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the origins of contemporary france-1-第77章

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bullies; the politicians or the heroines of the Fronde; or the

courtiers; princes and bishops; the ladies and gentlemen in waiting of

the regular monarchy; it is because they have inadvertently dipped

their brush in their own experience; some of its color having fallen

accidentally on the bare ideal outline which they wished to trace。  We

have simply a contour; a general sketch; filled up with the harmonious

gray tone of correct diction。  … Even in comedy; necessarily employing

current habits; even with Molière; so frank and so bold; the model is

unfinished; all individual peculiarities being suppressed; the face

becoming for a moment a theatrical mask; and the personage; especially

when talking in verse; sometimes losing its animation in becoming the

mouth…piece for a monologue or a dissertation。'31'  The stamp of rank;

condition or fortune; whether gentleman or bourgeois; provincial or

Parisian; is frequently overlooked。'32'  We are rarely made to

appreciate physical externals; as in Shakespeare; the temperament; the

state of the nervous system; the bluff or drawling tone; the impulsive

or restrained action; the emaciation or obesity of a character。'33'

Frequently no trouble is taken to find a suitable name; this being

either Chrysale; Orgon; Damis; Dorante; or Valère。  The name designates

only a simple quality; that of a father; a youth; a valet; a grumbler;

a gallant; and; like an ordinary cloak; fitting indifferently all

forms alike; as it passes from the wardrobe of Molière to that of

Regnard; Destouche; Lesage or Marivaux。'34'  The character lacks the

personal badge; the unique; authentic appellation serving as the

primary stamp of an individual。  All these details and circumstances;

all these aids and accompaniments of a man; remain outside of the

classic theory。  To secure the admission of some of them required the

genius of Molière; the fullness of his conception; the wealth of his

observation; the extreme freedom of his pen。  It is equally true again

that he often omits them; and that; in other cases; he introduces only

a small number of them; because he avoids giving to these general

characters a richness and complexity that might interfere with the

story。  The simpler the theme the clearer its development; the first

duty of the author throughout this literature being to clearly develop

the restricted theme of which he makes a selection。



There is; accordingly; a radical defect in the classic spirit; the

defect of its qualities; and which; at first kept within proper

bounds; contributes towards the production of its purest master…

pieces; but which; in accordance with the universal law; goes on

increasing and turns into a vice through the natural effect of age;

use; and success。  Contracted at the start; it is to become yet more

so。  In the eighteenth century the description of real life; of a

specific person; just as he is in nature and in history; that is to

say; an undefined unit; a rich plexus; a complete organism of

peculiarities and traits; superposed; entangled and co…ordinated; is

improper。  The capacity to receive and contain all these is wanting。

Whatever can be discarded is cast aside; and to such an extent that

nothing is left at last but a condensed extract; an evaporated

residuum; an almost empty name; in short; what is called a hollow

abstraction。  The only characters in the eighteenth century exhibiting

any life are the off…hand sketches; made in passing and as if

contraband; by Voltaire; Baron de Thundertentronk and Milord Watthen;

the lesser figures in his stories; and five or six portraits of

secondary rank; Turcaret; Gil Blas; Marianne; Manon Lescaut; Rameau;

and Figaro; two or three of the rough sketches of Crébillon the

younger and of Collé; all so many works in which sap flows through a

familiar knowledge of things; comparable with those of the minor

masters in painting; Watteau; Fragonard; Saint…Aubin; Moreau; Lancret;

Pater; and Beaudouin; and which; accepted with difficulty; or as a

surprise; by the official drawