le Breton classifies all of his stories as contes ; Au fait, pourquoi dit-on "Contes et Romans" de Voltaire, sinon parce que les una ont trois ou quatre pages, au lieu que les autres en ont cinquante ou cent? Tous sont des contes et rien que des contes, si nous entendons par là, comme il semble, un récit fantastique ou dr6latlque dans lequel personne, à commencer par l'auteur, ne songe à voir une histoire vraie. Dans quelques-uns dee siens, tels que Ig Monde comme 11 va, Mlcromégae, La Princesse de Babylone, il y a même du merveilleux de féerie. Bourget uust have read the nouvelles of Diderot such as Ceci n'est pas un conte, Deux Amis de Bourbonne or Histoire de Mme de la Pommeraye, inserted in Jacques le Fataliste. In contrast with Voltaire's contes, Diderot presents histoires vraies. Le Breton makes the following appraisal of Diderot's writing: Dans ses petites nouvelles et dans ses romans, l'idée se dégage des faits, des gestes de ses personnages qui sont des créatures vivantes et distinctes de lui. L'ouvrage est formé d'anecdotes ou de scènes 19. Ibid., p. 56. (It will readily be noted that the most serious omission from thl6 list Is that of Marivaux.) In giving the date of 1823 for Le Neveu de Rameau, Bourget is referring to a French edition which was a retranalatlon of the work as It first appeared in German. Scholars list 1805 as the date of the publication in German and 1821 ae the date of the first French edition. Fellows and Torrey, The Age of Enlightenment, p. 211. 20. Le Breton, André, Le Roman Frangale au XVIIIe Slècle, pp. 211-212. (An analysis of Zadlg, L'Ingenu and Candide, along with other storieB, follows the above statement.)

6

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

de la vie présentées sans commentaires. là; à nous le soin de la formuler.

la pensée du philosophe est

Noua lisons sa relation en croyant

assister à une scène de la réalité, et la conclusion, qui est souvent de très haute portée, a de plus le mérite de s'offrir d'elle-même à l'esprit du lecteur.

21

Bourget could also have found In Diderot one of the first theorists of brief narrative forms. In Les Deux Amis de Bourbonne, Diderot makes a significant analysis of types of tales: Mais Je distingue le conte à la manière d'Homère, de Virgile, du Tasse, et Je l'appelle le conte merveilleux, vérité est hypothétique

la nature y est exagérée; la

... Il y a le conte plaisant à la façon de

La Fontaine, de Vergier, de l'Arioste, d'Hsunllton, où le conteur ne se propose ni l'Imitation de la nature, ni la vérité, ni l'illusion; il s'élance dans les espaces imaginaires.

... Il y a enfin le conte

historique, tel qu'il est écrit dans les Nouvelles de Scarron, de Cervantes, de Marmontel.

22

It is in connection with the "conte historique" that the term nouvelle is used. There follow suggestions for writing effectively this type of story which deals with every day life. As far as can be ascertained, Bourget was not aware of Marmontel's articles dealing with the essential differences between the long and short forms of fiction. Professor Horatio Smith has pointed out that Marmontel must be given credit for "the first suggestion ever made that the difference between extended and brief narrative should be more than a matter of length? 3 He refers to Marmontel 1 s statement in the supplement to Diderot's Encyclopédie In 1776: "Un récit qui ne serait qu'un enchaînement d'aventures, sans cette tendance commune qui les réunit en un point et les réduit à l'unité, ce récit serait un roman et ne serait pas un conte." 2 4 21. Ibid., p. 319. 22. Les Deux Amis de Bourbonne, Oeuvres Choisies de Diderot, I, 383-585. 23. Smith, Horatio E., "The Development of Brief Narrative in M o d e m French Literature, a Statement of the Problem," Publications of the Modern Language Association, XXXII (1917), 585-96. 2k. Ibid., p. 5 8 6 . Professor Smith's source is Nouveau dlctlonnaire pour servir de supplément aux dictionnaires des sciences, etc., Paris, 1776, II, p. 569.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

7

The great expansion of the conte and the nouvelle, paralleling the development of the novel, takes place In the nineteenth century. The development of the artistic, concentrated form of brief narrative, emphasizing unity of effect with varying "economy of means," 2 5 Is found In America, France and Germany. Bourget's critical articles indicate that he was thoroughly familiar with the evolution of the brief narrative forms in America and Germany but contain no mention of the German novelle vhlch became such a n important German literary genre between 1840 and I89O? 6 Bourget, however, certainly must have been aware of the theories of the novelle as presented in technical studies by such writers as Goethe, Schlegel, Tieck, Mündt, Spielhagen and Heyse. There are similarities between Bourget's definition of the nouvelle and various aspects of the German definitions. Goethe's famous definition, " ... was 1st die Novelle anders als eine sich ereignete unerhörte Begebenheit" 2 T fits most of Bourget's nouvelles. E. K. Bennett, In his History of the German Novelle, studies the various changes which the treatment of the Novelle underwent. He contrasts the evolution of the brief narrative In Gern^n literature and Romance literatures as follows: "Generally speaking, In the development of the Novelle as a form in German literature, there has been a tendency to minimize the Importance of the actual event - "die unerhörte, sich ereignete Begebenheit" -- which In Romance literatures receives the main, often the exclusive attention, and to stress Instead some other element -- It may be ethical significance or the supernatural or symbolical value of Stimmung •" 25. Hamilton, Clayton, Materials a n d Methods of Fiction, 19C8, p. 173: "a single narrative effect w i t h the greatest economy of means that Is consistent with the utmost emphasis." This definition Is quoted In almost every took of theory on the American short story. 26. Bennett, E. K., A History of the G e r m a n Novelle, Cambridge, 1934, p. 12k. "The fifth decade of the nineteenth century marks the beginning of the great period of the G e r m a n Novelle: the period In which- It attains to Its distinctive form as a specifically German literary genre and finds expression In a number of works which are masterpieces of their kind and, considered as a genre, represent the highest achievements of German literature during a period which m a y be said to last until 189O." 27.

Goethe, J. V., Gesprache m l t Eckermarm, Jan. 15-29,

28.

Bennett, E. K., oj>. clt,, p.

138.

1927.

8

PAUL BOURGET A N D THE NOUVELLE

In the field of the American short story, Bourget was particularly appreciative of the work of four writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Harding Davis, Edith Wharton and Henry James. Poe became popular In France largely through the' efforts of Baudelaire, who translated Poe 1 s well known definition for the 3hort story In 1857? 9 Barbey d'Aurevilly, a student of Poe" s works and one of Bourget's companions, heralds the results of Baudelaire's endeavor in the following way: Présenté au public français par un traducteur de première force, Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Poe cessa tout à coup d'être, en France, le grand inconnu dont quelques personnes parlaient comne d'un génie mystérieux et inaccessible à force d'originalité. Grâcs à cette traduction supérieure, qui a pénétré également la pensée de l'auteur et sa langue, nous avons pu aisément Juger de l'effet produit par ' 30 l'excentrique américain. Bourget himself was fully acquainted with the works of Poe. In his first significant article on the aesthetics of the nouvelle, he ranks Poe with Balzac as an artist en nouvelles , 31 Bourget studied the works of Poe early in his career before he had published his first nouvelle of note, L'Irréparable, In 188}. An article in the magazine, Le Parlement, indicates the place he gives to Poe in the brief narrative field: 29. Speaking of Poe and the art of the brief narrative, Baudelaire vrites: "Parmi les domaines littéraires ou l'imagination peut obtenir les plus curieux résultats, peut recolter les trésors ... il en est un que Poe affectionne particulièrement, c'est la Nouvelle. Elle a sur le roman à vastes proportions cet immense avantage que sa brièveté ajoute a l'intensité de l'effet ... L'unité d'impression, la totalité d'effet est un avantage Immense qui peut donner à ce genre de composition une supériorité tout à fait particulière ... L'artiste, s'il est habile, n'accommodera pas ses pensées aux incidents; mais ayant concu délibérément, à loisir, un effet à produire, inventera les incidents, combinera les événements les plus propres a amener l'effet voulu." Gautier, F., Oeuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, édition critique, 1923, X, 24-25. 30. D'Aurevilly, Barbey, "Edgar Poe," in : Littérature étrangère, 1891, p. 361. 31. Bourget, Paul,Etudes et portraits, III, 1906, 252.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

9

Lorsque Charles Baudelaire eut révélé aux littérateurs parisiens la prodigieuse poésie de la Maison Usher, de Ligela, de William Wilson, de Morella, d'Eleonora, une tradition nouvelle fut créée.

Les Idées

esthetiques d'Edgar Poe, telles qu'il les a exposées dans son traité non traduit du Principe poétique se résument dans cette phrase de notre Diderot:

"Un artiste est plus grand par ce qu'il laisse que par ce

qu'il exprime

... " ... Par lui le genre ancien de la nouvelle fut

rajeuni, ou plutôt encore, un genre fut créé, sans analogue. 3 2

In another study, Bourget discusses Poe's powers of logic and sensibility. He prefers Poe1s poetical stories to his analytical ones: "Ce que l'on connaît de lui, ce sont ses histoires tragiques ou subtiles. Je leur préfère, pour ma part, les pages comme Ligela, Morella, Eléonora, où résument ses aspirations vers une tendresse exaltée, et où se révèle le visage de la femme idéal qu'il a rêvée.'33 It will be shown that many of the critic's stories are illustrations of this early preference. At the time of his visit to the United States, Bourget met Richard Harding Davis, the popular journalist and 3hort story writer, who served him as a guide in New York City. This acquaintance was later renewed in France. These associations resulted in this appraisal of the American's work as a short story artist: "Il a dessiné plusieurs de ces damnés sociaux dans une série de Nouvelles, dont une au moins à laquelle j'ai fait allusion plusieurs fols déjà, Gallegher, est un chef-d'œuvre."34 Paul Bourget was a personal friend and assiduous reader of the works of Edith Wharton, who excels in brief narrative forms, long and short. Their great friendship, personal and literary, began at the time of Paul Bourget's visit to the United States in 1893. Mrs. Wharton describes in detail the course of her close relationship with Bourget and his wife In her book, A Backward Glance. 32. Bourget, Paul, Le Parlement, 4 mai 1882.

Quoted by Dvorski,

Sylvia, Paul Bourget, Novelist and Short Story Writer, 19^1, p. 2 7 6 . 33. Bourget, Paul, Le Parlement, 3 nov. 1882.

Quoted by G. D.

Morris, Fenlmore Cooper et E. Poe, d'après la critique française du 19 e slecle, 1912, P. 122. 31*. Outre-Mer, II, 2 6 5 .

Gallegher, a Newspaper Story was first

published in August in 1 8 9 0 In Scrlbner's Magazine. 35. Wharton, Edith, A Backward Glance, 193U.

10

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

France became a foster country for this American novelist. She had made Intermittent visits abroad before 1907 and took up permanent residence In Paris betweenl907 and 1920. The Bourgets furnished the "kind of human communion "3° which she sought. She Is bound to Bourget by their common friendship for Henry James, their debt to Balzac, their emphasis upon moral values In literature, their choice of subjects, and last but not least, their Intense Interest In the technique of writing. Edith Wharton, a critic in her own right, testifies to this last Interest on the part of Bourget: The analysis of the story-telling process may te divided into two parts: that which concerns the technique of fiction (in the widest sense), and that which tries to look into what, for want of a simpler term, one must call by the old bardic name of inspiration. Oh the subject of technique I have found only two novelists explicitly and deeply interested: Henry James and Paul Bourget. I have talked long and frequently with both, and profitably also, I hope though on certain points, we always disagreed.

Their common ground as well as the lines of demarcation between their talents Is further shown in a reminiscence, written after the death of her friend: L'ironie et la tristesse du sort humain, nous l'envisagions tous deux de la même manière; chaque Incident nous fournissait à lui comme à moi, une nouvelle donnée, et nous passions des heures à nous les raconter. Bourget me grondait toujours parce que dans mes livres Je n'expliquais pas assez les personnages; Je lui répondais qu'il sousestlmait l'Intelligence de sea lecteurs en supposant qu'il fallait longuement disséquer d'avance le mobile de chaque acte, presque de chaque parole, au lieu de les laisser se révéler par la parole et l'action des personnages.

36

This criticism of Bourget's minute dissection of the actions and words of characters is directed particularly at his novels. It will be shown that the form of the nouvelle, of necessity, minimizes this tendency on the part of the author. 36. rbid., p. 257. 37. Ibid., p. 199. 3 8 . Wharton, Edith, "Souvenirs du Bourget d'Outre-Mer," La Revue Hebdomadaire, 6 (21 Juin 1936), 284.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

11

Both writers are recognized disciples of Balzac. Edith Wharton proclaims her debt to the author of the Comédie humaine In the Writing of Fiction. Bourget, for whom Balzac was a constant Inspiration, praises Mrs. Wharton's disclpleshlp of the realist In a preface to the translation of The House of Mirth: Parlant du dernier entretien entre Lily Bart et Roaedal, il dit: "Cela vaut la fin du Père Goriot." Et il ajouta: "Qu'un tel nom et qu'un tel souvenir puissent être évoqués à propos de Mrs. Wharton et des Heureux du Monde, n'est-ce pas le meilleur éloge qui puisse être fait à ce pénétrant, à cet amer, à ce pathétique ouvrage?"

Henry James's friendship for Bourget Is well known. The two writers had many Interests In common. They became acquainted early In their literary careers, as the French critic's dedication of Cruelle Enigme to Henry James Indicates. James had piloted Bourget about London and Oxford, when the latter was preparing his English Impressions, published later In Etudes et Portraits. The dedication, written In 1885, commemorates the beginning of a long friendship. In It, Bourget recalls their stimulating discussions of the art, of fiction and lauds the "rare and subtle" talent of James as a writer. 40 Bourget's early appreciation of the American writer was not to change, but become strengthened throughout his life. As Indicated In the dedication, one of their frequent and favorite subjects of conversation was that of the art of fiction. Each admired In the other the critical faculty dealing with art and the forms of writing. Sometimes at variance in their opinions, they found common ground In many phases of their literary creeds. In the field of the American short story, Henry James has been credited with the deepening of the brief narrative,41 for he was vitally Interested in the psychological study of human beings. Henry James, in this connection, says of Bourget that he is the only one of the young French writers of his time who "notes with extraordinary closeness the 39. Brown, E. K., Edith Wharton, Etude critique, 1935, P. l80. (Quoted from Chez les heureux du monde, preface de Paul Bourget.) 40. Cf. Bourget, Paul, Cruelle Enlgne, Dédicace à Henry James, Paris, 9 février 1 8 8 5 . 1*1. Cf. Canby, Henry S., Study of the Short Story, 1913, pp.

60-62.

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

12

action of life on the soul, especially the corrosive and destructive action." He calls him both "master and pupil." 4 3 In the ability to look within rather than without. Both men excel In ferreting out the hidden reasons that control human behavior. Although they granted every artist his own choice of subject, their own common preferences were the lives of highly cultivated and cultured people, cosmopolitans and people affected by the existence of suffering and wrong in the world. As a rule, both writers preferred to depict women since feminine behavior and makeup fui-nished them with the most intricate nuances of life. In addition, they both believed that the themes of their fiction should be placed In the realm of moral values. By .furnishing a varied collection of experiences, sensations, moods and reactions, minutely dissected, Henry James and Paul Bourget, each In his own country, directed the writing of brief fiction into new fields. The two writers were in accord In the belief that all great art must have selection and order, totality of effect and form in the broadest meaning of the word. It can be said, then, that Paul Bourget was Henry James's favorite French writer. Bourget would give his friend the same distinction among American writers, for he was prone to consider himself one of James's disciples. In the field of the nouvelle^lt was partly because of the example and success of James that the nouvelllste experimented with various techniques of brief narrative writing, particularly that of the long nouvelle, which led to the publication of five volumes of brief narratives, between 1896 and 1900, a period which he devoted almost exclusively to this genre. Bourget's nouvelle3 were successful in the eyes of Henry James. This Is shown by the following passage in which James names nouvelle artists he appreciates and gives his own opinion of the genre: Among forms, moreover, we had had, on the dimensional ground--for length and breadth--our ideal, the beautiful and blest nouvelle; the generous, the enlightened hour for which appeared thus at last to shine.

It was under the star of the nouvelle that, in other languages,

a hundred interesting and charming results, such studies on the minor scale as the best of Turgenieff's, of Balzac's of Maupassant's,

42. James, Henry, "Pierre Loti," In Essays In London and Elsewhere , 1893, P. 155. 43. Ibid/ Cf. Feuillerat, Albert, Og. clt., p. 210.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

13

of Bourget's, and Just lately In our own tongue, of Kipling's, had been, all economically, arrived at--thanks to their author's, as "contributors," having been able to count, right and left, on a wise and liberal support. It had taken the blank misery of our AngloSaxon sense of such matters to organize, as might be said, the general indifference to this fine type of organization. In that dull view a "short story" was a "short story," and that was the end of it. Shades and differences, varieties and styles, the value above all of the idea happily developed, languished, to extinction, under the hard-and-fast rule of the "from six to eight thousand words" when, for one's benefit the rigour was a little relaxed. For myself, I delighted in the shapely nouvelle--as, for that matter, I had from time to time and here and there been almost encouraged to show.45 Bourget was also well acquainted with the works of the Russians who gave profundity and significance to the brief narrative forms. He had studied particularly the work of Ivan Turgenev. It was at the S u n d a j meetings with Flaubert4® or the dinners at Talne's house, that Bourget heard the Russian discuss problems of aesthetics which rsvealed his critical faculty. Those who attended these gatherings found Turgenev especially interesting when he talked about his own work. In his essay on Turgenev, Bourget calls attention to the artist's continual improvement of his manner of writing: Non, il a borné son effort au domaine de l'esthétique, et son ambition a été surtout de mettre au service de l'art de sa patrie les plus délicats procédés de notre art. Ln matière même de son oeuvre n'a pas varié depuis les années où il composait ses Récits d'un chasseur; c'est toujours la vie morale de son pays qu'il s'est proposé de peindre, de cela seulement; mais cette peinture est devenue toujours plus industrieuse et plus réfléchie.'48

1*5. James, Henry, The Art of the Novel. (Critical prefaces by Henry James with an Introduction by Richard P. Blackmur), 1931*, P. 220. b6. Bourget, Paul, "Souvenirs personnels," in: Etudes et portraits, III, 308. 1*7. Bourget, Paul, "Un Roman inachevé de Maupassant," in: Nouvelles pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 68-9. 1*8. Bourget, Paul, "Ivan Tourgueniev," in : Nouveaux Essais de Psychologie Contemporaine, 1888, p. 210.

14

P A U L BOURGET A N D THE N O U V E L L E

He admired, above all, Turgenev's constant a i m In his writing to portray life Itself b y means of the p r e s e n t a t i o n of characters In action. Bourget praises his emphasis u p o n character revelation for he finds that It b r i n g s h u m a n meaning to the Russian's short stories. The "little true facts about h u m a n life" that he formulates are so w e l l chosen and are so significant that they expose the character as completely as can be done; for, as the critic notes, hJs characters, especially the women, are always shrouded I n mystery. To them all, he applies Turgenev's statement concerning Lise lr. L a Nichée de gentilshommes: "L'Ame d'autrul, vols-tu, c'est une forêt obscure." 4 9 B u t Bourget felt himself most at home among the numerous n i n e t e e n t h century F r e n c h writers of the nouvelle. There are six leading authors, w i t h whose w o r k s the critic was thoroughly acquainted and highly appreciative: C o n s t a n t , B a l z a c , Stendhal, Mérimée, Maupassant and B a r b e y d'Aurevilly. Since Bourget b a s e d many aspects of his aesthetics of the nouvelle as a genre o n his study of these creators, the salient points from his critical essays d e a l i n g w i t h them will be discussed later in the section d e a l i n g specifically w i t h the aesthetic principles of the nouvelle. Here we are concerned w i t h the critic's c o n n e c t i o n w i t h these arti3ts a n d his judgment of them. It was natural that Bourget, w i t h his bent for lucid d i s s e c t i o n of states of conscience, should have a great a f f i n i t y for the work of B e n j a m i n Constant. H e b e l o n g e d to a group of m e n who called themselves "Les Cousins d'Adolphe." T h e y met semi-annually, b e g i n n i n g in 1Ô99, to commemorate their a d m i r a t i o n for Constant. B o u r g e t uses the title of this club as a heading for a group of nouvelles and in his i n t r o d u c t i o n to these stories, he explains how ready all of the members were to say of C o n s t a n t , as d i d the Homme libre of Maurice Barres: "Je te salue avec u n amour sans égal, g r a n t Saint, l ' u n des plus Illustres de d e u x qui, par orgueil de leur vrai mol, qu'ils ne p a r v i e n n e n t pas à dégager, meurtrissent, souillent et renient sans cesse ce qu'ils ont de commun avec la m a s s e . " 5 0

49. rbld., p. 222. 5 0 . La Dataie qui a perdu aon peintre, p. 218. Les Coualns d'Adol» phe is the title given to the last six stories of the volume. The introduction is placed Just before the stories on page 218.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELl£ I

15

A l l of the men of the group were "consecrated to Professor the full development of their personalities." 5 1 Feuillerat writes of the Influence of the author of Adolphe upon Bourget: Il avait lu et relu Adolphe, car il s'était découvert une parenté d'esprit et de coeur avec ce héros inquiet, passionné sans espérance, amoureux sans bonheur, douée de la faculté d'analyse la plus lucide et qui connaissait la grande mélancolie de la solitude de l'fene. Il se vantait de savoir à peu prèa par coeur toutes' les phrases de ce 52 chef-d'oeuvre du roman d'analyse. In Adolphe Bourget discovered a model to which he could always turn. Its technique of a concentration of all of its narrative elements around one dominant theme Is one that Bourget puts to good use. Among the Illustrious portraits that decorated the walls of Bourget's study in his home on Barbet-de-Jouy street, was that of Balzac. 5 3 It may be said that the author of the Comédie humaine was figuratively Bourget's constant "companion" at every turn of the road in his literary career. He had been for him a continual inspira^ tlon since the age of fifteen, when, during the reading of Le Père Goriot, he received: un de ces coups de foudre Intellectuels qui ne s'oublient pas ... Ma vocation d'écrivain date de là. Si insensée que doive paraître cette confidence, J'ai, pendant des années, été soutenu dans cette dure carri«re dans l'image des littérateurs Imaginaires dans lesquels Balzac a incarné sa propre énergie : le Valentin de La Peau de Chagrin, le Daniel d'Arthez des Illusions perdues.54 Bourget knew completely the varying aspects of Balzac's works and his studies of Balzac were exhaustive and continuous. At every opportunity, the critic expressed his 51. rbld., p. 219. 52. Feuillerat, Albert, Paul Bourget, p. 117. 53. A description of the study containing pictures of Tolstoi, Goethe, Taine, Melchior de Vogué, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Bonald, Balzac and Mme. Bourget is given in: Corpechot, Lucien, "Souvenirs d'un Journaliste," Revue universelle, LX1Y, 1936, 263. 5^. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac et le Cousin Pons," in: Nouvelles Pages de critique et de doctrine. I, 41-1+2.

16

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

appreciation of his maître : "Pour mol, Balzac n'est pas un romancier que je préféré, c'est un romancier que je ne peux pas comparer aux autres 55 ... Lire Balzac, c'est voir la vie, c'est la pénétrer, c'est y participer avec tout son être Imaginatif, et c'est aussi apprendre les lois qui gouvernent sa décadence ou son accroissement, ses déchets et sa réparation." 56 In an enlightening study of "Balzac nouvelliste," he judiciously praises the great novelist for his ability in the genre of the nouvelle. Speaking of the perfection of his brief narratives, he says: "Elles offrent ce caractère, rare dans l'histoire de la littérature, d'être égales en beauté à ses grands romans. Il est à remarquer que le talent du récit court et celui du récit long ne se rencontrent pas souvent chez un même auteur." 5 7 To compare Balzac's brief narrative forms of fiction to his novels In this way Is to give them high praise. The critic was almost equally Indebted to Stendhal, who formed a large part of the Inheritance of the young Bourget 1 s rising generation as shown by the essay on him In the Essais de psychologie contemporaine. Further studies are devoted to him in Etudes et portraits. Quelques Témoignages and Nouvelles Pages de critique et de doctrine. Bourget professed allegiance to Henri Beyle because of his constant and penetrating study of the human soul. He found lr. him the ability to penetrate Into hidden recesses of the heart, to find the truth covered by outward appearances. In reflecting upon the art of the novel, the critic describes his role In fiction: Il est indiscutable que Stendhal, un des premiers a entrevu ce mariage possible de l'imagination et de l'enquête psychologique, et qu'un des premiers il s'est appliqué, pour employer une de ses expressions, "à y voir clair dans ce qui est." "Le public," disait-il dans une de ses lettres, "en se faisant plus nombreux, moins mouton, veut un plus grand nombre de petits faits vrais sur une passion ou une situation de la vie." Recueillir le plus grand nombre de ces petits faits vrais et les rédiger en corps de roman, ce fut donc l'occupation constante de Beyle.58

55. Ibld., I, 1+2. 56. Ibld., I, h7. 57. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac nouvelliste," Etudes et portraits, III, 2V7. 58. Bourget, Paul, "Réflexions sur l'art du roman," in: Etudes et portraits, I, 266.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

17

Many of Bourget1s nouvelles are nothing more than "little true facts about the human heart," observed and recorded In the manner of Stendhal. Bourget pays tribute to Beyle by choosing "De petits faits vrais" for the title of one of his volumes of brief narratives.59 The preeminent nouvelliste of the nineteenth century was Prosper Mérimée. It vas he who gave the smaller genre of the nouvelle the dignity of the novel. It was almost Inevitable that Bourget should turn to him as master In the field and strive to emulate him. Pierre Trahard, in his erudite study 0 0 of Mérimée and hl3 works, lauds Bourget as one of the few who have studied the art of Mérimée with penetration. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Mérimée, Bourget proclaimed his fidelity to him. He shows how steady his success has been. Opinion, in the appreciation of Mérimée, has not undergone the ebb and flow common to many literary successes. The judgment today concerning the nouvelliste is the same as that of Musset, Sainte-Beuve and Balzac, given contemporaneously with the publication of his nouvelles. Bourget contributes the following explanation of his achievement: J'en vois la cause dans un accord total de Mérimée avec son oeuvre, non pas seulement de ses facultés Intellectuelles, nais de son caractère, mais de son être le plus intime, le plus secret. Une telle réussite ne tient pas du hasard. Elle implique chez l'artiste une personnalité supérieure, bien entendu, et aussi, J'en reviens a non point de départ, le choix d'un genre qui s'adapte étroitement à cette personnalité. Le Mérimée des Nouvelles,—son vrai titre de gloire est là,--remplit l'une et l'autre condition. Nous apercevons nettement pourquoi l'auteur de Mateo Falcone a dû, presque aussitôt, adopter exclusivement cette forme d'art, les raisons qui l'ont fait y exceller, son originalité dans ses courts récits, et ses U n i t e s . 6 1 59. Bourget, Paul, De petits faits vrais, 1930. 60. Trahard, Pierre, La Jeunesse de Prosper Merimee, 1925, II, p. 398. La Jeunesse de Prosper Mérimée, (I803-I83I*), 1921». (This work was divided into twq volumes in 1925). Mérimée de 18^4 à 1853, 1928. La Vieillesse de Mérimée, (I85U-I870), 1930. 61. Bourget, Paul,'"Merimee nouvelliste," Nouvelles Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 5-6. (This article appeared also in the Revue des Deux Mondes. 15 sept. 1920, p. 257.)

18

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Guy de Maupassant's fame In the field of the brief narrative Is well established. He Is especially popular in America where his techniques for brief fiction writing, deduced by critics from his works, figure prominently In every book on the history and the technique of the short story. Bourget was a personal friend of Maupassant, whose literary production he admired greatly. He followed his development from the time of his friend's publication of the nouvelle, Boule-de-Sulf, in the Soirées de Medan, on April 15, 1880 up to the time of his tragic end in 1 8 9 5 . He marks the beginning of his growth in an early study of a collection of nouvelles, Miss Harriett, in 1884. 02 Further studies63 demonstrate how closely the critic followed the evolution of his contemporary. The greatest compliment that Bourget could pay to Maupassant was to compare his work with that of Mérimée and Turgenev. He reports that the Russian considered him "the most gifted story-teller that he had known since Tolstoi," Bourget summarizes his judgment of Maupassant in his "Souvenirs personnels," written at the time of his companion's death. He emphasizes Maupassant's contributions to hl3 own generation: La critique a été unanime à reconnaître quelle perte les Lettres françaises avaient subie par cette soudaine disparition du plus complet, du plus puissant des artistes de la génération entrée dans le monde lors de la dernière guerre.

Il ne semble pas qu'elle ait suffisamment

dégagé ce qui demeure le plus précleui enselg»ement de cette existence—cette

fidèle obstination de Maupassant à ne servir en effet

que les Lettres, son dédain pour toutes les misères des discussions contemporaines, et son acharné, son infatigable souci d'accomplir une oeuvre toujours plus achevée

...

Avec ses allures d'écrivain fécond

et spontané qui ont pu faire dire de lui au plus ser.sitlf d'entre les portraitistes (Jules Lemaître) qu'il portait ses romane comme un

6 2 . Bourget, Paul, "Guy de Maupassant, Premieres Oeuvres," in: Etudes et portraits,

III.

6 3 . Bourget, Paul, "Souvenirs personnels," in: Etudes et portraits, III.

"L'Ame étrangère," ln: Nouvelles pages de critique et

de doctrine, I. 61!. Bourget, Paul, "Souvenirs personnels," op. cit., III, 312. 65- Ibid-, p. 305-

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

19

pommier ses pommes, aucun ouvrier de livres ne fut plus que celui-là appliqué au développement savant et méthodique de ses facultés, aucun ne promena sur le vaste monde un appétit plus insatiable d'expériences et une curiosité plus agile. Seulement, comne il ne racontait guère cette méthode, on ne d'est Jamais avisé de penser qu'il en eût une.66

This method, Inherent In the creations of Guy de Maupassant, Bourget, because of his gift of penetrating analysis, understands and appreciates. Because of the truth of his observation and the artistry of his prose, the critic places his contemporary "In the ranks of pure French genius, with the Regniers, the lia Fontaines, the Molieres." 8 7 One of Bourget's most fruitful personal and literary friendships vas that with Barbey d'Aurevilly, a writer misjudged during his lifetime. Lucien Corpechot, who knew Bourget well, points out the closeness of their relationship: Comment Bourget vers 1876 était-il entré en relation avec Barbey? L'ai-Je Jamais su? Cet homme de soixante-sept ans avait pour son Jeune confrère une affection paternelle. Il l'appelait "mon fils" et, se départant pour lui tout à la fois de son Ironie et de son dandysme, lui ouvrait un coeur resté Jeune et plein de naïveté. Ne pouvant supporter l'idée d'être soupçonné d'imposture par quelqu'un pour qui il avait une amitié si vraie, ne l'avait-il pas supplié de prendre connaissance des parchemins qui lui donnaient le droit incontestable de porter le titre de chevalier d'Aurevilly ...ee The two writers were united by their common admiration for Balzac, their passion for Intellectual problems and their Interest in cases of moral conflict. Bourget, a brilliant conversationalist in his own right, admired his friend's genuis in social Intercourse. Of his contemporaries who excelled in conversation, he says: "De causerie comme celle de Barbey, je n'en al pas connu." 6 9 D'Aurevilly was able 66. Ibid., 312. 6 7 . Bourget, Paul, "Critical Preface," in: Short Stories of the Tragedy and Ccmedy of Life by Guy de Maupassant, 1903, I, 25. 68. Corpechot, Lucien, "Souvenirs d'un Journaliste," Revue universelle, L3CVI, (1936), p. 1+23. 69. Bourget, Paul, "A la maison de Barbey d'Aurevilly," in: Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 63.

20

PAUL BOUHGET AND THE NOUVELLE!

to transfer this gift to his writing, as shown by what Bourget has to say of his style: "Le style savoureux de ses livres a du geste, de l'accent, l'allure d'une causerie comme était la sienne, Impétueuse, hardie, débridée, avec des marivaudages qui rappellent le prince de Ligne et des truculences de 'patois' qui fleurent le terroir."70 Bourget valued also the virtue of literary Independence and the irreproachable dignity of work which Barbey exhibited. In addition, he admired his singular gift for creating strong characters, found in his historical and regional novels as well as in his collection of nouvelles, Les Diaboliques. It will be seen that Bourget credits Barbey d'Aurevilly with many of his own methods of approach in writing brief narratives. The analysis and the comprehension of the works of the outstanding French nouvellistes, as well as those of the writers of brief narratives in foreign fields, gave Bourget, therefore, an excellent background for the study of the genre and many insights into Its application to his own fiction. Bourget was preeminently interested in the technique of his art. He looked upon literary genres from the point of view of one who practiced them seriously, not from that of many critic?, who are observers on the outside, looking in. He became well acquainted with the numerous obstacles which he encountered in his writing. In discussing the laws of the nouvelle, he himself realizes his vantage point: "cet art de la Nouvelle qu'il faut peut-être avoir pratiqué pour en connaître les secrètes complications."71 Charles Du Bos calls attention to Bourget's distinct contributions to the field of criticism, when, after having taken cognizance of his predecessors, he states: "mais c'est avec Bourget seulement que la technique s'est instaurée en France à la place centrale qu'elle mérite et devient la technique des genres.72 That other writers have given many thoughts to the problems of their art, he readily admits but: personne en France ne nous a admis à bénéficier de leurs résultats au même degré que Paul Bourget avec qui la reflexion ne perd Jamais 70. Bourget, Paul, "L'Art de Barbey d'Aurevilly," in: Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 6 3 . 71. Bourget, Paul, "Merimee nouvelliste," op. cit., I, 19-20, 72. Du Boa, Charles, Approximations, 1922, p. 2 5 8 .

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE I

21

sea droits. les essais sur Stendhal, sur Flaubert, sur les Concourt, BUT Tourgueniev, les études sur Victor Hugo romanéier, sur Balzac nouvelliste, sur Guy de Maupassant, sur l'art de Barbey d'Aurevilly, celles toutes récentes, sur Mérimée et de nouveau sur Flaubert, constituent comme un thésaurus de la critique technique française.73 This opinion Is corroborated by that of Georges Grappe, who, In making an appraisal of the Influence of Bourget at the time of the latter's jubilee in 192J, notes that his Influence upon the young writers of the post-war period was largely aesthetic. He writes: C'est avant tout le Maître, au sens corporatif du mot, qui recuille leur déférente admiration. A le considérer attentivement on ne peut manquer d'être frappé de son harmonieuse ordinance, de la solidité de sa construction. Ce grand ouvrier des lettres françaises... a toujours bâti, en toute conscience et selon les plus purs principes de son art, sans rien abandonner à ce désordre que le bon Dumas confondait avec le génie. Et nul mleui que lui n'a disserté les lois du métier: 11 n'est pas de plus solide traité de l'art d'écrire que ses volumes de "doctrine et de critique," où il a commenté, à la lumière de sa longue et profonde expérience, les divers problèmes qui se posent à l'écrivain. One can turn, then, to Bourget's studies of the theory of the nouvelle, as to a record of one whose authority has come from constructive experience, whose intimate knowledge of the laws of fiction lends added value to his interpretations of the wohks o f others.

73. Tbld.. p. 259. 7b. Grappe, Georges, "Le Rayonnement de Paul Bourget," in: Nouvelles littéraires, Année 2, 22 dec., 1923, p. 1.

Il PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

Aesthetic Theories and Technical Practices of the Nouvelle as presented by Bourget THE MAIN PROBLEM which Bourget faced, both In his criticism and his own writing, was the distinction between the forms of fiction, namely the conte, the nouvelle, and the roman. The problem of definition Is a complicated one because of the lack of accord In defining the terms which exist among literary critics and the writers of fiction themselves. When attempts are made to differentiate contes, nouvelles and romans, It must be remembered that no absolute lines can be drawn up separating the genres, for, In practice, the forms often overlap. The question Is a much more Involved one, however, than the following definition from Llttre: Il n'y a pas de différence fondamentale entre le conte et le roman; l'un et l'autre sont des narrations mensongères ou regardées comme telles. Tout ce qu'on peut dire, c'est que conte est le terme générique puisqu'il s'applique à toutes les narrations fictives, depuis les courtes Jusqu'aux plus longues, le roman ne se dit que de cellesci. Un conte ne s'appellera Jamais un roman, tandis qu'un roman est dans toute la rigueur du terme, un conte suffisamment long. La nouvelle ne se distingue pas non plus au fond du conte ou du roman. Dans l'usage ordinaire c'est un roman de petite dimension, dont le sujet) est présenté comme nouveau ou peu ancien ou avec des détails inconnus Jusqu 'ici.1

A somewhat similar emphasis Is found In the Larousse du XX e Siècle: " Entre le roman et le conte, la nouvelle tient J.e milieu, plus étendu que celui-ci, plus courte que celuilà."2 In both of these definitions, the emphasis Is on the 1. Llttre, Dictionnaire de la langue française, p. 763. 2. Larousse du XX

Siècle, p. 128.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

2?

question of dimension. A close examination will show, however, that It Is a question of technique which constitutes the main difference between the three genres. Horatio Smith has noted the existing confusion In terminology among authors of the short forms of fiction and among the critics In a series of articles3 dealing with the development of brief narrative art In modern French literature. He states: "In Germany, Novelle now designates a recognized type, In America short-story has been given a similar function, but It Is still an embarrassing question as to what French narratives are to be denominated contes and what nouvelles." In hie succinct analysis of the problem facing the literary historian in the field of brief narrative, he calls attention to the fact that although France has produced as noteworthy a "brlef-narratlve literature"5 as that of America and Germany, there Is no history of the practice and the theory of the French conte and the nouvelle which can be compared with American treatises on the short story and the German studies on the novelle. The numerous American critics of the short story who have surveyed French brief narratives are almost unanimous In their praise of the great artists in the field, but they do not agree upon the interpretation of the French terms. Meny of them have found the word nouvelle a convenient translation of the hybrid form of fiction called "a long short story" or a novelette, leaving the word conte to cover the short story Itself. Edith Wharton, In her The Writing of Fiction, however, defines conte as the "compactest" form of the short story, or what she calls "the short short-story." 0 Professors Nltze and Dargan, In order to clarify the confusion in interpretation in their History of French Literature make the following notation on the subject of the nouvelle: 3. Smith, Horatio E., "Balzac and the Short-Story,'' Modern Philology, XII (1911*-1915), 331. "The Brief Narrative Art of Theophile Gautler," Modern Philology, XIV (1917), 6k7-66U. "The Development of Brief Narrative in Modern French Literature: a Statement of the Problem," Publications of the Modern Language Association, XXXII (1917), 583-596 1*. Smith, Horatio E., "The Development of Brief-Narrative in M o d e m French Literature: a Statement of the problem," loc. clt., p . 595. 5. Ibid., p. 58U. 6. Vharton, Edith, The Writing of Fiction, 1925, p. 3^.

24

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

"The term will be used mainly In Its modern signification of a long short-storyj but at times the earlier meaning of the two words will persist, the "nouvelle" as the more realistic type, the "conte" as suggesting the fantastic and the marvelous. (Contes cruels, Contes des Mille et Une Nuits)."7 One of the most concrete elucidations of the French terms by any critic or writer on the American short-story is that given by J. B. Esenweln, in his Short-Story Masterpieces.8 He dismisses the roman as a "general term standing for what we In Englloh variously denominate the (long) romance, the novel and the (long) tale." He emphasizes the two meanings that he finds in the word nouvelle : "The nouvelle most nearly approaches our English short-story, but it also stands for the novelette, or very short novel, or even the expanded short-3tory."9 The conte is "really a generic word, for a short fictional narrative or any story that Is short, like the tale, the anecdote, and fictional sketch, without meaning the short-story to whose characteristics of compression, unity of impression, and crisis, climax and denouement of plot, I have just referred. The general looseness In the use of the terms conte and nouvelle exists in France a3 well as in America. Bourget himself uses the terms conte and nouvelle interchangeably in an early study, "Guy de Maupassant, Premières Oeuvres," written in 1884. In this article, however, the term conte appears to be used mainly in a generic sense. Only the term nouvelle 13 used by Bourget after the study "Balzac nouvelliste" in I9O5. Bourget faced the general confusion in nomenclature when, as one of twentysix authors, critics and journalists, he contributed to the 1920 issue of La Renaissance dedicated to Mérimée. Conte and nouvelle are used synonymously by most of the writers, although at times conte alone is used to describe the brief narratives of Mérimée. Trahard points out this confusion when, referring to the articles of La Renaissance, he writes: "On confond surtout la nouvelle et le conte. La différence est marquée par M. P. Bourget qui donne l'esthétique du genre11... La confusion est presque générale entre 7. Nitze and Dargan, History of French Literature, 1922, p. 571. 8. Esenweln, J. Berg, "Introduction: The French Short-Story," in: Short-Story Masterpieces, 1912, I, p. 8. 9. Ibid., p. 9. 10. Ibid. 11. Trahard, Pierre, La Jeunesse de Prosper Msrlgee,

1925, II, 75.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

25

le conteur et le nouvelliste; seuls M. Paul Bourget et M. E. Henriot analysent sérieusement l'art de Mérimée, auquel ils vouent une grande admiration."12 How then, in this article, so highly praised by Trahard, does Bourget differentiate the three genres: conte, nouvelle and roman? In answer to the question set by La Renaissance, "Prosper Mérimée est-il le "conteur" par excellence?", Bourget demonstrates that, properly speaking, Mérimée did not write contes but nouvelles : "Le conte n'est pas plus une courte nouvelle que la nouvelle n'est pas un court roman ... Le conte est un épisode rapporté sans analyse des caractères; la nouvelle, un épisode avec analyse des caractères; le roman ... une suite d'épisodes avec analyse des caractères et de3 causes." 1 3 As can be readily seen, the differentiation is not just one of dimension. The conte is the simple narration of an incident, told for the sake of its telling. It is, in reality, the tale, free and varying in its forms, according to the taste of its authors. Any episode of interest, however slight or insignificant, without the pretense of character analysis or the development of change In the relationship of the characters, makes up the subject-matter of the conte. Paul Bourget finds that its organization is not of primary importance "except that it be effectively narrated." The nouvelle, on the other hand, alms at the analysis and revelation of character. To accomplish such an aim, the episode upon which the reader's attention is focused must be "important, significatif et traité en raccourci."14 The compressed, compact organization gives high relief to a significant episode, which, when all phases of a story are well executed, permits the almost instantaneous revelation of character. Bourget's interpretation is seconded by that of Trahard: "La nouvelle se résume en un épisode où l'écrivain montre la réaction d'un caractère dans un milieu donné et dans les circonstances données. Elle se distingue du conte, qui conte pour conter .. ." 1S 12. Ibid., II, 39813. Bourget, Paul, "Hommage à Mérlme'e, " La RenalBaance, 23 sept., 1920.

I did. not have access to La RenalsBance volume but found a

résumé of the Issue in question by Brenond, L'Abbé Henri, "Chronique dea lettres," Correspondant, 2 8 1 ( 2 5 nov. 1920), 6 3 9 .

Besides, Bourget's

article la, for the most part, a brief summary of the longer study on Mérimée nouvelliste," Revue dea Deui Mondeb,lg sept., 1920. 1U. Ibid., p. 640. 15. Op. cit., II, 75-

26

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

To turn now to the roman, as explained In Bourget1 s definition In La Renaissance, cited above, the novelist not only has the jot of more extensive representation of characters than Is found In the nouvelle, but, In addition, he must explain the "causes." Bourget's claim Is that no novelist, even if he embraces the strictest cult of objective observation, as does Flaubert,10 can escape from this underlying law of the genre of the novel. The very fact that the novelist Is dealing with a series of episodes, rather than one, and a group of people, rather than one or two central characters, means that he must determine the bond which joins the episodes together and he must further analyze the connections of the individuals within the group. In so doing, he Is dealing with causes. The critic indicates In the following way how the explanation of causes Is Inextricably bound up in the novel: Or, r e l i e r des é p i s o d e s , c ' e s t l e s conditionner, c ' e s t considérer c e u x - c i comme des e f f e t s , c e u x - l à comme des c a u s e s . Décomposer un m i l i e u v i v a n t , p r é c i s e r l e Jeu réciproque de s e s éléments, l e s uns sur l e s a u t r e s , c ' e s t donner à c e r t a i n s de ces éléments une valeur prédominante. C ' e s t encore' indiquer des c a u s e s . Le romancier r e s semble au b o t a n i s t e qui vous montre, avec son t e r r e a u e t s e s r a c i n e s , l a p l a n t e dont l e n o u v e l l i s t e c u e i l l e une f l e u r pour vous l a présent e r i s o l é e . Ces r a c i n e s , l e b o t a n i s t e l e s v o i t . I l l e s touche. Le romancier, l u i , ne peut que l e s supposer.

The novelist, whether It be his aim or not, is led inevitably to a conclusion, to a judgment, by dint of the fact that he has been manipulating events and characters. Bourget believes that when a writer is dealing with human actions, he must always form a hypothesis about them; by doing so, Implicitly or explicitly, he Is judging.18 Flaubert, objective and impersonal as he may seem, judges in this way all the characters of his novels. Bourget cites his statement to Maxime du Camp, made shortly after the Franco-Prussian war and the Commune: "Tout cela ne serait 16. C f . B o u r g e t , P a u l , 'Mérimée, n o u v e l l i s t e , " i n : Nouvelles Pages de c r i t i q u e e t de d o c t r i n e , ÎT, 18. The same a r t i c l e appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 s e p t . , 1920. All of my r e f e r e n c e s are to the book. 17. I b i d . 18. Ibid.

PHILOSOPHÏ OF THE NOUVELLE II

27

pas arrivé, si l'on avait compris l'Education sentimentale."19 This was not just an ambitious sentence In Bourget's opinion but a revelation of Flaubert's purpose In writing. He says of It that, In making such a declaration, Flaubert "confessed openly that he had Intended to make a social diagnosis in this book." Bourget developed at length the differences between the nouvelle and the roman. From this first definition, one can see that he found, In his studies of the writers of brief narratives, that the nouvelle differs from the novel both In Its subject matter and Its methods of composition. The material of the nouvelle Is so bound up with the handling of that material that It Is difficult to separate the two elements. In fact, their perfect blending constitutes one of the main attributes of the nouvelle as a work of art. Bourget elucidates further the differences In subject matter and Its manipulation in the two 3pecles of fiction by drawing the following lines of demarcation between them: Celle de la Nouvelle est un épisode, celle du Roman une suite d'épisodes. Cet épisode, que la Nouvelle se propose de peindre, elle le détache, elle l'isole. Les épisodes dont la suite fait l'objet du Roman, il les agglutine, il les relie. Il procède par développement, la Nouvelle par concentration. Les épisodes du Roman peuvent être tout menus, insignifiants presque. C'est le cas dans Madame Bovary et L'Education sentimentale. L'Episode traité par la Nouvelle doit , 20 intensement significatif.

être

The short story, then, as Bourget sees It, by focusing the attention upon one significant episode, which it isolates from the others, has as its aim a slngl-e, concentrated effect. It compresses its elements about the central point to such a degree that it brings about a highly intensified result. The moment chosen for the story Is given high relief. Bourget, with his gift for summing up in a few sentences the thought of a page of analysis, describes the nouvelle effectively: "La nouvelle est comme un moment découpé sur la trame indéfinie du temps. La durée qui a précédé ce moment et celle qui le suit lui restent extérieures."21 The novel, on the contrary, is occupied with the "indefinite web of life." The novel, too should have a unified effect but this comes from a general 19. Itild., p. 1920. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., I, 12. 21. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac,nouvelliste," op. cit., III, 256.

28

PAUL BOUBGET AND THE NOUVELLE

impression, gained by the more or less full development of a series of episodes which make up the main plot and the secondary plots. The nouvelliste, In order to carry out his aim of analysis and revelation of character, has the difficult job of choosing one significant episode to serve this purpose. Bourget further shows that the emphasis in the novel on several episodes and many characters results In a diversity of tone, which, however, does not destroy the unity of the novel. Taking an example from Balzac, he states: "La bonasse et cocasse figure de Crevel dans la Cousine Bette, se juxtapose à celle de la parente pauvre, si durement amère et cruelle." 2 2 The nouvelle, however, must have "a unity of colouring, an economy of means, all of which join In producing a single effect."23 He compares the nature of the brief narrative to that of the solo in the field of music whereas the novel Is similar to the symphony.24 Bourget found the selection of the subject for the nouvelle to be fundamentally important for success in the genre. A common law governs the choice of subject matter both in the brief narrative and the novel. In any discussion of the types of themes used in the two genres, one must necessarily begin with this similarity, that is the "Importance of the subject." Speaking of Balzac, the critic writes: "Aucun romancier n'a été pénétré plus que lui de cette doctrine de l'Importance du sujet, sur laquelle Goethe revient constamment dans ses entretiens avec Eckermann."25 He praises Maupassant as well for the understanding of this law: 22. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, n o u v e l l i s t e , " op. c i t . , p. 13. 23. I b i d . 2h. The e f f e c t of the I n t e n s i t y of a single"moment" as an essent i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the nouvelle i s indicated a l s o by B a u d e l a i r e , who, in his Art Romantique, a f t e r d i s c u s s i n g the dangers of the i n f i n i t e l i b e r t y of the novel, s t a t e s : " l a nouvelle, p l u s r e s s e r r é e , p l u s condensée, J o u i t des b é n é f i c e s é t e r n e l s de l a c o n t r a i n t e : son e f f e t e s t p l u s i n t e n s e ; e t comme le temps consacré à l a l e c t u r e d'une nouvelle e s t bien moindre que c e l u i n é c e s s a i r e à l a d i g e s t i o n d'un roman, r i e n ne se perd de l a t o t a l i t é de l ' e f f e t . " B a u d e l a i r e , C h a r l e s , "L'Art Romantique," i n : Oeuvres Complètes, 1889, I I I , p . l 6 0 . 2 5 . Bourget, Paul, "Balzac e t l e Cousin P o n s , " op. c i t . , I , 1»9.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

29

Il y a une autre valeur,—et qui était de plus celle de l'écrivain, à mesure que son expérience de la vie humaine et des passions enrichissait, amplifiait sa facture. Maupassant était arrivé en particulier depuis Pierre et Jean, à comprendre et à pratiquer cette autre loi si peu connue de l'art du roman, qu'il ne faut pas se lasser de signaler: 1'importance du sujet. 2 6

As has already been Indicated, in contrast to the conte which can deal with slight and Insignificant Incidents, the episode treated in the short story must be important and significant. In a discussion with his brother-in-law, Albert Feulllerat, Bourget revealed the high ideal of human purport which he set for the brief narrative. It had been his great ambition to write short stories which satisfied the following conditions: "Le moindre personnage aurait comme traîné son monde à lui dans chaque mot, dans chaque geste, tandis que sur le tout aurait flotte la philosophie, indulgente parce que renseignée, d'un homme ayant mis toutes les vies humaines dans leur propre perspective et sur un plan trfes élevé."27 The nouvelle must, above all, have a "scope, for if not, it is reduced to nothing more than a well-told anecdote."2e Now it is significant that Henry James and Paul Bourget agreed that all the diverse aesthetics of fiction could be summed up in a single law: namely, "to give a personal Impression of life." 2 9 The more meaningful the Impression of life Is, the more important the story will be. This necessity can be satisfied more easily by the novelist than by the nouvelle writer. The former can present his observation of life in a persuasive way because he has ample time and space at his disposal. He also has means which the nouvelliste cannot use such as "abundance of details, digressions of dialogue and minute analysis of characters." 3 0 Bourget found in his studies of nouvellistes two means by which significance can be obtained for the brief narrative form. The first device which is particularly efficacious in the choice of an episode is the use of general historical background of a people or that of contemporary 26. Bourget, Paul, "Un Eoman Inachevé de Maupassant," in: Nouvelles Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 71-72. 27- Feulllerat, Albert, Paul Bourget, p. 216. 28. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. 257. 29. Bourget, Paul, "Dédicace à Henry James," Cruelle Enigme, 9 fév. 1885. 50. Cf. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. 254.

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE events. Bourget found this especially true of the nouvelles of Balzac. To mention just a fev of them: El Verdugo deals with the Spanish war; the period of the Terror Is found In Un Episode sous la Terreur and Le Réquisitionnais; La Grande Breteche refers to the Empire wars; Le Colonel Chabert, L'Adleu and La Vendetta also belong to the period of the Empire. The critic tells us what happens In the reader's mind when contemporary events or events In the history of a people are used as a basis for the narrative: Nous croyons a la réalité du drame qui nous est conté, ncn seulement a cause de l'accent avec lequel 11 nous est conte, mais aussi parce qu'il a la couleur d'un temps. Il prend ea place dans une case grande ouverte de notre esprit. Le travail nécessaire dans un long roman pour amener une situation algue est ici tout fait par la légende qu'une quantité énorme de documents analogues a creee dans notre pensée, presque

\

31

a notre insu.

It Is the rapprochement with the historical which gives breadth to the episode imagined by the author. Nothing gives one an impression of reality more than the nouvelle connected with history and passing events, according to Bourget. He does not find this true of the historical novel. He finds that there is nothing more easily artificial.32 The historical -novel, he explains, deals with such a vast period that it Is forced to mix historical events with imagined events of the narrative. This creates an artificial impression, for by putting real events on the same plane with Imaginary events, an author creates a "mosaic so unfavorable to Illusion that one could count the works in which it Is found and which give the Impression of life Itself, the prime requisite of any story long or short." 33 He found that Mérimée, as well, uses the historical element In nouvelles such as L'Enlèvement de la redoute, La Partie de trictrac and Arsène Gulllot. Mérimée liked best in history the concrete anecdotes as he states in his preface to the Chronique du règne de Charles IX; "Je n'aime dans l'histoire que les anecdotes et parmi les anecdotes je préfère celles où j'Imagine trouver une peinture vraie des a œ u r ^ et des caractères à une époque donnée."34 31. I M d . , pp. 25U-55. 32. rbld., p. 256. 33. Ibld., pp. 256-5731». Mérimée, Prosper, Préface, Chronique du règne de Charles IX, p. 1.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

51

Maupassant uses the events of his own times often as a background for stories like Boule de sulf, Deux amis, Le Lit 29, Les Prlsonnlers, La Mere Sauvage, L'Aventure de Walter Schnaffs and many others. In fact, his themes are so closely allied to the life of France In the second half of the century that Bourget has said of him: Juet aa it was Impossible to comprehend the Rome of the Caesars without the work of Petronius, so is it impossible to fully comprehend the France of 1 8 5 O - 9 O without these stories of Maupassant.

They are

no more the whole image of the country than the Satyricon was the whole image of Borne, but what their author has wished to paint, he has painted to the life and with a brush that is graphic in the extreme. 3 5

Bourget found also the technique of rapprochement of the short story and contemporary events In Les Dlabollques of Barbey d'Aurevllly. Although Bourget does not mention the historical element In his articles about Barbey d'Aurevllly, he expresses his liking for Les Dlabollquea? In which the historical element Is used extensively. The brief narrative cannot'always be situated In the comprehensive framework of history so the nouvelllste. In order to clothe his stories with significance, must resort to a second artifice Inherent In the genre; namely, Its suggestive power. From his study of Baizac, Bourget discovered that the author of the Com^dle Humalne realized fully that the nouvelle, since It Is only the recital of an Isolated event, Is not obliged to make conclusions and judgments. From a single experience, an author could not deduce any general principle. This Is In direct contrast to the novel, which inevitably must reach conclusions, as Bourget has shown. The value of the short story Is not In the power of demonstration, for which the narrow, compact framework he.s no room, but lies In Its suggestive power, Its ability to disturb one's thought, to call forth ideas and to elicit discussions. The nouvelle serves as a springboard into the complexity and beauty of an intelligent reader's world. The enjoyment, therefore, of the well 35- Bourget, Paul, "Critical Préfacé," op. cit., I, 2336.

Cf. aupra, p. 20.

his Les Diaboliques:

Fien n'en a été inventé. tout.

Barbey d'Aurevilly vrites concerning

Ces histoires sont malheureusement vraies. On n'en a pas nommé les personnages, voilà

PAUL BOUHGET AND THE NOUVELLE w r i t t e n brief narrative will a c t u a l l y come after one has f i n i s h e d r e a d i n g It. B o u r g e t e m p h a s i z e s the I m p o r t a n c e of the stimulation of one's thought by the nouvelle; "Cette brusque et brève évolution, presque hallucinatoire, est son but. Le nouvelliste ne vous donne que des constats. P e n s e z - e n ce q u e v o u s V o u d r e z . C e s c o n s t a t s vous s e m b l e n t poser un problème. Résolvez-le à votre idée. I t is d u r i n g the r e v e l a t i o n of t h e one I n t e n s i f i e d m o m e n t that o n e f e e l s t h e d e p t h a n d f o r c e of the b r i e f n a r r a t i v e . If t h e e p i s o d e c h o s e n Is s i g n i f i c a n t e n o u g h , a w h o l e w o r l d of l d e a B o p e n s up b e f o r e t h e r e a d e r a n d a v h u l e c h a r a c t e r t a k e s s h a p e , t h o u g h t h e y h a v e b e e n b u t s u g g e s t e d b y the artist. B a l z a c does not launch Into elaborate dissertat i o n s i n h i s n o u v e l l e s b u t a i m s at the e x c i t i n g of t h o u g h t a n d e m o t i o n s b y m e a n s of the s i n g l e d o c u m e n t h e h a s b r o u g h t b e f o r e the r e a d e r . B o u r g e t finishes reading L a Messe de 1 ' a t h é e a n d b e g i n s to p o n d e r o v e r Its m e a n i n g : " T o u t le p r o b l è m e de l ' a u - d e l à s'est d r e s s é devant votre esprit: la Foi simple et humble vaut-elle mieux que l'orgueilleuse Science? J u s q u ' à quel peint u n impie a - t - 1 1 le droit de toucher à des croyances qu'il méprise, mais dont d'autres vivent? N ' y a - t - 1 1 pas une réversibilité de la grâce qui agit sur nous à notre Insu?" 3 8 Or, after reading Le C h e f - d ' œ u v r e inconnu, he r e f l e c t s o n t h e r e l a t i v e v a l u e s of l u c i d I n t e l l i g e n c e a n d creative energy: "L'Art ne comporte-t-il pas une p o r t i o n d ' I n s t i n c t p r e s q u e a n i m a l et q u e l a p e n s é e t r o p a v e r t i e d é t r u i r a i t ? " 3 9 T h e t y p e of r e f l e c t i o n w i l l v a r y w i t h the r e a d e r w h o m a y think; of t h e s e p r o b l e m s a n d q u e s t i o n s or many different ones. T h e r e i n l i e s the a t t r a c t i o n a n d the s i g n i f i c a n c e of the n o u v e l l e . A philosophical and symbol i c a l m e a n i n g is i n s e p a r a b l e f r o m B a l z a c ' s s h o r t n a r r a t i v e s . 4 0 37. Bourget, P a u l , "Mérimée, n o u v e l l i s t e , " op. c i t . , p. 1938. Bourget, P a u l , " B a l z a c , n o u v e l l i s t e , " op. c i t . , p. 258. 39. I b i d . , p. 259UO. B r u n e t l è r e supports B o u r g e t ' s a n a l y s i s of the s i g n i f i c a n c e of the nouvelles of the author of the Comédie Humaine. He w r i t e s : "He b e l i e v e s that a f a c t I s more than a f a c t , that i t la the e x p r e s s i o n or m a n i f e s t a t i o n of something other or more than I t s e l f ; o r again, that i t i s a p i e c e of e v i d e n c e , a document, which i t i s not enough to have put on r e c o r d , but in which we must a l s o seek through c o n t r a s t s and r e semblances, i t s deep u l t e r i o r meaning. And t h i s i s what he has t r i e d to show in h i s n o u v e l l e s . " B r u n e t l è r e , F . , " I n t r o d u c t i o n , " L i t t l e French M a s t e r p i e c e s , B a l z a c , 1 9 0 3 , PP- 1 2 - 3 -

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II Although the short stories of Mérimée and Maupassant do not have the same symbolical and philosophical purport as those of Balzac, they none the less gain significance by means of the same device of suggestive power. The jolting of one's thought, the suggestion of Ideas, the stimulation of the Imagination through the revelation and analysis of characters, these are the assets of their nouvelles. Bourget esteems both Mérimée and Maupassant for their choice of important episodes. Mérimée1s studies of love, courage, remorse, jealousy, hate and fear are universal in their appeal. Bourget analyzes his attitude toward life as follows: "Pour Mérimée, le problème fondamental auquel se ramènent tous les autres, est résolu définitivement. L'existence humaine n'a pas de sens humain. C'est le désespérant axiome sur lequel 11 a vécu et dont il a trompé la détresse foncière par un labeur d'artiste qu'il a voulu passionné et surveillé lui-même. 1 He does not Impose this conclusion upon the reader. Judgments are outside of the scope of the nouvelle. His dissections of the human heart are forceful and that suffices. Maupassant, early In his career, with his nouvelle. Boule de Suif, disclosed his power of sharpness of observation. The critic underlines the significance of this episode of the Franco-Prussian war period: Le voyage de quelques bourgeois de Rouen à travers les lignes prussiennes faisait la matière de ce petit roraan.

Cette anecdote avait

suffi à l'écrivain pour mettre à Jour la nuance de comique

dont

s'accompagnent les plus tragiques événements de l'histoire:

la réap-

parition des petits égoïames privés à travers le fracas des grandes catastrophes, les compromis de conscience auxquels l'instinct du bien-être amène si vite les p o l t r o n s . 4 2

A like analysis could be made of the significance underlying the majority of Maupassant's nouvelles. There is no conclusion, no demonstration, but the objective presentation of the subject observed. Although Maupassant, like Flaubert, alms at complete objectivity and strives to efface himself In writing his stories, Bourget finds them permeated with the author's psychology. In his preface to an English edition of the nouvelliste's works he writes: Ul. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. U2. Bourget, Paul, "Guy de Maupasaant, Premières op. cit., III, 291.

19.

Oeuvres,"

PAUL BOURGET A N D THE NOUVELLE This is the leading trait in the literary physiognomy of Maupassant, as it is the leading and most profound trait in the psychology of his work, viz., that human life is a snare laid by nature, where Joy is always changed to misery, where noble words, the highest professions of faith serve the lowest plans and the most cruel egoism, where chagrin, crime and folly are forever on hand to pursue implacably our 4 3 hopes, nullify our virtues, and annihilate our wisdom.

Maupassant states no conclusion, but what he Is trying to show of the laws of life or the phases of human nature, springs from the rendition of the episode of the nouvelle and is discovered by the reader. Bourget, at the start of Maupassant's literary career, expressed the wish that the author would extend his powers of analysis to more complicated subjects which, for Bourget, would be more meaningful ones. In 1884, praising highly Maupassant's first works, Boule de Suif, Les Contes de la Bécasse, Mademoiselle Flfl and La Maison Telller, he writes: Il paraît probable que, continuant la série de ses études sociales, 11 nous laissera une sorte de tableau de la vie française, tant provinciale que parisienne, exécute, comme Tourgueniev le fit pour la vie russe, avec une objectivité presque absolue. La question est de savoir si ce romancier qui s'est Jusqu'ici borné, a l'analyse de créatures simples, telles que le paysan, le petit bourgeois, la fille, se deciders enfin a étudier et a montrer des creatures plus compliquées. Dans l'univers psychologique, 11 y a une hiérarchie des formes et comme une échelle des organismes.44 That this wish was fulfilled, is Indicated by one of Bourget 1 s later articles in which he praises the author of Miss Harriett for the widening of his field of observation: Maupassant a commence par mettre sur pled, dans ses premières nouvelles, un peuple de paysans, de petits bourgeois, de hoberaux provinciaux, de filles de la ville et de la Campagne. Puis, tour à tour, il a su montrer, avec un relief égal, des bohèmes et des réguliers, des Journalistes et des hommes de club, des grands seigneurs et des grandes dames.45 U3. Bourget, Paul, "Critical Preface," Short Stories of the Tragedy and Comedy of Life by Guy de Maupassant, 1903, I, pp. 15-16. UU. Bourget, Paul, "Guy de Maupassant, Premières Oeuvres," op. cit., Ill, 303.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

35

The choice of the subject for the nouvelle Is further determined by the following law of the genre which Bourget emphasizes: "J'Indiquais comme une loi de la Nouvelle l'Intensité de l'épisode."40 Subjects of tragic Intensity, human passions In striking or unusual situations conform to this rule. Although other themes can be used In the brief narrative/ preference Is given to violent ones. The critic demonstrates that the short form of fiction Is more especially adapted to terror and astonishment than the novel for the following reasons: La terreur est de toutes les émotions humaines celle qui a le moins le besoin du temps. Le sursaut eat même la condition la plus favorable à sa naissance, comme la durée est la condition la plUB favorable à sa guériaon. Un long roman ne peut produire la terreur que par accident. Une courte nouvelle y excellera, précisément parce qu'elle est courte. Elle ne comporte ni préparations ni développement. Plua un fait tragique eat inattendu, plus 11 noua étreint d'une angoisse forte. Il y a donc avantage à ce que le sujet d'une nouvelle aoit aussi étonnant qu'il eat. terrible. Balzac a nettement discerné cette loi. 4 7

Extraordinary and violent events causing surprise, astonishment and terror are found In the great majority of Balzac's brief narratives. In El Verdugo, a son, on the order of his father, Is obliged to become the executioner of all his own people. In Pn Episode sous la Terreur, a professional executioner seeks a priest outlawed after the execution of Louis XVI so that a mass might be said for the martyr-king. A mother, in Le Réquisitionnais, waits for her fugitive son, during the time of Robespierre. She is crazed with anxiety which turns to hope when she thinks she recognizes him. She dies from grief, however, when she discovers that she is mistaken. A husband walls up a dressing room where the lover of his wife is hidden In La Grande Breteche. The lover lets himself be burled alive rather than denounce the fault of his mistress revealing his presence. 1*5. Bourget, Paul, "Guy de Maupassant, Souvenire personnels," op. cit., Ill, 3151*6. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. 1U. U7. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. 250-51.

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

56

That it was his purpose to startle and frighten Is shown by the ending comment of La Grande Breteche which the critic quotes as an example of the author's Intent: "Après ce récit," dit-il Balzac, en terminant la grande Bretèche, qu'il a mis dans la bouche d'un médecin à un souper, "toutes les femmes se leverent de table et le charme sous lequel les avait tenues Bianchon fut dissipé par ce mouvement.

Néanmoins quelques-unes d'entre

elles avaient eu quasi-froid en entendant le dernier mot."

Bourget follows the quotation with this commentary: "Cette formule résume la sorte d'Impression que l'auteur demande le plus souvent à cet art de la Nouvelle. Le choix de ses sujets suffisait à le démontrer."48 The significant Impression caused by the stories of Mérimée comes likewise from the tragic subjects and the crises of violence they contain. Whether it be in his stories of primitive passions such as Mateo Falcone and Colomba or in his nouvelles mondaines, such as Le Vase étrusque and La Double Méprise, Mérimée deals coldly with turbulent natures. Bourget says of them: "Mais ces courts récits sont si saisissants, si chargés de drame, si riches d'observations, qu'ils laissent au lecteur une impression3 plus forte que des volumes entiers." 4 9 This characteristic of the brief narrative satisfies Mérimée's taste for energy and forceful characters. In the nouvelle, everything must be treated In relationship to the central character. If a hero is strongly characterized, the structure of the brief narrative gives him added prominence. The pivotal characters of Colomba, Mateo Falcone and Tamango claim one's undivided attention. One can say with the critic, "Nous n'oublions plus ce relief qui nous poursuit et nous contraint de le méditer." 5 0 Maupassant, as well, makes use of the tragic episode. Bourget says of his stories: Nine times out of ten, what is the subject of these stories to which freedom of style gives the appearence of health?

A tragic episode.

I

cite, at random, Mademoiselle Flfl, la Petite Roque, L'Inutile Beauté, Le Masque, le

Horla, L'Epreuve...His imagination aims to represent

the human being as imprisoned in a situation at once

insupportable

U8. Ibid., pp. 251-52. U9- Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., I, 11». 50. Ibid-, p. 15-

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

37

and inevitable. The spell of this grief and trouble eierte such a power upon the writer that he ends stories commenced in pleasure with some sinister drama.51 Death and. fear are the strongest of Maupassant's methods for putting primitive passions Into play.5'' Barbey d'Aurevllly also employs the unusual In his short stories. The majority of the nouvelles In Les Dlabollque3 have as their motivating forces, amazement, surprise and terror. Le Rldeau Cramolsl, Le Bonheur dana le crime and La Vengeance d' une femme are exhibitions of human passions In striking, tense situations. Bourget 1 s view that the nouvelle uses advantageously Intense episodes Is supported by the famous definition of Goethe, to which reference has already been made, 5 3 and the following analysis furnished by Brunetlere: The nouvelle differs from the conte in that it always claims to be a picture of ordinary life; and it differs from the novel in that it selects frcm ordinary life, and depicts by preference and almost exclusively, those example of the strange, the rare, and the extraordinary which ordinary life does in spite of its monotony nevertheless contain...5,4 And still more generally, if I may so express myself, all those things in life which are out of the usual run of life, which happen on its margin, and so are beside yet not outside it, all that makes its surprises, its differences, Its startllngness, so to speak all this is the province of the nouvelle bordering on that of the novel yet diBtinct from it. Out of common everyday life you cannot really maim nouvelles, but only novels—miniature novels, when they are brief, but still novels.55 The parallel between this statement made by Brunetlere In his study of Balzac's brief narratives and that furnished 51. Bourget, Paul, "Critical Prefaces," op. cit., p. 15. 52. The fact that MaupasBant is an exponent of the terrible and the unusual in a good share of his nouvelles is also pointed out by Dumesnil, René, "Essai d'une classification des oeuvres de Maupassant," Revue d'Histoire Littéraire de la France, XLI (193k), PP- 106-2753. Cf., supra, p. 751*. Brunetière, Ferdinand, "Introduction," in: Little French Masterpieces: Balzac, 1913, P- 1555. Ibid., pp. 16-17.

38

PAUL BOUBGET AND THE NOUVELLE

by Bourget In his investigation of the same works is significant since both critics were adept in discerning the salient points in the history of literary genres. There is for the serious minded nouvelliste, however, a double danger in the use of peculiar and violent events in the brief narratives: first, the risk of the lack of verisimilitude and second, the temptation to melodrama, for, by surprising the reader, the writers may awaken In him an interest of the physical and sensational type. For Bourget, the foremost law of fictional forms, long or ohort,-ia the necessity of commanding credibility. He believes that the chief obligation of any writer is to give the reader an immediate sense of security. His praises go, out of preference, to those writers who satisfy this requirement: De très telles oeuvres de fiction sont dépourvus de- cette qualité-là, René, Adolphe,'Volupté, pour citer trois beaux romans, d'une incontestable supériorité. J'ajouterais, si le magnifique début de la bataille de Waterloo ne s'y trouvait paa, La Chartreuse de Parme. Ce sont des récits par allusions. L'histoire racontée est bien unô histoire vraie. Elle a eu lieu, mais pas devant vous. Pour employer une métaphore, vulgaire, nais expressive, les gens ne sont pas dans la chambre. Avec Mérimée, comme avec Balzac, ils y Sont toujours. 50

He further commends the author of Colomba as an accomplished mester in the art of creating an atmosphere of verisimilitude around the core of a story. Bourget finds that Maupassant possessed the essential power of eliciting credibility to an unequalled degree. Upon reading any of his stories: "Vous la subissez en effet d'un bout à l'autre, cette magie presque indéfinissable; vous admettez que l'anecdote dont le romancier se fait l'historien est véritable. Vous admettez que les personnages qu'il vous présente, existent réellement et dans les données où 11 vous les présente. Vous ne pouvez pas en douter."57 Even if a work like The Pathfinder of James P. Cooper has many faults, Bourget finds It of value because 5 6 . Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. 22. 57. Bourget, Paul, "Un Soman Inachevé de Maupassant," in: DouveIlea Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 7 0 .

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

39

It possesses^he most important of the qualities of a novel: credibility. He believes that a work may sometimes be too well written. Style and composition are then of no avail If verisimilitude Is lacking. To Illustrate this point, the critic makes a comparison between a work of Flaubert and one of Dumas père: Rappelez-vous Salammbô. Avec elle, toutes lea insuffisances de facture sont oubliées. Rappelez-vous Les Trois Mousquetaires. C'est écrit à la va-vite, inventé au rebours de l'histoire. Le lecteur ne peut pas ne pas y croire, et à cause de cela, c'est un grand roman, tandis que Salammbô n'est que le plus magnifique exemple de rhétorique de la langue. 59

The creation of the Illusion of reality Is even more necessary In the nouvelle than In the roman, since the former deals frequently, by necessity, with exceptional events, not the ordinary, often banal happenings of the latter. The novel-writer has ample time to convince the reader that the story he Is relating really happened. The nouvelliste, on the other hand, does not have this leisure time to create gradually the reality of his story but must establish It rapidly. He must U3e appropriate means to obtain verisimilitude for complicated events and peculiarities of 30uls. Bourget.finds Poe skillful In avoiding the danger of Improbability In those of his stories which have almost unbelievable, fantastic subjects. Wheii the American writer was relating a trerrible adventure, he would often use the moods and tone of mania or nightmare'. By doing this, objections that could be raised against the exceptional event, would be immediately destroyed. As a result, the critic declares that "its very Improbability becomes then an element of its reality."80Bourget Illustrates how Balzac excels In the use of this method of placing the story in a domain which does not permit a comparison with dally life by citing the beginning of Jésus-Christ en Flandre: "Avouons-le," dit-11 Balzac, "cette histoire se ressent étrangement du vague, de l'incertitude, du merveilleux que les auteurs favoris des veillées flamandes se sont amusés maintes fols à répandre dans leurs gloses... 5 8 . Bourget, Paul, Outre-Mer, I, p. 199. 59. Bourget, Paul, "Le Voyage du Centurion," in: nouvelles Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 105-, 60. Bourget, Paul, '^Balzac, nouvelliste," op. cit., III, 252.

40

PAUL BOUBGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Le narrateur y croit...Seulement dans l'impossibilité de mettre en harmonie toutes les versions, voici le fait..." The letter to the reader at the beginning of L'Elixir de longue vie Is a similar ruse which cuts short the possibility of any discussion of the unlikelihood of the event. Bourget writes of this story: L'extraordinaire du sujet s'abrite ici sous le patronage d'un nom qui eat synonyme de folle: "Au début de la vie littéraire de l'auteur, un ami, mort depuis longtemps, lui donna le sujet de cette étude, que plus tard 11 trouva dans un recueil, publié vers les premieres annees du siecle. Selon ses conjectures, c'est une fantaisie de Haffmann le Berlinois."6' To obtain credibility, Mérimée often attaches the events of his stories, real of fictitious, to facts, real or fictitious, in his personal life. Bourget marvels at the skill with which he accomplishes this in Carmen, a story which carries the reader Into a very different environment: Il s'agit de rendre cette mélodramatique aventure naturelle, J'allais dire quotidienne. Merlmée emploie pour la raconter, le "Je" qui lui a servi pareillement dans Mateo, dans la. Venus d'Ille, dans L'Enlèvement de la redoute. C'est une façon de familiariser le récit, déjà indiqué par cet autre artiste si réfléchi que fut la Fontaine: .. .J'étais ik, telle chose m'advint.63 The problem of obtaining credibility in fiction Is more complicated, however, than the two technical methods just indicated. One way of making truth credible to the reader, he discovers in the methods of Balzac and Maupassant: Celui des maîtres: il consiste à pousser du "rendu" dans le récit à un degré de relief qui Impose la croyance. C'est ainsi que Balzac, dans Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes, nous contraint, par la seule énergie de la peinture, d'accepter conne réelle la plus extraordinaire aventure qu'ait Jamais contée un romancier. Nous ne doutons ni d'Esther, ni de Vautrin, ni de Peyrade. Pourtant quel récit

61. Ibld., p. 253. 62. Ibld. 63. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. .cit., p. 21.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

41

dee Mille et une nuits est plus chimérique? Tout près de nous, Maupassant a procédé de mfîme dans certaines nouvelles d'une si audacieuse et presque Inadmissible psychologie: L'Inutile Beauté, Le Horla, Les Soeurs Fondoli. Ce moyen est plus sûr, mais 11 faut un — ——BJ génie hors de pair. Bourget explains further that our adherence to the reality of a narrative depends less upon the verisimilitude of the story than upon the feelings experienced by the story teller. Scott and Balzac, in their writings, obtain the reader's consent because they had such an impassioned belief in the importance of their stories that they cause the reader to share in it. Therein, for Bourget, lies the secret of their means of obtaining extraordinary crédibilité. 0 5 In discussing the trustworthiness of Pslcharl's Le Voyage du Centurion, Bourget further clarifies this interpretation: Pour qu'il y ait une crédibilité d'une force indiscutable, il faut, eemble-t-il, que l'auteur soit par-deaeus tout de bonne fol, qu'il croie li l'histoire qu'il raconte, avec une spontanéité, une naïveté completes. C'était le cas de Dumas pour ses bretteurs, le cas de Balzac pour ses usuriers et ses duchesses, le cas de Walter Scott pour ses Jacobites et ses sorcieres. C'est le cas de Psichari pour son Centurion et ses Africains.06 If the necessary genius is denied the narrator, Bourget sees a subsidiary way of eliciting credibility which he modestly feels Is more within his own reach. The job of the conscientious analyst then consists: à comprendre que lee plus extraordinaires événements ont leur logique, et de mêïne les plus apparentes bizarreries de sensibilité, leur norme secrète. Ayant à rapporter une aventure très exceptionnelle, l'analyste s'appliquera donc à dégager cette logique, et s'il veut peindre une singularité du coeur, il s'efforcera de démêler la loi 64. Bourget, Paul, Dualité, in: Un Homme d'affaires, pp. I5O-51. Passages such aa these occur In the framework rather than in the body of the nouvelles from which they are cited.) 65. Cf. Bourget, Paul, "L'Art du roman chez Balzac," In: Quelques Témoignages, p. 35• 66. Bourget, Paul, "Le Voyage du Centurion," op. cit., t, 106.

42

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

générale dont cette anomalie n'est qu'une conséquence. permis d'employer cette humble méthode....67

Qu'il me soit

Furthermore, If the characters of a narrative are not to remain Imprisoned In the pages of a book, If they are to "enter the room" of the reader, much will depend upon the style In which the story Is written. Balzac, the critic explains, obtains credibility by having his characters speak In their own language and by giving them a setting In accord with that language and their habitual ways of feeling.08 Even though credibility has been obtained for the brief narrative by the methods just Indicated, the author does not necessarily in so doing avoid the second danger, that of being sensational, of bordering on melodrama In the use of extraordinary events. Bourget finds solutions to this problem in the nouvelles of Balzac, who gives significance to his brief forms of^iction by the two methods which have been discussed above; first, the use of the setting of historical and contemporary events and second, the gaining of philosophical and symbolical Import, an achievement which marks the originality of the nouvelle. Since the extraordinary or unusual event finds such vide use in the nouvelle. it would seem, at first glance, that material which Is not striking would not come within Its scope. Bourget ascertains, however, another type of short story which uses simple subjects taken from the seemingly banal facts of life. To these events, the talented nouvelliste must succeed In giving an intensity which will reveal their full human significance. Turgenev gives preference to the common characters of life over the heroic and grandiose ones. He deals with ordinary people but always makes them do something that reveals their fundamental nature and thus arouses the reader's Interest in them. Although many of his subjects such as Le Chant de l'amour triomphant, do have a dramatic Intensity and border on the unusual, he often makes something out of nothing at all, a mere trait of manners, a fugitive souvenir or an interior vision. Annouchka, a recollection of student life, a story of the transitory creation of a timid love, is an excellent example of this type. In his first collection of nouvelles. Récits d'un chasseur, intrigue is reduced 6 7 . Bourget, Paul, "Dualité," op. cit., p. 151. 68. Cf. Bourget, Paul, "L'Art du roman chez Balzac," op. cit., p. 38. 69. Cf. supra, pp. 29-3^-

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II to the minimum. They are but portrayals of everyday sentiments and characters, but effective for they succeed In arousing the reader's sympathy. Bourget explains Turgenev's Interest in all things human thus: "C'est ce pouvoir de rêve qui lui fait apercevoir dans toute existence, même médiocre, une solitude et une poésie."70 Both Turgenev and Éourget had .tender and understanding hearts which enable them to understand the ordinary motives of human nature. The critic esteems the Russian's Immense feeling of pity and human sympathy with which his nouvelles are permeated. This trait, which adds value to his studies, springs from his philosophy: "Il est pessimiste et 11 est tendre. La vision de la fatale caducité de toute existence l'amène à plaindre comme des victimes les pauvres créatures auxquelles a été Infligée la vie."71 He discovers In Turgenev's creations two other essential characteristics of the nouvelle. First of all, speaking of the characters, he calls attention to their Importances "Ils ont le même genre d'Imagination que lui, car cette Imagination est primitive, elle est naïve et directe ...Cette même jeunesse du tempérament et de la race a préservé Turgenev de 1'lnslgnlflance, écuell redoutable pour les romanciers qui veulent peindre l'humanité par des personnages moyens." Secondly, his brief narratives have the lingering, thoughtprovoking after-effect of the genre, for all things human are Included within the range of his sympathy. The peculiar nature of the nouvelle has further requirements which are manifested especially In Its composition. Perhaps In no other literary species Is the technique of presentation sp Intimately bound up with the conception of the material. The question of the dimensions of the nouvelle Is not an Important one. Since, however, the element of length for some critics Is the only criterion which differentiates the conte, the nouvelle and the roman, Bourget has found It necessary to repeat throughout his critical articles the admonition: "La Nouvelle, on ne saurait trop le répéter, n'est pas un court Roman."74 The nouvelles of 70. Bourget, Paul, "Ivten Tourgueniev," in: Nouveaux Essais te Psychologie Contemporaine, p. 2l>9. 71. Ibld., p. 236.

72. r b l d . , p. 222. 73. Cf. supra, p. 22. 7U. Bourget, Paul; "Mérimée, nouvelliste." op. cit., p. 12.

44

PAUL BOURGJiT AND THE NOUVELLE

Mérimée range from the eleven pages of L'Enlèvement de la Redoute to the two hundred forty pages of Colomba. If one were to analyze the latter, one would find that Its essential characteristics are the same as those of the shorter nouvelles. In spite of Its length, the critic explains how Mérimée kept Colomba within the field of the nouvelle: Cette tragédie de la vendetta corse pouvait être traite'e en Raman. II eut suffi de donner a l'eplsode de l'assassinat du colonel délia Rebbia une valeur égalé à l'épisode du retour de son fils, et d'intercaler, entre les deux, la double analyse des sentiments de la soeur. Merimée s'en est bien gardé. Il a tout subordonné à cet épisode du retour. C'était traiter le sujet en Nouvelles. 75

Thus, a nouvelle may be of any dimension, short or long, If only the requirements of the genre are fulfilled and Its author adjusts adequately the length of his story to the demands of his subjects. It may be said that the single, unified Impression, desired by the nouvelle Is completely contingent upon Its form. Now, simply stated, as we have seen, the nouvelle deals, by definition, with the revelation and analysis of characters. In a centralized episode, the writer records the reaction of a character In 4 given environment and under given circumstances. Since there Is no space In which to expose the essential traits of a character by giving his gradual moral and psychological evolution, he must be surprised at a moment of crisis and there must be a dramatic concentration around his reaction at this moment. Thus the nouvelle has an Intimate affinity with the drama. The proverbe, among other genres, explains Bourget, Is akin to the nouvelle In that Its characters are placed In action within the structure of an anecdote which has its beginning, Its crisis and Its dénouement. The moment of crisis, or 75. Ibid., p. 13. Along with L'Enlèvement de la redoute and Colomba, Bourget lista Carmen, la Double Méprise, Tamango and his favorites among Mérimée's nouvelles. Bourget does not analyze Carmen. He only calls attention to its tragic, startling subject, that of a bandit stabbing his mistress. Many critics have shown that the composition of Carmen leaves much to be desired when compared particularly to Colomba. Bourget, when calling for a concentration of action around a centralized episode or nucleus is expressing his ideal for the nouvelle. Carmen falls short of satisfying this ideal, although it has many other redeeming features. 7 6 . Bourget, Paul, "Avant-Propos," in: On ne volt pas les coeurs. p. 2.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II the culminating point of the action, In which the essential trait of a character Is revealed, must stand out, but at the same time be unified with the rest of the story. In other words, all parts of the narrative should converge harmoniously upon a central point. Bourget gives highest praise to Maupassant for the extraordinary superiority of his art In this respect: Like Flaubert, he excelled In composing a story, in distributing the facts with subtle gradation, in bringing in at the end of a familiar dialogue something startllngly dramatic; but such composition with him seems easy, and while the descriptions are marvelously well established in his stories, the reverse ia true of Flaubert's, which always appear a little veneered. Maupassant's phrasing, however dramatic it may be, remains easy and flowing.

Bourget recognizes the same ability for the rapid preparation and denouement of a crisis In the nouvelles of Balzac and those ofMerlmee. Both are adept In developing dramatic situations, which reveal depths of character through action?8 The critic further discovers that the effectiveness of the great nouvelllstea depends upon the degree In which they satisfy the essential law of the form of the nofavelle, that of "raccourci clalr," by which he means an artistic compression in all parts of the brief narrative. The three nouvelllstea who make the most effective use of the faculties of selection and constraint are, in his opinion, Maupassant, M^rlm^e and Turgenev. 7 9 These writers excell In situating their characters in two or three sentences while other writers, even Balzac, need pages of analysis to do the same thing. They have the faculty of summing up an entire Individuality In a few lines by means of a bit of dialogue, a single gesture or by the use of an adjective. Maupassant does not need to analyze his characters minutely because he sees and depicts them so clearly. He obtains his trustworthiness by means of his accurate power of 77- Bourget, Paul, "Critical Preface," op. cit., p. 2k. 7 8 . Pierre Trahard seconds this relationship of the construction of the nouvelle to that of the drama by making the following aompariscm in regard to Mérimée:

"Toutes proportions gardées, Mérimée conçoit

ia nouvelle conme Racine concevait la tragédie."

La Jeunesse de Mé-

rimée, II, 75. 79. Cf. Bourget, Paul, "Un Boman inachevé de Maupassant," op. cit.,

I, 68.

46

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

observation and the total "effacement" of himself before his object. The "clear foreshortening" process In Mérimée' s nouvelles Is aided by his "gift of presence" as Bourget calls It. The critic finds this quality all the more remarkable because It springs neither from descriptions nor dialogues In Mérimée's brief narratives. Bourget demonstrates the source of this Impression In the following way: Cette sensation de la presence, le naxrateur l'Impose par un choix de tout petits faits, très humbles, mais tous révélateurs, mais soigneusement triés.. .C'est par le détail Juste et sans commentaire que Mérimée a procédé.

Mais pour les imaginer, ces détails, et en équi-

librer ainsi la mise en mouvement, il faut une vision intérieure

d'une

précision d'appareil photographique et désencombrée de tous les traits inutiles, un esprit d'une Impeccable sûreté qui ne retient, des physionomies, des attitudes, des paroles, que le

significatif.01

Turgenev, too, chooses only the "significant elements" for his stories. Bourget was present at the regular gatherings^ at the house of Talne, where creative writing was the favorite topic of conversation. He recalls a time when the host asked Turgenev what he considered the foremost qualification of the good fiction writer. After reflecting a moment, he answered: "The gift of pointing faces." The critic explains this ability further and ranks eminent French writers with the Russian: "Les' termes qu'il emploie sont ceux dont vous vous servez vous-même chaque jour, mais appliqués avec tant de justesse qu'ils reprennent aussitôt leur pleine valeur de pittoresque. C'était le procédé du plus grand peintre de physionomies qu'ait eu la France,--la Bruyère,--c'était celui de Stendhal, de Mérimée et de Flaubert."8-3 Elsewhere, the critic underlines the secret of Turgenev's descriptive power which is especially adapted to the compact art of the brief narrative: "Le talent descriptif lui paraissait tenir tout entier dans le choix du détail évocateur...Il laisse la vision ressusciter en lui, puis il note le trait qui surgit le premier et qui est toujours le détail essentiel, celui 80. Ibid., p. 70. 81. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., pp. 22-23. 82. Cf. Bourget, Paul, cit., I, 83.

69. Ibid.

"Un Roman inachevé de Maupassant," op.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE NOUVELLE II

47

auquel les autres font comme cortège."8* The success of the nouvelles of Maupassant, Mérimée and Turgenev, comes, as the critic discovered, from the practice of ari economy In writing which gives only the essential elements of character, situation and development. By means of their narrative form, "ramassé, musclé, râblé, " 8 \hey produce for the reader a unified Impression which Is all the more effective because of Its compactness. Another problem which preoccupied Bourget In studying the structure of the nouvelle was the point of view which the nouvelliste should adopt In approaching his material. Brief narratives can be presented from any angles. The only essential law that Bourget would make In this respect Is that an author should be so thoroughly acquainted with his material, that the most effective method of approach will present Itself naturally. In the works of his friend, Barbey d'Aurevilly, he likes particularly the method of presenting the narrative by means of a witness of its events for the following reasons: Il a senti et merveilleusement rendu ce que le passé prend de poésie et sur les lèvres des survivants. Aussi a-t-11 adopté, dans le Chevalier des Touches", dans L'Ensorcelée, dans Le Prêtre marié et dans ses quatre Diaboliques de l'Ouest, le procédé du récit par un témoin. Cela donne du recul aui événements et les enveloppe d'un reflet plus chaud. L'émotion du conteur ajoute à leur tragique. 88

This use of the point of view of the first person who witness the events of the narrative or takes part in them enabled Barbey d'Aurevilly to make use of his great talent for conversation. Bourget realizes, however, the disadvantage In such a point of view for, as he points out, by employing the point of view of a witness, the narrative does not have as much movement as a more direct approach would give it because "the narration by a witness entails a retrospective glance which is hardly favorable to this quality." 8 7 The great principle of technique which Bourget learned in the school of Balzac and one which was his 81». Bourget, Paul, "Ivan Tourgueniev," op. cit., pp. 220-21. 8 5 . Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., p. 1 3 . 86. Bourget, Paul, "L'Art de Barbey d'Aurevilly," in: Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 6 3 . 8 7 . Ibld.

48

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

constant concern throughout his literary career Is that of continual variation In his methods of workmanship. During the course of his exhaustive and. continuous study of the creations of Balzac, the critic discovered this fact about him: "Quand on l'a beaucoup pratiqué, on reconnaît que son extraordinaire faculté créatrice se doublait d'une faculté critique non moins exceptionnelle." 6 0 To Illustrate his point, Bourget shows how Balzac used his critical sense on works he was to produce rather than on works already written. The constant variation which he sought In his own technique and the study that he had made of the various

methods of treatment In fiction Is shown by the advice which Daniel d'Arthez gives to the lazy Lucien de Rubempré in Les Illusions perdues:

Voue comnencez, comme Walter Scott, par de longues conversations pour poser vos personnages. Quand ils ont causé, vous faites arriver la description et l'action...Renversez-moi lee termes du problème. Remplacez ces diffuses causeries, magnifiques chez Scott, nais sans couleur cèez voue, par des descrlptlone auxquelles se prête si bien notre langue...Prenez-moi votre sujet tantôt en travers, tantôt par queue. Enfin, variez vos plane, pour n'être Jamais le même.89

Bourget found the same judicious faculty put to use In writing by Mérimée. Concerning his stories, he writes: "By studying carefully the structure of his stories, one discerns what critical work has controlled their composition, and how much their author had thought about the art of the Nouvelle..."90 Bourget connects the critical faculty of Maupassant and his power of constant variation and perfection of methods with the same traits of his own "maître:" Les critiques qui ont parlé de Maupassant avec le plus d'éloge ontIls reconnu chez lui cet effort ininterrompu pour varier sans cesse son "faire"' Il faut remonter Jusqu'à Balzac pour retrouver un pareil souci de construire chaque livre sur un type particulier et avec les procédés inemployés, ou employés autrement...Dans chacun de ces livres

88. Bourget, Paul, "Balzac, nouvelliste," op. cit., III. 218. 89. Ibld., p. 2U9. 90. Bourget, Paul, "Mérimée, nouvelliste," op. cit., I, 19-20.

PHILOSOPHÏ OF THE NOUVELLE II

49

le type technique a été remanie, et comme repétri de nouveau. Ici l'exposition se fait par un dialogue. Ailleurs le romancier l'a donnée lui-même et en son nom propre. Ailleurs il s'est Jeté du 91

coup en pleine action.

This necessary critical faculty was also possessed by Turgenev. Bourget would certainly agree with Henry James who wrote of the Russian: "Nothing that Turgenleff had to say could be more interesting than his talk about his own work, his manner of writing. What I have heard him tell of these things was worthy of the beautiful results he produced; of the deep purpose, pervading them all, to show us life itself."92 It is significant that Bourget found in the four eminent nouvellistes, Balzac, Mérimée, Maupassant and Turgenev, the possession of this critical faculty for it was his conviction that success in the genre of the nouvelle is not merely the consequence of an "innate power" but is also the result of an ability to discern the implicit and explicit differences between types of fiction. 91. Bourget, Paul, "Souvenirs personnels," Etudes et portraits, III, 313-11». 92. James, Henry, Partial Portraits, 1911, p. 314.

Ill GENESIS A N D PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

THE SHORT STORIES of Paul Bourget are distributed over the length of his literary career. One has only to arrange his works chronologically to realize how well hl3 brief narratives are interspersed between his more brlllant successes in the field of the novel. In his twenty-six volumes of nouvellea, he used all varieties of length, ranging from the six pages of Secum sola, 1 to the two hundred and ninety-five pages of Le Luxe des autres. 2 Threefourths of the nouvelles, however, are less than fifty pages in length, the largest group being that between twenty and thirty. The longer short stories, such as Les Deux Soeurs and Une Laborantlne do not constitute a different genre. Although there are modifications in technique in them, due to the dimensions of some of the stories, the essential characteristics remain those of the shorter forms. In order to explain the impulses which led to this large production of nouvelles, It Is necessary to take into account the formation of the author's intelligence and character. Bourget's great purpose in writing was to give his "personal impression of life." His temperament, his education, his readings and his environment helped determine the nature of that Impression of life. Now, fortunately, with Bourget, one has only to turn to the brief narratives themselves to find one of the sources of this information. By means of the frequent use of the autobiographical method, the author reveals to the reader valuable material. His conception of life and the motives which govern the -choice of subject matter are made clearer. A deeper 1. In: Profils perdus. 2. In: Drames de frenillo.

GENESIS AND PíEIODS OF PRODUCTION

51

penetration into his Inner life Is thus brought about by the Information he reveals about his ways of thinking and. feeling, his tastes, his experiences and his habits. For this reason alone, If for no other, the nouvelles are significant. Bourget always used his personal experience by interweaving It with that of the characters of his imagination but this practice is more directly acknowledged in the short stories than in the novels by the use of the first per'son. Many of the novels are avowedly based on his thoughts but it is in the large group of short stories in which Bourget is the actor-narrator that one discovers information which is necessary for a complete picture of his personality. In most of his first person stories, Bourget indicates by various means whether he himself is the narrator or someone else; consequently, there is rarely any doubt when the first person narrator is Bourget. The things he does in the stories may or may not be true facts. It is what he says about himself as an observer of an action or as a minor character that is important. The nouvelles, in addition, offer more of an outlet for his sensibility than do the novels. In the short stories, one comes closer to the feelings of tenderness and sympathy that are behind his observations. The statement that Georges Pelllssler makes about Le Saint could be applied to a good number of his brief narratives: "elle a plus d'intérêt encore pour ceux qui recherchent surtout dans ce qu'écrit M. Bourget l'expression de ses sentiments propres et de ses divers états d'Ême." 3 Prefaces, Bourget's Lettre autobiographique and the definitive Information garnered by Professor Feulllerat from private documents and a close relationship with the author are other important sources which enable one to assemble a picture of the personality of Bourget. Throughout his life, Bourget attempted to conciliate two conflicting temperaments within himself. These he traced, in his Lettre autobiographique to the contradictory inheritance from his parents. He owed to his father, Latin in origin, his scientific spirit with his love for analysis and lucidity in the search for truth, while he was Indebted to his mother, a Lorraine woman of German descent, for his poetic and philosophical side. He writes of the nature of this discord and the appeasement he tried to carry out between its elements: 3. Pelllasler, Georges, "Nouveaux Pastels," Revue Encyclopédique, Année 1 8 9 1 , p. 646.

52

PAUL BOURGET A N D THE NOUVELLE

Cette hérédité complexe a quelquefois ses avantagea. J'en ai surtout senti les défauts, Je veux dire l'extrême difficulté à mettre d'accord des tendances trop contrastées...Peut-être ai-Je dû à la coexistence de deux formes d'esprit si opposées ce goût d'une culture complexe et cosmopolite, dont la trace se trouve dans tant de nés pages. J'ai cru du moins concilier ainsi les courants très différents que Je sentais Jaillir dans las profondeurs de ma nature intellectuelle.4

His experiences in life had a double Influence upon his nature for they both sharpened his Intelligence and deepened his sensibilities. The father, Justin Bourget, was an enlightened mathematician who Inculcated in his precocious son the love of science. His studies took place at Amiens, Strasbourg, Clermont and finally Paris where his father became the "Directeur des études" at Sainte-Barbe and the young Bourget continued his studies at Louis-le-Grand. He was an assiduous student, searching for the truth, believing in science with a religious fervor, as had Talne, the master of the thought of the youth of his period. The death of his mother, when he was but five years old, affected the acute sensibility of the young Bourget. Although he did not have time to know her well, the anguish that he was to feel throughout his life over her loss is revealed by one of his early poems: Je n'ai gardé de toi, Mère, douce morte, --Oh.' si douce.'--qu 'un vieux portrait où l'on te volt, Accoudée, appuyant ta tempe sur ton doigt, Comme pour comprimer une peine trop forte Quand tu songeais ainsi, Mère, Je n'étais pas, Tu n'avais pas tiré mon être de ton être ... Réponds.' devinais-tu qu'un fils devait te naître Que tu devais laisser orphelin ici-bas? Voyais-tu mon destin d'avance, et mon angoisse Et ce coeur, né du tien, que tout maltraite et froisse, Et cette hérédité de tes plus noirs ennuis? Réponds.' figure aimée et si vite ravie, Qui, de ses sombres yeux, pareils aux miens, me suis, Avals-tu déjà peur de me donner la vie?5 I*. Bourget, Paul, "Lettre autobiographique," in: Van Daell, Extraits choisis, 189^, p. 55. Bourget, Paul, "Mortuae," i n : Les Aveux, poésleB, I I , 292.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

5?

Although his father and his step-mother were good to him, his suffering over his mother's death and his father's remarriage was profound. Salnt-René-Talllandler, a college friend, and Henry Bordeaux, an Intimate friend for the last forty years of Bourget's life, both relate the author's confidences concerning the unhapplness of his youth. Henry Bordeaux places the beginning of his pessimism In this early experience: L'enfant ne connut pas, ne voulut pae connaître la douceur du foyer, ni les détentes de l'amour filial. Il est très possible que cette contraction enfantine si pénible lui soit imputable, et non à la seconde femme de son père dont on ne peut dire que du bien, mais qui, elle-même bientôt chargée d'enfants, né put on ne sut entreprendre le siège de ce coeur tendre et refermé. 0

The great number of nouvelles which deal with the psychology of the adolescent facing this problem Illustrate how much his own feelings of the formative years preoccupied him throughout his life. Bourget's early home life was filled with many emotional upsets because of his extreme sensitiveness and discerning analytical mind. When his feelings were hurt because of real or Imaginary causes, he withdrew within himself and suffered alone rather than divulge his feelings. The Irregularity of his emotions at the age of ten Is explained by Professor Feulllerat in the following way: "Son émotivité toujours tendue lui faisait exagérer les moindres- faits, voir la vie ou trop sombre ou trop brillante, concevoir avec frénésie des désirs de choses impossibles, désirs naturellement suivis de désappointements douloureux."7 To the supervision and Influence of his father, was added that of his grandfather Nicard, father of his step-mother, who Introduced him to Latin and the literature of the Greeks and the Romans. Knowledge of life came prematurely to Bourget as a boy through literature for It was the focus of his activity in the lycée. His father had taken him from the foyer and put him In school so that he might have contact with,other children of his own age and develop a better balanced personality. His experiences away from the family.only accentuated his hyper-sensltlvlty. This was one of the most depressed periods of his life. When he was but 6. Bordeaux, Henry, "Le Souvenir de Paul Bourget," Revue dee Deui Mondes, XXXVII (1957), 5877- Feulllerat, Albert, Paul Bourget, p. 8.

54

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

fourteen he made the discovery of modern literature, an event vhlch precipitated an Intellectual crisis and awakened his curiosity about the mysteries and complications of life. The effect of the books of the nineteenth century masters upon a young boy of his sensibility, he relates In his "Lettre autobiographique": Dans les doux lycées où Je passai cette première partie de ma Jeunesse, à Clermont d'abord, pule a Paris, la discipline n'existait guère et la surveillance de nos lectures était b1 superficielle que nous vivions dans la familiarité dee ouvrages les plus difficiles à bien comprendre pour de très Jeunes intelligences. A quinze ans, mes camarades et moi nous savions par coeur les deux volumes de vers d'Alfred de Musset, nous avions dévoré tous les romans de Balzac et ceux de Stendhal, Madame Bovary et les Fleurs du Mal. J'ai toujours soutenu qu'un livre de vérité n'est Jamais immoral, et J'en pourrais donner cette preuve qu'aucun de nous n'a été corrompu par une seule de ces soi-disant dangereuses lectures, leur vrai danger était ailleurs dans la précocité du désenchantement qu'elles risquaient de noue donner et dans le déséquilibre intérieur qui devait en résulter. Réellement, innocents et naïfs, nous ne pouvions manquer d'être désorientés par cette initiation anticipée aux dessous cruels ou violents du monde. Pour ma part, et dominé que J'étais par cette Imagination qui sans doute me rendait les analyses des maîtres trop vivantes, Je commençai d'entrer dana un état dp désarroi intérieur aussi insupportable qu'indéfinissable, Ma personallté véritable semblait s'évanouir pour mol et se disperser dans celle des auteurs que Je m'étais assimilés si voracement. Qui étais-Jeî Qu'aimais-Je? Que voulais-Je? Que croyais-Je?8

This crisis of Intellect brought with It the loss of his early devout faith. He states that the reading of Musset was enough to accomplish such a change. During his course In philosophy at Louls-le-Grand, Talne and Renan, particularly the former, completely captivated him. The student Bourget was In the midst of hl3 work in philosophy when the war of I87O broke out, followed by the Commune. Salnte-Barbe, where his father was In charge, was located at the very heart of the scene of Communard action. Impressions and stories based on the terrifying days of the civil war are used In the nouvelles 8. Bourget, Paul, "Lettre autobiographique," op. cit., pp. 7-9.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

55

such as L'Exemple, Le Père Theurlot and Pendant la Bataille. In the latter, the author relates the effect of these experiences upon him: Ces souvenirs, d'il j a vingt-quatre ans, sont précis pour mol comme s'ils dataient d'hier. Pourquoi ne les al-Je pas notés plus tôt? Peutêtre à cause de cette précision méïne. Elle me rend présentes Jusqu'à l'hallucination les heures les plus affreuses de ma Jeunesse, celles où J'ai vu, adolescent, presque enfant, une trop précoce révélation de la férocité de la vie. 9

On a beautiful May day In 1871, the troups from Versailles attacked the Insurrectionists In the Saint-Michel quartier where Sainte-Barbe was situated. Powder was set to blow up the near-by Pantheon, but the tragedy was forestalled at the last minute by the cutting of a fuse leading to the powder. The government troops won out. With a friend, after the battle, Bourget went through the streets, viewing the tragic spectacle of the dead and wounded. The impressionable lad had before him all the horrors of war as one of the greatest forces of evil in the world. In the nouvelle, L'Echéance, Bonrget poignantly analyzes the contradictory Influences which created confusion in his mind and in the youth coming to maturity after the war of I87O. He had faced the disaster oT defeat with the philosophy of his elders, Taine and Renan. He recalls how an absolute faith in science lies at the basis of their doctrines. The dogma of necessity he then ascertained all through the works of these masters, in clear formulas with Taine and more subtly hidden with Renan. From the first, he learned that all civilization was the produce of "race, milieu et moment" and from the second, that the evolution of religious thought was dominated by fixed natural laws. Their teachings ended In fatalism, which older men could conciliate with scruples of morality and energies of action, but the result for the youth of his time was more devastating: Pour dea Jeunes gens, elles ne dégagaient qu'un principe de négation et de pessimisme, et cela, précisément à l'heure où les désastres de la guerre et de la Cammune venaient de frapper si durement la patrie et d'Imposer à nos consciences l'évidence du devoir social, l'obligation de l'effort utile et direct. 1 0

9. Pendant la tatallle, in: Recommencements, p. 249. 10. L'Echéance, in: Drames de famille, p. 4.

56

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Thus, an antithesis grew up between the theories of his beloved masters and the need of the country for action. Bourget felt the responsibility of acting In the crisis but the nihilistic doctrine of determinism discouraged him In advance. He says of himself and his compatriots: LB divorce était complet entre notre intelligence et notre sensibilité. La plupart d'entre nous, s'ils veulent bien revenir en arrière, reconnaîtront que l'oeuvre de leur Jeunesse fut de réduire une contradiction dont quelques-uns souffrent encore, quoique la vie ait exercé sur eux aussi eon Inévitable dlaclpllne, qui consiste à noua faire accepter de telles antithèses comme la condition naturelle des fimes modernes.11

Eugène Corbières, the fictional friend of Bourget in L'Echéance, faced that contradiction in his choice of a career. In choosing medicine, he was motivated by the same reasons which were to direct Bourget to his choice of literature. Corblères had chosen the profession of medicine, first of all, because of his need of certitudes. He explains his choice in the following way: Mon goût personnel m'eût entraîné vers les études plus abstraites. Je serais entré à l'Ecole normale, pour m'occuper de métaphysique si Je n'avais lu Kant et aussi L'Intelligence de Talne. Il m'a paru que 1'object dans les science philosophiques est par trop douteux. Mon esprit à moi a comme faim et soif de quelque chose de positif, d'in12 discutable. Les sciences naturelles donnent cela.

Among the natural sciences, he felt that medicine had a practical application which satisfied all philosophies of life. Secondly, he chose medicine because he felt the need for action, especially since he had gone through the Franco-Prussian war. He had the impression that he would have on a boat In danger during a tempest. Of it, he says: "C'est une honte de ne pas prendre part à la manoeuvre, le pouvant." 1 3 In the same nouvelle, the author discloses how he, like Corblères, decided to take up medicine. His father wanted him to enter the Ecole normale and prepare for 1 1 . Ibid,, p. 5 . 12. Ibid., pp. 9-10. 13. Ibid., p. 10.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

57

teaching, but, although the son was not yet convinced that literature was his field, he was sure that he did not want to teach. His resolution to take up medicine, however, was limited to a few clinical meetings, to which his friends Introduced him. The experience was a good one for him, however, for It put him In close touch with life. He explains just what It meant to him: C'était le contact dont J'avais le plus besoin.

M o n erreur, qui fut

celle de tant d'autres Jeunes gens égarés par une précoce ambition d'écrire, consistait à faire de la littérature un but, au lieu qu'elle n'est qu'un résultat.

Je voulais composer des romans, et Je n'avais

rien observé; des vers, et Je n'avais rien senti.

Le grand

service

à me rendre était de me tirer du milieu tout artificiel tout livresque, où Je m'étiolais, pour me montrer de l'humanité simple et besogneuse, de la vie, humble et terre à terre, mais vraie. service, Eugène me le rendit deux fols, et sans s'en douter;

Ce par ces

salutaires visites à la Pitié, d'abord; et puis, en me faisant pénétrer dans l'Intérieur de sa famille

... 1 4

The young Bourget decided finally, against parental objections, to consecrate himself to literature. The artistic representation of the truth of life, discovered through observation, was to him a noble task which satisfied his double need of certitude and action. The beginnings were very hard. He lived independently, resorting to teaching in order to earn his bread and butter. In the nouvelle. Ancien portrait, he recaptures the difficult days, when he was separated from his family and forced to give lessons In philosophy and Latin. He did not lose sight of his àmbltlon, however, for he was resolved to produce literature at any cost. Balzac was his inspiration. He played seriously the role of Raphael de Valentin in La Peau de chagrin.18 He attended courses In Greek philology and criticism of texts at the Sorbonne and Talne's lectures In the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In Un Réveillon, Bourget recalls, with a note of nostalgia, his experiences during this period in his life. He states that his courses in Greek paleography and textual criticism were only an excuse 14. Ibid., pp. 12-1315. In Profils perdus, pp. 229-38. 16. Cf. Ibid., p. 230.

58

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

so that he would have free time to write, fired., as he and his companions were, with the ambition to be "men of letters." The following passage indicates his real Interests during his days in the Quartier Latin:

Dans ma pauvre chambre meublée de la rue des Ecoles, les tiroirs contenaient très peu de "conjectures" et de "contributions" philologiques. Il s'y rencontrait, en revanche, des fragments de poèmes en grand nombre, force ébauches de romans, de nouvelles, de drames, et aussi, pourquoi ne pas l'avouer, pas mal de billets d'une orthographe Incertaine où s'épanchait le sentimentalisme de Jeunes habitantes de ce quartier, aux moeurs aussi incertaines que cette orthographe; car mes camarades et moi nous croyions de bonne foi apprendre La Vie--avec quelles majuscules :--en dépensant les précieuses, les si courtes heures de notre Jeunesse et, ce qui est pire, la délicate fleur de notre sensibilité à courtiser des beautés de brasserie et de bals publics...17

The impression that he retains of his youth spent around the Mont Sainte-Geneviève is one of melancholy. He traces this feeling to the precocious disillusion of unworthy love affairs, to the excess of work and the ever-present experience of literary rivalry and its ruthlessness. During his free time, he frequented the gatherings of the yonng literary aspirants of his day. They would gather in a café on Rue Vauglrard, near the Odóon and the Luxembourg. He describes the group in the nouvelle, L'Echéance; IÀ se réunissait un petit cercle de Jeunes écrivains, aujourd'hui dispersés, qui avaient la naïve fantaisie de dénommer eux-mêmes les "vivants." Je croyais faire acte d'homme de lettres, en perdant plusieurs heures par Jour dans la Joyeuse et paradoxale société de ces aimableB compagnons, qui laissaient insatisfaite la partie la plus intime de mon intelligence.19 Anatole France describes the part that Bourget played in these meetings of would-be writers:

17. Un Réveillon, in: Un Homme d'affaires, pp. 239-40. 18. Cf. Ibid., p. 242. 19. L'Echéance, in: Drenas de f«nilie, p. 8.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

59

Paul Bourget, poète adolescent, apportait ses fines analyses et ses élégantes curiosités. Déjà partagé entre le culte de la métaphysique et l'amour des grâces mondaines, 11 passait aisément dans ses propos de la théorie de la volonté aux prestiges de la toilette des feumes et faisait pressentir les romans qu'il nous a donnés depuis. Il avait plus de philosophie qu'aucun de nous et l'emportait communément dans ces nobles disputes que nous prolongions tien avant dans la ji 20 nuit. The dangerous elements that such gatherings of writers contained for an artist are analyzed by Bourget: Ayant presque tous leur situation matérielle à établir et confondant la recherche d'un talent personnel avec la conquête de la renommée, mes camarades se préoccupaient uniquement de livres ou d'articles à écrire, et ces livres comn» ces articles leur apparaissaient un peu comas un tour de force Inédit apparaît à un gymnaste. Il s'agit pour lui d'une difficulté à vaincre, de rivaux à dépasser, d'un effet à produire. Une pareille théorie de l'art a des avantages d'éducation. Elle fait des écrivains qui, poètes, savent bien construire un vers, et prosateurs, bien maçonner une phrase. Elle a Je défaut d'écarter un artiste de la vie. Elle exagère en lui le culte de • 21 l'expression aux depens de 1'impression. Bourget himself despaired because he had not yet discovered the best avenues for his particular talent. The author made his literary debut as a journalist in La Renaissance, writing under the pseudonym of Pierre Pohl. His first published article, a study of Spinoza, appeared in December, 1872. Other critical articles were published in the same revue the following year as well as a short nouvelle, La Main de bronze. This short story, reminiscent of Mérimée in its violence, portrays the vengeance of a Russian noble who cuts off the hand of his mistress and sends it to his rival. Bourget's earliest 20. France, Anatole, La Vie littéraire, 1908, II, 55. 21. Bourget, Paul, "Lettre autobiographique," op. cit., p. 10. 22. La Main de bronze, ln: La Renaissance littéraire et artistique, 15 fév., 1873. Bourget did not republish this first nouvelle in book form. It vas republished, however, in the Nouvelle Bevue Internationale, XXVII (7-15 Juin 1895)» 632-63U, In an Issue commemsrating Bourget's election to the Académie Française.

60

PAUL BOURGET A N D THE NOUVELLE

nouvelle of note, Céline Lacoste, appeared, on the fifteenth of April, 1874, In the Revue dea Deux Mondes. It la an Illustration of the Ideal he presented for fiction In an article published In the same review, called "Le Roman réaliste et le Roman plétiste." In this eaaay, he criticized both the monatrous creations of the realists and the .lack of reality found In the opposite extreme, that of the pietists' novels. His Ideal for fiction, then given, was a genre which would give an exact picture of "the Intimate life" and "the exterior world," one which would find beauty In the "study of healthy things and noble sentiments." Céline Lacoste, which has as Its subtitle, "Souvenirs de la vie réelle," satisfied this program. The nouvelle also Is illustrative of the author's early taste for psychological analysis of dramas of conscience. As a youth, he had felt strongly the analytical nature of his temperament. He realized, that it was this which marked the difference between himself and. the groups of young writers which he frequented: "Ils étalent tous uniquement des artistes littéraires,--quelques-uns déjà supérieurs,— et moi, j'étais, dès lors, beaucoup plus préoccupé d'analyse que de style, et de psychologie que d'esthétique." 25 Having thus started with a criticism of the naturalistic school, Bourget made a n about face under the Influence of Talne and became briefly a n adherent of the principles of Zola. The author of L'Assommoir sent Bourget a copy of that novel. To express his thanks, the critic wrote to Zola of his admiration for the work. He also published several articles defending the naturalistic school. A nouvelle. Le Retour, later càlled Jean Maquenem, published In 1877» Is a product of this excursion into naturalism. The critic's real opportunity for a difficult but fruitful apprenticeship came from his work as a journalist between 1879 and 1882, a period during which he was successively the drama critic for Le Globe and Le Parlement. He also contributed other articles to these reviews as well as to the newspaper, L a Paix. Several of the articles were nouvelles; for example, Ancien Portrait, Trois Souvenirs, Sketch Book and Secum sola, 2 8 brought together later to 25- Revue dea Deux Mondes, 15 J u i l l e t 1873. 2 4 . Cf. F e u i l l e r a t , A l b e r t , Paul B o u r g e t , p. h } . 2 5 . L'Echéance, l n : Dr>"""s de f a m i l l e , p. 8 . 2 6 . For the e x a c t d e t a i l s o f B o u r g e t ' s l i f e and the circvunatances under which the n o u v e l l e s were f i r s t published, I am indebted to P r o f e s s o r F e u i l l e r a t ' s Paul B o u r g e t .

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

61

form part of the collection of Profils perdus, vere written under the title of chronicles during this period. This work as a journalist broadened the author's experience bygiving him first hand contact with Parisian society. He was adding to his early bookish experiences and impressions, those of life itself. Between 1875 and 1 8 8 2 , Bourget's books of poetry, La Vie inquiète, Edel and Les Aveux were also published. They did not bring him the recognition he so earnestly sought. In 1 8 8 0 , Le Parlement published a nouvelle, Tentation, which marks a further evolution in the authors ideas, indicating a final break with the naturalistic school. It deals with a young professor's daughter, a product of a completely Isolated dream world, who falls in love with a debauched, atheistic writer, who lives near her. She has no contacts with him, but observes his life from her window. She is so jealous and shocked by the life led by the man she loves that she writes anonymous letters which complicate his plans and finally bring death to him. The marks of naturalism are found, as Professor Feulllerat points out, in the minute description of the professor's quartier and milieu and the picture of the debauched life of the hero. The emphasis, however, in the nouvelle, is placed upon the young girl. The analysis given of her disturbed inner life furnishes evidence that the author is about to leave behind naturalistic tendencies and return to the psychological analyses of Céline Lacoste. Bourget soon repudiated his short-lived enthusiasm for naturalism and launched into a literary program in which his originality was to find full expression. The Essais de psychologie contemporaine, published in the Nouvelle Revue and then In book form in 1883 definitely established him as a distinguished critic. In his "Lettre autobiographique," he explains how he finally fell upon a field of study which was to be that of his literary career. He had written for ten years without success. In despair, he began to study the causes of his continual failure. He found It, as he states, in: "cette sorte d'Intoxication littéraire qui m'avait empêché de vivre ma vie à mol, de me façonner des goûts à mol, de 3entlr mol-même enfin."28 27. I have not had access to this nouvelle as it was never published in book form.

Professor Feuillerat gives a detailed analysie of it,

however, in Paul Bourget, pp. 9C-91-

28. Bourget, Paul, "Lettre autobiographique," op. c i t . , pp. 10-11.

62

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

This difficulty was not Individual with him, for by experience and observation, he realized that the sensibilities of most of his contemporaries had also been formed by the Influence of books. It was only the contemporary authors who had affected him thus; so, he came to the realization that these writers had answered the needs of his thought and heart, which he himself did not know. He conceived the Idea that by studying the moral life of the writers who had so Influenced the youth of his time, he would discover his entire period with Its passions, joys and griefs. His purpoBe In his two series of essays was to outline the moral portrait of his generation, found in the books by which he had been so deeply Influenced. He had only to transfer his gift for psychological analysis of the very spirit of his time to the narrative field to gain for the nouvelle and the roman, a new emphasis, which he lucidly expounds: Ce qui m'avait Intéressé dans cette série d'essais q 'avait été non pas les écrivains eux-mêmes, mais les états de l'finie manifestés par ces écrivains. Or, ces états de l'fijne, qu'étalent-Ils, sinon les états de certaines fimes? De même que J'avais aperçu par delà lea pages des livres des sentiments vivants, par-dessous ces sentiments J'apercevais ces âmes vivantes, et le roman m'apparalssalt comme la forme d'art la plus capable de les peindre. Quel roman? A l'époque dont Je parle, et qui remonte à dix ans, l'école des écrivains de moeurs, issue de Balzac par Flaubert, avait en France à peu près écarté de ce genre toute étude des phénomènes Intérieurs. Or, c'était Justement vers la description de ces phénomènes que Je me sentais attiré. 28

The critic first tried his new formula for psychological studies In two nouvelles, L'Irréparable and Deuxième Amour, both written in 1882 and appearing in 1884 under the title of the former, with the collection of Profils perdus as a.pendant. The first pages of L'Irréparable are important, for in them the author explains the philosophy which prompted him to take up the study of the reaction of human souls. It determines his own literary evolution and marks the advent of a new literature for France. The essential points are presented in a discussion between the author and a scholar, M. Adrien Sixte. The latter says s

29- Ibid., p. 12.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

6?

Non, la personne humaine, la personne morale, celle dont nous dísona mol, n'est pae plus simple que le corps lui-même.

Par-dessous

l'exis-

tence Intellectuelle et sentimentale dont nous avons conscience, et dont nous endossons la responsabilité, peut-être

Illusoire,

tout un

domaine s'étend obscur et changeant, qui est celui de notre vie Inconsciente.

Il se cache en nous une créature que nous ne connaissons

pas, et dont nous ne savons Jamais si elle n'est pas précisément le contraire de la créature que nous croyons être.

De là dérivent ces

volte-face singulières de conduite qui nous ont fourni prétexte à tant de déclamations des moralistes

... Nous dépensons

toute notre ac-

tivité appoursulvre un but dont nous Imaginons que dépend notre bonheur, et, ce but atteint, nous nous apercevons que nous avons méconnu les véritables, les secrètes exigences de notre

sensibilité.30

As examples he points out the secret dramas that are hidden In religious conversions and the more common ones In dally life such as the unexpected conflicts that arise In marriage. Definitely then, from this point on, Bourget, motivated by the desire to "see clearly" Into the human sou.1, adopts as his special province the investigation of the duality of the human being and the controlling forces of his life. As the author tells us In the preface of a 1900 edition of L'Irréparable, he is presenting the nouvelle again to the public as: "une preuve que dès ses lointains débuts 11 était, autant qu'aujourd'hui, préoccupé des problèmes de conscience et curieux d'analyses psychologiques." 3 1 In the short story, Claire,32 he calls his work that of the "moral botanist" who conscientiously and scientifically observes cases before coming to any conclusions. His curiosity about the multiplicity of the mol, the motives back of the actions of personalities and of all the great problems of life was very acute. He confesses to this trait of his temperament frequently throughout the nouvelles. In Autre Inconnue, he 3tates: "Quatre années s'étalent écoulées depuis lors, quatre années durant lesquelles j'avais regardé bien des physionomies humaines et participé à la vie intime de bien des Êmes, ?C. L'Irréparable, pp. U-5. 31. L'Irréparable,

"Avant-propos," 190C Edition, p. 2.

32. Claire, in Pastels, p. 191*.

64

PAUL BOUHGET AND THE NOUVELLE

en prole à cette étrange curiosité de la sensation d'autrui qui s'exalte avec le temps au lieu de s'apaiser."33 Or, elsewhere, as ln Le David, he writes: "D'ailleurs, l'étonnante anomalie sentimentale découverte chez mon ancien camarade suffisait à Intéresser profondément le curieux de nature humaine qui veille sans cesse chez tout lettré."34 He would even change his plans and do things that he did not particularly like to do ln order to ferret out the basic motives for the ideas and sentiments of a personality as in L'Adversaire: "Et pourquoi ne pas l'avouer? l'anomalie psychologique dont mon jeune compatriote m'avait fait la confidence, évidemment sincère, surexcitait en moi l'observateur, au point que je donnai sans aucun regret, à mon drogman Joseph les ordres de départ pour le lendemain matin." 35 In Un Saint, he is on his way to see the frescoes discovered by dom Grlffi in the convent of MonteChlaro, when he meets Philippe Dubois, an annoying young writer, and becomes preoccupied with his character ln spite of himself. He laments his own weakness which causes him to turn from his own cherished project: Hélas.' ce n ' e s t p a s des i m p r e s s i o n s de c e t o r d r e que J ' é t a i s venu c h e r c h e r s u r l e b o r d du g l a u q u e e t m é l a n c o l i q u e A r n o . D e v r a l - J e donc r e t r o u v e r a i n s i un peu de ce que J ' a i m e l e m o i n s ' d a n s P a r i s , t o u j o u r s e t p a r t o u t , s a n s p o u v o i r me r e t e n i r de m'y i n t é r e s s e r comme s i Je l ' a i m a i s , e t ma c u r i o s i t é de l'fime humaine ne c e s s e r a - t - e l l e Jamais d ' ê t r e p l u s f o r t e que mes s a g e s p r o j e t s d ' u n e e x i s t e n c e t o u t e i d é a l e parmi l e s b e l l e s oeuvres d ' a r t ? 3 6

It is this insatiable curiosity about the inner life of human beings that made Bourget a forerunner of the literature of psychological analysis ln modern times. When he states in 1894 that "modern psychology demonstrates to us that we live on the surface of our being and that a vast hidden vegetation of obscure thoughts, unknown sentiments and indescribable emotions, stirs ln the darkness of our Instinctive personality,"37 he Is only repeating what he had already said ten years previously in L'Irréparable, ln the midst of the triumphs of the naturalists. René Doumlc 33. . 35. 36. 37.

Autre Inconnue, i n : P a s t e l s . p. J2J. Le D a v i d , l n : R e c o ^ ^ n c e m e n t s , p . 63. L ' A d v e r s a i r e , l n : Recommencements, p . 123Un S a i n t , i n : Nouveaux P a s t e l s , p . 1 7 . Bourget, P a u l , " l e t t r e a u t o b i o g r a p h i q u e , " op. c i t . ,

p.

14.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

65

emphasizes the author's Importance in the evolution of the literature of the last part of the nineteenth century: "M. Bourget est le premier qui alt rappelé les écrivains à l'étude de la vie Intérieure et à 1'analyze des faits de conscience. Il nous a rappris que nous avons une âme. Il a remis en faveur une forme de roman qui est vraiment dans la tradition française."38 It is veil to recall this role when the author later acquires the label of "reactionary." This "visiteur d'Êmes," as Henry Bordeaux calls him, 39 was highly successful in his analysis of characters because of an ability which he himself designated as his master faculty. Autant que l'on peut se connaître sol-même, Je croie, que ma faculté maîtresse, comme disait mon vénéré maître M. Taine, a toujours été l'imagination des sentiments.

Médiocrement doué pour l'évocation des

formes, J'ai de la peine à me rappeler avec exactitude un endroit, un tableau, une_ statue.

Je serais embarrassé de dire la couleur des

cheveux d'une personne que J'aurais vue seulement deux ou trois fols. En revanche, le souvenir des plus légères émotions demeure si vivant dans ma mémoire que J'ai la puissance de les ressentir, pour ainsi dire, à nouveau avec toute leur douceur et leur amertume, même quand 11 s'agit de mes premiers

Jours de collège.

Il m'est impossible aussi

de m'intéresser à quelqu'un, sans me figurer avec une Intensité presque égale à celle de mes souvenirs personnels, ses façons de sentir, ses goûts et ses dégoûts, ses plaisirs et ses

chagrins.40

This dominant trait of his temperament la the one which is most frequently in evidence in his brief narratives. In the nouvelle, Le Diamant de la Reine, he recounts how, a3 a student, he had been practically possessed in turn by different authors as were some of his friends; "Nous étions sensuels et mystiques avec Baudelaire, romanesques et philosophes avec Sully Prudhomme, effrénés et réfléchis avec le Julien Sorel de Stendhal, ambitieux et volontaires avec les héros de Balzac, lyriques et désenchantés avec ceux de Musset."41 With him the peculiarity was reproduced as he took up the profession of a psychological observer: Ce polymorphisme psychique se prolongeait pour mol, san3 doute par une anomalie particulière, puisque, dans l'existence quotidienne, quand

38.

Doumlc, René, Ecrivains d'aujourd'hui,

1895, p. 35-

39. Eordeaux, Henry, Pèlerinages littéraires, 1906, p. 176. UO. "Lettre autobiographique," p. 6. Ul. Le Diamant de la reine, p. 39-

11

66

PAUL BOURGET A N D T H E N O U V E L L E

m'arrivalt de rencontrer chez un camarade et 9urtout chez une femme des façons de sentir qui m'Intéressaient, J'épousais leurs goûts et leurs émotions pour quelques Jours, avec une intensité qui m'aliénait un peu de moi-même. Je vivais leur vie, momentanément, plus que la mienne propre * z The setting of Le Diamant de la Reine is in Italy w h e r e the author observes the sentimental complications of Stavrene, Antonia and Mme Warner. the three characters: H e becomes so engrossed in their lives that he himself is In turn each of the characters. He becomes perfidious and tender w i t h Stavrene and jealous w i t h the two women. His own existence becomes almost a non-entity before the intensity of this experience: Vainemsnt ire rappelaient-elles mes amitiés au bord de la Seine, mes travaux, l'urgence de mes intérêts littéraires et les causeries d'idées avec des maîtres, alors vivants: un Taine, un Sully, un Dumas file, qui m'étaient si chères. Ces réalités de mon existence parisienne me paraissaient comme des songes, au lieu que le clapotement de la lagune, les façades des palais, la silhouette de l'Américaine ... occupaient tout le champ de ma pensée. Y e a r s after the tragic events of the nouvelle, with which the three characters were associated, just the mention of the name "Lusltanla," the boat on which Antonia had sailed, brings b a c k to Bourget a flood of images, almost in the form of a n hallucination. Over the raisons for such poignant sensations, he ponders: Mais y a-t-il une raison à ce Jeu des réminiscences qui se déroulent en nous à notre inEU, et quel homme, surtout quand il a longtemps vécu, autant dire survécu, peut-il vraiment s'affirmer à lui-même: "Les heures, qui m'ont troublé si profondément il y a vingt, trente; quarante ans, sont à Jamais mortes dans mon âme?" Dois-Je considérer cette instantanéité dans la résurrection du passé, parfois aiguë chez moi Jusqu'à l'angoisse, comme un phénomène qui m'est personnel?44 The power of emotional memory and recall is often so great in the author that he dreads the crises of memory which haunt his sleep. A n illustration, among others, is the nouvelle, A l i n e , 4 5 in which he speaks through his alter epo, U2. Ibid. U5. Ibid., p. 78. UU. Ibid., pp. U - 5 . U5. Aline, In: Pastels •

GENESIS A N D PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

67

Claude Larcher. A f t e r more than a quarter of a century, the memory of his childhood playmate surges up b e f o r e him. Into the author's Imagination of the feelings of other people goes so m u c h tenderness and personal sympathy, that he is able to assimilate the troubles of others until he himself feels the aching of their wounds. He succeeds In transferring the Intensity of this experience to the reader of his nouvelles. In A l i n e , under the name of C l a u d e Larcher, the author explains why he cannot be happy at holiday periods : Je compte déjà presque autant d'amis sous terre que sur terre, et, à de certains moments de l'année, lorsque c'est fête sur les calendriers et dans les rues, aux foyers des familles et dans les yeux des enfants, il m'arrive de me souvenir de ceux pour qui ce ne sera plus Jamais fête, avec une tendresse singulière,—avec bien du repentir aussi quelquefois...46 Ma destinée a voulu que Je visse, mol, tout enfant, s'en aller des êtres bien chers, et J'ai trop continué de les aimer, mène alors. J'ai eu ainsi, dès cette époque ou chaque Journée nouvelle semble une vie nouvelle, des anniversaires trop nombreux.47 Thus, he cannot pass the period of Noël without recalling with anguish Aline, the childhood friend of his tenth year, who died two days before Christmas. Just at the m e n t i o n of her name, from his subconclous memory springs the p i c t u r e of the old provincial house in which they lived, the garden, the circle of the mountains about the:n, the proprietor of the house and most distinctly of all, Aline herself. A s s o c i a t i o n of memory with names of towns are sparks which touch off the fuses of the author's Imagination as In the nouvelle, Marcel, where the author speaks in the character of François Vernantes: Ce nom, dont Je m'interdis de tracer les lettres, évoquait pour mol, quand Je le rencontrais dans un Journal, sur un indicateur de chemins de fer, au hasard d'un livre, des profils de maisons anciennes avec des toîts bruns, et, surplombant le canal ou la rivière, d'antiques balcons de bois brunâtre garnis de fleurs. Je revoyais la roue noire d'un moulin, en train de tourner d'un mouvement doux, et, à chaque fols, ses palettes secouaient une pluie de gouttes, brillantes comme des diamants. La tour à demi détruite du château, les débris des remparts couronnés de Jardins, le clocher à Jour de l'église et sa flèche inachevée, que J'ai souvent contemplé en pensée ces détails, et le paysage à l'entour, avec sa couleur d'été . .. 48 U6. Ibid., pp. 261-62. 1+7. Ibid., pp. 265-6U. !+8. Marcel, in: Nouveaux Pastels, p. 213-

68

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Music stirs up the hidden recesses of the writer's 49 memory In Le Scrupule. There, In a lost corner of England, he hears Italian musicians playing an air which resurrects for him two phantoms of the past, "la grande Aline" and "la petite Blanche." The picture of his connection with their life becomes more and more precise as the rendition of the music continues. As soon as Paul Bourget stepped Into the street, a restaurant, a railroad coach, In fact, anywhere that human beings appeared, his acute Instinct of observation and his creative power of Imagination of emotions were at work. In the nouvelle, Dualité, for example, he tells how he had gone to Rapallo to work In a quiet place, suggested to him by Guy de Maupassant. There he had hoped to find a tranquil corner in which to write. His Imagination does not leave him completely free, however, for as soon as he takes his place In the dining-room of Mme Balbl's hotel, It Is disturbed. This characteristic of his temperament and this method of gathering material for his nouvelles, he describes In the following way: Je regardais ces commensaux avec une curiosité déjà passionnée.

Je

croyais pressentir, tant l'endroit était singulier, du roman partout, derrière chaque physionomie, depuis celle de cette digne matrone en grand deuil, à qui la Balbi faisait les honneurs de sa droite,

Jusqu'à

celle de cet Allemand de trente-cinq ans, dont les yeux bleus si fûtes sous leurs lunettes d'or semblaient quêter parmi ces figures une Infortune à consoler et une dot à enlever.

Et déjà mon

féminines imagina-

tion commençait de vagabonder autour des uns et des autres,quand le coup de foudre de la surprise la plus terrassante déconcerta soudain mes idées au point de me faire rester une minute immobile, médusé par le couple qui venait d'entrer dans la salle à manger et qui s'arrêtait devant la table réservée officiellement à Mme de la C h a r m e . 5 0

Bourget excelled In exploiting chance encounters to which he brought this highly developed ability. Out of mere Incident, he was able to divine the intimate story of the people he met. His whole collection of nouvelles called Les Voyageuses are creations of this type. In his preface, he explains that he gathered them together under that title because they were "sketched In the rapid flash on the most fugitive impression."51 The author and his characters 1»9. Le Scrupule,

1895-

50. Dualité, in: U n Homme d'affaires, pp. 170-71. 51. Preface, Voyageuses•

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

69

met but once and. at the present time he does not know where they live nor what has become of them, but the picture he gives Is so complete that we can enjoy "the unique poetry, the unequalled charm of these travelers, known just enough to arouse pity for their melancholy or to be happy because of their happiness..."52 The shrewd observer, besides, does not need much time to discover the truth of a personality for he knows just what to look for: Un g e s t e nous s é d u i t ; mais qui n ' a éprouvé qu'une c r é a t u r e humaine t i e n t t o u t e n t i è r e dans un g e s t e , e t qu'une s e n s i b i l i t é , ou f i n e ou b r u t a l e , se r é v è l e p a r l a s e u l e physionomie d ' u n mouvement? La couleur d ' u n r e g a r d nous a b o u l e v e r s é s ; mais c ' e s t que nous avons vu par d e l à ces yeux b l e u s ou n o i r s , e t q u ' à t r a v e r s l e u r e p r u n e l l e s , l ' u n i v e r s S3 d'une personne nous e s t apparu.

The greatest part of Bourget's attention was devoted to the study of the passions of love In contemporary society because "they lay bare the truth of the heart that they ravage.'^* The reasons for this emphasis, which is characteristic both of the novels and of the short stories, are further elaborated in the author's essay on Dumas flis.55 The study of the varied relationships between man and woman furnished a means of expression for two dominant faculties of Dumas flls: that of the moralist and that of the dramatist. The same may be said of Bourget, for he, too, Is a moralist with a flair for Intensely dramatic situations. In his essay cited above, he states that there is no passion which, more than love, strikes so deeply at the very sources of moral life. If love is legitimate, life is made beautiful by the growth of the family as a cell of society. If love is illegitimate, life is poisoned by irregularities in conduct and destiny. The quality of love in us affects every step of our lives, as children, as.youths and as parents. The moralist In Dumas flls sees beyond the "mirage of happiness" that Illegitimate love offers and attacks the problems and conflicts created by it in their infinite variation. The dramatist, on the other hand, looks upon love as a force which governs the secret energy of characters and as the most fertile cause of crises. Love brings the characters close together. 52.

Ibid.

53- L ' I r r é p a r a b l e , p . 89. 5U. " L e t t r e a u t o b i o g r a p h i q u e , " op. c i t . , p . 1 3 . 5 5 . "Dumas f l l s , " E s s a i s de p s y c h o l o g i e contemporaine, I I ,

20-22.

70

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Whereas other appetites are held In check by 3oclal barriers love suppresses the laws and proprieties of civilized life. The world of the heart and the senses cannot be regimented; therefore, It Is to this sphere that Bourget turns to seek the revelation of a man's character. The taste for subjects dealing with the mysteries of love goes back to his discovery of the romanticists during his early adolescence, His biographer underlines this predilection of Bourget when he states: "Il n'était que trop porté vers ce goût-là." Professor Feuillerat places him In the same class with Bertrand d'Aydle In the nouvelle, L'Ecran. The author gives the following description of the nature of Bertrand: Celui-ci appartenait, par nature, à la grande race des amoureux de l'amour, de ceux pour qui l'univers féminin est de bonne heure l'attrait suprême, et, bientôt, si aucune action ne corrige ce premier penchant, l'attrait unique.

Ces amoureux de

1'amour--rappelez-voua

ceux que vous avez rencontrés--sont rarement des amoureux

tout court.

Ce sont des artistes en ématlon, toujours en quête d'un frisson plus subtil, d'une Joie plus poignante, on croirait parfois d'une douleur plus aiguë, et qui ne peuvent se fixer dans la douce et monotone fidélité d'une tendresse constante.

Aussi ces chercheurs de sensa-

tions sont-11 Ingénument, instinctivement changeants et perfides, d'autant plus dangereux qu'ils conservent, à travers les pires expériences, de la simplicité, de l'élan, de la bonne foi, une espèce

d'Idéal. 5 6

A large group of the subjects which Bourget chooses for cases of observation are taken from high society. His early success was so great that he was received in the most aristocratic groups as well as in the- cosmopolitan milieux which he already frequented. In answer to the envious, who accused him of snobbishness, of frivolity and disdain for the poor, he explains why he placed several cf his studies in the world of the idle rich: "in order to have more complete case3, since it is in that class that people can think the mo3t about their emotions..."57 The criticism, in any case, does not hold for the nouvelles, for in them, the writer broadens his field of observation to include other worlds than that of high society life. The life of people rich in culture and leisure does remain, however, one of his main interests because of the excellent possibilities it offers for the dramatic representation of character. The similarity in the choice of characters and 56. L'Ecran, In: Complications sentimentales, pp. 21-22. 57-

"Lettre autobiographique, cp. dit., p. 1U.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

71

subject matter between Bourget and. his friends, Henry James and Edith Wharton, has already been noted.58 In the nouvelle, L'Accident, Bourget defends his choice of characters In fashionable society. Many writers, he states, deplore the platitude and Insignificance of the high society of his period. The author feels that they are mistaken because the tragic side of life can be discovered everywhere and frequently just as Intense as it was during the periods of the Italian Middle Ages and the French Renaissance when the energy of passions was displayed freely. He emphasizes the difference between the tragic element in the lives of the men of the past and those of his own times: Seulement, c'est un tragique en dedans, un tragique rentré, si l'on peut dire.

Le plus souvent, il réside dans des silences.

Soyez-en

la dupe et la haute vie ne vous représente plus qu'une gesticulation convenue dans un décor impersonnel.

Pénétrez-les, cea silences, et

dee drames secrets voua apparaissent, d'autant plus violents sont plus muets.

qu'ils

Vous croyiez n'avoir devant vous qu'un coin de salon,

une loge d'Opéra, le hall d'un Palace Hôtel ? Voua constatez, dans ce cadre si vulgaire, le déchaînement soudain des énergies les plus passionnées de l'âme

humaine.59

The author experiences a singular attraction for contrasts between the reality of appearances and the hidden frenzy of emotions. In his choice of characters, Bourget turns by nature to Instincts which are just like his own, made up of an almost morbid sensitivity. The similarity between his own nature and that of some of the characters he analyzes comes not only from the fact that one's sensitivity governs the trends of one's thoughts but also from the fact that the author suffered from the same "general sickness" as the generation of 1880. In Dualité, he compares his nature to that of one of his characters, François Vernantes: "cet ami, le plus pareil à mol, par certains coins de sensibilité morbide..."60 A thorough analysis of Vernantes appears in Le Scrupule. Analytical, introspective, sentimental as well as sensual, avid for new emotions, he became dominated by an almost Inevitable pessimism. He would see the dark side of every experience without being able to enjoy it. When he Is in the midst of his association with the girl Aline, he registers his feelings in the following way: ;8.

supra, pp. 9-l>.

59- L'Accident, in: L'Envers du décor-, pp. 265-66. 60. Dualité, in: Un Homme d'affaires, p. 187.

72

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

J'éprouvais à cette minute, une fois de plus, la sorte d'ardeur mêlée d'une acre tristeese que J'ai toujours eue à tenir auprès de moi, m'appartenant pour une heure, une femme dont Je sentais que si la vie eût été autre pour elle, elle fût sans doute devenue mon grand amour. C'est le symbole de toute mon existence de coeur, de cet avortement constant de mes passions, que ce triste si.' Au fond de tous les vases où j'ai voulu désaltérer ma soif de sentir se cachait une fissure invisible par où J'ai pu regarder s'écouler la liqueur divine qui m'eût enivré tout entier. Auprès tout, était-elle dans ces vases, la fissure, ou tien dans ce coeur pour qui ce fut toujours un funeste "besoin de se désenchanter aussitôt qu'il a commencé d'être séduit? 61

Vernantes's analysis of himself is applicable to the author of the Essais de psychologie contemporaine. His Is the wounded heart, into which life's experiences cut too deeply. The tendency toward grief and suffering which his sensitivity accentuated, whether In his own emotions or In those of others, was for him an asset In the writing of fiction. The emphasis which he placed upon this point is brought out by Francis Carco in an article in which he recognizes the "master's" influence upon him: "Je crois l'entendre. "Sans la blessure, déclare-t-il, sans le déchirement de l'arme tournée contre soi-même, il n'est pas d'oeuvre forte. Il faut enfoncer l'arme pour mériter d'écrire. Il 'faut que la plaie saigne." Elle saigne dans toute son oeuvre." e 2 His sharp-edged sensitivity leads him directly to those who suffer silently. Seeking commentaries, for example, in the collection of nouvelles, Les Pas dans les pas, on the legend that a soul in purgatory could only enter heaven after having revisited on earth all the places where it had been, a symbol for him of destiny forcing us to return ceaselessly to experiences of the past, from which we cannot escape, he finds that only a particular type of sensitivity will be seriously affected by this occurences Le plus souvent ces rencontres trop précises avec le passé n'ont d'autre effet qu'une émotion, aussitôt exorcisée qu'éprouvée. Il y a une impérieuse magie du réel, célébrée par Goethe : "Le présent," disaitil, "a tous les droits.'..." Oui, pour un héros de l'action, robuste comme lui. Pour certaines sensibilités, au contraire, ou plus fines ou plus faibles, ces soudaines rentrées sur les routes de Jadis deviennent l'occasion de drames intimes d'une mélancolie singulière. 03 61. Le Scrupule, p. 31. 62. Carco, Francis, "Le Jubilé de Paul Bourget," Annales politiques et littéraires, L X X X H (1 sept. 1932), 198. 6 3 . Les Pas dans les pas, in: L'Eau profonde, pp. 203-04.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

73

His sympathetic pity turns to them to register their "complaints" for he Is able to understand, them. Bourget will not be limited, however, to people whose highly developed sensitivities ressemble his own. His active Imagination enables him to understand people who differ from him completely, as he explains in the nouvelle. Deux Ménages: l e t t r é I n e f f i c a c e , soudain J e t é en p l e i n t o u r b i l l o n d'une a f f o l a n t e a c t i v i t é , l a f i è v r e américaine m ' i n t o x i q u a i t d'une v é r i t a b l e g r i s e r i e . Tous l e s I m a g i n a t i f s c o n n a i s s e n t b i e n ce sentiment qui tient de l a sugg e s t i o n e t qui nous a s s o c i e p a r c r i s e s , avec une f u r e u r d'engouement p l u s tard i n e x p l i c a b l e , à des formes d ' e x i s t e n c e c o n t r a i r e s à n o t r e p l u s intime n a t u r e , précisément parce q u ' e l l e s s o n t a u t r e s . 6 4

In Deux Ménages, business men, railroad magnates and corporation heads Interest him more than writers, artists or philosophers. Another personal characteristic which is one of the important sources of the nouvelles of the author Is his love of ideas. It was the great passion of his life and one to which he applied constantly his exceptional Intelligence. In the brief narrative, Le Justicier, he gives credit to those who developed his native ability: "Quand on aime passionnément la pensée, on garde à travers l'existence, une gratitude d'une qualité unique aux maîtres qui vous ont, les premiers, initié au travail sacré de l'intelligence."05 He was vitally interested in all of the great problems of the universe. Every aspect of life that he observed served to stimulate his thought. In Un Saint, he had returned to Italy a second time because the repetition of the trip favored his particular penchant: Ce p l a i s i r de l a seconde impression a t o u j o u r s é t é , chez moi, p l u s v i f que c e l u i de l a p r e m i è r e , sans doute p a r c e que J ' a i t o u j o u r s s e n t i l a beauté des a r t s en l i t t é r a t e u r , a u t a n t d i r e en homme qui demande d ' a b o r d à un t a b l e a u ou à une s t a t u e d ' ê t r e un p r é t e x t e à p e n s é e . C ' e s t l à une r a i s o n peu e s t h é t i q u e , e t dont t o u t p e i n t r e s o u r i r a i t . E l l e s e u l e cependant m ' a v a i t aine né, dans l e mois d ' o c t o b r e dont Je p a r l e , à passer plusieurs Jours à P i s e . 6 °

61t.

Deux Ménages, i n : Voyageuses, pp. 8 5 - 8 6 .

65. 66.

Le J u s t i c i e r , p . 8 . Un S a i n t , i n : Nouveaux P a s t e l s , p . 7-

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

74

Bourget's universal culture and erudition found an ample means of expression in his study of the human soul. His ebullient thought was not content just to record what he observed but sought to interpret it as veil. He remains scientific, however, for, in the words of Professor Feulllerat: "C'est seulement quand il a amassé suffisamment d'observations que le psychologue en lui intervient, commentant ses observations, démontant le mécanisme des Êmes étudiées."67 When the psychologist did find concrete examples in reality for theories outlined in advance before being completely tested, he was particularly pleased as is shown by the note in his journal concerning the problems of the nouvelle, L'Irréparable: 13 février i860.--Bonne

Journée, de celles à marquer avec un caillou

blanc, comme dit le poète ancien. heures.

Travail at home

Puis visite à M. Adrien Sixte.

aur la complexité de la personne humaine, lières.

Jusqu'à trois

Conversation

philosophique

le soir, chez Mme de Tll-

Appris - le détail de l'histoire de Mlle Turtrel.

presque exacte de la wême idée dans la vie réelle.

Transcription

Plaisir aigu

d'intelligence à ces deux visions successives, l'une abstraite, concrète, d'un fait

l'autre

unique...68

Bourget was greatly aided in his Inquest into the life oi human beings by two further abilities: the art of converst tion and the expertness with which he managed .to stimulate confidences and confessions. He had a passion to observe and discuss problems with friends. He particularly liked the charm of the chats with artists and writers as is shown by the nouvelle, Inconnue: J'avais dîné ce soir-là au cabaret, en compagnie d'une dizaine d'artistes et d'écrivains,--vous savez, un de ces dîners mensuels comme .Paris en compte u n grand nombre. cordiale et d'anecdotes sans fiel.

Celui-ci avait été charmant de verve Lorsque des hommes de talent sont

ainsi réunis et que leurs amours-propres consentent à désarmer, rien de plus exquis que la causerie, surtout si l'assemblée ne compte pas trop de ces preneurs de notes, bourreaux odieux de toute

intimité. 6 8

Most of those 70 who knew Bourget give the highest praise to his abilities as a conversationalist. Henry de Cardonne writes of him: 67.

Feui H e r a t , Albert, Paul Bourget, p.

68.

L'Irréparable, p. 3 .

96.

(This passage is In the framework of the

nouvelle.) 69- Inconnue, in: Pastels, p. 29570. Gide did not like Bourget as a conversationalist. conversation gave h!m an impression of artificiality,

Bourget's

ineptitudj!, lack

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

75

Dans l'intimité, il n'est peut-être pas de causeur plus attachant, non seulement par l'élévation et la variété des vues et des idées, l'étendue des connaissances (peu d'hommes sont plus instruits et instruits plus exactement), mais par la finesse, le naturel et la saveur de l'esprit. "Ce penseur, ce philosophe, ce psychologue a peut-être plus de charme dans sa conversation que de profondeùr et de pénétration dans ses livres," m'a dit Jules Lemaître.71

Lucien Corpechot, who knew Bourget Intimately from 190G on, reveals the author's predilection for feminine conversation. In any new milieu, he would always try to become friends with outstanding women, for in them he found an excellent résumé of the charm of their particular environment. M. Corpechot pays him the following tribute: "Bourget, qui était un causeur bien supérieur à Renan, Bourget dont la conversation l'emportait peut-être sur son oeuvre même, n'était jamais mieux inspiré que dans ce petit cercle où tour à tour Melchior de Vogué, Capus, Barres, la Sizeranne, Schlumberger lui donnaient la réplique." 7 2 René Doumlc enjoyed especially his visits to the office of the Revue des Deux Mondes' where the author was a member of the "Conseil de surveillance." The critic describes Bourget1 s conversations as'follows: Il abondait en souvenirs, ayant connu intimement tous les principaux écrivains de sa génération. D'une anecdote spirituellement conté il passait à des considérations générales sur les choses du Jour, sur les questions littéraires, sur le métier d'écrivain. Il s'informait des articles que nous préparions, des romans qu'on nous proposait... Il était pour nous, et de toute manières, le conseiller, le guide dont les directions nous étaient précieuses.73

His conversational talents aided him in the art of receiving confidences and confessions, which form the point of departure of many of his brief narratives. In this of tact and bad literary taste. (Cf. Journal, 520-22, 26 novembre 1915-) Gide's Impression is contradicted by the testimonies given in the text and those of other writers such as Henry James, Edith Wharton and Anatole France. 71. Cardonne, Henry de, "La Jeunesse de Paul Bourget," Revue hebdomadaire, 1 5 déc. 1 9 2 3 . 72. Corpechot, Lucien, "Souvenirs d'un Journaliste," Revue universelle. LXIV, 1936, 267. 7 3 . Doumic, René, "Paul Eourget," Revue des Deux Mondes, XXXI (1936), ^35-

76

PAUL BOURGET A N D T H E

NOUVELLE

f i e l d , he was a n expert. T h e r e Is In the a u t h o r of L ' I r r e p a r a b l e s o m e t h i n g of the art of the good f a t h e r c o n f e s s o r . H e had s u c h d e p t h of u n d e r s t a n d i n g , so m u c h p i t y f o r h u m a n s u f f e r i n g and such p e r s o n n a l charm that p e o p l e w e r e r e a d i l y d r a w n to him. M o d e s t l y In the n o u v e l l e , L e D a v i d , h e e x p l a i n s how the c a p a c i t y to s t i m u l a t e c o n f i d e n c e s Is only n a t u r a l to his trade and how the f r e q u e n c y of c o n f e s s i o n s Is b u t a n o u t g r o w t h of his time: Certes, J'ai reçu dans ma vie de romancier un grand nombre de confessions, et de bien singulières, tant le besoin de se raconter--en 8'amusant ou en amusant les autres--est naturel à notre espèce. Aux époques de foi profonde, les Smes chargées du poids de leur malheur ou de leurs fautes allaient où elles devraient continuer d'aller; vers ceux qui peuvent promettre à la souffrance un autre univers et une équité suprême. Nous avons changé tout cela, et, la vanité aidant, les écrivains qui font métier d'analyser les sentiments sont devenus les écouteurs professionnels des amoureux et des amoureuses d'abord, et puis de l'Immense troupeau des égoïstes Imaginatifs, pour qui leurs émotions ne seraient pas complètes s'ils ne les épanchaient en bavardages. Oui, que de confessions J'ai subies, ainsi, dont Je ne me plains pas. Sur mille peut-être, il y en a bien eu six ou sept de sincères et trois ou quatre de très touchantes. 74 B o u r g e t knew that a b u n d a n t m a t e r i a l for h i s p s y c h o l o g i c a l Inquest was to be found I n c o n f i d e n c e s , f o r , a s he e l u c i d a t e s in a n e a r l y n o u v e l l e : "It is not in h u m a n n a t u r e to keep silent c o m p l e t e l y the d e p t h s of o n e ' s heart-"75 T h e a u t h o r could so i m a g i n e the f e e l i n g s of others that h e s e n s e d i n s t i n c t i v e l y the moment that the p e o p l e h e m e t d e s i r e d to talk to h i m about their p r o b l e m s . For example, in D u a l i t é , he b e c o m e s the c o n f i d a n t of M m e de S e i n t C y g n e w h e n h e meets her at a critical m o m e n t : Mais la pauvre fille était dans une de ces crises où nous subissons instinctivement, presque anlmalement, le besoin d'un témoin, d'un autre être à qui nous montrer, de qui implorer l'appui, par qui nous faire suggérer ce que nous n'osons pas vouloir. Par ce soir de détresse, Je lui représentais cette chose, aussi souhaitée qu'inespérée: un confident qui l'écoutât, qui la comprît. 76

71*. Le David, in: Recommencements, p. 62. 75- L'Irréparable, p. 108. 7 6 . Dualité, in: Un Homme d'affaires, p. 189.

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77

She knew he w a s an analyst, however, and because of that, was particularly confidential. With the same knowledge, other people would have the opposite tendency and become distrustful of him. The public commits a common error in its contacts w i t h psychological writers: Certaines personnes ne peuvent se trouver avec eux face à face sans leur attribuer un pouvoir qua3i magique de pénétration Intime qu'elles réclament ou, suivant l'occurence, dont elles ont peur. Elles ne se doutent pas que la force d'observation déployée par un auteur dans ses ouvrages n'est Jamais directe. Ce n'est même pas une force d'observation, c'est une force de construction, et qui, au lieu de nous aider à bien voir, s'interpose le plus souvent entre nous et les choses, pour nous les déformer.77 The n o u v e l l i s t e had almost a mania for questioning people. Lucien Corpechot notes that his Interrogating bent was like that of B a r b e y d'Aurevilly: Bourget avait retenu quelque chose de cette manie Interrogeante, car Je n'ai Jamais vu personne questionner aussi avidement que les inconnus chaque fois qu'il en avait l'occasion. Dans la rue, dans un salon, au restaurant, son oeil inquisiteur se posait, sur ses voisins ou sur ses voisines. S'il n'avait pas la possibilité de leur parler, il leur inventait une biographie d'après les signes de santé ou les tares physiologiques qu'il discernait sur leur visage ou dans leur attitude. Mais s'il trouvait un prétexte pour leur adresser la parole, quelle inquisition.'. On ne descendait pas de voiture qu'il n'entamât une conversation avec le chauffeur. Nous ne dînions pas au restaurant sans que le maître d'hôtel, le garçon qui nous servaient, n'eussent répondu au questionnaire le plus serré sur leurs hérédités, leur pays, leur enfance, leur ménage. In 3pite of this mania for questioning, Bourget was above all tactful and discreet. In the nouvelle, Le Silence d e l'ami, he reveals the lesson w h i c h experience had taught him: "La vie m'a depuis longtemps appris à ne pas interroger les gens sur les difficultés intimes qui peuvent les séparer les uns des autres. Quand une confidence n'est pas spontanée, la provoquer est une indiscrétion qui risque d'être pénible à une sensibilité ainsi violentée. 1 , 7 9 Given the opportunity,

77. 78. selle, m 79.

Ibld. Corpechot, Lucien, "Souvenirs d'un Journaliste," Revue univerv (1936), 426-27. Le Silence de l'ami, in: De petits faits vrais, pp. 5^-35•

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the author loved to console others. His sympathy and desire to alleviate personal suffering turned even to those to whom he could not talk. In Autre Inconnue, he observes a love Idyll between a young man and an older woman. Four years later, he discovers that the affair is broken for he sees the unhappy woman with a man whom he supposes to be her husband and elsewhere, the young man with a new love. He does not know the names of these people nor doe3 he exchange any words with them, yet he ends the nouvelle with the desire to see the abandoned woman again: Ah! que Je voudrais encore une foie me rencontrer aur son passage et recevoir d'elle une confidence qu'elle n'a Jamais pu faire, sans doute, et que J'accueillerais avec une émotion si douce, avec une pitié presque religieuse.'

Mais cette confidence, Je ne l'aurai pas, et Je

continuerai longtemps à me sentir l'ami inconnu d'une douleur que J'aurais comprise, consolée peut-être, l'ami Inconnu d'une amie inconnue et qui l'ignorera

toujours.80

The tenderness which the nouvelliste displays here Is characteristic of his attitude as people tell him of their emotional and mental .conflicts. He could listen to the recital of the experiences of others with such intensity and such power of the Imagination that they would become his own. The personal pleasure that he underwent as the recipient of confidences, he elucidates in the nouvelle, Claire, when he Is speaking of Captain Emile: Je lui dois u n plaisir peu commun, celui d'avoir entendu, de sa bouche, le récit d'aventures dont J'aurais voulu qu'elles fussent miennes, vous savez, de ces Jolies et fines sensations qu'ont eût aime a éprouver et qu'on aime à voir éprouvées devant soi.

Ah.' des confidences

d'un autre et qui soient selon la nuance de votre coeur, à vous, et qui ne vous dépleisent point par quelque détail, mais c'est presque aussi rare que de traverser soi-même des heures que l'on voudrait revivre.81

With the Essal3 and the early nouvelles, Bourget had found a rich vein in which his personal talents could be effectively put to work. He was to go through an evolution which further determines the sources of his short

80. Autre Inconnue, in Pastels, pp. 529-30. 81. Claire, in: Pastels, pp. 199-200.

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stories. He first turned to the more comprehensive field of the novel. Talne had recognized the critic's abilities In his articles and had encouraged him to put his talents to use In a genre which would assure him an even greater success. The long narrative form was to receive the major emphasis of the ensuing years. Beginning with Cruelle Enigme in 1 8 8 4 , which the public received enthusiastically, he published successively: Crime d'amour, André Cornelia, Mensonges, La Physiologie de l'amour moderne and in 1 8 8 9 > Le Disciple, his greatest success and one which stirred up a storm of controversy In the world of letters. Le Disciple marks a turning point in the author's evolution, for gradually the moralist had won out over the psychologist. In 1894, he testifies to this gradual change In his point of view: Quand. Je passe la revue de cette aulte de livres déjà longue, Je crois y reconnaître les étapes d'une conscience toujours en marche. Je veux dire que, parti d'un point de vue simplement positiviste, celui de la constation Indifférente, J'ai été conduit de la Psychologie à l'Ethique par la même nécessité qui fait qu'avec tout son scepticisme un médecin assuré d'un diagnostic ne peut s'empêcher de s'Interroger sur le remède.82 As early as 1 8 8 6 , Octave Feuillet:

he had written concerning La Morte

of

Qu'il le veuille ou non, tout conteur aboutit à dégager une loi. Il est un moraliste. C'est même son honneur d'être cela et de faire réfléchir profondément le lecteur sur les problèmes que nous retrouvons au fond de toute réflexion sur les autres, comme nous les rencontrons dans notre conscience, aussitôt que nous essayons de comprendre et d'interpréter un fragment quelconque de la vie. 83 In the preface of La Physiologie de l'amour moderne, which was written at the same time as Le Disciple, he defines the moralist as the writer who portrays life just as it is with Its profound lessons of secret atonement: Rendre visibles, comme palpables, les douleurs de la faute, l'amertume Infinie du mal, la rancoeur du vice, c'est avoir agi en moraliste, et c'est pourquoi la mélancolie des Fleurs du mal et celle et celle d'Adolphe, la cruauté du dénouement des Liaisons et la sinistre atmosphère de la Cousine Bette font de ces livres des oeuvres * 84 de haute moralité. 82. "Lettre autobiographique," op. cit., p. 13.

83. "Réflexions sur Octave Feuillet, in: Pages de critique et de doctrine, I, 115Ôlt. "Préface," ln: Physiologie de l'amour moderne, p. 6.

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The preface of Le Disciple, as Is well known, proclaims that It Is a writer's duty to point out the cure for the evils of his time. With an almost Jansenlstlc rigor, Bourget, from this polrt on, denounces perversities and disorders of human nautre and attempts to find the remedy for them. Victor Glraud, who was twenty years old when Le Disciple appeared, gives testimony to the Importance of the book: "Le Disciple marque le moment précis où la génération à laquelle appartient M. Bourget se détache de la génération précédente. A cette génération nouvelle, le livre a donné conscience d'elle-même." 8 5 Once again, Bourget gains rank as a forerunner of an entire literary development. During this period of his evolution, he had not completely abandoned the nouvelle for he published In 1889 a collection of Pastels, composed of ten studies of women, written between 1884 and 1888. With a light and delicate touch, the author delves Into the Intimacy of fragile feminine souls. More than In the novels, the poet In the author finds an avenue of expression In these studies. They are not based completely on life as he observed It but on life as he imagined It to be or as it might have been for the various characters he meets. A poignant emotion of sympathy and understanding for human frailties emanates from the stories. Although the author often deals with the sadness of people who have failed to find any share of happiness in life, the bitter pessimism of some of his novels Is not present in the book. The dominant tone Is that of charm. The title Pastels is aptly chosen for the author could describe in no better way the nuances of colors with which he paints the freshness and grace of feminine beauty. Varied In subject and organization, they demonstrate the critic's successful experimentation in methods of treatment. They were followed by Les Nouveaux Pastels in 1891, a volume which contained ten portraits of men. Just as Bourget, the moralist, began to appear In the novels, the same preoccupation is, for the first time prominent in these short stories. As a scrupulous thinker, he had always been preoccupied with the idea of sin even In his periods of doubt concerning religious matters. The fact that he is thinking more and more seriously that a man can never escape the results of a bad action is shown by 8 5 . Glraud, Victor, Paul Bourget, p. 82.

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the frequency with which he deals with the emotion of remorse In this volume. As adeterminlat, of course, he would believe that we must reap the consequences of our deeds but he Is more and more turning to a religious explanation, revolving around the Idea of original sin and the necessity of atonement. God for him Is still not the perfect and only remedy for moral sickness although he is gradually approaching that conviction. The difficulty of the struggle of faith for him is Illustrated by a passage from the nouvelle, Monsieur Legrlmaudet, when he confronts the pitiable wreck of the main character's life: Lee diverses pièces de cette machine à haine m'apparaissaient les unes aur les autres avec une logique effrayant«.

Jouant

Car s'expliquer

avec cette précision la genèse du mal, c'est toujoura riequer d'aboutir au doute sur la Providence, et quand on est parvenu, après des années de lutte, a retrouver, sous les arides analyses de la science, la foi dans l'interprétation consolante de l'Inconnaissable, on a si peur de la perdre, cette foi et cette espérance, si peur de ne plus prononcer avec la même certitude la Beule oraison qui permette de vivre:

"Notre Père qui êtes aui d e u x . . . " Qu'il est troublant

alors de se rencontrer devant un problème de laideur morale et de souffrance physique aussi cruellement posé que celui-là.'

Il faut

croire qu'il y a un sens mystérieux à ce douloureux univers, croire que les angoissantes ténèbres de la vie s'éclaireront un Jour, après la mort.

Mais conme on est tenté de nouveau par l'horrible nihilisme

en présence de certains naufrages d'âme et de destinée.',80

Un Saint, too, In the same volume, reveals poignant regret that he cannot yet believe completely and simply. Because of the influence of the saintly Dom Grlffl,- priest of the convent of Monte-Chlaro, Bourget's cynical traveling companion, Philippe Dubois, changes his outlook on life. Bourget is impressed by the regeneration of a soul which he observes closely in Philippe and the beauty of the life of the monk. One feels that Bourget envies the dominant religious faith of Dom Grlffl which gives him a spirit of tranquillity in time of trouble. As Dubois mocks the priest, Bourtet criticizes him for his attitude: "J'ai près de quinze ans de plus que vous, j'ai couru le monde comme vous le courrez sans doute, à la poursuite de bien des chimères, et je sais, hélasJ qu'il n'y a rien de plus sage et de plus beau Ici-bas qu'un homme qui travaille à la même oeuvre, avec le même idéal, dans un même coin de terre..."87 The 86. Monsieur Legrlmaudet, in: Nouveaux Pastels, p. 96. 87. Un Saint, in: IBB Nouveaux Pastels, p. 152.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

priest's divine goodness and his power to change men touch Bourget deeply but do not convert him- His analytical mind left him In a more unhappy state than the early hard cynicism of the young Dubois. Of his own feelings at this time he writes In the narrative: "N'étais-je pas plus malheureux encore, mol qui aural passé ma vie à comprendre également l'attrait criminel de la négation et la splendeur de la fol profonde, sans jamais m'arrêter ni à l'un ni à l'autre de ces deux pôles de l'âme humaine?"88 Technique of presentation Is further developed In Nouveaux Pastels, marking a distinct progress over the original Pastels of women. The stories are more fully and dramatically organized. The Pastels are essentially portraits constructed around some small episode whereas his Nouveaux Pastels are exciting narratives, dealing often with violent passions, related with carefully planned steps. George Pelllssler says of them: "Elles nous montrent sous les aspects les plus divers, le talent si souple et l'âme si complexe du jeune maître." 8 9 A longer nouvelle, Un Scrupule, written in 1892, completes the author's period of early development of a technique in the genre. A testimony to the attractions of Bourget's shorter fictional form as compared to hl3 novels Is given by Emile Faguet at the time of the publication of Un Scrupule: "Scrupule réussira certainement. Il pourrait même être une Indication pour M. Bourget, qui ne réussit jamais si pleinement que quand 11 s'impose d'être relativement court et comparativement sommaireI"90 Those critics of Bourget who at times find the psychological inquiries and dissertations, of his novels long and tedious have no grounds for a similar criticism of his short stories, for t,,hey, of necessity, are forced to an economy of means which eliminates all but essential material. They retain, nevertheless, the points of merit by means of which Bourget became one of the leading novelists of the last twenty years of the nineteenth century. Emile Faguet, in discussing Un Scrupule, writes: "Bourget...a une sûre connaissance des choses du coeur, connaissance instinctive, naturelle que 88. rbid., p. 133.

89. Pelllssler, Georges, "Les Nouveaujc Pastels," Revue Encyclopédique , Année 1891, p. 6U5. 90. Faguet, Emile, "Un Scrupule," Revue politique et littéraire, XXX (22 Juillet, 1893), 151.

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83

toute la science livresque dont M. Bourget ne saura jamais s'affranchir, ne parvient jamais, grâce à Dieu, à recouvrir complètement."91 The novels of the period Immediately following Le Disciple were Un C œ u r de femme (I89O), La Terre promise (I892), Cosmopolls (1892) Trois âmes d'artistes (1892), which became La Duchesse bleue later (1898) and Une Idylle tragique (1896). Of these novels, La Terre promise, which deals with the necessity of paying for a fault which one has committed, or, in a broader sense, as the author indicates in his preface, the rights of children, Is Important because its suggests the type of novel that he will write in the future. Professor Feulllerat, In speaking of it, underlines its significance in Bourget's evolution: Voici la première fola que Bourget tire lee conséquences pratiques de la leçon morale qu'il a développée dans son roman.

Sans doute,

dans la Terre promise, 11 n'a pas, à proprement parler, traité le problème social qu'il signale dans la préface.

Mais il est intéres-

sant de releTer que l'auteur commence à entrevoir un élargissement possible du roman d'analyse en le faisant servir au perfectionnement de la vie sociale.

Cette idée qui prend Ici naissance, nous la ver-

rons grandir rapidement et s'affirmer de plus en plus Jusqu'à ce qu'elle pénètre complètement les romans de Paul Bourget. 9 2

A similar growth, having characteristics necessitated by the nature of the genre, was almost inevitable for the nouvelle. The subjects in the short stories just as in the novels change from a psychological emphasis to one dealing more directly with social problems. The nouvelle cannot arrive at conclusions as doe3 the novel, in the mind of Bourget, but it can offer subjects which stir up an aftermath of thought and reflection in the reader. Each one of Bourget's nouvelles becomes more and more a point of entry into a world of stimulating problems with answers unwritten by the author. In the novels, Bourget often outlines the reader's thinking for him but in the short stories, he can but stimulate his thought. Bourget's ability to arouse thought is his outstanding merit as a writer of brief narratives. Extensive travel continued to enrich his experience and furnish varied fields of observation from which he drew 91.

Ibid., p. 151»-

92. Feulllerat, Albert, op. cit., p. 173-

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many of the subjects for his short stories and novels. His early trips to England had created In him a love for all English things as shown by his "Etudes anglaises."93 This liking for England was matched only by his love for Italy. The type of experience he sought and found In Italy Is described In the nouvelle, L a Pla. For him, In Italy, the season, the weather, the colors of the sky and the landscape, the art and the people, all blend Into one unity. En Italie seulement voua goûterez l'accord total de ces Impressions, et cela donne à certaines heures, dans cette contrée, un inoubliable, un Incomparable enchantement. Que J'en al savouré de ces heures, durant mes vingt séjours au delà des Alpes, loin, bien loin de Paris et de ses pauvretés Intellectuelles, loin du monde littéraire et de ses cruautés gratuites, loin, bien loin de tout et près de l'Idéal, près des morts qui nous ont légué dans leur art le meilleur d'eux-mêtoes, près de l'fime de notre race, puisque c'est ici le point d'origine de l'esprit latin, du commun génie que nous renions en vain dans les '

rivalités fratricides.

94

Bourget had been to Italy as early as 1874 and returned there after his marriage to Minnie David In 1890. His Impressions of Italy are found In Sensations d'Italie. A further visit, this time to the Holy Land, broadened his horizons and continued the enriching of his mind which was his avowed purpose In traveling. Keen observer that he was, It was almost Inevitable that Bourget would become a confirmed visitor of foreign countries which offered rich veins of civilization to be explored. In 1893, he accepted the Invitation of James Gordon Bennett, the editor of the New York Herald, to visit America and write a series of articles dealing with his impressions of American life and culture. They first appeared in the New York Herald and Le Figaro and later formed the two volumes of Outre-Mer. The trip to America was important for it aided in crystallizing his ideas concerning the type of government that France needed. His biographer summarizes the effect of this experience upon him: "L'auteur d'Outre-Mer était parti pour les Etats-Unis dans l'espérance qu'il pourrait rallier à l'idée démocratique; 11 en revint royaliste."95 Bourget was Impressed by the decentralization and the Individualism of America, 93- In Etudes et portraits, II. 9k. Ia. Pla, in: Voyageuses, pp. 5-6. 9 5 . Feuillerat, Albert, op. cit., p. 199-

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forces which he felt were lacking In the French Republic. Democracy In America, he found did not result In the general levelling of classes as In France. Because of the enormous Inequalities between Individuals, he had the Impression of an aristocracy or of a feudal system produced by the rivalry and energy of Individuals. He did not think that American democracy was applicable to France. In political theory he turned definitely toward tradition and resolved to work for the restoration of the monarchy. The second main period In the development of Bourget as a nouvelliste is one In which he not only perfects his technique, but tries new experiments. The years immediately following his return from America were difficult ones for Bourget. Although he was at the height of his success, he mistrusted himself and his purposes so much that he was not able to produce as much as he would have liked. His analytical mind tended all too naturally to see the dark side of life but at this time particularly he suffered from a constant anxiety and a general lassitude. Even his election to the Académie Française in 1895, a t the age of forty-three, did not solace him for long. He became preoccupied with the thoughts of friends and of loved ones who had died. Professor Feulllerat tells us how, when reading Henry James's The Altar of the Dead, in which the main character seeks to perpetuate the hallowed memory of his sacred dead, Bourget enjoyed with such delight the "lassitude of surviving,"96 with which that story is permeated, that he was filled with an overpowering melancholy from which he found difficulty In escaping. The author's natural tendency toward pessimism was accentuated by events which brought more bitterness into his life. His wife became quite sick. His psychological novels were receiving a good deal of criticism. The greatest disappointment resulted from his betrayal by his editor, Lemerre, who had published secretly an edition of Cosmopolls abroad. A lawsuit ensued which Bourget won but during the course of the trial, he was abandoned by all of his friends except Zola who defended him. This lack of support mainly because writers were afraid to oppose Lemerre embittered him. Although he completed no novels from 1896 to 1900, the four years were very Important foi the nouvelle. The reasons for his exclusion of the novel from his literary endeavors during this period are given by Professor Feulllerat: 96. Cf. Feulllerat, Albert, op. cit., p. 203.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

C'est que, dans l'état d'énervement où il se trouvait, Bourget était incapable d'un effort soutenu. Il n'avait acheve l'Idylle qu'à grandpeine et après de nombreuses interruptions. La nouvelle avait l'avantage de se prêter à un travail coupé et inégal. Mais surtout, en s'adonnant à ce genre difficile, Bourget cherchait l'occasion de faire des expériences de technique qui raviveraient son activité fléchissante et lui permettraient peut-être cette métamorphose dont il sentait la nécessité. Depuis longtemps, d'ailleurs, il était tenté par l'exemple de Balzac et de Tourguéniev,—il admirait grandement Un Ménage de garçon et Les Eaux prlntanlères—par l'exemple aussi de Henry James dont il lisait assidûment les oeuvres. Il rêvait de s'attaquer à un genre mal cultivé en France, la longue nouvelle. 97

Five volumes of nouvelles, short and long, demonstrate the author's success with this form. The stories of Recommencements, In 1897» demonstrate how well he had perfected his earlier method. Similar to the Pastels, they are delicate psychological studies which gain interest and intensity because of the focus on one central character and episode. Their value is increased by the fact that the author broadens his horizon and begins to study numerous and varied milieux, giving the lie to those who say that he understands only aristocratic society. The dedication of Recommencements to Charles de Pomairols indicates that the author is recovering from the state of extreme pessimism and is coming closer and closer to a complete acceptance of religious faith. Life's main law is that she is a great "Re-beginner." Although it is heartbreaking to feel that life moves implacably on when loved ones die and that the past slips away from us rapidly, the uninterrupted continuity of life becomes a consoling truth, he believes, when one is able to believe that this patient and invincible labor of the eternal workman must have a meaning. The second volume, Voyageuses, is composed of longer nouvelles which permit a more complete analysis of character. They retain, however, the centralized focus upon one revealing moment or episode which is the special characteristic of the genre. The stories combine Bourget's special art in depicting delicate personalities of women and his love for foreign l&nds, which form the background against which each drama takes place. Presented almost in the form of visions, recaptured while perusing his 97- Ibid., p. 210. 9 8 . Cf. "Dédicace," in Recommencements.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

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traveling journal, the author has infused them with a poetic charm vhlch Is not present In his novels. Praising the precision of form and the rapidity of the narratives, Edmund Gosse write the following a few years after their publication: "M. Bourget appears to us In Voyageuses In his very happiest vein, with the least of his mannerism and most of his lucid gift of penetrating through action to Gosse, while he believes that Bourget remains motive." himself, notes the influence of Henry James upon him. Bourget's ideal as expressed to Professor Feuillerat was as follows: "A long nouvelle with compact action but with an extensive perspective and a deeply human meaning." 1 0 0 This ideal Is adequately fulfilled in the third volume of the period, Complications sentlmentales. There are more important incidents in these stories than in the previous nouvelles and the action Is more complicated. They would almost be novels but for the dramatic concentration upon a central point. Emlle Faguet has stated that the title of the collection of nouvelles could be given to all of the works of the author.101 The writer returns in them to the subject matter of the society novels. The criticism of over-elaboration and excess of detail which has been given of his novels cannot be applied to the majority of the short narratives. Speaking of L'Ecran, the best of the three stories, Edmund Gosse writes: M. Bourget has never written anything which tetter exemplifies hie peculiar qualities, the Insinuating and persistent force of his style, his preoccupations with delicate subtleties and undulations of feeling, the skill with which he renders the most fleeting shades of mental sensation. In L'Ecran, moreover, he avoids to a remarkable degree that defect of movement which has seriously damaged several of his most elaborate books...His danger, like that of Henry JamBS, whom he ressembles on more sides than one, is to delay in interminable psychological reflections until our attention has betrayed us, and we have lost the thread of the story. This error, or defect, would seem to have presented itself as a perii to the mind of M.Bourget: for in hie latest stories he is manifestly on his guard against it... 1 0 2

99. Gosse, Edmond, French Profiles, 1901+, p. 2 3 9 . 100. Cf. Feuillerat, Albert, op. cit., p. 212. 101. Faguet, Emlle, Propos littéraires, 1902, p. 227102. Gosse, Edmund, op. cit., p. 2 5 .

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

As one of the foremost writers of psychological novels of his time, Bourget felt personally the attacks that were being made against It by the adherents of the symbolists. His experimentation In the technique of the nouvelle demonstrates that he was cognizant of attacks and sought constantly to eliminate excess detail and retain only the essential elements of the subjects he treated. He thus produced works which gained new admirers for him. Henry Bordeaux praises Bourget's richness and dexterity of talent In Complications sentimentales and adds: "M. Bourget a toujours excellé dans la nouvelle qui permet de broder des variations sur une anecdote finement choisie et je sais des personnes au goût distingué qui préfèrent Voyageuses à Une Idylle tragique et Les Pastels à Crime d'amour. 1 0 3 The fourth and fifth volumes of this period, Drames de famille and Un Homme d'affaires are outstanding for théy are definite examples of the author's exploration of other fields than that of aristocratic and wealthy society, for the analysis of which he Is so well known In his novels. Constructive critics such as Emile Faguet had often suggested that the author apply his excellent faculties of psychological analysis to bourgeois society and the working classes and thus widen the field of his subject-matt'er. This he now did with marked success for no two volumes draw their subjects from more varied milieux. The perfection of the longer nouvelle continues in these collections. The form pleased Bourget because it permitted him to give more highly developed psychological studies than In the shorter nouvelles without sacrificing the dramatic conciseness of the centralized episode of the genre. Of these four productive years of experimentation and achievement, during which several admirable productions were written, Professor Feuillerat says: "Bourget n'a plus rien à apprendre dans un art dont il connaissait maintenant toutes les difficultés, mais aussi les ressources." 104 In addition, the volumes Indicate the author's moral development in this period. The succinct analysis of his own evolution given in the nouvelle, L'Echéance, written in December, 1898, clarifies his point of view at this time. In the story, Eugène Corblères parents had stolen the money necessary for their son's educatipn. Eugene becomes a successful doctor while the rightful "heir of the money is 103. Bordeaux, Henry, Lea Ecrivains et les Moeurs, I9OO, p. 179. 104. Feuillerat, Albert, op. cit., p. 2l6.

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forced, of necessity, Into a life of poverty and debauchery. Eugene then discovers the theft of his parents. He feels that he must pay for their crime by a sacrificial life, given without financial remuneration to the service of the poor and sick. Bourget confesses that, concerning the fate of Corblères, he had tvo successive attitudes, very different one from the other, the first, the Interpretation of 1882 and the second, that of 1898: A l'époque où lee événements dont Je vais faire le récit se déroulaient, J'avais adopté comme un indiscutable axiome qu'il n'y a pas dans la nature trace de volonté particulière. Je ne croyais donc en aucune manière à cette logique secrète du sort que les chrétiens appellent la Providence et que les positivistes définissent la formule, non moins obscure, de Justice immanente, la tragédie où mon ami crut voir la révélation d'une force vengeresse, toujours prête à atteindre le criminel dans les conséquences imprévues de son crime, m'apparut comme un des Innombrables Jeujc du hasard. Aujourd'hui l'expérience m'a trop souvent montré combien est exact le "Tout se paie," de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène, par quels détours le châtiment poursuit et rejoint la faute, et que le hasard n'est le plus souvent qu'une forire inattendue de l'expiation. J'incline donc à croire avec Eugène Corbière... que le drame auquel ces trop longues réflexions servent de prologue, fut véritablement une de ces échéances auxquelles croyait l'Empereur.105 Bourget Is here on the point of accepting the doctrine of reverBlblllty of merits, one of the principal' doctrines of the Catholic church. At the turn of the century, the critic prefaced the first volumes of his Oeuvres Complètes which he took to Plon, with an article In which he Insisted that his adherence to the principles of the Catholic church did not represent a conversion but the end of a long progressive development of his thought. He had practiced a methodical doubt In his observation of reality. It was the result of his observations which brought him to the belief that Christianity was the only force that could cure man of his ills. In a letter to Victor Glraud, he explains the philosophy back of his development: Pour mon humble part, J'entends par apologétique experlmentale, exactement ceci: étant donné cet ensemble de phénomènes que l'on appelle une société, quelles conditions de santé l'observation discerne-t-elle pour cette société et quelles conditions de maladie? S'il est démontré 105. L'Echéance, in: Drames de famille, pp. 6-7.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

que les règles de santé prescrites par le Decalogue sont les mêlnae que les conditions de santé découvertes par l'observation, nous devons en conclure que ce Decalogue a dû être formulé par une influence, autre que la simple Intuition d'esprit humain. Car, si génial fût-il, Moïse n'avait pas le moyen humain d'atteindre à cette vérité vraie de tous lea temps, de tous les lieui, de toutes les races...Ce raisonnement, voua le savez, est de M. Le Play. Je crois qu'il pourrait s'étendre à toute la vie sentimentale et morale et que l'on pourrait démontrer par l'observation que, partout où le Decalogue est violé, l'fime est malade, qu'elle est saine ou soulagée, quand el^e adopte ou reprend co canon de l'existence humaine. Tel est, avec le grossissement qu'un court billet m'oblige à donner à ma pensée, le schéma de ma théorie. 10 ®

Society's need of Christianity as the only and necessary condition for health and cure, Bourget found verified In the works of Frédéric Le Play, economist and sociologist whose la Réforme sociale en France and L'Organisation du travail he had studied carefully. Bourget liked both Le Play's method and his conclusions. He applied to social studies the methods of natural sciences, leading to a discovery of natural laws for human societies. For him, the happiness of Individuals and groups depends on whether or not they break the natural laws of life. Through observation of societies, he came to the conclusion that moral and material well-being of man depends on the strength of his religious faith. Religion, he considers, Is alone capable of guaranteeing the social order, In addition to Le Play, Balzac and Taine confirmed Bourget's conviction on the role of religion in society. From this point on Bourget points out the conclusions for the facts which he observes. To be a psychologist is not enough foi him for once he has discovered the moral laws of life, he feels that they should be interpreted and given as cures for the troubles of mankind. Bourget's point of view is now social; he Is interested In the good he can do for his fellow men. The "Church" now is not only his spiritual guide but the support of his opinions. As for cathodlclsm, he did not accept It completely until his confession and communion on July 21, 1901. This date marks the end of a long, progressive development of his thought.

106. Giraud, Victor, "L' oeuvre de Paul Bourget," Revue des Deux Mondes, XXXI (15 Jan. 1936), 1*1*2. (In the article, a letter written on Nov. 30, 1 8 9 9 , to Victor Giraud.)

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

91

According to Professor Feulllerat, a factor, which, outside of his growing, ardent faith, helped him to take the final step, was the Dreyfus affair. He was opposed to the revisions of the case because of his dread .of the disorder which he thought would result If the army were discredited. In the Catholic church, he found a bulwàrk of discipline which, he thought, could quell anarchy by Its very strength. Bourget likewise became settle In his political and social doctrines. In 1900, he wrote to Charles Maurras, 1 0 7 author of L'Enquête sur les Monarchies, praising the doctrine of construction and reparation which stands out clearly In the treatises of Bonald, the studies of Balzac, the monographs of Le Play and the vast historical work of Talne, all four of whom he praises as the greatest genuises of social philosophy In France in the nineteenth century. These men Influenced the course of Bourget's thought. Bonald and Le Play placed their emphasis upon the family as a social cell, for whose moral and material well-being society should strive. Le Play and Talne attempted to uproot what they termed the false dogmas of the French Revolution: systematic liberty, the idea of providential equality and the right of revolt. Bourget criticized democracy because he felt that it was not in keeping with the laws of science which he had observed. As he reasons, one of the main laws of science is that of continuity, by which he means an uninterrupted development of all phases of life. For him, continuity is impossible when the people are sovereign because the power changes with the majority of the electorate. Science establishes also the law of selection or fixed heredity which is the opposite, he states, of the principle of equality in a democracy. Science teaches also that race, which he describes as the energy accumulated by our ancestors, is one of the most powerful factors of human personality. This fact, Bourget declares contrary to the formula of the Droits de l'homme, which erects man himself as the first element in problems of government. In his opinion, the French democracy is contrary to the laws of science. As regards a monarchical form of government, he has the following to say: "La solution monarchique est la seule qui soit conforme aux enseignements les plus récents de la science."loe Continuity 107. Maurras, Charles, "Les Idées politiques de M. Paul Bourget," Revue hebdomadaire, 1 5 déc. 1923, P- 3°3-

108. rbld., p. JOU.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

la assured, by permanence of royal authority In one family. A n open nobility, recruited as It was during the ancien régime, forms an aristocracy based on the principle of selection. The appeal to tradition which permits the dead to speak, becomes an appeal to the race Itself. Bourget arrived at these conclusions through observation of the consequences of the doctrines of the nineteenth century. As a result of this evolution of his thought, the author veered definitely to the social novel and began a whole series of what he named "romans à Idées," beginning with L'Etape and continuing with such well known works as U n Divorce, L'Emigré and Le Démon de midi. For the good of humanity, he devotes himself first to the defense of the family, which entails, In his opinion, stable family life, indissoluble marriage and transmission of trade or profession from father to son; second, to the support of a strong religion; and third, to an appeal to tradition, meaning a monarchial or aristocratic state, with a hereditary nobility recruited in all classes and decentralization, which would restore to the provinces their individualized local life. The third phase of Bourget's creations in the field of the nouvelle reflects his attitudes expressed In the novels although not In as strong a fashion as Is permitted b y the firm argumentation of the latter. Six volumes of nouvelles were published in this period before the war. They do not present any nèw techniques for the author's period of apprenticeship is over but they are significant for the variety of subjects they Introduce. Monique in 1901 contains several attacks against democracy and the Droits de 1'homme. In It, the author presents a n idealized portrait of an artisan in furniture, whom he calls a victim of the revolutionary Utopia. The old corporations which gave so much security to workers and apprentices distppeared with the French Revolution. The artisan Franquetot's philosophy can be simply stated in his commentary on tne fate of Louis XV's ebenlst, Riesener, during the Revolution': "Mol, je suis pour le régime où u n Riesener peut travailler."109 B y suggesting a return to>a monarchical government and tradition, Bourget was bound to meet strong opposition. To the critics of his psychological novel technique were joined those who were in direct opposition to his political and social Ideas. He was labeled a reactionary and 109. Monique, p. 7-

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

93

called a member of the clerical party. Prone to see the dark side of life, he suffered Immeasurably from these attacks and became possessed by another gloomy state of pessimism. This unhappy period Is mirrored In the nouvelles of L'Eau profonde in 1902 and the earlier short stories of Les Deux Soeurs In 1905- They deal, for the most part, with the evil Instincts which conquer the tendencies toward good In life. They are permeated with a melancholy which Is constantly depressing. The author succeeds In transferring hl3 poignant suffering over the miscarriage of ideals and ambitions to the reader. The role that the nouvelles must play In the total appraisal of the productions of Bourget'tf career In contrast to the novels Is shown by the following commentary on L'Ancêtre, written during this period 1 1 0 and selected as one of the foreign short story classics by William Patten: Paul Bourget presents the greatest possible contrast to Anatole France. His style is involved, sentence is fitted into sentence, clothed like Henry James, and altogether un-French. Bourget's psychology, though penetrating, seems rather to clothe his characters than to create them, consequently his novels are long psychological treatises. It was a delight, therefore, to come upon this tale of Bourget's in which the story is as absorbing as the psychology. 1 1 1

Later volumes of this period, Les Détours du coeur and La Dame qui a perdu son peintre, give a more favorable impression of humanity, indicating the passing of the dark period for the author. A new source of material is revealed when Bourget uses psychiatry In the analysis and description of passions In Les Détours du c œ u r and L'Envers du décor. Bourget, through the influence of Taine, had always studied his characters from a biological point of view, in order to give a total picture of the Individual. Throughout his life, he had a passionate Interest in medicine. He loved It almost as much as literature. He took medical courses, was an assiduous visitor at clinics and medical lectures and became Intimately acquainted with famous 110. L'Ancêtre, written in 1901» at Bourget's home, Le Plantier, near Costebelle, did not appear in book form until 1905 when it was Joined to a republication of six other earlier nouvelles under the title of Un Saint. 111. Short Story Classic (Foreign), Edited by William Patten,

1907, v, 1603.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

doctors such as Brlssaud, Robin and Dleulafoy. The author uses the field of medicine in his works with authority resulting from his experiences. Speaking of the question of errors in his use of medicine In writing, Jean-Louis Faure, an eminent doctor, writes: Elles n'existent pas, parce que Paul Bourget n'a Jamais parlé que de ce qu'il connaissait—et connaissait tien. Il y a là un admirable exemple de probité littéraire...Ses descriptions sont le fruit d'une education médicale très développée et d'un long commerce spirituel avec dea médecine qui furent on aSme tempe ooo emió. 1 1 2

The particularly new emphasis came at this period in his development from the realm of mental pathology. In 1905, Bourget became acquainted with Erne3t Dupré, a famous psychiatrist. Dupré, at that time, was a doctor of the "Infirmerie spéciale de la Préfecture de police." Bourget went to hear his consultations two or three times a week. The two men gradually became faist friends. The attraction that Dupré exercised over the writer is expressed by JeanLouis Faure who knew them both: Car cet homme, chez lequel brûlait sana qu'il s'en rendît compte la pure flanme du génie, était aussi étincelant de verve, aussi étourdissant d'esprit, aussi enthousiaste, aussi débordant de richesse verbale et de pittoresque éloquence dans l'expression originale des idées qu'il émettait sans cesse sur les problèmes les plus variés de la pathologie mentale et de la psychologie, que Bourget était calme et réfléchi, tout imprégné d'une pénétrante finesse et d'une bonhomie souriante. 1 1 3

In the dedication of the nouvelles of L'Envers du décor to Ernest Dupré, Bourget stresses the Importance of the use of science in the writing of a literary work. Citing examples from Shakespeare, Moliere and Balzac, he demonstrates that the great men of literature discover by intuition the laws that the scholars of science find by a more humble method. The essential difference between the scientist and the artist is in the treatment given the laws: "L'Artiste, lui, y ajoute le mouvement. Il volt ces lois en action. Et, à cette condition seule, 11 est artiste."114 Although the critic is aware of the abuses of 112. Faure, Jean-Louis, "Les Idées médicales de Bourget," Revue hebdomadaire, 15 déc. 1923, p. 320. 113- rbld., p. 323llH. "Dédicace, " in: L'Envers du décor, p. IV.

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

95

Intellectualisai, he states that he persists in believing that Sainte-Beuve and Talne were right when they invited writers to train their minds by means of severe scientific disciplines. Concerning the value of scientific truth in art, Bourget writes; "Si l'on cherche une raison à la décadence de certaines grandes renommées littéraires du passé, on trouve toujours que les oeuvres qui vieillissent n'ont pas été assez vraies. Tous les prestiges du talent d'écrire sont impuissants à préserver une oeuvre qui n'est pas d'abord et surtout un témoignage de vérité." 115 Bourget's study of psychiatry, through the friendship of Dupré, gives testimony to the author's desire and effort to keep abreast of all developments in the field of psychology and contradicts those who ridicule the psychological interpretations of his stories. All that he has written about mental psychology he learned from direct observation. He believed that by studying passions in their morbid exaltations one could learn to know them better. As a doctor, Jean-Louis Faure gives credit to Bourget's medical talent: Cet homme a fait plue que beaucoup de médecins pour la gloire de la médecine.

Qu'il en soit remercié par l'un d'entre eux, par un chirur-

gien qui peut témoigner de son ardeur à s'instruire, de sa passion pour la vérité, de sa probité littéraire, de sa volonté de ne

parler

que de ce qu'il sait et de ne décrire que ce qu'il a vu. C'est elle, c'est cette oeuvre médicale, avec son talent d'écrivain, et la puissance de son invention dramatique qui fait la grandeur de son œ uvre littéraire et qui assurera sa d u r é e . 1 1 ®

Bourget's literary output of novels and short stories was not so great in the period before the war because of his interest in the theatre and in politics. Most of his work in the latter field found expression through journalistic channels. In 1908, he began a political column in L'Echo de Paris called Le Billet de Junius. It was in this period that Bourget became intensely interested in writing plays. The experiment was an intriguing one for him because of the evident difficulty of transporting psychological analyses of characters to the stage. In Un Divorce, La Barricade, Le Tribun and L'Emigré, he gives only an outline study of the characters. Most of 115. rbld. 116. Faure, Jean-Louis, pp. 329-30.

"Les Idées médicales de Bourget," loe, cit.,

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

his time Is given to the opposing arguments of the thesis which each play presents. The moralist is definitely in the foreground in his plays and the psychological interest of his novels and short stories is lacking. His plays were successful, however, mainly because of his instinct for the dramatic situation. During the first World War, Bourget served his country as best he could through his writing. He published a series of essays called the "Leçons de la Guerre" in L'Echo de Paris. The problems that preoccupied him during the war and the post-war period emerge for the greater part, however, in the novels entitled Le Sen3 de la mort, Lazarlne, Nemesis, Laurence Albanl, Un Drame dans le monde, La Geôle, Coeur pensif ne sait où 11 va and the two volumes of Nos Actes nous suivent. A single nouvelle of average length, published separately, and two collections, appearing immediately after the war, constitute the fourth division in the history of the author's short story productions. The s ingle nouvelle. Le Testament, published in a de luxe edition in 1919j contains nothing new in subject matter and method of treatment. The stories of Le Justicier, however, mark the unfolding of a new moral attitude on the part of the author. Because of the experiences of the war,'he becomes less rigorous and severe in his judgment of moral problems. The narratives in this collection are among his best achievements in the genre. Albert Thlbaudet gives the following rank to Le Justicier: Mais du Justicier l'éloge le plus haut et le plus vrai qu'on puisse en faire, c'est qu'il nous donne Une autre Echéance, cette Echéance qui frappa justement Brunetlère d'admiration, d'une admiration dont parlant à quelqu'un 11 concluait ainsi les raisons: "Car vraiment on ne peut savoir la mesure d'un romancier que lorsqu'il a écrit une histoire sans amour, tout aussi bien que l'on ne saurait obtenir celle d'un critique tant qu'il ne s'est pas expliqué sur le XVII siècle." Si M. Bourget nous donne une troisième nouvelle de la même valeur, leur recueil en un volume demeurera classique. 118

Edmond Jaloux, as well, ranks the same two nouvelles, not only as Bourget's best, but among the best nouvelles in all French literature.119 117. Editions de la Guirlande, 1919• 118. Thlbaudet, Albert, "A propos du Justicier," La nouvelle Revue Française, XIII, (1 Juin 1919), 136. 119. Cf. Jaloux, Edmond, Les nouvelles Littéraires, 10 Juillet, 1926, p. 3-

GENESIS AND PERIODS OF PRODUCTION

97

The second collection of this period, Anomalies, In 192Û, again bears the Imprint of psychiatry. The scientific element Is so conspicuous In these narratives that It Injures frequently their artistry. Often they give one the feeling of scientific cases and not the Illusion of life which has been the author's aim. The change In Bourget1 s attitude is aptly described by Martln-Chauff1er: M. Bourget regarde maintenant ses héros, non plus avec la curiosité d'un écrivain, soucieux de réunir les éléments d'une fine et profonde étude de sentiments, mais avec la préoccupation d'en découvrir et d'en mettre en lumière le

;ôté morbide: ce n'est plus autant l'analyse

qui l'intéresse que le rapport entre le résultat de cette analyse et la case pathologique où il pourra l'étiqueter.

Le3 personnages n'ont

point changé mais la perspective est modifiée et J'en éprouve

quelque

regret.120

In most of his stories, Bourget1 s abnormal characters do not lose their Identity with human beings. One has the feeling, however, that those of Anomalies are exceptional people because of the emphasis placed on their mental maladies. Repetitions of the earlier manner fill the creations of the last period in the history of Bourget'3 nouvelles, covering the last decade of his life, 1925-1935Le Danseur mondain, La Rechute and Une Laborantlne are the longest of the stories. Other collections, Conflits intimes, Le TapIn, La Vengeance de la vie, De petits faits vrais, Le Diamant de la reine and L'Honneur du nom, introduce many new environments and subjects, demonstrating the critic's desire to keep abrea3t of his times'. One of the best volumes of his whole career Is that of Conflits intimes which marks a high point in his contributions to the short story field. Besides praising his experienced art In the brief narrative technique, Edmond Jaloux makes the following appraisal of the volume: Cette passion de tout comprendre, de tout connaître, de tout expliquer qui fait de Paul Bourget un écrivain et un homme si exceptionnel, éclate à chaque page de ces récits--et son érudition universelle, mais si vivante, si mêlée aux émotions humaines, et quoi que l'on ait dit, là-dessus, ai peu pédantesque dans sa conception.

Archéologie, art,

médecine, psychopathie, histoire, théologie, sociologie, tout sert à Paul Bourget pour mieux approcher de ce mystère de l'Ême humaine,

120. Martin-Chauffler, Louis,

"Anomalies-Paul Bourget," La Nou-

velle Revue Française, IV (1 déc. 1920), 937.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

dont

l'investigation aura été la grande affaire de ce dix-neuvième

siècle européen qui a commencé avec Stendhal et qui a fini avec Marcel P r o u s t . 1 2 1

In making this judgment, M. Jaloux is putting Conflits Intimes on the high level of attainment of Bourget's novels. These last years of his life are given entirely over to the field of the nouvelle. The numerous stories come from the many projects that the author had in his notes. The time and effort necessary for another novel, one entitled. Croire, which Professor Feulllerat tella us he was planning,122 were denied him. 121. Jaloux, Edmond, Les Nouvelles littéraires, le 10 Juillet,

1926. 122. Feuillerat, Albert, op. cit., p. 37U.

IV SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

THE PROBLEM now vill be to discover whether or not Bourget'e practice of the art of the nouvelle is in accord with the theory which he presents for the genre. We have seen that the short story form, as Bourget understands It, must deal with an intensely significant and Important episode, which furnishes a meaningful Impression of life. In his choice of subject matter, Bourget was constantly concerned with all aspects of this law and applied them effectively. He excels In two types of short stories: the psychological narrative and the moral narrative. The psychologist and the moralist are always Intermingled In his themes; however, In the earlier part of his life the Interests of the psychologist predominate while the moralist comes to the forefront later. His subjects are, first of all, cases derived from observation of the inner life of human beings, In all of its various phases. With a penetrating eye, he pictures the makeup of that unconscious person which, he believes, Is in all Individualities the true self. The artist's job, as he sees it, is to find that part of a personality which is not apparent to the untrained, ordinary eye. His method reveals with tragic intensity the gamut of human passions which are universal in their appeal. For Bourget, the primary object of the nouvelle Is the revelation of character. Although his characters have a tendency to fall Into various categories, they are never conventional figures which could be transferred from one story to another. Each one, although he may resemble members of a class, has an Individuality of his own. Even when Bourget repeats a theme and the main outlines of a complication which he has used before as in Le Silence de 1'ami, Complicité and L'Outragé, the characters absorb our interest because of the differences in their personalities.

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PAUL BOURGET A N D THE NOUVELLE

The emphasis which he places upon character is clearly illustrated. by his statement in the framework of Le Beau Râle: Lorsqu'on s'est appliqué à dégager les dessous dans les événements de sa propre existence et dans celle des autres, on reconnaît que la part de l'aventure y est "beaucoup moindre qu'il ne semble. Ces événements sont tous logiques, en ce sens que les circonstances nous fournissent seulement une occasion de déployer les énergies latentes en nous; mais ces énergies, travaillant toujours dans la même direction, nous dessinaient par avance notre destinée. La "biographie vraie d'un être humain, ce serait l'histoire de ses idées et de ses sentiments. Les actes n'en sont que les produits et, pour "bien comprendre ces effets, il faut comprendre d'abord leur principe, qui est s implement notre personnalité.1 Bourget considers the human personality a very complex mechanism. At the very outset of his career, as we have already shown, he expressed his theory of the multiplicity of the "ego" in L'Irréparable. 2 The makeup of most of Bourget 1 s characters in his short stories and his novels is based on that theory. François Vernantes of Madame Bressulre is clearly aware of the multiple phases of his nature: Aussi, pendant ces quinze années qui ont suivi la vingtième que d'êtres différents j'ai connus en moi.' Il y a eu, dans ce moi ondoyant et multiple, un homme qui aimait les créatures, les filles hardiment jolies et impudemment gaies, avec le tapage d'une Jolie demeurée populaire au milieu d'un luxe momentané, incomplet et frelaté. Il y a eu un homme raffiné qui adorait les femmes malades, leur pâleur de mortes, le silence autour d'elles d'une chambre d'agonisante. Il y a eu un homme qui raffolait des femmes-poupées, de leur colifichets, de leurs idées menues, de leur froideur mièvre, et un homme encore qui désirait des femmes pompeuses et parées, des idoles de , 3 chair avec des regards lents, et des physiologies de geantes. Although all of Bourget's characters do not confess as readily as François Vernantes the complexity of their natures, they are none the less intricate and reflective men and women, who, through the vicissitudes of life, become aware of the basic demands of their personalities. In 1. Le Beau Bole, in: Conflits Intimes, p. 79. 2. Cf. supra, p. 63. 3- Madame Bressulre, in: Pastels, pp. 86-87.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

101

depicting such characters in his short stories, Bourget is not as elaborate as in his novels, but selects, of necessity, only one or two phases of a character, gives it high relief and suggests the rest. There is not much time in a nouvelle to show the development of a character, but since the author deals with crises, he often portrays a character just before the tense moment of the change in him occurs and then pictures him in the critical moment. By giving an indication of the "dawn of a new soul," as he repeatedly describes the result of the change, Bourget is dealing with character development. As Bourget examines individuals, he cannot conscientiously, help judging the problems of conscience which he sees. He thus forms moral principles of which a good share of his stories are nothing more than the exposition and the explanation. During the course of his observation of Individuals and the manners and customs of his times, Bourget discovers all sorts of laws, physical, moral and religious, which control life. The prevailing idea which dominates his work is that the world is governed by such laws. If any law is violated, punishment is as sure to follow as night follows day. The artist, he believes, must, seek out the laws of life, revealed by dramatic conflicts, and interpret them. The result is that a good many of the author's most effective short stories are but the illustration and the interpretation of these profound laws. Throughout his critical works,4 he repeats this thesis. As is the case with his novels, the main subjects of Bourget in his short stories deal with the passions of love, In all of their varying aspects. About forty percent of the stories deal directly with the struggles of the human heart in the relationships between man and woman. The sources and reasons for this predominant emphasis have already been given.5 One could select the titles of several of his collections of brief narratives as headings for all his work in fiction, novels,or short stories: Complications sentlmentales, Confllts lntlmes and Les Detours du coeur, all Indicating the realm wherein the author's main interest lies. In L'Irreparable, one finds a study of the effect of a brutal seduction upon the life of a young girl who Cf. supra, p. 79. 5- Cf. aupra, pp. 69-70.

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PAÜL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

does not know her true self. Noémle Hurtrel is em Illustration of the doctrine of the multiplicity of the mol. 6 The tragedy of her life comes from the fact that all of her efforts are expended in pursuing a goal vhlch she thinks will bring her happiness; however, once she has attained this goal, she discovers that she has failed to recognize her own fundamental emotional demands. Affecting the unrestrained manners of the gay society in which she has been raised, she is courted by the unprincipled Taraval, whose victim she becomes. The experience is so abhorrent to her that she tries to rebuild her life. She eventually commits suicide because she cannot recover from the tragic moment of her life which she considers "irreparable." This nouvelle, written in l88j, early in Bourget's career, demonstrates that from the beginning he believed in the moral law, "tout se pale," that an inevitable chastisement awaits those who have committed errors. Noemle condemns herself alone, not Taraval: E n prole à. malaise tragique du scrupule que connaissent si bien les créatures trop délicates pour la vie, elle n'accusait même plus Taraval.

C'était elle seule qUl, par ses coquetteries, par ses Impruden-

ces, par le serrement de main au bord de la fenêtre, avait tout mérité.

Cet examen de conscience aboutissait à une condamnation sans

appel.

C'en était fini de son bonheur. Elle ne l'avait vu que pour

savoir qu'elle l'avait à Jamais p e r d u . 7

Professional seducers, such as Taraval, are found In many of Bourget's short stories. The "charmers" of such stories are veterans of many affairs with women, who are usually their only occupation. They are motivated, in varying degrees, by sensuality, selfishness and vanity. The aftermath of their affairs is usually one of melancholy, disgust and hatred. An exception to the rule is Michel Steno of Une Ressemblance: Sous l'anglomane, Je démêlais le patricien qu'il eût été au dixhuitième siècle, le Magnifique, friand de voluptés fines, tel qu'il apparaît dans les peintures de Guardi et de Longhi, ou dans les mémoires de ce genial ruffian de Casanova.

Il en avait le Je ne sais quoi

de délicat et de noble, mêfae dans la galanterie; une espèce de lenteur, comme une sérénité aristocratique, mêlne dans la passion.

6. Cf. supra, p. $3!• L'Irréparable.. in: L'Irréparable , p. 102.

Avec son

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTHÎS

105

grand air d'ancien portrait, sa belle mine à la Titien, ou mieux à la Morone, 11 avait eu bien dea liaisons.

Ses succès de femme ne l'a-

vaient rendu ni fat, ni vulgaire, comme il arrive si souvent. 8

In Deuxième Amour, the author presents a delicate enigma of the senses which treats again of the Irreparable In life. Claire de Velde, married to a financier whom she "discovers is a thief, falls In love and escapes from Parisian society with Gerard de Lalresse. They discover that their love Is not lasting but remain loyal to each other. A mutual friend, Elle Laurens, visits their household. Laurens represents the typical Parisian of the period of Bourget's youth. His character is representative of many of the young men in Bourget's stories: Il avait rencontre l'occasion de beaucoup d'aventures, et 11 s'était abandonné, sans réfléchir qu'un honme flétrit le meilleur de luimême dans les plaisirs de passage.

La facilité de ces liaisons, plu-

tôt acceptées que choisies, Jointe à 1'étourdissement quotidien des sorties mondaines, avait empêché l'écloaion de tout sentiment puissant dans ce coeur, plutôt voluptueux que passloné. 9

His tiredness belles his youthful appearance. Passions have spoiled him rather than matured him. Suffering from a state of moral languor and physical melancholy, he feels an overpowering sense of the mediocrity of his life. Laurens then meets Claire and they gradually fall desperately in love with each other. Claire, mistrusting her second love and wishing, above all, to keep her dignity and selfrespect, retires into a convent. With a second love, she realizes that she would not have been happy for she would have lost the certitude of having done the right thing, a feeling which is the profound need of her life. The lofty ideal of sincerity, by which Claire de Velde is motivated, places her high on the moral scale of Bourget's heroines. A suggestion that the main happiness In love rests in unfulfilled desire forms the theme of Flirting Club. Bourget is introduced into this English club by a friend. He finds a group of women and men between the ages of thirty and forty. The men court the women in the club with the reservation that none of the men can become a lover 8. Une Ressemblance, in: La Dams qui a perdu son peintre, pp. 222-

259- Deuxième Amour, in: L'Irréparable, p. 123.

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE of any of the women. The story centers around a woman, who, married to a paralytic husband, remains faithful to him, but seeks relaxation In the emotional stimulants of desire in the club courtships. In Madame Bressulre, the.psychological problem to be solved is the duration of love: "Having loved a woman as a young girl, will one love her later in life If there is not contact with her in the interim?" François Vernantes, at the age of thirty-nine, had fallen Insanely In love with Eve-Rose Nleul, who is but twenty. She loved him, but married, for money, Adolphe Bressulre. Bressulre dies prematurely. Verantes sees Eve-Rose again and realizes that he is no longer in love with her: Ce que j'avais aimé dans la première, c'était tout ce qui se résume d'ignorance absolue, de pénombre d'âme, de mystérieux inachèvement dans ce simple terme: la jeune fille. Quand et comment avais-Je commencé de m'éprendre d'elle?

Au lendemain de ma rupture avec la plus cor-

rompue de mes maîtresses et parce que le contraste avait été complet entre cette douce, cette virginale enfant, et les coupables visions de mon plus récent souvenir. 1 0

Like many of Bourget'.s lovers, François Vernantes Is the victim of a highly developed imagination and self analysis. In the Introduction to Madame Bressulre, the author writes of him: De fait, J'ai acquis de'puis la conviction que son incapacité d'agir provenait de l'hypertrophie d'une puissance très spéciale; l'imagination de la vie intérieure.

Il se voyait vivre et sentir avec une

telle acuité que cela lui suffisait.

Son action était au dedans de

lui, et l'excès de i'analyse personnelle absorbait toute sa sève. Lss hasards l'avaient fait tomber du côté où il penchait. 1 1

Vernante1 s personality carries the marks of his effeminate education. He is, by his own admission, "half woman," as are many of Bourget's heroes. The power of imagination in love forms the theme of Claire, In which an officer falls in love with the mistress of a castle although he never actually sees her. L'Inutile Science furnishes the analysis of an unprincipled coquette, a common figure in the novels as well. The

10. Madams Bressulre, in: Pastels, p. 127. 11. Ibid., pp. 6^-65.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

105

central episode deals with the brutal way In which the courtesan, Clémentine de Révlgny, plays with the affections of Michel Favanne, a statesman. Clémentine has Inherited a diabolical coquetry from her mother. She tricks Favanne twice and thinks only of the moment when she will have a n opportunity to do so again, for: "C'est le plus délicieux régal de la coquetterie féminine de se prouver combien toute la science que l'homme peut avoir d'elle est inutile et vaincue d'avance." 1 2 Bourget portrays the strength of human beings in affairs of the heart as well as their weaknesses. The theme of frustration of love, whether licit or illicit, Is common to most of the author's stories and is well handled. In Les Deux Soeurs, Madeleine Liébaut seeks a husband for her sister Agathe, whose first husband had died. Madeleine makes the acquaintance of an officer, Louis Brlssonnet, and decides to win him for her sister. While carrying out her plan, she falls In love with him herself. Faced with Brissonnet' s declaration of love, she tells a heroic lie about her own feelings, to protect herself and her sister. The devoted love of a peasant for an aristocrat during the French Revolution is the theme of Le Carré d'orties. In La Mere, a mother gives up her home and life in Paris for a lonely seclusion in the south when she realizes that she is in love with her daughter's husband. L'Age d'amour Is an illustration of the belief that there is no exact age at which a man is apt to fall is love and love the most. Pierre Fauchery, a famous novelist in the story, believes that a man who is capable of exalted love never stops loving one being, the creation of his imagination. If one brought together all the pictures of the women that a man has loved or thought to have loved during his life time, one would discover that all these women ressemble each other. Fauchery, at sixty, loves a young girl who is the haunting portrait of the one whom he had wished to marry thirty years before. He suffers from the revelation that he has reached an age where he can no longer be loved for himself. The only way he can show the one whom he loves the depth of his love Is through sacrifice. A healthy picture of love Is furnished by the young, devoted lovers of Bourget's short stories. Their strong, faithful, legitimate love forms a sharp contrast w i t h that of his Parisian libertines. Michel Couderc of La Cachette 12. L'Inutile Science, In: Complications sentlnentalee, p. 257.

106

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Is an example of the serious young man who is so occupied with his studies that he has no time to think of women. Love awakens within him through a deep esteem for Mile Cherchemont. Charles Huguenln, the timid law student of Le Luxe des autres, falls In love gradually with his cousin, Reine Le Preux. Bourget characterizes the growth of their love: Et de causeries en causeries, de conseils en conseils, le cousin et la cousine avaient fini pax s'éprendre, l'un à l'égard de l'autre, d'un de ces sentiments qui n'ont "besoin, pour se communiquer et s'affirmer, ni de déclarations ni de promesses,--sentiment tout composé de respect enthousiaste de la part du Jeune homme, de pudeur confiante de la part de la Jeune fille, et qui avait envahi leurs deux Êmea en les enveloppant comme d'une atmosphère, sans aucune parole trop précise, aucun regard trop brûlant, aucune pression de main trop vibrante. Et quand la minute était arrivée du définitif aveu, il leur avait semblé, tant ils étaient sûrs du coeur l'un de l'autre, qu"ils s'étaient dit depuis longtemps, depuis toujours qu'ils s'aimaient. 13

Such a normal picture of love, completed by a further analysis of the sincerity of the sentiments of the couple, Is significant in Bourget's stories because of its antithesis with the depiction of illicit love common to many others. Such a story, along with others, contradicts those critics who say that Bourget treats only the irregular phases of love. Interesting love episodes in the lives of courtesans of the demi-monde are related In such brief narratives as Gladys Harvey, Un Scrupule and Dualité« In Gladys Harvey, the element of chance determines the course of the life of the heroine. At the age of twenty, Gladys Harvey had fallen in love with an author of sentimental novels, Jacques Molan. She vent to his country home to confess her love to him. He was absent at the time but was to return later that day. Gladys did not stay because she saw a woman in the garden whom she thought to be his mistress-. Heartbroken and disillusioned, she returned home. Life became more difficult for her until she was forced into the demi-monde society to survive. At the end of the story it is revealed that the lady in the garden was not Molan's mistress but that of a friend. But for this one Instant, the life of Gladys Harvey might have

13. Le Luxe des autres; in: Drames de famille, pp. llt-O-Ul.

107

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTÏJÎS

followed a completely different, happier path. In Un Scrupule, François Vernantes becomes acquainted with an Innocent adolescent, Blanche, living In a foul society with her older sister, Aline. She Is so untouched by the evils about her that Vernantes, at the time of her sister's depth, rescues her and sends her back to her home In the provinces. Ironically, he sees her, years later, as a beautiful mature woman, leading the same life of prostitution as her sister had before her. Vernantes, for the sake of the one fine moment of the past, treats her with respect and tenderness as he had when he first knew her. For once, Vernantes Is content with himself for he does not spoil the only precious and delicate memory of her life. In Dualité, the complexity of the personalities of demi-monde women Is further depicted. One of the princesses of the gay society, Blanche de Saint-Cygne, leads a double life, that of her Illicit world In Paris, and, when she is away from Paris, that of a respectable woman, Mme de Charme, devoting herself to the life of her son. Her desires are divided between a strong love for her son and an Insatiable love for luxury. She succeeds In living two lives, one totally apart from the other, until her son's love affair forces her to decide between them. Cosmopolitan love, common to the novels, Is often chosen by Bourget a3 a theme for his short stories. In such narratives, as In those of Henry James, the author deals with the contrasting ways of approaching life in people of different nationalities. In the nouvelle, Le Diamant de la Reine, Bourget underlines the difference between cosmopolitans and internationalists: Ils sont internationalistes.

Nous étions, nous, cosmopolites.

deux mots ne sont pas synonymes.

I>38

L'internationaliste cherche des res-

semblances entre les idées, les moeurs, les caractères des diverses sociétés, séparées par la distance, le climat, l'histoire. polite, au rebours, est curieux des dissemblances.. tir différent.

Le cosmo-

Il aime à se sen-

Il ne voudrait pas que les coutumes du pays où il

s'expatrie perdissent Jamais quoi que ce soit de ^eur originalité. Bien loin d'abolir ou de reinimuer chez lui-mime le caractère de ses sensations,

national

il l'exagérerait plutôt, pour Jouir dlun contraste

qui enrichit sa personnalité en l'intensifiant par opposition. fut un des premiers représentants de C9t état d'esprit, bien

rare.14

lit. Le Diamant de la Reine, pp. 9-10.

Stendhal

aujourd'hui

108

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

I n this s h o r t s t o r y , w h o s e s e t t i n g Is V e n i c e , a n I t a l i a n , A n t o n l a , a n d a n A m e r i c a n , Mrs. D a i s y W a r n e r , are the contrasting characters. Both women are courted by a Frenchm a n , F é l i x d e S t a v r è n e , w h o Is a t t r a c t e d b y A n t o n l a b e c a u s e of h e r m y s t e r l o u s n e s s a n d b y M m e W a r n e r , b e c a u s e of h e r audaciousness. Conflicting viewpoints, revealed in a d r a m a t i c e p i s o d e c o n c e r n i n g the t h e f t of a d i a m o n d , f o r m t h e s u b j e c t of t h e s t o r y . The setting for Maurice Olivier Is F l o r e n c e . I n it, t h e C o m t e s s e d e N a n ç a y is c o u r t e d b y four men: a n I t a l i a n , the p r i n c e V i t a l e , a n E n g l i s h m a n , S i r A r t h u r S t r a b a n e , and. t w o F r e n c h m e n , the M a r q u i s d e B o n nlvet and her cousin, Maurice Olivier. The latter, through c o n s t a n t , undemanding devotion, finally wins her. T h e t h e m e of t h e c o r r o s i v e e f f e c t of a d u l t e r y u p o n h u m a n b e i n g s is o n e w h i c h f i n d s c o n s t a n t r e p e t i t i o n I n t h e n o v e l s a n d s h o r t s t o r i e s of B o u r g e t . Closely interwoven w i t h it a r e i t s c o r o l l a r i e s of j e a l o u s y a n d r e v e n g e . In t h e a u t h o r ' s d e s o l a t i n g a n d o f t e n r e p u g n a n t d r a m a s of l i f e , i l l u s t r a t i o n s of b a s e p a s s i o n s c o r r o d i n g t h e h u m a n h e a r t , a n i n e v i t a b l e c o n c l u s i o n is I m p o s e d u p o n t h e r e a d e r : that is, t h a t no n a t i o n c a n e n d u r e w h i c h d o e s n o t s a n c t i f y l o v e , a s t h e s o u r c e of l i f e , p e a c e a n d h a p p i n e s s . It is to t h i s c o n c l u s i o n that Bourget, as a rigid moralist, comes in the l a t t e r h a l f of h i s l i f e w h e n h e s t a t e s t h a t the f a m i l y Is t h e v i t a l c e l l of a n y s t r o n g s o c i e t y . As a n interested s c i e n t i s t , h e a l w a y s d e p i c t e d the c o n s e q u e n c e s of g u i l t y p a s s i o n s , b u t as a m o r a l i s t h e j u d g e d them. We have seen that, b y his own d e f i n i t i o n , 1 3 he h a d always been a moralist f r o m t h e v e r y b e g i n n i n g w i t h the s h o r t s t o r i e s , C é l i n e L a coste and L'Irréparable. T h e p a y m e n t f o r a d u l t e r y is n o t h i n g b u t s a d n e s s a n d bitterness. T h e s t a t e m e n t w h i c h t h e a u t h o r m a k e s i n the n o u v e l l e , U n e L a b o r a n t l n e , c o u l d b e p l a c e d a t the h e a d of a l l of h i s s t o r i e s c o n c e r n i n g a d u l t e r y : "Quand L'Ecriture nous montre l'adultère puni par la lapidation, elle formule dans u n symbole saisissant les innombrables supplices moraux q u i c h â t i e n t ce c r i m e c o n t r e l a f a m i J l e . " 1 6 I n Le V r a i F è r e , the Comtesse de B r é a u had committed a d u l t e r y w i t h L o u i s d e Megrlgnles. Their love idyl had ended In hatred, disgust a n d i n d i f f e r e n c e . L o u i s , as a t h i e f , s e e k s p r o t e c t i o n f r o m the countess after having a b a n d o n e d her. He forces h e r to c o m e to t h e i r o l d a p a r t m e n t b y m e a n s of t h e t h r e a t of 15. C f . supra, pp. 79-80. 16. Une Laborantine, p. 195-

109

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

revealing the parentage of Mme de Bréau's child. The description which Bourget gives of their situation is representatives Que de couples a Paris disposent ainsi chaque année, avec une

tendresse

énivree, de ces nids pour les baisers, champs de batailles plus tard pour les mortelles rancoeurs d'une maîtresse délaissée ou d'un amant trahi.1

On y est entré quand les tapis étaient neufs, le coeur bat-

tant d'espérance, et on s'y retrouve comme Jeanne de Bréau se

retrou-

vait là, auprès de louis de Megrignies, ayant senti couler entre et ce qu'on a trop aimé tous les mépris de l'âme

soi

humaine. 1 7

For one mistake, the countess is forced to drink from the cup of bitterness to the last drop. Her only means of atonement is to live to combat the guilty, inherited instincts of her son, so that he will not be like his father. In L'Ecran, adultery is successfully carried on by means of a clever, diabolical deception. The guilty couple, Emmellne and Bertrand, use their sincere friend, Alyette, as a "screen" to hide their illicit affair. Bertrand pretends to pay court to Alyette, whose reputation for conjugal fidelity is impeccable, using her to cover his liaison with Emmellne. The lovers in adultery are not happy. A shame, springing from their life of deception, a constant distrust of one another and a lack of abandon in each other's presence spoil their so-called happy moments. From the very start of their affair, they seem to sense that true felicity is impossible and that a tragic outcome is inevitable. As Bourget states: "Mais 11 faut bien que les élégantes scélératesses se paient comme les autres, et peut-être sentaient-ils tous deux vaguement que le châtiment de la leur sortirait, comme 11 arrive, de la réussite même."18 Bertrand d'Aydle represents the most dangerous type of Bourget's unscrupulous lovers. Women with reputations for chastity find it difficult to resist him because his sensuality, ever in search of new sensations, is combined with a seemingly sincere idealism. Similar is Alfred Harny, the novelist of Une Laborantlne, who is both a libertine and an aesthetic lover. A study of hatred and vengeance of the most violent nature, as a sequel of adultery, is found in Corsegues. By observation, Bourget discovers stark tragedies beneath the covering of the decorous behavior of society. In fact, the 17- Le Vrai Père, in: Recommencements, pp. U-5 16. L'Ecran, in: Complications sentimentales, p. 16.

110

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

doctor who tells the story of Corsègues chld.es him for not being more perspicacious: "SI vous saviez combien vous en coudoyez de ces drames vivants auprès desquels vos drames Imaginés sont des enfantillages, et vous ne les soupçonnez pas."19 The baroness de Corsègues has a lover, Pierre de Créance, who Is the father of her second child. The husband discovers the deceit of his wife. His jealous hatred Is so great that he pushes her against a lighted Christmas tree, where her clothes catch fire. She dies from the serious burns that she receives. Once Corsègues Is sure of the Identity of her lover, he cultivates his friendship and then kills him. The lover does not report Corsègues to the police before he dies because he fears that the husband's vengeance may descend upon the children of the family. The jealous vengeance for adultery of the financier In Un Homme d'affaires Is less violent In Its brutality but Is none the less cruel because It falls upon the Innocent party, the child, who Is not responsible for the original error. M. Nortler, the financier, Is openly deceived by his wife and an Italian, M. de San Globbe. He knows that the second child, Béatrice, Is the offspring of the Illegitimate affair. Nortler defers his vengeance because he fears scandal and a duel with the lover, a famous fencer. He also wants his means of vengeance to be useful to his own Interests, mainly a membership In the Jockey Club. His hatred Is so great for his wife, the lover, and the child that he searches for an act of vengeance which will strike them all with one blow. One feels from the beginning that tragedy will fall upon the Innocent child because of the fears of the lover: "L'Italien avait retrouvé, devant la mort approchante, toutes sortes de terreurs religieuses. Il redoutait l'enfer pour lui--et pour sa fille, cette formidable loi, cette réversion des fautes paternelles sur les enfants qui est le fond même du dogme chrétien." 2 0 Further illustrations of this Catholic doctrine are given In other nouvelles. In Sauvetage, punishment for adultery comes late In life for Basslgny, a sad, lonely man of fiftyfive who had been the illegitimate lover of Mme Jançon. He discovers that their daughter, Nicole de Monlot, who is Ignorant of her parentage, is at the point of taking a lover of the worst type. The Implacable law of heredity is 19- Corsègues, in: Nouve amc Pas te Is, p. 2}2. 20. U n Homme d'affaires, in: U n Homme d'affaires, p. 32.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

111

about to exercize Its terrible action on the destiny of his child. In order to save her from this fate, he has to reveal to Nicole the fact that he Is her father. The young woman's life is poisoned by this disillusionment for she is suddenly obliged to judge and condemn her mother, to cease respecting her, without being able to stop loving her. Basslgny, preoccupied with safeguarding the happiness of his child whom he cannot recognize openly, is characteristic of the fathers of children born In adultery in Bourget's short stories. The law that adultery must be paid for is an inexorable one with Bourget. Not a single one of his characters ever escapes some form of atonement. In La Rançon, Mme le Hélln has been loved devotedly for thirty years by Pierre Guchery. He had sacrificed everything, position and family, for his great passion. Years had transformed his turbulent passion into a tender devotion at the age of sixty. Now, as a widow, Mme le Hélln is free and willing to marry him. This happiness Is refused them, however, because their marriage would confirm suspicions that Mme le Hélln1s son has had of his mother because of accusations in anonymous letters he had received. Their dream of ending life together cannot be realized for: "Les deux anciens amants sentaient avec une égale mélancolie, peser sur eux la rançon de leur longue vie: ils avalent perdu le droit à la vérité, et l'amertume de devoir continuer à mentir toujours, toujours, se mélangeait en eux à la crainte, presque à la terreur de ne pas mentir assez bien jusqu'au bout." Other characters do not succeed as well In keeping the secret of their illegitimate affairs from those close to them. In Le Testament, Raymond Souty, the real father of Maxime de Servlères, the supposed son of his best friend, is silent concerning Maxime's parentage until the time of his death. He leaves his fortune to his friend, hoping to enrich Maxime indirectly in a way which would avoid comment. The will, however, confirms Maxime's suspicions that Souty is his father. The inner conflict of the son increases In tragic Intensity when he realizes that M. de Servlères, aware of his wife's betrayal, has raised him as his own child. Many of the short stories are recitals of personal vengeance for adultery but the author has a more frequent 21. La Rançon in: L'Eau profonde, p. 377-

112

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

theme In the belief that life Itself punishes people vho have broken moral laws. To illustrate, in La Vengeance de la vie. Colonel Lanthenac Is the victim of a double betrayal, when his wife takes his good friend as a lover. He plans to kill the friend but when the opportunity arrives, he is unable to do so because of his wife's outward happiness. In addition, she places the responsibility for her downfall upon him because he had taken away her faith in religion, removing the only support which would have permitted her to fight against her guilty feelings. The colonel is brought back to the church and learns that the spirit of forgiveness is greater than the spirit of vengeance. He later discovers that life has punished the guilty couple in a way that he would never have wished. He uses the story of the tragedy of his own life to dissuade a friend from avenging a betrayal. The narrator sums up his advice to his friend when he states: "La vie apporte à nos ressentiments les plus justifiés des vengeances quelquefois si dures que l'on aurait honte de s'en réjouir."22 Jealousy, which plays a minor role In many of Bourget's stories, is the primary passion studied in others of his intimate dramas. The jealousy of the Russian prince of La Main de bronze, aroused when he discovers the, betrayal of his mistress, becomes Increasingly strong because he suppresses all outward signs of it as he prepares a brutal vengeance. The narrator of the story says of the prince : Le Russe mit douze

Jours à préparer sa vengeance; quand Je songe à sa

tranquillité durant cette période

Je l'admire comme un de ces Scan-

dinaves des anciennes légendes, qui sombraient en pleine mer du Nord et relevaient leurs barques en chantant parmi les formidables houles.

11 perdit cent mille francs aux courses, acheta deux ta-

bleaux espagnols à une vente, alla chasser le loup:

en un mot, ne

laissa rien paraître de la colère qui le b r û l a i t . 2 3

The significant episode of L'Eau profonde is brought about by a deeply rooted jealousy of Jeanne de Node for her cousin and life-time Intimate, Valentine de Challgny. Although simulating love for Valentine, Jeanne has been jealous of every good thing that has come to her. For her cousin, Jeanne sees nothing but continual success whereas 22. La Vengeance de la vie, pp. 125-26. 23. La Main de bronze, in: Nouvelle Revue

XXVII (7-15 Juin 1 6 9 5 ) , 633.

Internationale,

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

113

for herself, there are nothing but failures. For no other purpose than to seek vengeance for her lot at the hands of life, Jeanne becomes the mistress of Valentine's weak husband, causing the crisis of the story. Bourget sees In the jealousy of Jeanne, an Illustration of the fact that jealousy Is always mistaken when It Imagines the joys of others. Therein lies Its first punishment because the exaggeration Itself brings more suffering. Jealousy, also, he asserts, makes a mistake when It tries to organize a misfortune which Is to be Its vengeance. Nine times out of ten, its efforts, distorted by hatred, bring only more unhapplness to the avenger. Jean Maquenem has as Its theme the elemental jealousy and hatred of an abandoned lover. Jean, a marine sergeant, returns from five years of service in the French colonies to find that his fiancee Is to be married in two weeks. He cannot win back to fickle Marguerite so seeks vengeance against the one who took her from him, PierreDominique. Jean attacks him on a cliff road near the sea. They engage in a violent struggle which ends in their falling together to their death on the rocks by the sea. The damaging effect of jealousy upon character Is shown In Le Venln in which a poisoned love develops from the union of the desperate grudges of an outraged mistress and the sensuality of a man who is .trying to help her. A good example of the situation where jealousy brings regret is Revlrement, in which an abandoned mistress breaks up the meeting of her former lover and his new mistress. Because she brings disgrace and unhapplness to him, she regrets her action. Sa'ida presents an interesting case of jealousy between two people who love each other but are k-ept apart by a misunderstanding. Mme Rodier resents her husband's constant jealous supervision so much that she does everything that she can to provoke it. Suspicious of her actions, he takes her away from the society she loves to Syria, much against her will. She has made up her mind never to pardon him, while he Is convinced that his wife does not love him. Rodier becomes a reckless daredevil. He had bought a wild horse, Sa'ida, which had killed several riders. While drunk, Rodier wagers that he can make a dangerous leap on the horse. Mme Rodier, fearing for her husband, kills the animal. The husband, Instead of becoming angry, Is elated because he has definite proof that his wife really loves him. The misunderstanding between them, born of jealousy, is cleared forever. Many such

114

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

misunderstandings attract Bourget's Interest. tuation In SaIda, he says:

Of the si-

C ' e s t le fond mime des t r i s t e s s e s de f a m i l l e , ces malentendu s - l à . Que de f o l s un père meurt qui aimait son f i l s e t qui en é t a i t , persuadé de l ' i n g r a t i t u d e de cet enfant et sans savoir que ce f i l s lui-même a v a i t le coeur percé par l ' i n d i f f é r e n c e de son père.' C ' e s t - à - d i r e que le r e c u l , l ' i m p o s s i b i l i t é de se montrer t e l qu'on e s t , l a contradiction douloureuse devant ce que l ' o n chérit le plus forment le l o t commun de tous l e s êtres tendres e t timides. Que de mal on se f a i t , que l ' o n ne se f e r a i t pas s i l ' o n pouvait v o i r le3 âmes, comme on v o l t les corps.' 2 4

A clinical case of jealousy as a phobia Is the subject of 1'Epreuve. Georges Couterot Is of the race of Othello and Arnolphe. Through ten years of married life with a devotedly faithful wife, he has struggled with himself, trying not to reveal his suspicious nature to her. Couterot has taken his wife, sick from a heart ailment, to Nauhelm for treatment. Doctors have told him that she could be cured If She avoids all excitement. During the stay at Nauhelm, Couterot relapses into the frightful mania of jealousy which had obsessed him all of his life. His fit of jealous distrust causes his wife's death. Bourget believed that one could never escape from the memory of life's experiences, happy or sad. The present Is continually reminding us of loves that used'to be and wounds that will never heal. Sad memories of love that incidents of the present recall to sensitive souls are found in Le Cob Rouan, Le Portrait du doge, Dernière Poésie, L'Aveu and Fausse Manoeuvre. Points of conscience involved in the bonds of friendship are analyzed In several of Bourget's short stories such as Complicité, Le Silence de l'ami and L'Outragé. As the author states In Complicité, the great attraction of human life lies in the scruples of problems of conscience and the various solutions that individuals find for them." 2 5 In Complicité, Raymond discovers by accident that the wife of one of his most intimate friends, Charles Routier, is committing adultery. She is about to have a child, the responsibility for which the lover refuses to take. Routier adores his wife and has no suspicions of her betrayal. Raymond feels that he Is guilty in keeping 2h. Safda, In: Recommencements, p. 15725- Complicité, in: les Detours du coeur, p. 69.

SUBJECT MATTER AMD CHARACTERS

115

silent but cannot bring himself to disturb hla friend's happiness. He Is also held back by the chlvalrlc principle of his race that "one must not beat a woman, even with a flower."26 He keeps silent. The wife succeeds In making the husband believe that the child Is legitimate. Six months after the birth of the child, she Instigates a quarrel to rid herself of the presence of the one who knows about her error. Bourget makes this commentary on Raymond's problem: Envers un véritable ami, un tel alienee eat coupable: Et parler eat al cruel: C'eat la preuve qu'il faut toujours Ignorer certains secrete. Le plue aage parti dans la vie eat de fermer see yeux et sea ore111ea pour ne rien apprendre dea fautes d'autrul. C'est la seule manière d'en demeurer tout à fait pur, et ce n'est pas toujours aisé. 2 7

A similar situation with enough variation to belle the criticism of repetition forms the subject of Le Silence de 1'ami. Here the wife is a sensation seeker, who rebuffed by the refusal of her husband to love her after he has discovered her clandestine affairs, breaks up the friendship of the two men. The friend could have accused the wife but remains silent, sacrificing a friendship which had been the one support of his Ideals. In L'Outragé, Michel Gontler is betrayed by his wife and best friend. After years of suffering, Michel discovers that the blame for the betrayal was his wife's, not his friend's. The bond of friendship between the two men was stronger than their passion for a selfish woman. As all of the above stories dealing with the passions of love indicate, Bourget has a tendency to emphasize the unhappy, pessimistic side of love. Most of his character would agree with the Italian, Michel Steno, in Une Ressemblance: "Mais on n'aime pour être heureux. C'est encore un proverbe de mon pays: 'L'amour ne fait honneur à personne et à tous 11 fait douleur.' (L'amore a nessuno fa onore e a tutti fa dolore.J Et pourtant, sans cette douleur, vaudralt-il la peine d'avoir vécu?" 2 0 Next to the analysis of the complicated problems of love, the most frequent subject which attracts Bourget is 2 6 . Cf. ibid., p. 7 5 . 27. Ibid., p. 88.

238.

28. Une Ressemblance, In: la D»"~» qui a perdu son peintre, p.

116

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

that of the emotions and feelings of children, which he treats with keen sensitiveness. The tender side of the author's nature and his understanding of delicate sensibilities finds a fertile field in the world of the child. From the beginning of his literary career, when he observed the actions of his fellow-men with a scientific indifference, he realized the importance of the early years in the formation of individual character. One can easily see from the following passage, written in 1888, that it was not difficult for Bourget to change from the mental attitude of the dilettante to that of the rigid moralist, preaching the serious responsibility of parents in their relationships with their children: Tout en remontant l e s Champs-Elysées e t dans l e s o i r t o u t à f a i t venu, Je me souvenais de ce que Mérimée d i s a i t de lui-même, que l e p r e m i e r germe de l a d é f i a n c e e t du s c e p t i c i s m e a v a i t é t é J e t é dans son coeur p a r une moquerie de sa mère, s u r p r i s e d e r r i è r e une p o r t e ; e t p e n s a n t à c e t t e espèce de p o u s s i è r e de s e n s a t i o n s qui v o l t i g e a u t o u r des fines d ' e n f a n t s , à ces m i l l e g r a i n s i n v i s i b l e s qui peuvent l e v e r , pour l e b i e n ou l e mal,--comma a v a i t d i t l e g é n é r a l , - - J e p e n s a i s que c ' e s t une chose b i e n grave que d ' a v o i r des f i l s e t des f i l l e s , e t que beaucoup l a p r e n n e n t , c e t t e chose b i e n g r a v e , b i e n l é g è r e m e n t . 2 8

Bourget's early nouvelle. Céline Lacoste, is a study of the growth of religious doubts in the mind of a pious young girl. Jean Lacoste, an atheist, learns that he will soon die from a chronic heart ailment. His daughter, Céline, to whom he is bound by an exceptional communion of spirit, tries to persuade him to accept Christ before he dies. Céline almost succeeds but the father dies before he is able to confess and take the sacraments. In her simplicity, the daughter is tortured by the thought that her father will be lost forever, because she had not insisted upon his accepting the church sooner. She imagines herself as the cause of his suffering in hell. Her vivid imagination and constant remorse are fatal to her frail physique. In seven months, she follows her father, refusing the sacrements because she wants to be with him. The Importance of the adolescent years In the training of the child is shown by the story of Lucie. A general who relates to Bourget a tragic episode of his life, says of this period in a child's growth: "Ces impressions et 29- Lucie, i n : P a s t e l s , pp. 256-59-

SUBJECT MATTE» AND CHARACTERS

117

ces défauts de la douzième, de la treizième, de la quatorzième année, on dit que ce n'est rien; et tout l'homme en dépend. C'est comme dans les gares le petit mouvement par lequel on aiguille un train ... Ce n'est rien non plus, ce mouvement; c'est tout un voyage."30 Lucie was a girl of fourteen who coquettlshly played with his affections and brought about his choice of a career In the army, although he showed aptitudes for greater progress elsewhere. Le Frère de M. Vlple deals with a child's vengeance during the Austrian Invasion of France In 1814. Austrian soldiers were quartered in the Vlple home. Before the Impressionable eyes of the young boy of the family the soldiers brutally beat his sick father, because he would not drink a toast to the Emperor of Austria. The child, to avenge his father, shoots the Austrian commander while he Is sleeping. Marcel Is a penetrating study of the tender sensibility of a lonely child who finds a friend to whom he Is drawn by a nascent sympathetic Impulse. Bourget writes of early friendships of childhood days with a contagious nostalgia. Friendships of the early years of life may have a brief duration, but the tenderness they Instill In human beings remains Imprinted in the memory. The Ideal friendship of the two boys In Marcel, because of Its disinterestedness, its spontaneity and the frankness of its sentiments, differs greatly from friendships contracted in the more mature years. Bourget underlines this difference in the following passage: P l u s avancé dans la vie, o n a des amis dont o n sait m i e u x pourquoi

on

les aime, comme o n a des maîtresses auxquelles on s'attache avec le sérieux presque

tragique

de l'âge m u r . MaiB il y a du passé

derrière

ces amitiés et derrière ces amours, de ce passé qui nous c o n t r a i n t comparer, à r e g r e t t e r parfois,--mÊme

dans le bonheur.

à

N o t r e âme, dé-

pouillée de son é l a s t i c i t é native, ne marche plus sur les n o u v e l l e s routes avec cet é l a n qui n'imagine pas u n terme aux beaux

chemins.

Elle en a tant suivi, de ces sentiers du sentiment qui s e m b l a i e n t si longs et qui furent si courts, qui promettaient la Joie e t qui

con-

duisirent à la douleur.'

Oui,

elle recommence.

Et elle recommence pourtant d'aller.

Autrefois, elle commençait simplement.

Il n'y a

qu'une syllabe de différence entre ces deux mots, et c'est u n qui les

sépare.31

30. Ibid•, pp. 21»3-1*1». 31. Merce 1, in: les Houveaux Pastels, p. 212.

infiné

118

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

The portrait of a delicate young girl of ten Is given In the nouvelle. Aline. Claude Larcher, who tells the story, shows what effect she had upon the development of his character. The problems of the psychologist dealing with the child, as suggested by the story Aline, are: L'Eclosion d'une intelligence et d'un coeur. A quelle minute commence en noue la souffrance de penaer? A quelle seconde le mal d'aimer? L'fiine de la femme et celle de 1' homme ne sont—elles pas tout entières déjà dans l'étonnement que l'Inexplicable séparation d'avec sa mère mort« Inflige à une petite orpheline, dans la tendresse passionnée qu'inspire à un garçon de dix ans la délicatesse souffrante de sa compagne de Jeux?

32

The constant state of flux In a child's being fascinated the analytical mind of the author. Aline is one of the early examples of his cult of the gentle feminine spirit which Is so predominant In his works. In Le Talisman, the theme is that of j'ealousy In a child's heart. Bourget believes that the worst passions of maturity have their roots, ready to be awakened, In the Innocence of the child. He further believes that the best cure for precocious vices can be found in the good judgment and magnanimity of teachers of youth. An artist friend of Bourget's learned at the age of eleven never to be envious of the happiness or success of others. He was jealous of an orphaned school chum, Octave, who could always do everything better than he. Octave was consequently held up to him as a model. The artist was so disquieted by the venom of jealousy that he stole a coveted watch, given to Octave as a reward for his excellent work in school. An understanding teacher who was aware of the remorse of the artist rectified the situation and cured the young boy of his jealousy by making him feel the meaness of his action and by pardoning him because he had the courage to confess. Sentiments précoces is an illustration of the psychological truth that often children in the period of early adolescence have a premature power of imagination which enables them to sense, if not completely understand, the truth of the emotions of the people with whom they live. In this nouvelle, a child of thirteen, observed from his innocent point of view, the course of an Illegitimate courtship.

52. Aline, in: Pastels, p. 276.

SUBJECT MATTER AMD CHARACTERS

119

Many of the nouvelles analyze the awakening and disillusion that sensitive adolescents experience when they first discover the ugliness of reality. One of the best examples Is that of Les Moreau-Janvllle In which the emotional shock undergone by a sixteen year old boy Is typical of cases that Bourget observed In the clinic of Dr. Dupré. André first discovers Irregularities In his school life. Bourget describes the effect they have upon him; Quand la rencontre avec les réalités dégradantes de la vie sexuelle ae produit brdaquement, elle devient, pour un adolescent chaste, une épreuve extrêmement douloureuse, que les homnes faits ne prennent pas au serleui. Aussi n'a-t-11 personne pour confident de ses Indignations passionnées, de ses rebellions effarouchées, de ses luttes aussi, car 11 est a l'fige ou la puberté fermente, et le péché qui le révolte le tente; bref, la fréquentation du lycée avait représenté pour André, durant la première année, un si constant supplice moral qu'il était tombé malade, au conmencement de la deuxième. 3 3

The despair of the boy Is complete when he discovers that his mother lias a lover who Is courting his sister at the same time. An analysis of the child who lies for the sake of lying nakes up the subject of Le Mythomane. Children often adopt lies as a means of defense or protection against older people. The "mythomane" Is, however, a creator of myths, logically and Ingeniously combined for the sole pleasure of telling them. A young boy exploits a lie in which true facts support his original statement that he Is a refugee, forced to become a spy by the Germans, with whom he Is allegedly In contact. The lie holds together until a police Inspector suspects him because of the too carefully planned details of his lie. The humanistic sentiments of a boy of sixteen, inspired by a study of the Roman heroes, are analyzed In Le TapIn. Jacques Bulsslère, classmate of the author, excelled In the translation of Latin verse, and was the best candidate to win first prize for the school at the time of the examinations. But having broken one of the rules of the school, he was dismissed. His father put him to work in a clothing store. The boy worked without complaining, obeying the precept of Roman discipline which he had gleaned from his readings. While working, he continued his Latin studies by himself. Later he was able 33- LBS Moreau-Janvllle, In: L'Envers du décor, p. 12U.

120

PAUL BOUKGET AND THE NOUVELLE

to return to the school in the humiliating position of "drummer-boy." It was his way of paying for his original error. By depicting constantly, in his novels and his short stories, the child who is the Innocent victim of immoral love and family misunderstandings, Bourget makes an appeal to the responsibility of his parents. From a mere observer of the effects of libertinage, the author becomes a defender of family life for he believes the family is a vital cell of any social organism. From conviction, he preaches against those elements which threaten the sanctity of the home, such as adultery and divorce. In the preface to his novel, La Terre promise, the critic suggests an entire program which becomes one of his major fields of Interest. Speaking of La Terre promise, he writes: Si un pareil titre n'eût pas paru trop ambitieux, ce livre se serait appelé Le Droit de l'enfant. Le problème particulier qui s'y trouve posé se rattache, en effet, à cet autre plus général: Jusqu'à quel point le fait d'avoir donné volontairement la'vie à un autre être nous engage-t-il envers cet autre être? Dans quelle mesure notre personnalité est-elle obligée d'abdiquer l'indépendance de son développement devant cette existence nouvelle? Suivant la réponse que vous ferez à cette question, vous serez pour ou contre le divorce1, pour ou contre le second mariage des veufs et des veuves, pour cru contre l'éducation par l'internat, pour ou contre la recherche de la paternité, pour ou contre l'absolution des vengeances conjugales, qualifiées si complaisamment de crimes passionels. Ces exemples suffisent à montrer la complexité singulière de ce problème, l'enfant, qui ne résume rien moins que la moralité de l'amour.

The subjects outlined in this preface are common to both the novels and the short stories. An episode of the tragic drama of paternity in adultery, so fully developed in La Terre promise, is the subject of the brief narrative, Le Chapiteau Roman. Césaire Favreuille is the father in adultery of Marthe Belgrand, whom he has not seen for twelve years. Marthe believes she is the daughter of the famous archeologlst Belgrand. Belgrand, who knows of the parentage of Martha, has kept the secret for her sake and that of his son. Through an unforeseen meeting, while on a vacation, Martha makes the poignant discovery that the man she loves as a father is not her real father. This

3k. "Preface," La Terre promise.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

121

knowledge draws her only closer to Belgrand because of all he has suffered for her. Belgrand, supported by a religious faith, has thought only of his duty as a parent In raising Marthe. In Simone, a little girl of eight suffers because her father seems to have stopped loving her. After the sudden death of his wife, the father had discovered from letters that his favorite child had been born in adultery. He is continually tortured by the sight of the little girl. Although he repeats to himself that she is Innocent, he cannot bring himself to pardon her. Simone, in her loneliness, writes to her mother in "Heaven" on Christmas eve, praying that Christ will have her father love her as in former days. The father reads the letter and is moved tc forgiveness by the simple but profound grief of the child. The problem of the second marriage preoccupies Bourget in many of his short stories. The conflict that arises between children and a step-mother is analyzed with understanding and sympathy. The mother of Odile in the nouvelle by that name commits suicide because her husband, the Marquis d'Estlnac, had been committing adultery with the notorious Mme Justel. After the suicide, the marquis marries his mistress. The step-mother, Ill-bred and despotic, jealous of the first wife, tortures her step-child. Bourget finds the antagonism representative: "Je n'aperçois plus, dans le jeu de ces deux natures l'une contre l'autre qu'un duel autour de la partialité d'un père et d'un mari, comme 11 s'en produit, neuf fols aur dix dans un second marriage, entre les enfants du premier lit et la nouvelle épouse."35 The step-mother Is aware that the tendency toward suicide is a hereditary weakness. Instead of diverting Odile's inclination toward despondency, she accentuates it until the child escapes from th'e constant cruelty in the same way as her mother. The child is the victor In the moral drama of L'Enfant de la morte. Valentine, the second wife of Pierre Gondier, tries her best to win the affections of Pierre's son, Jean-Michel. The nine year old boy remains true to the memory of his mother. It is only when the step-mother gives up the idea that she can really replace his true mother that she gains tny degree of love from the step-son. By abandoning her jealousy for Solange, the first wife, Valentine makes herself and her home happier. To a friend, she confides the following: 35. Odile, In: Voyageuses, p. 257-

122

PAUL BOUFGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Tu vola que J'avais bien raison d'être

Jalouse de Solange puisque,

même maintenant, c'est elle qui a la première place dans lei coeur de cet enfant que Je me suis prise à aimer comme mon fils. d'elle uniquement et par elle, qu'il peut m'aimer.

C'est à cause

Mais que ce soit

à cause d'elle et par elle, qu'est-ce que cela me fait, pourvu qu'il m'aime?

36

Résurrection analyzes the tragic situation of the mother whose suffering over the loss of her own child. Is Increased, by the presence of the two children of her husband by a previous marriage for whom she is obliged to care during his absence. She cannot bring herself to pardon them for being gay and young, for existing, when her "own" child lies In the tomb. At times, she finds herself hating them as if they were responsible for her child's death. They had never known that she was not their true mother; now, 3he Is on the point of telling them the truth and sending them away to school to be rid of them so that she will suffer less. The mother keeps the children, however, when she finds that they have not forgotten their former playmate. On an Easter morning, she overhears them as they are taking flowers and colored eggs to his room, praying for him. A "résurrection" takes place in her soul, one of justice, pity, affection and duty. To solve some family difficulties, brought about by the second marriage of parents, children are sometimes sent to boarding-schools, away from the Influences of the home. The way in which two half-brothers become good friends Is the subj'ect of Une Ame d ' enfant. A step-mother, because of jealousy, creates an antipathy between her stepson, George, and his half-brother, Jean. She persuades the father to send George to a boarding-school, where his hatred for his step-mother and half-brother only Increases. During a vacation, when the boys are together, George tries to get rid of his brother by having some gypsies kidnap him. The hatred Is changed to love when the father, on his death-bed, asks George to care for his brother as he grows up. This opportunity comes when the step-mother remarries and Jean is put in the same school with George. There George Is sympathetically drawn to his younger brother, when he realizes that he, too, is suffering from the lack of a home. The problem of whether or not a woman with children has a right to marry again Is'raised in the short stories, 36.

L'Enfant de la morte, in: Le lapin, pp. 1U1-U2.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

125

Le Fils and L'Ami haineux. In Le Fils, Mme Llgler is a widow at thirty-five with three children, the oldest being sixteen. When a family friend proposes marriage, her first thought Is of her children when she exclaims: "Mais ma vie n'est plus à refaire! Vous parliez de droit, de devoir ... Je ne connais qu'un droit: celui que' me3 enfants ont sur mol; qu'un devoir: celui que j'ai envers eux." 37 Her decision not to marry a man she loves Is made when she discovers that the oldest boy has made a cult of his love for his dead father and has a constant fear that a stranger will be Introduced into the household. Mme Ligler cannot bring herself to hurt her son, who is doing his best to take his father's place for the younger children. Likewise, in L'Ami haineux, Mme le Clerc decides not to remarry because of her child. This time, the decision is brought about by the revelation that the suitor, a former friend of her husband, would be cruel to her son, because of a deep-rooted jealousy which he had for the father. Bourget does not always portray the tragic results or the sad undercurrents of a second marriage. He advocates a remarriage if the man and wife concerned are willing to subordinate their own selfish Interests to the welfare of the child. In Le Louveteau, it is the needs of a motherless child, misunderstood by his father, that inspire love in a young girl and bring about a marriage that benefits both the parents and the child. Family misunderstandings draw Bourget1s sympathetic attention. He finds them particularly heart-gripping because they take root and develop In the peaceful atmosphere of daily occupations. Le Geste du fils illustrates how much human beings are enigmas one for the other even in the close relationship of a family. The author analyzes the nature of such quarrels as follows: NOB paroles, nos gestea, nos actes ne sont qu'une traduction incomp l è t e par à peu près de notre être intérieur, e t qui trompe nos proches plus encore que l e s i n d i f f é r e n t s . Que de f o i s les parents se font de l a s o r t e , père e t mère sur leurs enfants, f r è r e s sur leurs f r è r e s , une première idée q u ' i l s ne v é r i f i e n t plus, une image q u ' i l s ne r e touchent pas.' De l à ces malentendus familiaux, l e s plus indestruct i b l e s de tous, qui vont e'exaspérant, s'envenimant avec lea années, à travers des heurts, douloureux toujours, souvent t r a g i q u e s . 3 8

37. La F i l s , in: Lea Détours du coeur, p. 17938. le J u s t i c i e r , p. 98.

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE It is because of such a family misunderstanding in Le Geste du fils that the Préverand family was separated, the father taking the son and the mother, the daughter. A simple gesture on the part of the mother would have sufficed to bring them together again. The gesture that the mother failed to make is made by the son at the time of his father's death. Remorse is another prominent theme of Bourget1 s nouvelles. It is present in varying degrees in most of Bourget1s stories but in some receives the major emphasis. The title of the narrative L'Irréparable, written early in his career, sets a keynote for the rest of the narratives. All that is "irreparable" in men's actions obsesses Bourget. His main characters, who have sensitive, scrupulous consciences like his own, find no escape from the effects of a bad action. Their only hope is the possibility of an atonement through sacrifice. Philippe Dubois in Un Saint steals two valuable coins from a priest. Shame and remorse haunt him to such a degree that he confesses his theft to the curate. The "dawn of a new soul" in Dubois is brought about by the saintly priest who understands the weaknesses of human beings so well. The remorse of Jacques Molan in the nouvelle of the same name is occasioned by his failure to recognize a sincere emotion of love. The woman with whose affection he is playing enters a convent. He realizes too late that he is to blame for her sacrifice. Selfreproach in Un Joueur and Autre Joueur causes a life-time distaste for gambling. In the first story, the artist, Miraut, gives up gambling because it reminds him of an experience of the past which haunts his conscience. A friend had written to the artist asking for a loan which he desperately needed. The artist set the money aside to send to the friend but because of a loss of a large sum of money in gambling took the money destined for his friend to recoup the loss. In despair, the friend, not knowing that monéy would be forthcoming later, committed suicide with his wife. The artist arrived too late with the money he had won back. Bourget tries to console Miraut with the thought that the friend would have had the same end sooner or laterj however, he does not succeed in dissipating his qualms. Aware of his own responsibility toward others, the artist says: "Mais voyez-vous, dans la vie, il ne faut jamais être la goutte d'eau qui fait déborder le vase."39 Likewise, Claude Larcher, 39- Un Joueur, ln: Les Nouveaux Pastels, p. 165.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

125

In the second story, feels pangs of remorse at the sight of cards, because he believes himself responsible for his cousin's bad-luck at cards which led to his cheating, subsequent disgrace and the adoption of a life of debauchery. One Christmas eve vhen he was young, his cousin, Lucien, gave him a gold coin to give to a beggar so that w h e n he gambled he might have good luck. Larcher kept the gold coin and gave a silver one Instead to the beggar. His regret for the action was so great that later that night he slipped out of the house to go and find the beggar. Before he was able to reach him, he fell in the snow and lost the gold coin. That night Lucien was caught cheating at cards. The author himself believes Larcher to be somewhat to blame for Lucien's action: "J'ai beau mol-même me démontrer qu'il n'y a là qu'un scrupule maladif, je n'arrive non plus à me convaincre tout à fait qu'il n'a pas été un peu la cause du malheur de L u c i e n . " 4 0 In Reconnaissance, an American art collector feels a compunction because he was not kind to a young compatriot who had stolen from him at MonteCarlo. B y the time the collector realized that he had acted without thinking, the young thief had disappeared. He could not forget the young man's suppliant face. Twelve years later, at a n auction, the collector lost a painting of Burne-Jones to a higher bidder. The bidder was none other than the young man of Monte-Carlo, who then sent the picture to the collector as payment for the twelve year old theft. He had spent his life atoning, for his one and only misdeed. Remorse occasioned by the theft of a large sum of money and by the unjust accusation of an upright, young notary produces a confession on the part of the real thief In l'Aveu menteur. In such 3tories, sincere repentance on the part of the wayward character, plus a n atonement for the misdeed which implies a sacrifice, usually erases the fault and marks the beginning of a "new life" for the character. The various aspects of religion form another large section of Bourget's subject matter in both the short stories and the novels. As he studies human beings of his time, he sees nothing but troubled, suffering souls, emptiness, despair a n d crime, all resulting from skepticism. He represents Christian faith as the only force which fills 1+0. A u t r e J o u e u r , I n : Les Nouveaux P a a t e l a , p .

l8£.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

t h e gap i n human l i f e and t h e o n l y s o l u t i o n which p r o c u r e s t h e c a l m and. p e a c e o f t h e s o u l . He f i n d s i n t h e C a t h o l i c c h u r c h a r e s p e c t f o r t h e f a m i l y and a s e n s e o f d i s c i p l i n e , n e c e s s a r y f o r a wholesome s o c i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n . The theme of L ' E c h é a n c e I s the i l l u s t r a t i o n of t h e d o c t r i n e of t h e r e v e r s i b i l i t y of m e r i t s , a b e l i e f t h a t the m e r i t s of the p a s t g e n e r a t i o n s p r o t e c t t h e p r e s e n t g e n e r a t i o n s or t h a t t h e f a u l t o f one g e n e r a t i o n c a n b e a t o n e d f o r by t h e v i r t u e of o t h e r s . The s t o r y i n a s much a s i t f u r n i s h e s a d i r e c t e x p r e s s i o n o f B o u r g e t ' s t h o u g h t s h a s a l r e a d y b e e n mentioned. H e r e we a r e I n t e r e s t e d In l t 3 r e l i g i o u s theme. By d e v o t i n g h i m s e l f t o t h e c h a r i t a b l e s e r v i c e o f o t h e r men, t h e h e r o s t r i v e s t o a t o n e f o r h i s f a t h e r ' s and m o t h e r ' s sin. As he had w a t c h e d t h e nuns s e r v i n g t h e s i c k i n t h e h o s p i t a l , he had t h o u g h t a good d e a l a b o u t t h e d o c t r i n e of the r e v e r s i b i l i t y of m e r i t s . I n h i s own w o r d s , C o r b l è res s t a t e s : Toute l a question eBt de Bavoir al l'expérience nous montre ou non ce phénomène dans l a nature. Voici des années q u ' i l m'apparaissait oomme la seule interprétation de tant de choses, e t Je te défie d'expliquer autrement l a dure épreuve qui m'accable. Oui ou non? Suis-Je frappé par l a faute de mes parents? Et ce Robert lui-même, de quoi e s t - i l l a victime, sinon de l a faute de son père? Que J'en a l vu de ces r é p a r t i t i o n s , e t , derrière e l l e s , 11 faut bien un pouvoir r é p a r t i t e u r . S ' i l y a une r é v e r s i b i l i t é du mal, 11 doit y avoir une r é v e r s i b i l i t é du bien. Ce ne sont pas des théories, cela c ' e s t de l'expérience. Et c ' e s t de l'expérience aussi que c e t t e Justice inévitable, dont ma pauvre mère a eu l'épouvante dix ans durant, et qui l ' a frappée, comme e l l e a d i t , à travers moi. Derrière l a J u s t i c e , 11 faut bien un Juge. Derrière l'échéance, i l faut bien un c r é a n c i e r . 4 2 In the nouvelles d e a l i n g with a d u l t e r y , d i s c u s s e d above, the p a r e n t s f e a r , as did the p a r e n t s of C o r b i e r e s , the d o c t r i n e o f t h e r e v e r s i o n o f t h e s i n s o f p a r e n t s upon children. P i e r r e T h é r a d e o f La R e c h u t e s p e a k s f o r many of B o u r g e t ' s c h a r a c t e r s when he l o o k s b a c k upon h i s f a t h e r ' s s i n and s t a t e s what he b e l i e v e s t h e d u t y o f c h i l d r e n t o b e : " J e me r e n d s compte a u j o u r d ' h u i q u ' i l a mal v é c u , t r è s mal, e t a l o r s j e v o u d r a i s p a y e r p o u r l u i . C ' e s t l e d e v o i r de s e n f a n t s , v o y e z - v o u s , de p a y e r p o u r l e u r s p a r e n t s . " * ^ B o u r g e t ' s comment g i v e s t h e r e l i g i o u s b a s i s f o r the theme o f t h e s t o r y : " C ' e s t t o u t l e c h r i s t i a n i s m e que c e t t e i d é e du r a c h a t p a r l ' i n n o c e n t . " ** Ul. !*2. U3. M»,

Cf. supra, pp.. 88-89. L'Echéance, in: Drames de. famille, p. 77. La Rechute, p. 2Z9. ¿bld.

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I n La V i e p a s s e , a p r i e s t c o n v i n c e s a s t u b b o r n f a t h e r t h a t one o f t h e g r e a t e s t l a v s o f t h e c h u r c h I s t h a t t h e r e p e n t a n t s i n n e r 3hould be pardoned. L i f e which p a s s e s r a p i d l y must n o t b e 3 p e n t i n s e l f i s h e n j o y m e n t b u t i n d o i n g good f o r o t h e r s . As C h r i s t p a r d o n e d Mary M a d e l e i n e , s o t h e f a t h e r must p a r d o n h i s s o n ' s w i f e f o r h e r s a k e and t h e s a k e o f t h e c h i l d who n e e d s h i s g u i d a n c e . The c h u r c h a g a i n p l a y s t h e d o m i n a n t r o l e I n Le F r u i t juge l ' a r b r e . L'Abbé A n c e l l n e has been excommunicated from the church because of h i s h e r e t i c a l w r i t i n g s . He f i n d s t h a t he i s n o t happy w i t h o u t h l 3 o l d f a i t h when he v i s i t s a c h u r c h I n s e a r c h o f some h i s t o r i c a l d a t a . While in the c h u r c h , he w i t n e s s e s t h r e e s c e n e s w h i c h t e s t i f y t o t h e b e n e f i c i a l power o f t h e c h u r c h i n modern l i f e . His skept i c a l i d e a s were b a s e d on h y p o t h e s e s b u t h e h a s now b e f o r e him c o n v i n c i n g r e a l i t i e s : Une r é a l i t e : c e t ennoblissement des plus humbles choses par l a poésie du geste a n c e s t r a l , ces Jeunes f i l l e s s a n c t i f i a n t ces f l e u r s d'un Jour, se s a n c t i f i a n t elles-mêmes par une offrande à une image ou e l l e s retrouvaient l ' e x p r e s s i o n Idéale des vertus de leur sexe e t de leur âge. Une r é a l i t é : ce coeur déchiré d'une mère, c e t t e ouvrière des champs perdant sa f i l l e e t appuyant sa détresse sur le coeur saignant e t secourable de l a Madone, de l a mère douloureuse entre toutes l e s mères. Une r é a l i t é : c e t t e conscience de l ' e n f a n t voleur soudain r e tournée par la vertu du sacrenent, e t se repentant, se reprenant de ses premières déchéances.1 . . . Oui, c ' é t a i e n t l à des f a i t s , e t c e r t a i n s , e t p o s i t i f s e t scientifiquement Indiscutables. Et c ' é t a i e n t aussi de tout p e t i t s épisodes de l ' e f f i c a c e t r a v a i l d ' e x a l t a t i o n , de consolation e t de redressement accompli par l ' E g l i s e , dans tous l e s temps e t dans tous l e s l i e u x . 4 5 The problem o f t h e d e g r e e o f our r e s p o n s i b i l i t y In o u r d e a l i n g s w i t h o u r f e l l o w men o c c u p i e s B o u r g e t I n one o f h i s b e s t s t o r i e s , Le J u s t i c i e r . He wonders w h e t h e r o r n o t we must a c c o u n t a t t h e t i m e o f t h e supreme j'udgment o f our l i v e s , n o t o n l y f o r o u r p r e m e d i t a t e d and d e s i r e d d e e d s , b u t a l s o f o r t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s w h i c h we h a v e n e i t h e r d e s i r e d nor s u s p e c t e d . I s man r e s p o n s i b l e f o r s i n s o f o m i s s i o n and t h e e f f e c t s o f t h e s e o m i s s i o n s on t h e l i v e s o f o t h e r s ? B o u r g e t l e t s t h e f a c t s o f a c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n two b r o t h e r s s p e a k for themselves. The n o u v e l l e e m p h a s i z e s C h r i s t i a n i t y ' s great p r i n c i p l e of f o r g i v e n e s s .

i+5. Le F r u i t Juge l ' a r b r e ; In: Le J u s t i c i e r , pp. 250-51.

128

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The work of the Catholic church through its priests is shown in numerous short stories. For Bourget, the good priest is a specialist in sicknesses of the human soul, a psychologist who knows all the varied aspects of human personality. Most of Bourget1s priests are effective in dealing with the moral conflicts which confront them. The query that he makes concerning Père Foucauld in La Vengeance de la vie could be made of all of them: "Existe-t-il, émanant de certaines âmes de prêtres ce que j'appellerai un radium de sainteté, si puissant qu'il pénètre ceux qui les approchent, soit pour les irriter jusqu'au blasphème, soit pour les dompter jusqu'à la plus complète sujétion?" 4 6 The Père Foucauld, by the very force of his personality drives home to the skeptical officer Darbault the truth that faith alone will bring tranquillity to the soul. Darbault, whose life has been wrecked by tragedy, turns to the church for comf/ort through the influence of the priest. Un Saint is permeated with the regret of not believing, both in the person of Bourget and that of his friend of the nouvelle, Philippe Dubois, mainly because of the contrast which they realize exists between their ideas and attitudes and those of their host, the saintly Père Griffl. M. Cheminant, the priest of La Confession, is compar'ed to a doctor by the author, first, because of his professional objectivity In his treatment of cases and secondly, because of his ability to adjust himself to the irregular aspects of each problem he faces. A peasant girl makes an abnormal request of Pè.re Cheminant f-or absolution in advance for a crime which she is about to commit. The priest grants absolution, in this case against the rules of the church, because he realizes that it will help the girl avoid the crime she contemplates. The inner struggle of a priest who has been forced out of holy orders is found in 1'Apostat. The drama of the story springs from the fact that L'Abbé Caussade, although no longer directly connected with the church because of his liberal views, still thinks and acts like a priest. Just as Bourget turned to the Catholic religion because of its respect for the family and its sense.of discipline, his beliefs became more and more conservative and aristocratic. The subjects of his novels and his short stories show that he finds in the French aristocracy K6.

La Vengeance de la vie, p. 113.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

129

aptitudes and traditional virtues, which, If utilized, would help heal the wounds of a suffering France. Bourget's predilection for the analysis of aristocratic, wealthy characters, for which he has often been criticized In his novels, Is evident but less pervasive In the short stories. The predominant Idea that Bourget presents Is that aristocratic families must live up to the very best characters In their family history; by so doing, he believes that they will contribute to the welfare of France. This theme receives varied treatment. In L'Ancêtre, the Prince of Augsbourg has an almost religious cult for his grandfather, the Maréchal Fredet, Duc d'Ivréa. Fredet had won great fame and honor for the family name during the Napoleonic period. His grandson, the present prince of Augsbourg, in need of money, has been preparing the publication of Fredet's Mémoires with the help of a student, Alfred Boyer. Valuable material, necessary for the success of the book Is in the hands of the prince's brothers widow, the Duchesse d'Ivréa, who Is about to die. The brother had disgraced the family by marrying a wealthy actress, who in return for his name brought him a fortune. She was never recognized by the family. Now, as she is near death, she is willing to give the Prince of Augsbourg the Important letters and make him the sole heir of her fortune If he will personally conduct her funeral, have her husband's coffin moved to the vault of the Fredet family and name her as the donor of the letters In the publication of the ancestor's book. This was to be her revenge for an ostracism which has exasperated, her feminine pride. The Prince of Augsfcourg, though in dire need of the money, gives it up because of his veneration for his ancestor's memory. When, during a moment of crisis, he makes his decision not to sully the family name, he feels, as Bourget states it, "that exquisite emotion that floods our soul with melancholy and an almost supernatural serenity when we have paid a sacred debt to the dead." * 7 The sacredness of the family name is also shown by La Comtesse de Candale. Antoinette Candale marries a cousin whom she does not love solely because he is the last male descendant of their great ancestor, the great marshal, Louis de Candale, who was one of the favorites of Henri II. Antoinette's one great desire is to have a son of the pure Candale blood, who would be capable of emulating the reputation of the great ancestor in modern times. She speaks in 1+7- Cf. L'Ancêtre, in: Un S a i n t , p. 292.

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PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

the following way to her sister of her love for the family name: "Ah! de tonne heure j'ai senti cela, que nous étions d'une race différente des autres, et je lui ai voué, à ce noble sang des Candale, une dévotion, comme tu l'as dit, une religion ..." 4 8 An inner conflict arises in which her devotion to her race is put to the test when she discovers that her husband is the father of an illegitimate boy. Family honor must be upheld at all costs according to L'Honneur du nom. The duke, Jean de Fontcavaux, is the descendant of a heroic family which dates from the sixteenth century. The family counts among its great men two marshals of France before 1789 and three superior officers of Napoleon. Jean de Fontcavaux is disgracing the family name by leading a useless wild life with an actress, Maud Andrla, who is also a spy in the pay of the Germans. The bond that Jean de Fontcavaux fails to feel with his ancestors is deeply felt by Major Dupuis, the secret bastard son of Jean's father. Dupuis, as an adolescent had sworn a secret pact with himself to be a worthy representative of the illustrious French family to which he belonged. He serves his ancestors well by saving the present Jean de Fontcavaux .from public disgrace. The tragic episode of the story takes place when Dupuis is forced to reveal his true identity to his half-brother in order to combat his complete demoralization in the hands of the actress. A peasant family teaches an aristocrat that it is his sacred duty to serve his country in Humble Exemple. Henry de Poyanne, because of the reputation of his family and the authority of his deceased father, is named deputy on the list of Doubs without having put up his own name. He is on the point of refusing the deputyship because he lacks his father's irreproachable feeling of responsibility to his country. Despondent because of the betrayal of his wife and a friend and recovering from a wound received in the Franco-Prussian war, he returns to his family home. There, he visits the Gouhots, a peasant tenant family, who had lost an adopted son during the war. To replace the son, they, though old, had adopted a young girl. After facing sorrow and disappointment, they were willing to begin all over again. As he meditates over the hope and faith of the humble people, Poyanne is ashamed of his own complaining attitude. He realizes that by accepting the opportunity to serve and devote himself to a sick France, he, too, would M . La Comtesse de Candale, i n : P a s t e l s , p .

156.

SUBJECT MATTER A N D CHARACTERS

151

find a renewal of life w h i c h his soul needed. The corrosive effect of lies a n d d i s s i m u l a t i o n u p o n character Is a n o t h e r common theme of B o u r g e t ' s stories. • I n Les Gestes, a mother, made u n h a p p y b y the h y p o c r i s y of her husband, realizes that their daughter has inherited traits of d i s s i m u l a t i o n f r o m him. To a v o i d all u n h a p p l n e s s for anyone else, the m o t h e r opposes her daughter's m a r r i a g e by revealing to her suitor the fact that she Is c o n t i n u a l l y affecting a role a n d that this tendency In her Is h e r l d l t a r y . Le Mensonge d u pere Is filled w i t h dlssumulators. The Marquise Palml, a former actress, had cultivated the a r t of lying all her life. She has a n Illegitimate d a u g h t e r , Louise, w h o m she tries to pass off as her niece. Louise, w h o has Inherited the tendency to lie f r o m her mother, has a secret affair w i t h G u l l l a u m e , the son of the due d e C o l o m blferes, lover of Mme P a l m l . W h e n the son w a n t s to m a r r y Louise, his father, I n order to stop h i m f r o m carrying out his plan, lies b y telling h i m that Louise is his own d a u g h ter. The son is so d e s p o n d e n t over the crime he imagines that he kills himself. L'Accldent contains a strange case of d i s s i m u l a t i o n . P r o s p e r Delorme, the secret lover of Mme de C h a r l l x , is f a t a l l y injured in a n automobile accident. Before dying, he a s k s , Bourget to notify Mme de C h a r l l x of his c o n d i t i o n b e f o r e she reads of it In the newspapers. The mistress, h e a r t b r o k e n but thus forewarned, is able to simulate complete Indifference w h e n her h u s b a n d a n n o u n c e s the news suddenly to h e r a t dinner. His suspicions a b o u t her l i a i s o n a n d the b i r t h of the second girl v a n i s h before her Impenetrable expression. M a n y of B o u r g e t ' s most striking nouvelles a r e illustrations and interpretations of his ideas of w h i c h one could collect a n entire series. T h e y translate into a c t s , before our eyes, the problems of intellectual a n d moral casulstlcs. The short stories of the volume R e c o m m e n c e m e n t s are a l l commentaries on the general truth that life, as a great "rebullder," continues Its work of infinite creation. B o u r g e t states i n his preface that this truth can be heartb r e a k i n g w h e n the loss of a loved one immobilizes us i n the c o n t e m p l a t i o n of a p a s t lost forever. The t r u t h can b e d i s e n c h a n t i n g w h e n w e realize the irremediable m o n o t o n y of our o w n destiny. The t r u t h can be consoling w h e n one comp r e h e n d s that the constant rebirth of life- has a meaning. Some of the rebeglnnlngs m a y be happy and others m a y be sad. I n L ' A d o r a t l o n des m a g e s , Faurlel, a discouraged p a i n t e r , Is

132

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cured of this feeling of failure by the realization that every one has his speciality, his being the painting of an aspect of elegant contemporary life. In Le David, the sculptor Clouet is liberated from his hatred for his crippled child by the creation of a statue of a perfectly formed boy such as he might have had. Bourget finds the suffering of the sculptor in Le David to be an illlstration of the law of compensation. The author writes: "A travers une expérience déjà variée de choses humaines, je n'ai rien constaté de plus absolu que cette vague, mais indéniable loi, incarnée par les Anciens dans le mythe de Némésls, la Déesse des compensations. Je crois profondément à l'universelle égalité des sort3 et que toute joie est payée par une exacte rançon."49 Clouet's happiness in life, according to Bourget was too perfect to last. Some disaster such as the birth of the crippled child was inevitable. The dominant theme of three nouvelles, L'Adversaire, Une Ressemblance and Inconnue illustrates Bourget's belief that physical resemblances between two individuals are always accompanied by profound moral resemblances. When Alfred Vincent, the central character of L'Adversaire, questions Bourget about such a conviction, the author replies that it is one of his manias. He states that he has always been obsessed by the observation of such analogies between people. He believes firmly that there Is only a fixed and limited number of groups of human beings who always act In the same way. Two people, then, of the same type, who have never seen each other, situated far apart, will act in an identical manner in Identical circumstances. Each Individual has similar friends and similar adversaries. For Bourget, the theory is unquestionable but it is difficult to prove by facts because it is concerned with the mysterious domain of the personality.50 The theory is treated differently in each of the three stories Le Buste posthume illustrates the observation of the critic that we never understand completely those who love us the most and that we really see In them only what we Imagine and want them to be. Maurice Verteuil is killed during the first world war. Two women, his mother and a young girl, Jacqueline, who loved him, anxiously await the completion of a bust of Maurice by a sculptor who knew him 1+9- Le David, in: Re comme ncemen ta, p. 48. 50. Cf. L'AdverBalre,

in: Recommencements, pp.

126-27.

SUBJECT MATTER AND CHARACTERS

133

well. The sculptor makes a head which expresses the youthful, naive and tender side of Maurice. The mother Is delighted with the work of the sculptor because It seems to bring her son back to her but the bust displeases Jacqueline because she had loved In him, not the child, but the virile soldier with pride In his eyes and an expression of energy on his face. The sculptor has destroyed the mystical Maurice which she had imagined. Le Brutus is an interpretation of Bourget's observation that one grows to be like the person he Is Imitating. In it, the main character plays the comedy of debauchery so well that he becomes In reality the person that he had at first only pretended to be. La Meilleure Part is a demonstration of the mysterious law which demands that along side of every harsh, ungrateful and Implacable personality in life, there be a devoted soul which finds a bitter but deep joy in sacrificing Itself for someone else. Two women serve and love two heartless men, the one a brother and the other a one time lover, who continually exploit them. When the men have died and they are left alone, the women have the consolation that they have done their duty by devoting themselves unreservedly to those closest to them. A quarante ans is a demonstration of the belief that a woman of forty can recapture all her grace and youth if she appears in a background of springtime beauty. Le Portrait du doge interprets the observation that it is sometimes an unatoneable crime to suspect a young person of doing the wrong thing because one risks making them become actually like that suspicion. This fact is made clear to Robert de Montglat, who, through the story of the purchase of a portrait of a "doge" by an American, realizes that he had forced a young girl whom he once loved into a shameful marriage because he had misjudged her. Le Piège serves as a commentary on one of La Fontaine's maxims, dramatized in his fables: "It Is double pleasure to deceive a deceiver." In it, a usurer is tricked at his own game. A good share of Bourget's stories have as their subjects characters and episodes taken from the periods of social upheaval in France. These stories will be discussed in connection with Bourget's use of the historical element to aid in giving significance to his nouvelles.51

51. Cf. Infra, pp. 145-150.

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Many of Bourget's short stories are but portraits of various people whom he has met or created In his Imagination, some of them sketched briefly, others studied more thoroughly. He sometimes seems to be more interested in the portrayal of an Interesting character for its own sake rather than as an example of social or moral laws or as a type representative of an environment. He is particularly drawn to women, to the most delicate, loving and feminine of them all. He feels all of their varied shades of emotion. The collection of Profils perdu3 is composed of brief sketches with little or no intrigue, of women that one might have loved. Bourget calls them the friends of his imagination. Ancien portrait, for example, Is the portrayal of a Russian woman, whom Bourget met in a restaurant he frequented during his student days. Bourget never knew what became of her when she suddenly disappeared one day. In Secum Sola an inconsolable woman lives a lonely life In an old castle in Brittany to which she retired when a scandal wrecked her happiness. During his travels, Bourget made many notes and from them drew the more studied portraits of women which make up the volume of Vbyageuses. He explains In the preface the origin of the stories: D ' i n n o m b r a b l e s s i l h o u e t t e s h u m a i n e s s ' a n i m e n t p o u r m o i , à travers pages.

C e l l e s que

J'évoque p l u s c o m p l a i s a m m e n t 3ont des

ces

physionomies

de f e m m e s r e n c o n t r é e s une semaine, u n Jour, une h e u r e , et dont J'ai deviné, imaginé

peut-être,

a c c i d e n t de route. d'autres l o i n t a i n e s . tragiques.

l e - r o m a n intime par le rapide hasard d e

De ces rencontres,

les unes sont touteB

Une ou d e u x restent associées à des

souvenirs

Je viens d ' e n transcrire p l u s i e u r s qui m ' o n t semblé

u n tout p a r e l l e s - m ê m e s .

quelque

récentes, former

Je les ai réunies sous ce titre c o m m u n de

V o y a g e u s e s parce que c'est là r é e l l e m e n t u n e suite de p o r t r a i t s de passantes, esquissés dans le rapide é c l a i r de la plue fugitive

Impression.

Une seule fois nos cnemlns se sont croisés p o u r ne plus se toucher bas.

De p r e s q u e toutes,

J'ignore où elles vivent, e t si e l l e s

ici

vivent...

M a i s cette brièveté de leur p a s s a g e ne demeure-t-elle pas la poésie Unique,

le charme

inégalé de ces voyageuses, connues

Juste assez p o u r

les p l a i n d r e de leur m é l a n c o l i e , p o u r être heureux de leur b o n h e u r , pas assez p o u r souffrir de les a v o i r vues disparaître

à

et

Jamais?52

La Pla Is the portrayal of a young Italian girl who was taught by an old priest to love fervently the beauties of the old church of San Splrlto which he had restored. In 52.

"Préface," V o y a g e u s e s , p p . 1-2.

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N e p t u n e v a l e . a seemingly f r i v o l o u s P a r i s i a n shows that she Is really a serious p e r s o n w i t h some d e p t h of character w h e n her h u s b a n d inherits a n estate ir. Ireland. Prepared to sell the castle a n d the lands, she d e c i d e s to keep them in the family a n d move there h e r s e l f , w h e n she senses the romantic atmosphere of tradition a n d celtic s u p e r s t i t i o n w i t h w h i c h the place is permeated. A n t i g o n e symbolizes devoted sisterly love. A clever p o l i t i c i a n , C l e m e n t M a l g l a i v e is a c c u s e d of h a v i n g accepted a bribe d u r i n g the P a n a m a scandal. His sister, Christine, who w o r s h i p s him, does not believe that he could have done such a thing. L i k e the Antifone of old, she Is a creature m a d e only for love a n d not for h a tred. W h e n the a u t h o r a n d a h i s t o r i a n h a v e a n o p p o r t u n i t y to p r o v e to her that h e r b r o t h e r Is b a s i c a l l y corrupt, they a b a n d o n the idea b e c a u s e of the h e a r t b r e a k a n d d i s i l l u s i o n m e n t that it w o u l d b r i n g to the sister. In Charlté de femme, a sick soldier being b r o u g h t back f r o m M a d a g a s c a r steals a purse f r o m Mme de Megret-Fajac. She knows he Is the thief but refuses to accuse h i m b e c a u s e of the m e m o r y of her lover who too h a d gone to M a d a g a s c a r where he had d i e d of fever a n d despair. Deux Menages d r a w s a p a r a l l e l b e t w e e n two m e n w h o are w i d e l y a p a r t on the social scale but who are similarly tyrannized over by their wives. Monique contains a portrait of H i p p o l y t e F r a n q u e t o t , a n a r t i s a n resembling the type that e x i s t e d under the anc l e n regime. F r a n q u e t o t Is a cabinet maker w h o makes his l i v i n g repairing e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y f u r n i t u r e . F o r inspiration for his work he goes back to Rlesner, a c a b i n e t - m a k e r w h o created many masterpieces for Louis XV and his court. Franquetot's treatment of the m a n in his w o r k s h o p is like that of the heads of the old corporations w h i c h " e x i s t e d b e f o r e the F r e n c h R e v o l u t i o n . One of B o u r g e t ' s most striking p o r t r a i t s is M. Legrlmaudet, w h o m Andre Mareull, a w r i t e r i n the story, calls "le g r a n d lngrat d e la F r a n c e . " Legrimaudet, a picture of moral ugliness a n d physical grief, still has, a t sixty, g r e a t confidence in his literary genuis. Earlier in his life, he had enjoyed a b r i e f p e r i o d of n o t o r i e t y , a t t r a c t i n g a t t e n t i o n because he was a d e f a m e r of g r e a t m e n of literature. H e lives in a b j e c t p o v e r t y b e c a u s e he does n o t w a n t to b e t r a y his literary genius. He never loses his h a u g h t y pride a n d f a i t h in his vocation. He lives on charity, mainly f r o m A n d r e Mareull who has yet to hear him give thanks for h i s gifts. M a r e u l l d i s c o v e r s , h o w e v e r , that this strange p a r a s i t e has some tenderness in his m a k e u p . Bourget's

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statement in M. Legrlmaudet concerning the practical lesson which could be drawn from this portrait of an outcast is a fitting commentary for all of Bourget's character studies: Il ni'a semblé que la plus haute moralité d'une oeuvre d'art, J'entends d'une oeuvre littéraire, consistait à redoubler en nous le sentiment du mystère caché au fond de tout être humain, du plus laiœntable et du plus comique comme du plus sublime, "L'Ame d'autrui," disait Tourgueniev, "c'est une forêt obscure..." Ah.' la belle parole.' et qui l'aurait vivante en soi s'épargnerait tant de ces injustices quotidiennes, tant le ces meurtrissures du coeur des autres qui ne sont Jamais que des ignorances.'53 Bourget deals frequently with studies of the effects of various professions upon the hearts of the men who practice them. Like Balzac, he believes that every social species has conflicts and tragedies that are peculiarly characteristic of it. The profession, he states, often changes the heart of a man and conversely, his heart often has definite Influence on his profession. Bourget indicates the type of subj'ect In which he is Interested: Un nédecin qui soigne un malade a beau s'efforcer de ne voir en lui qu'un cas," il éprouve des émotions différentes, selon que ce cas lui représente un ami ou un différent, quelqu'un dont l'histoire môrale l'intéresse ou un adversaire de tout ce qu'il aime; et cependant le praticien continuera de fonctioner en lui, tantôt avec la complicité , tantôt avec la révolte de l'homme. Un acteur, qui traverse un drame de vie réelle identique à une pièce de théâtre où il a Joué un rôle, aura pareillement des impressions singulières, où le factice et le sincère se mêleront de la manière la plus étrange. Il en est de même d'un politicien, d'un écrivain, d'un peintre, telles ou telles circonstances étant données.5A The effect of the stage upon actresses is the theme of Cordélla, which recalls the much discussed question of Diderot as to whether the emotion displayed by an actor should be real or simulated. Henriette Jacques, who was a foundling as a child, plays magnificently the part of Cordélia In King Lear because she believes that her part in the play represents so much of her own life. She says that she cannot play any role unless she feels It deeply.

55- Monsieur Iogrlmaudet, in: Les Nouveaux Pastels, p. 955b. "Le Coeur et le métier," (Introduction to a group of six nouvelles) in: Les Deux Soeufrs.

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When ahe later discovers that her father is living, working as a waiter, she refuses to accept him for she had dreamed that she was a daughter of a prince. The artificiality of the stage was intricately woven Into her life which ahe felt to be sincere. La Confldentess is another study of the acting profession. In this story, which is the opposite of the Cordélla instance, the actress cannot play well her role of Hermlone in Andromaque because her own emotions are mirrored in It. In Le Nègre,56 we have the problem of the ghostwriter Planteau who sees the play which he had written for Jacques Tournade become a brilliant success. Planteau is acting In the play and, in spite of his agreement with Tournade, he threatens to declare himself the author before the audience at the end of the last act. Tournade offers him a bribe of thirty thousand francs not to do it. From the stage, while he is acting, Planteau focuses his attention on his nephew and niece in the audience. As he plays his role, he realizes that he cannot disgrace their good name by breaking his word. When Tournade sends the check, Planteau tears It up, proud of himself for having upheld the honor of the bourgeois class. Le Candidat treats of the corrupt world of politics and its effect upon the hearts of men. Pierre Montbrun, a conservative, is the victim of underhanded campaign methods in his candidacy for election to the Chambre des Députés . Faced with sin opportunity to retaliate by attacking the personal morals of his opponent, he decides against It when he realizes that he would be degrading himself by using the methods of dishonest politicians. The effect of vanity and sensuality in the world of artists Is brought out in the emotional conflict of Le Portrait. The envy of men in the world of letters forms the theme of Une Charité. The element of praise which Is hidden in an artist's jealousy of the success of a colleague Is the theme of L'Envieux. Problems of conscience In the experience of doctors constitute the subjects of Le Certificat prénuptial and Un Cas de conscience. 55- This nouvelle has a form similar to that of the Paradox aur le Comédien for Bourget usee a "Premier" and a "Second Interlocuteur" to tell the story. 56. Actors also have the main roles In Le Dernier R6le and LB Beau R6le. Actressea have subordinate roles In La Vie Passe and L'Enlèvement.

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Bourget does not, however, set up as an absolute law his observation that each profession or trade .has a particular type of sensitivity. He Is Interested not only In discovering laws of moral life but also In the exceptions to those laws. He finds a sufficient quantity of average people upon whom a profession does not seem to exercise the slightest Influence. One of the most singular cases Is that of the career soldier in Claire whose dominant characteristic is a poetic imagination. In other nouvelles, where this l's not his primary theme, Bourget never falls to emphasize the influence of a man's profession upon his character. The environment of big business molds the principal characters of Deux Ménages, Un Homme d'affaires and Les Moreau-Janvllle. The milieu of schools with their teachers forms the background of such short stories as Le Talisman, Le Tapln, L'Exemple, Le Justicier, Le Père Theurlct. Professional criminals pl$y roles in L'Apache, Le Sursis, L'Indicatrice and Le Piège. Bourget turns to the world of journalists in Le Luxe des autres, Le Jour de l'an d'un Ironiste and tL'Age d'amour. Hector Le Prieux of Le Luxe des autres is one of the veterans of the "boulevard chronicles and the theatrical feuilletons." Enslaved by his profession, he has no free time to write creatively. Most of Bourget's Journalists are young, would be writers who have turned to journalIsm in order to make a living. They come to Paris, like the young Labarthe of L'Age d'amour, fired with the ambition to write poems, dramas and novels. Finding the start more difficult than they had dreamed, like the Bourget of the early days, they are forced to serve their apprenticeship in the field of journalism. Labarthe has tried to M d himself of his old ideals as he becomes a reporter. He 'describes the change in his life as follows: Je savais bien, pour en avoir la preuve dans un tiroir rempli de poèmes, de drame a et de romane commencés, qu'il avait existé Jadis—un Jadis qui datait d'hier—un certain Jules Labarthe, venu à Paria de sa province pour être un grand homme. Ce personnage-là qui croyait aux Lettres

avec une majuscule,--à l'idéal,—autre majuscule,—à la

Gloire,--troisième majuscule,—était mort et enterré. Recommenceraitil un Jour, une fois sa position faite, à écrire par amour de l'art? C'était possible, mais, pour l'heure, Je ne connaissais plus, Je n'admettais plus que le labarthe énergique et débrouillard, entre dans' la presse avec l'idée d'être avant tout de son temps et d'arriver le plus vite possible aux- trente mille francs par an. 5 7 57. L'Age d'amour, in: Reco"™"ncements, pp. 81-82.

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The remarkable feature of the long list of nouvelles written about characters of these many professions Is the vide variety of types which Bourget presents In each class. Bourget has become typed as the. novelist of the Idle, rich bourgeoisie and the aristocracy of Paris and cosmopolitan centers. It is true that the characters of the majority of the brief narratives are products of the same elegant, pleasure loving, aristocratic society that one encounters In the novels. The reasons for Bourget's predilection have already been given. Forty percent of the short stories, however, bring the reader in contact with other walks of life. This diversity of milieux in the nouvelles attests to Bourget1s broad interest in people of all walks of life. Yet the most frequent social milieu depicted is, like that of the novels, le Monde. Bourget1s description of the social group in L'Irreparable fits most of his "high society" short stories: Cette société a ses revenus bien établis, son etiquette stricte, sea galeries de tableaux authentiques, aes équipages soigneusement tenus, ses loges à l'Opéra, ses réceptiona retentissantes, bref, tout un opulent décor de haute v i e , — e t c'est un Monde, mais plus du tout au aens où les chroniqueurs de l'élégance auraient pris ce mot voici cinquante ans.

Ce Monde moderne représente bien l'époque dont il

forme l'aristocratie luxueuse, en regard de ce qui reste de l'ancienne aristocratie, toujours debout dans sa défaite, parfois aigrie de cette défaite, mais si fière, si >aute encore, si réellement noble et rare.

Il est, ce Monde du chic et de l'argent, comme cette époque,

mouvant et improvisé, contradictoire et dépourvu de traditions.

la

grande fortune, pourvu qu'elle ait été acquise sana trop de scandale, en force la porte, comme le talent, pourvu qu'il ne ae montre pas dans son natif égoïsme.

La ruine, en revanche, met à cette porte une bar-

rière qui ne se lève g u è r e . 5 9

Although most of Bourget's characters belong to this society, he Is not duped by it. When an outsider, such as Eugène Montrleux, the poor student of Les Moreau-Janvllle, Is dazzled by the opulence of the Faubourg Saint-Germain and envies the Independence and leisure of Its Inhabitants, whom he credits with delicate feelings, Bourget makes the following comment: "OÙ aurait-11 appris que la facilité de la vie comblée enveloppe, tout au contraire, un principe 58.

Cf.

aupra, pp. 70-71.

59- L'Irréparable, pp. 8-9-

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de dessèchement? D'habitude, l'existence humaine est d'autant plus profonde qu'elle est plus étroite, pourvu que cette étroltesse n'aille pas jusqu'à 1'Indigence." 6 °For Claire de Velde of Deuxième Amour, le monde Is nothing more than "a society of lies and hypocrisy."ei In other nouvelles, such as L'Ecran, L'Inutile Science and L'Eau profonde, Bourget calls attention to Its wickedness, Its dissimulation and Its stupidity. The antithesis between the poverty of character and the elegant splendors of high society, the author finds appalling. The contrast Is great between the elegance of the society stories and the modest environments of the short stories which depict members of the average and lower middle class. Provincial bourgeois are found In such nouvelles as L'Aveu, Sentiments précoces, Le Cob rouan and La Vie passe. The father In Céline Lacoste Is a country doctor In a small village of Auvergne. M. Vlple's father In Le Frère de M. Vlple Is the mayor of Clermont. L'Aveu menteur Introduces the reader to the world of notaries at Rlom. Fernande Chantai of La Roulotte Is the daughter of a small shopkeeper. The father of the young girl In Aline has a modest position at a prefecture. The simplicity and beauty of the life of the lower middle class Is capably shown In Dernière Poésie. eg René Vlncy, at the age of forty-five, goes to visit his first sweetheart, Rosalie, who had married a drawing professor and raised four children. The effect of Rosalie's milieu upon her character Is Illustrated by the thoughts of René as he senses the contrast between his own materialistic pursuits and her ennobling life: Si tout, sur elle et autour d'elle, donnait l'idée d'un pauvre décor, tout donnait aussi l'idée que le drame moral, qui s'était Joué dans ce décor, n'avait été que délicatesse et pureté. Il y avait de l'ascétisme dans ce visage fatigué de la mère de famille, où les yeux gardaient leur Jeune flamme. Il s'y lisait l'histoire d'une sensibilité ennoblie par la quotidienne acceptation des modestes devoirs, réchauffée au feu d'affections profondes, romanesque par son ardeur, mais nourrie de vérité. Et rien que son attitude envers le perfide fiancé de sa 60. Les Moreau-Janvllle, in: L'Envers du décor, p. 9561. Cf. Deuxleme Amour, in: L'Irréparable, p. 191. 62. Examples of other nouvelles in which the characters are drawn from bourgeois milieux are : Le Chapiteau roman and la Meilleure part. The "petite bourgeoisie" class is depicted in the novel, L'Etape, but not in as favorable a light as in the short stories.

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dix-hultlème année, devenu un homme célèbre, a t t e s t a i t une nature simple e t d r o i t e , qui ne connaît ni l e reniement des émotions éprouvées a u t r e f o i s , - - n ' a y a n t pas à en r o u g i r , - - n i l a rancune, parce q u ' e l l e eBt d ' I n s t i n c t très généreuse e t très g r a n d e . 6 3 I n another group of nouvelles, Bourget draws his characters from the humble milieux of people of small means. The meager Income of the Corbleres family In L'Echéance Is Indicated b y the utter simplicity of their household. M. Corbleres had spent thirty years of his life as a bailiff at the Ministry of the Interior. The setting of Po3te restante is a small town on the Côte d'Azur. The main character is a poorly paid post-office employee. The short story establishes a contrast b e t w e e n the modest life of the town and the luxurious life led b y wealthy visitors who spend the winter there. The central character of One Fllle-Mere is a faithful servant a n d a secondary character is a lace repairer. M. D u p i n of M a Maison de Saint-Cloud is a tailor who lives in wretched quarters w i t h his wife a n d three children. I n other brief narratives, Bourget presents humble milieux, Jean Maquenem takes place In the fishing village of Tréport, where a fisherman a n d a marine sergeant come to blows over the daughter of a tavern keeper. A lowly peasant family is given the center of the stage i n Humble Exemple, Une Amoureuse de village deals w i t h a village belle who is saved f r o m a n unscrupulous lover b y her brother who has just returned from the a r m y . 8 4 T h e investigation of new environments for some of the short stories w r i t t e n between 1925 and 1955 Is proof of Bourget's insatiable curiosity and his desire to keep abreast of his times. He is particularly Impressed w i t h the Idealism of the moderti girl who does not think "of just love a n d marriage, but wants to learn a p r o f e s s i o n through w h i c h she can b e of service to humanity. Paul Gauthier, a laboratory assistant in Une Laborantlne and Marcelle Dumay, a scout troup leader, i n Le Louveteau, are representative of this idealism. T h e heroine of A g n è s Pelas is a bank employee. I n L a Rechute, Cécile Remonde has her degree 63. Dernière Poésie, in: L'Eau profonde, p. 303. 6U. The main character In the novel Laurence Albanl I s the daughter of 1 a gardener. Faced with an opportunity to marry out of her c l a s s , she decided to marry a gardener. The theme Is much the saae as that of L'Etape with a d i f f e r e n t treatment.

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in history and Is studying law. The lover of the same story Is a young aviator. With L'Honneur du nom of the same period, Bourget moves Into the corrupt environment of movie stars and cocaine addicts. Le Danseur mondaln furnishes a new environment also, for Its main character is representative of a class of professional dancing teachers who earn their living in large, fashionable hotels. The- varied milieux, to a wide range of characters, observed In many significant situations, Bourget applies his keen Intelligence and his creative powers. No matter from what strata of society Bourget draws his characters, he is fundamentally concerned more with their "inner life" than he Is with their "exterior life." His main aim Is to help the reader come to know his characters by ferreting out the hidden forces which dominate their lives. He delves below the surface of human nature and registers the oonflicts of sensitive, discriminating individuals. All of them are troubled by a constant struggle between the urglngs of Instinct and the call of the Ideal. The conflicts and the solutions which the characters bring to them are often as exciting for the reader as they must have been for the author. Joseph Conrad has called Henry James "the historian of fine consciences."®5 The same may be said of Bourget for he too is concerned with the quality of men's experiences rather than with their quantity. 65. The Question of Henry James, Various Opinions, Edited by F. W. Dupe, 19l»5, p. Ü4.

V SIGNIFICANCE, INTENSENESS AND CREDIBILITY

TO GIVE his subjects significance, in addition to that inherent in his judicious choice of themes and characters, Bourget follovs closely the rules he set down for the brief narrative. In the first place, his subjects are drawn from the general historical background of France and Europe or deal with contemporary events, ideas and characters. Many of his short stories have as their background the periods of social disaster in Prance such as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic period, the var of 1870, the Commune and the first World Var. Une Nult de Noel sous la Terreur is a story of an exciting escape during the irench Revolution. There is here no need for Bourget to develop the background material as would be necessary in a novel. The readers' familiarity with this period of French history permits the author to suggest much material which, in a novel, would need full development to be convincing. One would not think of questioning the reality of the Incidents which take place when a noble and his pregnant wife, fleeing from the persecutors, are forced to stop in a small town near the frontier because the wife is about to give birth to her child. The sacrifices of those who make it possible for the father, mother and newborn child to live to cross the frontier are made all the more meaningful because they are set against a background which the reader already knows. The french Revolution also serves as a setting for Deux Episodes, Le Carre d'ortles and La Cachette. In Deux iplsodes, Bourget draws a parallel between two episodes of tragic intensity, which complement each other. The first happens in 1793 In France and the second in 1919 in Russia during the Russian Revolution. In the first episode, a father is executed before his young son and in the second, a son is thrown into a well and the father burned

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to d e a t h . B o u r g e t finds I n these events a n I l l u s t r a t i o n of R l v a r o l ' s statement that the most c i v i l i z e d n a t i o n s are as n e a r to b a r b a r i s m as the most p o l i s h e d i r o n Is to rust.1 Le C a r r é d ' o r t i e s Is a love story w h i c h receives a d d e d s i g n i f i c a n c e f r o m Its b a c k g r o u n d . In L a Cachette, Michel C o u d e r c is studying the r e v o l u t i o n a r y p e r i o d because of his a d m i r a t i o n for one of his a n c e s t o r s , F r a n ç o i s C o u d e r c , who w a s g u i l l o t i n e d for k e e p i n g his w o r d . In t h i s story, the h i s t o r i c a l e l e m e n t Increases the effect of the m a i n e p i s o d e I n w h i c h M i c h e l p r o v e s h i m s e l f to be a m a n of integrity like his a n c e s t o r . The war of 1870 w i t h G e r m a n y serves as a b a c k g r o u n d for the tragic story of L'Ami d ' e n f a n c e . T w o young men, one F r e n c h and the other G e r m a n had s w o r n a n eternal friendship at the age of eighteen. L a t e r , as officers on opposite sides In the F r a n c o - P r u s s i a n war, they u n k n o w i n g l y face e a c h other one n i g h t o n the b a t t l e f i e l d . A t d a w n , the F r e n c h soldier finds h i m s e l f near the l i f e l e s s b o d y of his G e r m a n friend. H e is r e m o r s e f u l a b o u t the thought that he might have k i l l e d h i m in the d a r k n e s s until a subordinate gives h i m a b s o l u t e proof that he h i m s e l f h a d k i l l e d the P r u s s i a n officer. B o u r g e t as a y o u t h o b s e r v e d the ravages of w a r firsthand b e c a u s e of his e x p e r i e n c e In P a r i s d u r i n g the Commune of 1871. In so far as the stories deal w i t h the uselessness of r e v o l u t i o n s , they are all commentaries or. B o u r g e t 1 s statement i n F e n d a n t l a b a t a i l l e : "Inutllel Inutile) Inutile I ... C ' e s t le mot, sinistre dans sa simplicité qu'il faudrait écrire à toutes les pages de toutes les histoires de toutes les R é v o l u t i o n s . C ' e s t a u s s i le m o t que les survivants ou les victimes de ces accès de d é m e n c e collective ont toujours répété sous d ' a u t r e s formules . . . " 2 The a b o v e n o u v e l l e w h i c h Is m a i n l y d e s c r i p t i v e of the slaughter of the C o m m u n e centers a r o u n d the a r r e s t of the young Bourget a n d a schoolmate b y the revolutionists b e c a u s e they w o u l d not help b u i l d a b a r r i c a d e In the streets. T h e y are t e m p o r a r i l y g u a r d e d b y a w o m a n w h o , b e c a u s e of their youth, permits them to escape. L a t e r , w h e n the b a t t l e fury surrounds their school, they are able to help this same w o m a n escape f r o m the soldiers of V e r s a i l l e s by d i s g u i s i n g her as a nurse. Le Père T h e u r l o t tells the tragic story of the d e a t h of P r o f e s s o r T h e u r l o t of the V a n a b o s t e school. A former 1. Cf. Deux Episodes, in: le Tapln. p. 258. 2. Pendant la bataille, In: RecomniPincemente, p. 312.

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student, Courlet, who held a grudge against Theurlot, had rapidly become a colonel In the army of the Commune during the uprising. Using his newly won authority, he tries to frighten Theurlot by having him arrested by his men on a slight pretext. It was his Intention to give the order to free him a quarter of an hour later. Theurlot tries to escape and Is shot by the squad. When Courlet discovers how his trick has turned out, he Is so overcome with remorse that he exposes himself unduly and dies fighting In the battle of the Streets. In L'Exemple, a soldier of the Commune, attempting to escape from the soldiers of Versailles, seeks refuge In the home of an old private tutor whom he finds reading Greek In the heat of the battle of the Parisian streets. Funning the risk of being killed himself, the tutor is able to save the life of the fugitive. Through time spent together, the soldier learns to know and admire greatly the scholar. The soldier, in telling how much the teacher meant in his life, states a belief that Is recurrent in many of Bourget's stories: "Ce qui a de l'Influence voyezvous, c'est un nomme vivant, qui bouge, qui respire, qui parle, qui agit et dont émane cette force souveraine et inexprimable sur un autre homme vivant: L'Exemple." 3 In Le Déserteur, Colonel Vereux tells how, at the time of the Commune, after a period of idealistic exaltation, he deserted the army of Versailles to join the revolutionists in Paris. When he became acquainted with them, his eyes were opened and the Idealistic thoughts he had of them vanished. Vereux returned to his army and was pardoned by his superior officer. The story, besides dealing with the Commune is also a demonstration of Bourget's thought that men often commit errors which are not In accord with their true selves. For 3uch errors, he Implies, they should not be held responsible ever afterwards. The use of history for gaining significance is further illustrated by Le Convive which is a portrait of a first Empire Colonel, the duality of whose character is revealed by a dramatic episode during a campaign of 1812. Le Frère de M. Vlple Is situated in the period just following Napoleon's defeat. The first World War is also used by the author as a setting for his stories. Jean-LoulsCoste Is the portrait of a worthless chauffeur who 3aves the life of a general during the war. Direct references to 3. L'Exemple, In: Conflits Intimes, p. 272.

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t h e w a r and. its i n f l u e n c e u p o n some of the c h a r a c t e r s c a n b e f o u n d in L ' H o n n e u r d u n o m , L ' A m i h a i n e u x , C r y p t h e s t h é s l e and Le Certificat prénuptial. Le Danseur m o n d a i n studies t h e d i f f i c u l t y that a w a r h e r o has I n a d j u s t i n g h i m s e l f to the l i f e of the p o s t - w a r p e r i o d . The war determines P i e r r e T h e r a d e ' s c h o i c e of a c a r e e r a s a n a v i a t o r i n L a R e c h u t e . E v e n w h e n the h i s t o r i c a l e l e m e n t is n o t g i v e n a p r e d o m i n a n t r o l e In B o u r g e t ' s n o u v e l l e s , t h e r e a r e c o n s t a n t r e f e r e n c e s to h i s t o r i c a l e v e n t s , w h i c h , t h r o u g h t h e i r s u g g e s t i v e p o w e r , a d d to t h e i r s i g n i f i c a n c e a n d b r o a d e n t h e i r s c o p e . In L ' A n c ê t r e , f o r e x a m p l e , i n o r d e r to d e p i c t t h e I n n e r c o n f l i c t of the p r i n c e of A u g s b u r g , B o u r g e t s k e t c h e s b r i e f l y h i s g l o r i o u s f a m i l y h i s t o r y w h i c h d a t e s f r o m the N a p o l e o n i c period. T h e h e r o i s m of the a n c e s t o r , M a r s h a l l F r e d e t , p r i n c e of A u g s b o u r g , in the w a r s i n I t a l y , E g y p t a n d G e r m a n y Is the b a s i s for the cult of the f a m i l y n a m e a r d e n t l y a d o p t e d b y h i s d e s c e n d a n t , the p r i n c e of A u g s b o u r g of the story. T h e c o n s t a n t use of t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y s c e n e g i v e s a d d e d s i g n i f i c a n c e to B o u r g e t ' s s t o r i e s i n w h i c h h e u s e s r e f e r e n c e s to i m p o r t a n t events in m u c h the s a m e w a y . Antig o n e , w h i l e p r i m a r i l y a s t u d y of a d e v o t e d s i s t e r ' s u n q u e s t i o n i n g l o v e , a c q u i r e s t h e c o l o r s of a v a s t e r c a n v a s b y I t s c o n n e c t i o n w i t h the P a n a m a s c a n d a l . The following ill u s t r a t i o n of the m a n n e r I n w h i c h the a u t h o r p r e s e n t s s u c h e v e n t s is t y p i c a l of m a n y of h i s s t o r i e s : Ce voyage à Corfou, durant l e q u e l c e t t e courte t r a g é d i e se noua e t se dénoua, remonte au printemps de 1 8 9 3 . La date a sa p e t i t e importance. C ' é t a l t - - q u i ne s ' e n s o u y 1 e n t ? - - 1 1 époque l a plus t r o u b l é e de c e t épisode douloureux de nos l u t t e s i n t é r i e u r e s qui s ' e s t appelé l a campagne de Panama. Aucun bon Français ne pouvait a l o r s o u v r i r un J o u r n a l sans se demander avec angoisse quel nom nouveau a l l a i t s ' a j o u t e r à l a l i s t e , d é j à longue, des m i n i s t r e s e t des députés p r é v a r i c a t e u r s . Parmi ces noms, un des premiers prononcés a v a i t é t é c e l u i de mon c o n d i s c i p l e de Louls-le-Grand, de ce Malglaive . . . * A n t i g o n e w a s w r i t t e n In 1 8 9 6 , only three y e a r s a f t e r the p e r i o d to w h i c h the a u t h o r r e f e r s . A n a d d i t i o n a l h i s t o r i c a l r e f e r e n c e is g i v e n i n the n o u v e l l e to the s t r u g g l e of t h e I o n i a n i s l a n d s to f r e e t h e m s e l v e s f r o m the B r i t i s h b e t w e e n 1814 a n d 1664. M. Z a f f o n i , B o u r g e t ' s s c h o l a r l y c o m p a n i o n of the s t o r y , h a d d e v o t e d his life to that c a u s e . T h e a u t h o r l e a v e s no d o u b t in o n e ' s m i n d t h a t , I n h i s s h o r t s t o r i e s as w e l l as in h i s n o v e l s , h i s p u r p o s e , U. Antigone, In: Les Voyageuses, pp.

II8-I9..

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like that of his idol Balzac, is to reflect the manners and customs of his contemporary period. He gives his personal impression of life as he sees it before him. Bocrget very frequently uses the atmosphere and the events of his times in painting the settings for his stories. The central episode of almost every nouvelle is given a date which relates it to the epoch of the author. Familiar streets and sections of Paris are given. Date and place references such as the following are c o m m o n to most of the n a r r a t i v e s : C'est en 1 8 7 7 , au mois de mal,que Mlle Hurtrel devint, d'un Jour à l'autre, célèbre pour sa beauté dans ce que les Journaux plus particulièrement parisiens appellent le Monde. Entendez par là cette société à demi-européenne, à demi-française, qui peuple la plus grande partie des hôtels situés autour du parc htonceau et de l'Arc-de-Triomphe, ainsi qu'un petit nombre des vieux hôtels de la rive gauche.5 Il est vrai que le calendrier éphéméride, posé sur ma table, portait la date du 7 avril 1917, et J'avais serré la main de Biaise, pour la dernière fois, au cimetière Montparnasse, lors de l'enterrement de son père, en novembre l88l. C'était dans le petit salon d'un hôtel privé, rue de Tilsitt, pas bien loin de l'Arc de Triomphe.7 If the action takes place elsewhere than in Paris, the new environment is a d e q u a t e l y treated. W h e n prominent characters are introduced, the author speaks of them as if they were known by all Parisians to some degree. If Parisians have not heard about his characters by word of mouth, they can read about them in the newspapers. Concerning the m a i n characters of Le Luxe des a u t r e s , Bourget writes: Si vous lisez plusieurs Journaux ... c'est cent, c'est mille fois que vous avez.rencontré les noms de M. et Mme Hector le Prieux. Ils figurent l'un et l'autre, à Juste titre, au premier rang de ce que l'on est convenu d'appeler les "notabilités parisiennes": lui comme un des vétérans de la chronique boulevardière et du feuilleton théâtral; elle, quoique épouse d'un simple Journaliste, comme une femme à la mode.8

5 . L'Irréparable, p. 76. Le Justicier, p. 57. La Comtesse de Candale, in: Pastels, p. 11*5. 8. Le Luxe des autres, in: Trames de famille, p. ij.

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE Likewise, in Une Ressemblance, he states: "Vous avez certainement lu, ces temps derniers, dans les journaux, la mort du comte Michel Sténo ..." 9 Bourget speaks also of monthly dinners such as those of the group of admirers of Constant called "Les Cousins d'Adolphe." Meetings at the club, the theater, encounters during his travels In England, Italy, United States and the Orient figure prominently in his stories. The color of his times comes for the most part, however, from the atmosphere of ideas with which most of the stories are permeated. The conflict in the minds of the young men of the post-war generation of 1870 is clearly shown by L'Echéance. The antithesis which existed between the fatalism, Inherent in the philosophies of Talne and Renan and the need for action of young men of the period forms a convincing background for the moral drama of Eugene Corbières, the main character of that story. Characters of many other nouvelles as well are products of the period of absolute belief in science. Bourget presents disillusioned men and women in search of something stable on which to base their lives. Their search, which is a recurrent theme, emphasized In varying degrees, gives the temper of the contemporary period to his stories. In Un Saint, Philippe Dubois Is typical of a class of young men of the late 19th century. He is motivated by the dlllettantism of the writers he admires. As a result, he has developed within himself an Intellectual immorality and an Incapability of believing in or loving anything. It is impossible for him to be sincere In his love affairs because he is only seeking sensations that he can use as an artist. He is ambitious to be a great writer but Is seeking only, as Bourget expresses it, the brutal satisfactions of fame and money. The study of social problems, 10 so popular in the late nineteenth century, is reflected in Bourget's writings, many of which owe their success to his defense of order and tradition. The stamp of his times is found in his analysis of social causes governing the lives of private individuals. The long series of stories dealing with the defense of the 9- Une Ressemblance, In: La Dame qui a perdu son peintre, p. 221. 10. For Bourget's and. other authors' preoccupation with social questions, see: Brun, Charles, Le Roman social en France au X U siècle, Paris, 1910.

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family as the basic unit of the social structure Is typical of his Interest In contemporary situations. The conservatism of Bourget by the end of the century Is well known and has drawn upon him a flood of criticism. The question of the value of his opinions Is not the problem to be discussed here. The essential point Is that by Inserting the royalist-democratic conflict into some of his stories, he Is reflecting at least part of the general atmosphere of his period, thereby giving them added meaning. It 13 evident that the reader receives the temper of the times as Bourget sees It. Some critics have found his point of view to be prejudiced but few have doubted his Integrity as a writer. The spectacle of a person trying to rise from one social class to another, made possible In a democracy, so thoroughly treated In L'Etape, Is repeated, with varying degrees of emphasis, In many of the short stories. In Gladys Harvey, for example, Louis Servln, a son of a wealthy merchant, Is a social climber whose life Is vain and empty because his one purpose Is to be accepted by notables of high society. The moralist In the author Is attracted by his ridiculous stupidity. The material power of money creating a new aristocracy of high finance Is the background for the character study of M. Flrmln Nortler in Un Homme d'affaires. Speaking of him and his group, the author writes: C'est l'aristocrate de la démocratie, cet homme d'affaires, et qui se carre dans leB maisons, les habitudes et les vices des anciens nobles avec autant d'arrogance qu'eux ... Etait-ce la peine de réunir les Etats en 8 9 , de prendre la Bastille, de massacrer les innocents Foullon et Berthier, de multiplier crimes sur crimes, % d'assassiner le plus débonnaire des rois et la plus gracieuse des reines, André Chénier, les cinquante batailles Inscrites sur l'Arc-de-Triomphe, pour installer cette aristocratie à la place de l'autre? 11

Le Luxe des autres contains a study of the disastrous effect upon character of what Bourget calls the democratic urge to acquire the luxury of other people. Mathllde Le Prleux, In her "struggle for high life," obtained by material wealth, wrecks the life of her husband and almost does thé same thing to her daughter. The author indicates that by telling the story of the Le Prleux family, he felt that he was dealing with a problem of his times: "D'ailleurs, raconter l'histoire de ce couple, c'est donner 11. Un Homre d'affaires, pp. 5-6.

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à ce récit d'une simple anecdote, sa pleine valeur d'enseignement social." 1 2 Bourget's preference for members of the aristocracy Is evident throughout the short stories as well as In the novels. In L'Eau profonde, Bourget pictures women of all classes mingling together as they make purchases In a department store. He has no difficulty, however, in picking out Mme de la Node from the others because of her patrician air, which cannot, in his opinion, be imitated. He finds the aristocratic bearing difficult to describe: "On discerne à peine en quoi J] réside. C'est une façon de poser le regard et de porter la tête, de se tenir et de marcher, où 11 y a de la réserve et de l'assurance, de la fierté et du naturel, un rien de hauteur et de la simplicité, un quant à soi tout en nuances. Mais aucune femme, ni aucun homme ne s'y trompe."13 All of the nouvelles,i* which extol the virtues of the aristocracy and plead for a rebirth of a sense of national duty among its members, have the same background of Ideas dealing with the comparative values of monarchies and democracies. Bourget's use of the discoveries of psychology and physiology also carries the mark of his times. Such volumes as Les Détours du Coeur, L'Envers du décor and Anomalies, where the choice of subject is Influenced by his association with the psychiatrist Dupré, show how familiar he vas with current studies of the complexity of the human personality. Bourget excels particularly in the second device used to bestow significance upon the central episode of each nouvelle; namely that of suggestion. The enjoyment of Bourget's short stories comes literally after having read them, for he succeeds In calling forth a whole worJd of ideas, by the artistic concentration of all elements around the central episode. In disturbing the reader's thought and stimulating his imagination, Bourget is making use of one of the main assets of the genre. One may disagree violently with the Impression that the author creates In the story or with his Ideas, expressed or unexpressed. The important thing Is that he has aroused one's thought and emotions by means of the document he has furnished. He is 12. Le Luxe des autres, ln: Drames de famille, p. 8 5 . 15. L'Eau profonde, p. 10. Cf. aupra, pp. 159-l1+0.

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concerned, as was S t e n d h a l , w i t h collecting "little true facts about the h u m a n heart." Y e t he sees In them more than mere documents. T h e y are examples of moral a n d p h y s i c a l laws. These laws are sometimes Indicated by the a u t h o r and sometimes not. Part of the enjoyment of the reader, as he finishes a short story, is to try to seek out the philosophical a n d symbolic meaning of the narrative. It Is largely through the use of suggestion that Bourget is a b l e to Indicate the continuity of his characters w i t h the rest of humanity. His nouvelles can best be compared to those of Balzac a n d H e n r y James. His main attribute, as is theirs, lies In his a b i l i t y to suggest a w o r l d of thought b a c k of one Intense m o m e n t , made all the more penetrating a n d effective b e c a u s e a l l the narrative elements are focused u p o n it. One cannot r e a d many of Bourget's stories w i t h o u t r e a l i z i n g the c o m p l e x i t y of the makeup of every h u m a n being. The feeling of m y s t e r y h i d d e n I n the heart of all individuals is Increased b y a thorough reading of the author's narratives. He uses time and a g a i n Turgenev's phrase c o m p a r i n g the h u m a n soul to a n obscure forest. 15 I n the short stories, B o u r g e t does not analyze every detail of that obscure f o r e s t as h e does in the novels. He elicits the reader's c o o p e r a t i o n b y suggesting what the intimate life of the character 13 like a n d letting h i m complete the picture. The documents furnished by Bourget as he deals w i t h the complexity of the h u m a n soul embrace a great fund of Ideas and emotions. Le Justlcler Illustrates the effective use that B o u r g e t makes of the device o f stimulation through suggestion In o r d e r to h e i g h t e n the significance of his stories. A f t e r reading the nouvelle, one cannot help p o n d e r i n g over the question of our moral responsibility to one another. A r e w e responsible, before eternal justice, not only for our m e d i t a t e d a n d desired acts, but also for the consequences of these acts, even if we do not foresee their consequences? The violent p a s s i o n of the central figure of Corsegues suggests other examples of forceful characters who exist u n d e r the veneer of m o d e r n civilization. The number of problems evoked by the short stories is v a s t . 1 6 B o u r g e t is m o s t successful in bringing the reader 15. Cf. aupra, p. 156. 16. Other nouveHes, chosen at random, further demonstrate the thought-provocative aspect of Bourget's atoriee: L'Irreparable, Lucie, Ur. Saint, Sauvetage, Resurrection, L'Enfant de la morte, L'AncStre, Dualite, Un Scrupule, Le Talisman.

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to dwell upon the h i d d e n meaning of the n o u v e l l e a t Its h i g h l y Intensified moment. The p r o l o n g a t i o n of the e f f e c t of h i s stories b y their suggestive power has b e e n f o u n d b y critics to be one of the most attractive p h a s e s of B o u r g e t ' s talent In the genre. Jules B e r t a u t writes of them: "Ainsi chacun de ces petits drames va b e a u c o u p plus l o i n que l'anecdote qui fait s o n fond, 11 d e v i e n t l e p o i n t de départ d'une série de réflexions morales qui p o s e n t une quantité de problèmes. C'est dans ce 3ens que s'accuse vraiment l'originalité de M. P a u l B o u r g e t , n o u v e l liBte." A l b e r t Thlbaudet, In speaking of Le J u s t i c i e r makes a statement w h i c h could b e a p p l i e d to the m a j o r i t y of B o u r g e t ' s nouvelles; "Rien ne vaut dans la n o u v e l l e de M. B o u r g e t la résonnance Infinie qu'elle laisse a p r è s e l l e , et, dans notre nuit actuelle, la durable p h o s p h o r e s c e n c e de son symbole."18 In the majority of h i s short stories, B o u r g e t follows closely the third law of the nouvelle w h i c h he f o u n d d e t e r m i n i n g the choice of subject, the law of the lntenseness of the episode. This Is true of over eighty p e r cent of them. It must b e stated, however, that i n a small g r o u p of the narratives, B o u r g e t often selects simple themes, c h o s e n from the common everyday facts of life. The characters are significant but the subjects are not as e x c i t i n g a n d as unusual as those of his more typical n o u v e l l e s . His p e n e t r a t i n g eye sees the suffering of seemingly ordinary p e o p l e who are the centers of the conflicts of d a l l y existence. He treats them w i t h a high degree of u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d pity. For example, U n Humble Is a portrait of a p r i v a t e tutor who leads a miserable life g i v i n g lessons f r o m one end of Paris to the other. H e is o n the go f r o m e a r l y morning until late a t night. His one d r e a m has b e e n to take his wife to the seashore b u t he has n e v e r h a d the time n o r the money to do so. One c a n feel B o u r g e t ' s sympathy f o r this poor teacher as he sits correcting papers on the crowded streetcar in order to save time. This story, a l t h o u g h published I n a volume of nouvelles, is, i n reality, n o t h i n g more than a character sketch w h i c h d o e s not c o n f o r m to the definition of the nouvelle as p r e s e n t e d b y B o u r g e t . 17* Bertaut, Jules, "M. Bourget, nouvelliste," L'Opinion, le 3 mal, 1919. 18. Thlbaudet, Albert, "A propos du Justicier," La Nouvelle Re-vue Française. XIII (1 Juin 1919), 130-

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The same is true of most of the Profils perdus which are but briefly outlined portraits of women encountered one short moment but not seen again. The author imagines their intimate life, through confidences given him or their actions. He expresses poetically their charm, which seems to make amends for the dolorous memories of his life. The feeling that he experiences, as he evokes the visions known for one brief moment, is expressed In his dedication to Henry Cazalls: "Ces passantes du moins ne nous ont pas torturés comme les autres les trop connues. Et, dans les minutes de fantaisie tendre et légère, n'y a-t-il une douceur apaisante à évoquer ces mystérieuses, ces vagues amies de l'imagination, pour oublier celles du souvenir."19 Bourget can picture characters in commonplace situations and make them interesting. He turns particularly to sensitive souls, so much like his own. L'Age d'amour reveals the melancholy feeling of a mlddled-aged man who realizes he can no longer be loved just for himself. Other nouvelles which reveal characters through common incidents are Gladys Harvey, La Seflorlta Rosarlo, Aline, Autre Inconnue, Humble Exemple, Charité de femme, and Le Jour de l'an d'un ironiste. With the exception of the small number of stories listed above, extraordinary events, creating surprise, astonishment and terror are the rule in Bourget's nouvelles. Death by various means Is quite often the outcome of emotional conflicts. One of the most common is that of suicide which occurs in: L'Irréparable, Un Joueur, Odile, La Menace and Le Mensonge du père. Murder culminates such stories as Tentatlon, Simone, Autre Joueur, Le Frère de M. Vlple, Çorsègue3, L'Epreuve, Deux Episodes as well as others. In Jean Maquenem, two jealous rivals struggling' on the edge of a cliff, die in a death embrace as they fall to the rocks.below. The tragic aspects of episodes dealing with natural death are also emphasized. A husband accuses his wife of adultery In front of his four sons before he dies in Un Cas de conscience, Monsieur Legrlmaudet and La Meilleure Part relate the death of two shipwrecked souls. Before the coffin of his father in Le Geste du fils, a son brings about a reconciliation between himself and his mother and 3lster. In Résurrection, a wife loses her own child and is left to care for the children of her husband by a first marriage. Duels occur In such stories as Maurice 19. Profils perdue, in: Cruelle Enigme, p. 215.

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Olivier and L'Apostat. The lover of La Main de bronze has his mistress1 hand cut off to avenge her betrayal. An atmosphere of sustained terror and suspense Is created In many of the short stories. Une Nuit de Noël sous la Terreur and Le Carré d'orties are exciting escape stories of the French Revolution. In Le Vrai Père, a lover without honor tortures his former companion In adultery to the point of forcing her to suicide from which she is saved at the last minuté. In L'Ami d'enfance, a soldier almost kills his childhood friend as they fight near each other In the dark. In L'Adversaire, one feels the presence of a mysterious force which seems to bring constant misfortune into the life of Alfred Vincent. L'Ancien Maître centers around the pursuit and hanging of a negro in Georgia. Neptunevale Is shrouded with the mystery of supernatural visions and celtlc legends. The intenseness of the "moment" does not always spring from violent events which create surprise,astonishment and terror. It comes, in "a good share of the nouvelles , from the poignant moral conflicts with which the characters are faced. In such short stories, the fact that there is no outward manifestation of violence, such as murder and suicide, does not detract in the least from the intensity of the struggle. Bourget writes concerning dramatic conflicts as follows: Mais qui dit drame ne dit pas toujours soènea violentes, coups de revolver, procès scandaleux divorces retentissants. Il y a des tragédies silencieuses, les plus émouvantes peut-être, car elles supposent des âmes fortes et fines qui sentent en dedans, des âmes vraies qui ont tout ensemble le courage et la pudeur de leurs émotions, qui , 20 les approfondissent en les prenant au serieux.

Many of the author's best nouvelles illustrate this aspect of his narratives. In L'Ancêtre, during a moment of courageous decision, the prince of Augsbourg renounces a fortune rather than degrade the family name by accepting it. There is perhaps no more tragic revelation than that made to Corbleres in L'Echéance when he discovers that his mother and father have stolen money to give him an education In medicine. Comparable is the inner despair of Blaise Marnat of Le Justicier when it Is proven that he, a

20. Coeur pensif ne salt où 11 va, p. U.

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strict moralist, Is In part responsible for the degraded life of his brother. The problems of children born In adultery and the child with step-parents, such as occur In Le Fils, Le Chapiteau roman and L'Enfant de la morte, are by their very nature, filled with intense drama. Even the sudden realization of Roger de Montglat in Le Portrait du doge that he had wrongly suspected the young girl he loved of betrayal has its tragic Intensity.21 When Bourget presents human passions in striking or unusual situations, he is also conforming to the rule of the intensity of the episode. All of the stories which deal with the complications of the senses and unconventional love and those which have as their subject the corrosive effect of adultery upon character meet the requirements of this prerequisite. From the very beginning of his literary career, with L'Irreparable, neurotic characters had attracted the attention of the author. In all of the cases in which his scientific method clarifies the most obscure problems of psychology, he is using the rare and exceptional events of life. Clinical cases of mental pathology found particularly in L'Envers du décor, Anomal1 es and parts of Les Détours du C œ u r are apart from the ordinary episodes of life. Fortunately In most of them, the artist keeps in the foreground and the scientist in the background so that one still has the feeling of reality. In others, the clinical case is too much in evidence and one has the impression of being surrounded by crazy people. Cases of cultivated dissimulation are the most frequent such as: Le Mythomane, Complicité, L'Expert, Le Mensonge du père and L'Accident. Unbelievable contradictions of character are found in such nouvelles as L'Indicatrice, Le Déserteur, Jean-Louls-C os te and Une Vengeance de femme. Extreme nervous conditions are studied in L'Epreuve and La Parole donnée. The disastrous effects of the early realization of the cruelties of life on tender sheltered sensitivities is shown in Les Moreau-Janvllle. In La Maison de SalntCload, a tailor tries to avoid the boredom of his life by escaping Into a dream world. Transmission of thought is 21. Other 9tories in which the conflict is an Intense, tragedy without outward manifestations of violence are:

inner

U n Saint,

Marcel, Le David, Antigone, L'Ecran, Sauvetage, le Luxe des autres, Talisman, U n Homme d'affaires, Dualité, L'Outrage,

tonique,

L'Aveu,

La Rangon, Les Deux Soeurs, La Vie passe, L'Ami haineux, Revirement

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the p h e n o m e n o n of T é l é p a t h i e . C o n c e r n i n g the author's use of u n u s u a l a n d e x c i t i n g s u b j e c t s , M. V i c t o r G l r a u d w r i t e s : Qu'on ne reproche pas à l ' a u t e u r de se complaire à des aventures e x c e p t i o n n e l l e s ; mêïne r e l e v é e par l e charme du s t y l e , l a représentat i o n des e x i s t e n c e s moyennes e t b a n a l e s , dont à l a rigueur peut s ' a c commoder l e roman, ne s a u r a i t convenir à l a n o u v e l l e : c e l l e - c i r é clame un i n t é r ê t plus v i f , quelque chose de plus r a r e , de plue e x c i t a n t . . .M. Bourget s a i t f o r t b i e n son m é t i e r . Avec l u i , l ' i n t é r ê t ne f a i b l i t Jamais, e t i l s'entend à nous f a i r e a c c e p t e r l e s complicat i o n s d'événements ou des s i n g u l a r i t é s d'finies que d ' a u t r e s , moins h a b i l e s ou moins p e r s u a s i f s , a u r a i e n t quelque peine à imposer à notre sens c r i t i q u e . 2 2 B o u r g e t u s e s all t h e a r t i s t i c m e a n s a t h i s c o m m a n d to a v o i d the d o u b l e d a n g e r t h a t he r e c o g n i z e s a s I n h e r e n t I n t h e U3e of u n u s u a l a n d v i o l e n t e v e n t s : the r i s k of the l a c k of v e r i s i m i l i t u d e a n d the e x p o s u r e to m e l o d r a m a . No r u l e h a u n t s the a u t h o r m o r e t h a n t h a t of c r e d i b i l i t y . When r e a d i n g the m a j o r i t y of h i s s t o r i e s , o n e c a n n o t h e l p b e l i e v i n g that the e v e n t h a d to h a p p e n n o m a t t e r h o w s t r a n g e or p e c u l i a r it m i g h t b e . T h e c h a r a c t e r s a r e " i n the r o o m " w i t h t h e r e a d e r , a s B o u r g e t l i k e s to s t a t e . The a u t h o r u s e s v a r i o u s m e a n s to c o n v i n c e h i s r e a d e r s that w h a t h e is relating r e a l l y took place. F i r s t of a l l , he o b t a i n s a convincing credibility b y using the first person. Eightyf i v e or a l i t t l e o v e r h a l f of h i s s h o r t s t o r i e s a r e w r i t t e n f r o m the p o i n t of view of a n e y e - w i t n e s s . One is f o r c e d to say concerning a n extraordinary subject: The narrator was there. H e saw w h a t h a p p e n e d . H e t o o k p a r t In It. It must be true." It Is f o r t u n a t e f o r t h o s e i n t e r e s t e d i n the p e r s o n a l i t y of B o u r g e t t h a t h e a s s o c i a t e s t h e real or i m a g i n e d e p i s o d e s of m a n y of h i s s t o r i e s w i t h t h e real or i m a g i n e d e x p e r i e n c e s of h i s l i f e . B y playing a part, either i n the f r a m e w o r k or t h e b o d y of the n o u v e l l e s , h e c a n speak f o r h i m s e l f a n d r e v e a l , I n t e n t i o n a l l y or n o t , v a l u a b l e information about h i m s e l f . 2 3 T h e s t o r i e s w r i t t e n I n the f i r s t p e r s o n m a y b e d i v i d e d into f o u r g r o u p s . T h e f i r s t g r o u p c o n s i s t s of 2 2 . Giraud, V i c t o r , Paul Bourget, pp. l 6 0 - 6 l . 23- The p i c t u r e o f Bourget revealed through h i s s h o r t s t o r i e s has been given. ( C f . supra, pp. 5 ^ - 7 ' ; ) . The omniscient third person la used in the novels except in such novels as André Cornells and l £ Sens de l a Mort.

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stories which are told to Bourget but In which he himself does not take an active part. The narrative Is related to the author by the chief character In the story or some character of secondary Importance who observes and reports what the more Important people do and say. Bourget1s use of the contemporary scene, which has already been noted, gives a definite sense of authenticity to his stories. In that of L'Irréparable, one learns that the author had talked one afternoon with the philosopher Adrien Sixte about the complexity of the human being and that very evenlng had called on Mme de Tllllères who told him the tragic story of her friend Noémle. Bourget notes In his journal that It was a good day because the crisis of Noémle' s life furnished him with an Illustration of the theory of Sixte on the multiplicity of human personality. Bourget excels in conversation and puts it to good use when he receives confidences. Most of his own talking Is done in the framework of such stories although he sometimes comments on the speaker's attitudes, asks questions or expresses his personal reactions within the body of the story. In the setting for Amitié de femme, the author is riding In a victoria along a lake with his friend Armand de Querne. He describes the late February day in which he senses a beginning of spring. He finds the conditions ideal for a confidential chat: Et n'était-ce pas une rencontre rare des conditions favorables à la causerie: deux amis du mêtte âge et qui ne se Jugent plus, afin qu'aucune pointe d'amour-propre ne perce sous la familiarité des confidences; une Journée de Jolie lumière et de belle santé, afin que l'heureuse humeur égale le sentimentalisme de ces confidences ... Je m'étais laissé rouler dans ce que Stendhal a si finement appelé le silence du bonheur,

' et J'écoutais mon compagnon songer tout haut. 25

As Armand tells the story, he is overcome by emotion, Bourget has to interrupt him to ask him to continue. The nouvelle ends as it began, with the rolling of the coach along the lake road. Un Joueur and Autre Joueur are other examples of stories In which Bourget converses with his story teller both in the framework and In the body of the narrative. In each nouvelle, he is the good listener who follows his companion closely, asks pertinent questions and 2k. Cf. supra, pp. 1U6-150. 25. Amitié de femme, In: Cruelle Enigme, pp..217-18.

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becomes captivated by the significance of his experience. When the person confiding in the author is one of the main characters, of the narrative, Bourget often gives his physical and moral portrait in the framework. In Claire, for example, Bourget states that the psychic diversity of the social species la far from being an absolute law. To illustrate his point, he cites an artillery officer, Emile M. , who does not bear the stamp of his military career. He then describes his appearance and his character. The story proper actually begins when he calls on Emile. The nouvelle, Lucie, begins as well with a portrait of a General Garnier whom Bourget encounters watching some children dance at the home of Comte Werekieff. They see a thirteen year old girl engage In a seemingly harmless flirtation with one boy In order to make another one jealous. This scene reminds the general of an episode of his youth, which he relates to Bourget as they walk along the street. The first lines of Reconnaissance attest to Bourget' s care In establishing the reality of his story and to his habit of note-taking in collecting materials; L'anecdote que Je voudrais redire aujourd'hui me fut racontée à Londres, en Juillet dernier, par un de mes amis américains, M. John W. Kerley, de Syracuse (N.Y.). Elle m'a paru assez singulière, et Je l'ai transcrite aussitôt, comme Je fais pour tous les récits où Je crois voir de la vérité humaine. Moins exceptionnelle, Je m'y serais intéressé quand même, à cause du narrateur. 26

To complete the framework for the nouvelle, there follows a portrait of Kerley, intermingled with shreds of conversations which Bourget has had with him. One day in July, I898, Bourget went to meet Kerley in his London apartment. He is surprised to see there Burne Jones' water-color "U11 Mariage de Psyché." Kerley 1 s recital of how he obtained this picture makes up the story. The framework for some stories in which Bourget is a confidant is sometimes much briefer than in those just indicated. A few sentences are sufficient for Autre Anglaise. Bourget is dining on the terrace of one of the restaurants near the Cirque in Paris, listening to Julien Dorsenne tell about his experiences in England. His story begins after the following description of the narrator: "Dorsenne était, par ce beau soir de septembre, excité, sentimental et conteur, et pêle-mêle, 11 envoyait du coin 26. Reconnaissance, in: Monique, p. 2 5 7 .

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de sa moustache roussÊtre des bouffées de fumée et des bouffées de confidences."27 The framework28 is short too in Le Talisman. Bourget listens to the confidential story of an artist vho tells a touching drama of his youth. A just man helped him overcome a feeling of envy of other people when he was but eleven years old. A bronze Hermes on his desk is a reminder of that experience. Bourget states that he wants to retell the story because of its moral significance. He insists upon the truth of the artist's experience: "Il nous répondit par une confession que je transcris textuellement, je le répète, sans y rien changer, sinon deux ou trois détails qui désigneraient trop clairement le lieu et le héros de cette tragédie enfantine." The second group of first person nouvelles is made up of those in which Bourget himself plays a subordinate role. Some of his most effective narratives take this form. 3 0 His comments and impressions are those of an observer on the scene. His sincerity is so contagious and his rendition so forceful, that one cannot help believe in the truth of his stories. His role in the narratives in which he takes part varies. He often joins In the action with the main characters, helping them in minor ways which lead to the focal episode of the narrative. For example, in Le Justicier, Bourget receives a telephone call from Blaise Marnat, an old friend who is passing through Paris. As Blaise Is on the way to see him, Bourget recalls the life-long conflict between the engineer and his dead brother, Amédée, whom Blaise did not consider worthy of the family name. Blaise's son had died during the World War. He has come to ask Bourget to suggest an artist who would erect an appropriate monument at the grave of his sons. He does not want the bodies of the sons to be placed in the family tomb with Amédée. Even after death he has not forgiven his brother for his life of debauchery. Blaise tells Bourget the complete story of his differences with his 2 7 . Autre Anglaise, In: Cruelle Enigme. p. 2 5 6 . 28. Other nouvellea of the first person with a similar type of framework are: Sketch Book, La Señorita Rosarlo, Le Frère de M. Vlple, CorsègueB, A Quarante ans, L'Exemple, L'Adoration des mages, L'Ami d'enfance. Complicité, le Convive. 29. Le Tallmnnn, in: Drames de famille, p. 28l. 30. Bourget playa the role of a subordínate character in twentyeight of the short stories.

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brother. Bourget then engages the sculptor, Yve3 Clouet, to make the monument and goes to Blaise's hotel to tell him about the arrangements he ha3 made. Blaise asks him to stay to be present at an Interview with his brother's wife. She brings him a package of Amédée's letters with some papers and books belonging to his father. She also asks him to adopt their son, who Is now sixteen. Blaise refuses to do this until he reads his brother's letters In which Amédée accuses him of being to blame for his Irresponsible way of living. It Is Bourget who reads the letters first and who, when convinced of their veracity, persuades Blaise to look them over. Overcome with emotion, Blal3e realizes that he has judged his brother unfairly. Bourget then accompanies ,ilm when ne goes to see his nephew, whom he adopts to atone in a small way for his severe treatment of his brother. Bourget aids in this direct way in the action of many other stories such as Le David, in which Mme Clouet asks him to help her solve her husband's emotion conflict or In L'Echéance, where Corblères, a former schoolmate, pleads with Bourget to help him discover the identity and purpose of a man who seems to be blackmailing his parents. The emotional impact of the crises of the characters upon him are so effectively communicated to the reader that the authenticity of the central episode camiot be doubted. The following passage from L'Echéance describes Bourget's reaction when he has just discovered that his friend Corblères had received his education by means of money stolen by his parents: Ce fut seuleirent en me retrouvant hors de la chambre où J'avais reçu cette tragique confession, que J'en réalisai la conséquence

immédiate,

avec un tremblement d'épouvante que Je ne me rappelle avoir éprouve ni auparavant, ni depuis. Je lui dire?

Eugène Corblères m'attendait en bas.

Qu'allais-

Mon appréhension d'affronter son regard Inquisiteur était

si forte que mes Jambes flageolaient en descendant les marches de cet escalier au terme duquel 11 me faudrait pourtant arriver. Je me souviens.

Et alors?

Je m'arrêtai plusieurs minutes sur le palier du pre-

mier étage, pour essayer de me reprendre.

Il me fallait à tout prix

trouver en mol l'énergie d'opposer aux questions d'Eugène des réponses assez bien calculées pour le détourner de continuer cette terrible enquête. paroles.

La première condition était que mon visage ne démentit pas mes Ma pitié pour cet ami, menacé de cette affreuse

m'auralt-elle donné cette énergie? ma volonté à cette épreuve. dont Eugène était

dévoré.

révélation,

Je n'eus pas l'occasion de mettre

J'avale compté sans la fièvre d 1 impatiente

31

31. L'Echéance, in: Drame: de f-ralllu, pp.

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As Bourget lives and suffers this way with his characters tie makes them more real for us. Bourget becomes Involved personally In his short stories through episodes which bear the genuineness of a Journal of his own life. Whether It be during his school days as In Le TapIn and Ancien Portrait or In the long series of nouvelles placed In the framework of his travels, the eye-wlteness technique aids In creating credibility. Often, Bourget appears in the Intrigue only long enough to establish his position as an observer. In L'Accident, for example, his friend Prosper Delorme, about to die from an Injury, asks Bourget to tell Mme Carllx about his death before she reads about It In the newspaper. By observation and deduction, the author uncovers the emotional conflict of the woman's life. In L'Aveu, he accompanies Commander Montis on a trip to La Capte to congratulate his cousins on the marriage of their daughter. Through the sudden turn of events during the visit, Bourget discovers the secret tragedy of Montes1s life. In many cases, Bourget Is the confidant who receives the confession of the main characters after he has taken part In the action enough to make the confidence seem natural. In Dualité, for example, the author, trying to escape from Parisians, meets at a secluded resort at Rapallo in Italy, a notorious woman of the Parisian demi-monde society, traveling under the name of Mme de la Charme. When she realizes that he recognizes her, she comes to him and asks him not to give away her identity. Bourget quite naturally becomes her confidant and discovers that she leads a double life, divided between her love for her nineteen year old son, who is traveling with her and her love for luxury, satisfied in the demimonde . Her son knows her only as the very proper Mme de la Charme. The situation is thus prepared for Bourget's observation of the crisis of this duality which arises when her son is offered a position in the Bahamas by the father of an English girl whom he is to marry. Bourget is the confidant also in Le Portrait du doge. A compatriot, Roger de Monglat, invites Bourget to come with him to meet Jessie Macdougall at her home In Newport. Monglat hopes to marry the beautiful heiress. When Jessie shows them the family's art collection, they become so intrigued by Palma's portrait of a doge that she tells them the story connected rflth the purchase of the painting. It had been sold by the prominent Navagero family to pay for the ball dresses of their daughters. Monglat is so upset by the story that he becomes rude and leaves the Macdougall house, abandoning all plans

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of courtship- To explain his conduct to Bourget, he relates to him the drama of his love for Laura Navagero, of which he vas so suddenly reminded by the portrait story at the Macdougall1 s. Likewise, in L'Eventail de dentelle, Bourget becomes a confidant. By chance he happens to attend the auction of the possessions of a notorious prostitute who had taken the name of Manon Lescaut. He is surprised to see the countess of Megret-Fajac there bidding on a lace fan. He meets her as she leaves the auction with the fan. As they ride home together, she confides in him the story of the fan and her connection with its owner.32 In the third group of stories written in the first person, the framework lends them added credibility. By using situations which are common dally occurrences, the author gives Increased interest and lifelikeness to the story that is told. The framework of many of the stories is a social gathering at which the author hears a narrative which intrigues him. In the volume De petits faits vrais, Bourget explains in the preface that the ten nouvelles are selected from stories told by twelve members of the "Stendhal Club," which met once a month. They had joined together because of their common devotion to Stendhal and particularly because they shared his zealous taste for "the little true facts about the human heart." The author explains his treatment of the experiences narrated by his friends : J'ai dû, le plus souvent, débaptiser les personnages et, d'autre fois, pour donner leur pleine valeur à certains de ces documents, maintenir la forme direct de la confidence, en prenant la précaution de réduire le "Je" à son minimum, celui d'un témoignage de métier, mais sans toucher à ce caractère de réalité, directement constatée, qu'appréciait pardessus tout le chercheur "de petits faits vrais," parrain de ce déjeuner parisien.-

Bourget retains the first person for six of the nouvelles. A doctor relates the story of Le Certificat prénuptial when 32. Bourget can be found as a subordinate character in other stories such as: Flirting Club, Un Saint, L'Adversaire, La Pla, Deux Méftages. Heptunevale. Charité de femme, Odile, Antigone, Ls Cob Bouan, L'Ancien Maître, Le Brutus, Autre Inconnue, Monsieur Iegrlmaudet, Une Charité, L'Apache, Le Beau Hole, Le TapIn, Le Plumant de la Reine. 33* "Avant-Propos," in: De petits faits vrais, p. III.

SIGNIFICANCE, INTENSENESS AND CREDIBILITY

l6j

the group Is discussing the efficacy of prénuptial health certificates. In Le Buate posthume, a sculptor, while showing pictures of some of his work, narrates the drama suggested by the picture of the head of a young soldier.The recital of L'Envieux by an art collector Is occasioned b y the discussion among a group of writers rix, François; "Adieu à Paul Bourget, " Revue Hebdomadaire, I (4 Jan. 1936), 122-23. Le maître, Jules: Les Contemporains, Lb cène et Oudln, 1890. Les Contemporains, Troisième Série, Lecène et Oudln, 1889. Le Traz, Robert: "L'Exemple littéraire de Paul Bourget," Revue Hebdomadaire. I (11 Jan. 1926), 237-41. Lionnet, L. : L'Evolution, des idées, Perrin et Cie, 1903. Lovett, Robert Morse: Edith Wharton, Hew York, McBrlde and Company, 1925. Lynch, Hannah: "Paul Bourget, Preacher," Contemporary Revlev, Sept. 1902. Maes, iéon- Les Multiples Aspects de l'oeuvre de Paul Bourget, Imprimerie du Carillon, 1939. March, Harold: Types of the French Short Story, New York, Nelson, 1931. Marsan, Eugène : "La Rue et la maison," Revue Hebdomadaire, XII (15 déc. 1923), 446-50. Martln-Chauffler, Louis: "Anomalies, Paul Bourget," La Nouvelle Revue Française, XV (1 er déc. 1920), 934-36. Martin du Gard, Maurice: "Monsieur Paul Bourget " Nouvelles Littéraires, le 28 déc. 1935, p. 1 Matthews, Brander; The Philosophy of the Short-Story, New York, Longman Green and Col, 1901Matthiesen, F. 0., Henry James, the Major Phase, New York, Oxford University Press, 1944. Maupassant, Guy de: Oeuvres complètes, Louis Conard, 1930. Short Stories of the tragedy and Comedy of Life with a critical preface by Paul Bourget, Akron, Ohio, St. Dunstan Soc., 1903. Maurel, André: "LEE Ecrivains de la guerre," Revue des nations latines, Année 2, VIII (1 er février 1918), 146-79. Maurras, Charles: "Les Idées politiques de M. Paul Bourget, " Revue Hebdomadaire, III (15 déc. 1923), 296-313Mériaee, Prosper, Chronique du règne de Charles II, Société des BellesLettres, 1933. Mitchell, R.: McBurney, Heyse and his Predecessors in the Theory of the Novelle, Othendorfer Series of Germanic Monographs, No. 4, New York Univ., 1 9 1 5 . Moreau, Pierre; "Le Témoignage de Paul Bourget," LB Correspondant, CtfCX (5 Jan. 1936), 19-23. Morillot, Paul: Le Roman en France, G. Masson, 1893Morris, G. D.: Fenimore Cooper et E. P08, d'après la critique française du 19e siècle, Larousse, 1912. Nitze and Dargan: History of French Literature, New York, Holt, 1922. Nolhac, Pierre de: "Paul Bourget et sa terre," Revue Hebdomadaire, XII (15 déc. 1923), 459-/51. Pascal, Félicion: "M. Paul Bourget," Le Correspondant, CCIXHI (10 déc. 1920), 884-909.

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Pascal, Félicien: "Paul Bourget e t sa t e c h n i q u e du roman, " Les l e t t r e s . Année 1 4 , I I I ( 1 nov. 1 9 2 7 ) , 2 7 3 - 8 7 . "Paul Bourget e t l e s é c r i v a i n s de son t e m p s , " Revue des Deux Mondes, 8 p e r . XXXIX ( 1 5 J u i n 1 9 3 7 ) , 9 1 5 - 2 4 . P a t t o n , W i l l i a m ; S h o r t S t o r y C l a s s i c s , New York, P. F . C o l l i e r , I9O7. P e l l e t i e r , Severin: l a Nature e t l a g r â c e chez Paul B o u r g e t , M o n t r é a l , Beauchemin, E d i t i o n s de l ' U n i v e r s i t é Ottawa, 19UO. P e l l l s s i e r , Georges: "Lee Nouveaux P a s t e l s , " Revue E n c y c l o p é d i q u e , Année 1891, pp. 61*5-1*7. P i t k i n , Walter B . : The Art and B u s i n e s s o f S t o r y W r i t i n g , New York, Macmillan, 1 9 1 2 . P o i z a t , Alfred; " R é f l e x i o n s s u r l e roman," Le Correspondant, CCCXI ( 2 5 J u i n 1 9 2 8 ) , 836-1*7. P r é v o s t , Marcel: "Le Roman f r a n ç a i s au 1 9 e s i è c l e , " Revue B l e u e , 2 e s é r . , X I I I (11* a v r i l 1 9 0 0 ) , 1*1*9-556. The Question o f Henry James: Various Opinions, Edited b\ F . W. Dupee, New York, H o l t , 191*5. Raffeto, Rita: L ' E v o l u t i o n du roman de Paul B o u r g e t , T o u l o u s e , P a i l l é s e t C h a t a i g n e r , 1938. R i t t e r , Eugène: C h a r l e s R i t t e r , s e s amis e t s e s m a î t r e s , Lausanne, P a v o t , 1921. R i v a s s o , R. de: L ' U n i t é d'une pensée, E s s a i sur l ' o e u v r e de M. P a u l Bourget, Pion, 1914. Rod, Edouard: bas I d é e s morales du temps p r é s e n t , P e r r i n , 1892. Roz, Firmln: L'Art, e t l a d o c t r i n e chez M. Paul B o u r g e t , " Revue B l e u e , LIX ( 8 J u i l l e t 1 9 2 1 ) , 4 2 3 - 2 7 . S c h i n z , A l b e r t : French L i t e r a t u r e o f the G r e a t War, New York, Appelton,

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S e i l l i è r e , E r n e s t : P a u l B o u r g e t , Psychologue e t S o c i o l o g u e , E d i t i o n s de l a Nouvelle Revue C r i t i q u e , 1 9 3 7 . Barbey d ' A u r e v i l l y , S e s i d é e s e t son oeuvre, Bloud, 1 9 1 0 . " B o u r g e t , P a u l , A n o m a l i e s , " Revue C r i t i q u e d ' H i s t o i r e e t de L i t t é r a t u r e , LIV ( 1 9 2 0 ) , 1*59-60. "Le J u s t i c i e r , " J o u r n a l des Débats, XXVI ( 2 5 a v r i l 1 9 1 9 ) , 7 4 1 - 4 3 . S h e r a r d , R o b e r t H . : The L i f e , Work and E v i l F a t e o f Guy de Maupassant, London, T . Werner L a u r i e LTD, 1 9 2 6 . Smith, Horatio E. : " B a l z a c and the S h o r t - S t o r y , " • Modern P h i l o l o g y , X I I ( 1 9 1 4 - 1 5 ) , 331. 'The B r i e f N a r r a t i v e A r t o f Théophile G a u t i e r , " Modem P h i l o l o g y , U V ( 1 9 1 7 ) , 647-61*. "The Development o f B r i e f N a r r a t i v e i n Modern French L i t e r a t u r e : a S t a t e m e n t o f the Problem, " P u b l i c a t i o n s o f the Modern Language A s s o c i a t i o n , XXXII ( 1 9 1 7 ) , 5 8 > 9 6 . S ö d e r h j e l m , Werner,: La Nouvelle f r a n ç a i s e au XVe s i è c l e , Champion, 1 9 1 0 . S t r o w s k i , F o r t u n a t ; Tableau de l a l i t t é r a t u r e f r a n ç a i s e , D e l a p l a n e , 1 9 1 2 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

247

Spender, Stephen: The Destructive Element, London, Jonathan Cape, 1938. Taylor, U. A.: "The Short Story in France," Edinburgh Review, July, 1913, I37-5O. Thérive, André: Opinions littéraires, Bloud et Gay, 1925. Thlbaudet, Albert: Le Liseur de Romans, Crès et Cle, 1925. "A propos du Justicier," La Nouvelle Revue Française, XIII (1 er Juin 1 9 1 9 ) , 134-38. "Le Critique," Revue Hebdomadaire, XII (15 déc. 1923), 382-90. Töpffer, P. : Nouvelles Genevoises, Victor Leçon, 1853. Tourguéneff: Nouvelles Moscovites, Eetzel et Cle, n.d. Oeuvres,Dernières, Hetzel et Cle, n.d. Pages Choisies des Grands Ecrivains, Colin, 1922. The Novels and Stories of Ivan Turguénieff, New York, Scribner, 1903. Trahard, Pierre: Iä Jeunesse de Prosper Mérimée ( 1 8 0 3 - 1 8 3 4 ) , Champion, 1924. Prosper Mérite de 1834 à 1853, Champion, 1928. La Vieillesse de Prosper Mérimée, ( 1 8 5 4 - 1 8 7 0 ) , Champion, 1930. Turquet-Milnes, B. : Some Modem French Writers, New York, McBride, 1921. Uzzell, Thomas H.: Narrative Technique, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1923. Van Daell; Extraits Choisis des oeuvres de Paul Bourget (With a "Lettre autobiographique"), Boston, Ginn and Co., 1894. Vaudoyer, Jean-Lauis; "Le Voyageur: L'Italie," Revue Hebdomadaire, XII ( 1 5 déc. 1 9 2 3 ) , 412-23. Vogtlé, Melchior de: "Lettre à M. Paul Bourget," Revue des Deux Mondes, 7. per., XIX (1 e r Jan. 1924), 166-70. Wharton, Edith: A Backward Glance, New York, D. Appleton Century, 1934. The Writing of Fiction, New York, Scribner's, 1925. "Souvenirs du Bourget d'Outre-Mer," Revue Hebdomadaire, VI (20 Juin 1936), 266-86. Wright, Willard A.: The Great Modern French Stories, New York, Bonn and Liveright, 1917. Zadig: "Silhouettes parisiennes," M. Paul Bourget," Revue Bleue, U e série, XIII (10 mars 1900), 305-06.

Index L'Accident, 71, 131, 155, l6l L'Adieu, 30 Adolphe, 15, 38, 79 L'Adoration des mages, 131-132, 205 Adultery, 108-112 L'Adversaire, 64, 132, 154, 166, 198, 217 L'Age d'amour, 105, 138, 153, 165 Agnès Pelas, 141, 17"+, 219-220 Aline, 66, 118, 140-141, 164, 201-

202, 216 The Altar of the Dead, 85 Une Ame d'enfant, 122, 163, 187, 213 American short-story, 8 L'Ami d'enfance, I5U, 190 L'Ami haineux, 123, 146, 195, 214, 222 Amitié de femme, 157 Une Amoureuse de village, 141, 164 Ancelin, 3 L'Ancêtre, 93, 129, 146, 154, 198, 225 L'Ancien Maître, 154 Ancien Portrait, 57, 60, 134, l6l,

186 André Compila, 79 Annales des sciences psychiques,

166

Announchka, 42 Anomalies, 97, 150, 154 Antlgone, 135, 146, 216 L'Apache, 138 L'Apostat, 128, 154, 195, 199-200, 211 A quarante ans, 133 Arlstocracy, 128-131 Arsène Gulllot, 30 d'Arthez, Daniel, 15 L'Assmmolr, 60 Autre Anglaise, 158, 215 Autre Inconnue, 63, 78, 153

Autre Joueur, 124-123, 153, 157 L'Aventure de Walter Schnaffs, 31 L'Aveu, 114, 150, l6l, 216 L'Aveu menteur, 125, 140 Les Aveux, 6l A Backyard Glance, 9 Balzac, 1, 2, 8, 10-12, 14-17, 21, 28, 30-33, 35-42, 45, 47-49, 54, 57, 62, 65, 86, 90-91, 94, 136, 147, 151, 166, 169-179, 207, 211, 226, 228-229 Balzac nouvelliste, 24 Barfcey d'Aurevilly, 2, 8, 14, 19, 20-21, 31, 37, 47, 77, 191, 228 Barres, Maurice, 14 Lq. Barricade, 95 Bart, Llly, 11 Bastler, Paul, 1 Baudelaire, Charles, 8, 9, 65 Le Beau.Rflle, 100, l80, 217, 227 Beltraege, 1 Bennett, E. K., 7 Bennett, James Gordon, 84 Bertaut, Jules, 152 Beyle, Henri, 16, 17 Le Billet de Junius, 95 Le Bonheur dans le crime, 37 Breton, Andre, le, 5 Boccaccio, 2, 3, Bonald, 91 Bordeaux, Henry, 53, 65, 88 Boule-de-Suif, 18, 31, 33, 34 Bourget, Justin, 2, 52 Bourget, Paul, Acceptance of Catholic faith, 89; Adolescence, 53-54, Aristocratic subject matter, 70-71; Art of conversation, 74-78; Character, 71-72; Collecting data, 68-69; Decision to devote himself to literature, 57; Bnotlonal memory and recall, 6667; Family background, 51-52{

250

PAUL BOUBGET AND THE

First World War, 95-96; Ideal for the long nouvelle, c7; Interest In passions of love, 69-70; Knowledge of nouvelliste, 1-21; Literary debuts, 59-60; Lost years, 97-98; Love of Ideas, 7374, 131; Moralist, 79-80, 90; Periods of production, 50; political and social doctrines, 91-93; Position in history of the nouvelle, 1, 20, 21; Psychiatry, Influence of, 94; Psychological analysis of characters, 65; Relationship to Henry James, 11-12; Role as a critic, 20, 61-62; Theory of the nouvelle, 22-49; Travels, 183-185 Brissaud, 94 Brunetière, Ferdinand, 37 Le Brutus, 133, 186-187 Le Buste posthume, 132-133» 163

NOUVELLE

La Chartreuse de Parme, 38 Le Chauffeur, 215, 222, 225 Un Chef, 164 Le Chef-d'oeuvre Inconnu, 32 Child psycholcgy, 115-124 Chronique du regne de Charlex PC, 30 Claire, 63, 78, 104, 138, 158, 213 Le Cob Rouan, 114, 140, 189 Un Coeur de femme, 83 Coeur pensif ne ea.lt ou 11 va, 96 Colomba, 4, 36, 38, 40, 172 Le Colonel Chabert, 30 F

Comedle humaine, 11, 15, 31 Complications Sentimentales, 87,

88, 101, 170

Complicité, 99, 114-115, 155, 202 La Comtesse de Candale, 129, 216, 224 La Confession, 128, 221 La Confidente, 137 La Cachette, 105-106, 143-144, 180 Conflits intimes, 97, 98, 101 du Camp, Maxime, 26 Confusion In terminology, 23-25 Le Candidat, 137, 198 Conrad, Joseph, 142 Candide, 4, 5 Constant, Benjamin, 14, 163 Carco, Francis, 72 Conte, ccmpared to nouvelle, 25 Cardonne, Henry de, 74 Contes cruels, 24 Carmen, 40 Les Contes de la Bécasse, 34 Le Carré d'orties, 105, 143-144, 154, Contes des Mille et Une Nulte, 24 165, 200 Le Convive, 145, 166 Un cas de conscience, 137, 153, 164, Cooper, James F., 38 182-183, 191 Cordélla, 136-137, 164, 205, 216 Cazalls, Henry, 153 Corpechot, Lucien, 19, 75, 77 Ceci n'est pas un conte, 5 Corsègues, 109-110, 141, 153, 218 Céline Lacoste, 60, 6l, 108, 115, Cosmopolls, 83 140, 215, 217 La Cousine Bette, 28, 79 Cent Nouvelles, 2 Le Couvent désaffecté, 215 Le Certificat prénuptial, 137, 146, Credlbility, 38-42, 156-I7O. 162-163 Crime d'amour, 79, 88 Cervantes, 2, 3, 4, 6 Croire, 98 Le Chant de'l'amour triomphant, 42 Cruelle Enigme, 11, 79 Le Chapiteau Rnmnn, 120-121, 154, Crypthesthésle, 146, 163, 167 180, 198, 209, 216 Dalsy, 163 Une Charité, 137, 188, 218 La Dame qui a perdu son peintre, Charité de femme, 135, 153 93, 165

INDEX Le Danseur mondain, 97, 142, 171, 221 Dargan, Prof., 23 Daudet, 1 Le David, 64, 76, 152, l60, 213, 215 David, Mlnnle, 84 Davis, Richard Hardlng, 8, 9 Dellneatlon of characters, 221-227 Le Démon de midi, 92 Le Dernier Rôle, 163 Dernlere Poesie, 114, 140 Le Deserteur, 145, 155, 163 Les Détoura du coeur, 93, 101, 150, 154 Deux Amie de Bourbonne, 5, 6 Deux Episodes, 143-144, 153 Deux Ménagés)"-73, 135, 138, 215 Les Deux Soeurs, 50, 93, 105, 174, 196, 199, 217, 221 Deuxième Amour, 62, 103, 140, 168, 180-181, 211, 222 Lee Diaboliques, 31, 37 Diaboliques de l'Ouest, 1*7 Le Diamant de la Reine, 65-66, 97, 107-108, 172-173, 174, 206, 216 Diderot, 5, 6, 164 Dieulafoy, 94 Dimension of the nouvelle, 22, 25, 43-44, 171-173 Le Disciple, 79, 80 Un Divorce, 92, 95 La Double Méprise, 36 Doumic, René, 64 Un Drame dans le monde, 96 Drames de famille, 88 Le Droit de l'enfant, 120 Droite de 1'hemme, 91, 92 Dualité, 68, 71, 76, 106-197, 161,

168, 180, 205 Du Bos, Charles, 20 La Duchesse bleue, 83 Dumas pere, 39, M Dupré, Ernest, 94, 95, 119 Duvernols, Henri, 171 L'Eau Profonde, 93, 112-113, 140,

251

150, 169, 173-174, 199, 203, 206, 213, 219 Les Eaux prlntanleree, 86 L'Echéance, 55, 56,~58, 88, 96, 126, 141, 148, 154, 160, 170, 180-182, 203, 215, 224-225, 230 Eckermann, 28 L'Ecran, 70, 87, 109, 1^0, 172, 196, 210, 219, 224 L'Ectoplasme, 163 Edel, 61 L'Education sentimentale, 27 Eleonora, 8 L'Ellxlr de longue vie, 40 L'Emigré, 92, 95 Encyclopédie, 6 Endlngs, 214-221 L'Enfant de la morte, 121, 154, 195,

216, 225 L'Enlèvement de la redoute, 30, 40, 44, 217 L'Enquête sur les Monarchies, 90 L'Ensorcelee, 47 L'Envers du décor, 93, 94, 150, 154 L'Envieux, 137, 163, 213, 220 Envlronments, variation in, 139-142 Un Episode sous la Terreur, 30, 35 L'Epreuve, 36, 116, 153, 155 Esenwein, J. B., 24 Essais de psychologie contemporaine, 16, 61, 72, 77 L'Etape, 92, 139 Etudes et Portraits, 11, 16 L'Eventail de dentelle, 162, 188, 219 L'Exemple, 55, 138, 145, 222 L'Expert, 155 Expositions, 207-214 Faguet, Emile, 82, 8 7 , 88, 170 du Fail, Noël, 2 Faure, Jean-Louise, 94,95 Fausse Manoeuvre, 114, 195, 210, 224 Madame de la Fayette, 3 Feuillerat, Albert, 15, 29, 51, 53, 61, 70, 83, 85, 87, 88, 91, 98 Feuillet, Octave, 79 Une Fille-Mere, 14}, l80-i8l, 195, 217

252

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Le F i l a , 123, 154, 192-194, 223, 225 F l a u b e r t , 1, 13, 21, 26, 27, 33, 39, 45, 46, 61 Lee Fleure du Mal, 54, 79 F l l r t l n g Club, 103-104 La Fontaine, 19 France, Anatole, 58 Le Frère de M. V l p l o , 117, 140, IU5, 153, 184-185 Le F r u i t Juge l ' a r b r e , 127, 195 Foreshortening of the n o u v e l l e , 25, 27, 45-46, 1 9 6 , 207 Gallegher, 9 German n o v e l l e , 7 La Geôle, 96 Le Geste du f i l e , 123-124, 153, 196-198, 223 Lee Gestes, 131, 180 G l l Blae, 4 Giraud, V i c t o r , 80, 89, 156 Gladye Harvey, 106-107, 1 3 9 , 140, 164, 212, 219 Le Globe, 60 Goethe, 5, 7, 2 8 , 37, 72 Concourt, 21 Goeee, Edmund, 87 Mon Grand Remords, 1 6 5 Grappe, Georges, 21 La Grande Bretèche, 30, 35, 36 Guy de Maupaseant, Premleree Oeuv r e s , 24 Hainevorth, 4 Hamilton, Clayton, 7 Mise H a r r i e t t , 18, 34 Henriot, M. £ . , 2 5 Les Heureui du Monde, 11 H i s t o i r e de Mme de l a Pommeraye, 5 Heyee, 7 H i s t o r y o f French L i t e r a t u r e , 23 History o f the German N o v e l l e , 7 H i s t o r y , use o f , 29-31 Homere, 6 Homme l i b r e , 14

Un Hcmne d ' a f f a i r é e , 88, 110,

138,

149, 173, 220-221 L'Honneur du ncm, 97, 130, 142, 146,

169, 174, 221 Le Horla, 3 6 , 40 The House of Mlrth, 11 Hugo, V i c t o r / 21 Un Humble, 152, 171, 187 Humble Exemple, 130-131, 141, 1 5 3 , 225 Une I d y l l e Tragique, 8 3 , 88 I l l u s i o n s perdues, 1 5 , 46 Inconnue, 74, 132, 164, 213 L ' I n d i c a t r i c e , 138, 155, 1 9 8 I n t é g r a t i o n , 215-216 L ' I n t e l l i g e n c e , 56 Intensenees of f o c a l episodes, 3538, 152-156 L ' I n u t i l e Beauté, 3 6 , 41 L ' I n u t i l e Science, 104-105, 140, 160, 209, 224-225 L ' I r r é p a r a b l e , 8, 6 2 , 63-64, 74, 7 6 , 100-102, 108, 124, 139, 1 5 3 154, 157, 167, 179-180, 2 1 3 , 2 1 8 219 Italian novella, 2 Jacques Le F a t a l i s t e , 5 Jacques Molan, 124, 1 6 5 Jaloux, Edmond, 9 6 , 97-98 James, Henry, 8, 10-12, 29, 39, 71, 85-87, 93, 107, 142, 151, 211 Jean-Louls-Coste, 145, 155, 1 6 3 , 219 Jealouey, 112-115 Jean Maquenem, 60, 113» 141, 153, 205, 214-215 J¿eus-Christ en Flandre, 39 Un Joueur, 124, 153, 157, 218, 224 Le Jour de l ' a n d'un i r o n i s t e , 1 3 8 , 153, 205-206 Le Jumeau, 1 6 3 Le J u s t i c i e r , 73, 96, 127, 138, 141, 152, 154-155,. 159-160, 170, 174, 177-179, 203, 221, 224-225, 230

INDEX Kipling, 13

253

Maurice Olivier, 108, 154, 222 Maurras, Charles, 91 Une Laborantlne, 50, 97, 109, 141, La Meilleure Part, 133, 153 195-196, 211, 222 Memolres et aventures d'un hcome Laclos, 5 de qualité, 5 Larcher, Claude, 164 La Menace, 153, 182, 183, 205-206, Larousse du XXe Slecle, 22 217 Laurence Albanl, 96 Un Ménage de garçon, 86 Lazarlne, 96 Le Mensonge du père, 131, 153, 155» 180 Le Play, Frédéric, 90, 91 Le Maître, 1 Mensonges, 79 Lemerre, 85 La Mere,~"l05 Lettre autob1ograp h1que, 51, 53, La Mère Sauvage, 31 61 Merlmee, Prosper, 1, 2, h, 17, Lob Liaisons dangereuse s, 79 18, 21, 24, 25, 30, 33, 36, 38, Llgela, 9 40, 44-49, 59, 116, 172, 211, 228 Le Lit, 29, 31 La Messe de l'athée, 31 Llttre, 22 Mlcrcmegas, 5 Mille et une Hults, 41 Le Louveteau, 123, 141 Bob Mllner, 163 Love, passions of, 101 Molière, £9, 94 Lucie, 116-117, 158, 213, 217 Le Luxe des autres, 106, 138, 149, Le Monde canne 11 va, 5, 139 169, 174-177, 203, 208, 220,224 Monique, 92, 135, 174, 212 Monsieur Legrlmaudet, 81, 135-136, Madame Bovary, 27, 54 153, 192 Madame Bressulre, 100, 104, 164, Les Moreau-Janvllle, 119, 138, 139, 180, 191 155, 173 Mademoiselle Flfl, 34, 36 Morella, 9 La Main de Bronze, 59, 112, 154, La Morte, 79 216 Mundt, 7 Ma Maison de Salnt-Cloud, 141, Musset, Alfred de, 17, 54, 65 Le Mythomane, 119, 155, 210-211 155, 163 La Maison Telller, 34 de Navarre, Marguerite, 2 La Maison Usher, 9 Le Hègre, 137, 203-204, 215 de Maistre, Xavier, 4 WAnésls, 96 Manon Lescaut, 5 Mantegna, 229 Weptunevale, 135, 154, 167, 180 • Marcel, 67, 117, 164 Le Neveu, 5 Marmontel, 6 Le Heveu de Rameau, 4 Martln-Chauffier, 97 Nlcard, 53 Ler Maaque, 36 La Nichée de gentllshonmes, 14 Mateo Falcone, 17, 36, 40 Nitze, Prof., 23 Maupassant, 1, 2, 12, 14, 18, 19, Nodier, 4 21, 2k, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 36- Les Nouveaux Pastels, 80, 82 40, 41, 45, 47-49, 68, 169, 207, Nouvelle, ccmpared to the novel, 211, 228 26-28

254

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

La nouvelle Heloïse, !» Nouvelle Revue, 61 Nouvelles Pages de c r i t i q u e et de doctrine, 16 Novelaa exemplarea, 3 Une Nuit de Noël sous l a Terreur,

Poste Restante, 141, 163, 195, 211, 224 Le Prêtre marié, 47 La Princesse de Babylone, 5 La Princesse de Cleves, 1 Les Prisonniers, 31 Professions, e f f e c t on characters,

Odile, 121, 141», 208-209 , 215 Oeuvres Complètes, 89 L'Organisation du t r a v a i l , 90 L'Outragé, 99, LiU-11^, 204, 209 Outre-Mer, 84

P r o f i l s perdus, 61, 6 2 , 134, 153,

143, 154, 165, 198, 208, 216

La Paix, 60 Paradoxe sur l e comédien, 164 Le Parlement, 8, 60, 6 l La Parole donnee, 155 La P a r t i e de t r i c t r a c , 30 Les Pas dans l e s pas, 72 Le Passé, 163 P a s t e l s , 80, 82, 86, 88 The Pathflnder, 38 Patten, William, 93 La Peau de Chagrin, 15, 57 P e l l l s s l e r , Georges, 51 Pendant l a B a t a i l l e , 55, 144, 1 6 5 Père Goriot, 11, 14 Le Pere Theurlot, 55, 159, 144145, 163, 213 Des Perlera,Bonaventure, 2 La P e t i t e Roque, 36 De p e t i t s f a i t s v r a i s , 162 Pétronlus, 31 La Physiologie de l'amour moderne, 79 La P l a , 84, 134, 180, 215 Le Piège, 133, 138, 217 P i e r r e et Jean, 29 Poe, Edgar Allan, 8, 39, 166 Point of vlew ln the nouvelle, 4748, 187-195 Pomalrols, Charles de, 86 Le P o r t r a i t , 137, 211 Le P o r t r a i t du doge, 114, 1 3 3 , 154,

161-162

136-138 186

Proust, Marcel, 98 pruihcrame, S u l l y , 65 P s l c h a r l , 41 Quelques Témoignages, 16 Racine, 173 La Rançon, 111, 1 9 8 , 205, 207-208 La Rechute, 97, 126, 141, 146, 173,

221

R é c i t s d'un chasseur, 13, 42 Recommencements, 86, 131 Reconnaissance, 125, 158 La Refonte sociale en France, 90 Régnier, 19 Relatlonshlp to drama, 173-174 R e l i g i o n , 125-28 Remorse, 124-25 La Renaissance, 24, 25, 26, 59 Renan, 54, 55^ 75, 148 René, 38 Le R é q u i s i t i o n n a i s , 30, 35 Une Ressemblance, 102-03, 115, 132, 148, 163 Résurrection, 122, 153, 184-185, 198, 200, 223 Le Retour, 60 Un R é v e i l l o n , 57 Revirement, 113, 1 6 3 , 195 Revue des Deux Mondes, 60, 75 Le Rideau Cramoisi, 37 Robespierre, 35 Robin, 94 Le Rcman comique, 3 La Roulotte, 140 Rousseau, 5

255

INREX Salda, 113 Un Saint, 51, 64, 73, 81, 124, 128, 148, 180-181, 214, 225, 226 Sainte-Beuve, 17, 95 de la Salle, Antoine, 2 Satyrlcon, 31 Sauvetage, 110-11, 168, 172, 174, 199, 216, 219, 221 Scarron, Paul, 3, 6 Schlegel, 7 Scott, Walter, 41, 48 Le Scrupule, 67, 71, 82, 106-107, l64, 202-203, 213 La Seconde Mort de BrogglMezzaatrle, 223 Secrets de femmes, 187 Secum sola, 50, 60, 134, 186 Segrals, 3 La Seflorlta Rosario, 153 Le Sens de la mort, 96 Sensations d'Italie, 84 Sentiments précoces, 118, 140, 164, 190 Shakespeare, 94 Short-Story Masterpleces, 24 Significance In the nouvelle, 29-34, 143 Le Silence de l'ami, 77, 99, 114-115, 163 Simone. 121, 153, 194 Sketch Book, 60 Smith, Prof. Horatlo, 6, 23 Les Soeurs Rondoll, 41 Soirées de Médan, 18 Sorel, 3 Sous les palmiers d'Hyères, 166,

186

Spanieh novela, 3 Splelhagen, 1, 7 Spinoza, 59 Splendeurs et Mls'breB des courtisanes, 40 Stendhal, 14-17, 21, 54, 65, 97, 107, 151 Sut Jeet matter and characters of Bourget's nouvelles, 99-142 Suggestivi« power In the nouvelle,

31-34

Le Sursis, 138, 164, 212 Taillandier, Saint-René, 53, 79 Taine, 14, 46, 52, 54-57, 60, 65, 90, 91, 93, 95, 148 Le Talisman, 118, 138, 159, 200201, 211-212 Tamango, 36 Le Tapln, 97, 119-120, 138, l6l Tasse, 6 Télépathie, 156, 164 Tentation, 61, 153 La Terre Promise, 83, 120 Le Testament, 96, 111 Thihaudet, Albert, 96, 105 Tieck, 7 Tolstoï, 18 Trahard, Pierre, 4, 17, 24, 25 Le Tribun, 95 Trois âtoes d'artistes, 83 Les Trois Mousquetaires, 38 Trois Souvenirs, 60, 164, 186 Turgenev, Ivan, 2, 12-14, 18, 21, 34, 42, 41, 45-47, 49, 86, 136, 151, 228 Valentln, 15 Le Vase étrusque, 36 La Vendetta, 30 La Vengeance de la vie, 97, 112,

128, 166

La Vengeance d'une femme, 37, 155» 211 Le Venin, 113, 163, 217 La Venus d'ille, 40 El Verdugo, 30, 35 Vernantes, François, 72, 100, 164165, 190 La Vie inquiète, 6l La Vie passe, 127, 140, 211, 215 Vigny, 1 Vlrgil, 6 Voltaire, 5 Volupté, 38 Le Voyage du Centurion, 41 Les Voyageuses, 68, 86-88, 134 Le Vrai Père, 108-109, 154, 198, 200, 204, 219, 225-226.

256

PAUL BOURGET AND THE NOUVELLE

Wharton, Edith, 8 - 1 1 , 23, 71 Wilson, William, 9 Writing of F i c t i o n , 11, 23

Zola, 60, 85

Vita Walter Todd Secor was born in New Hampton, Iowa on February 1J, 1910. His elementary and secondary school education took place In the public schools of Savanna, Illinois. He graduated with a n A. B. In 1951 from Grlnnell College, Grlnnell, Iowa, where he was elected to membership In Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M. A. from Columbia University in 1952 and his Ph.D. from the same Institution in 1946. While at Columbia, he studied as a Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellow. He holds a "Diplôme d'Etudes Françaises1' from the Institut de Tours, Tours, France, granted with special mention In 193^- In addition to thé above Institutions, he has also studied at the University of Wisconsin and the Mlddlebury French School. He has taught at the Ironwood Junior College, Ironwood, Michigan, Grin-* nel College, Grlnnell, Iowa and at the present time holds the position of Associate Professor of Modern Languages, Denlson University, Granville, Ohio.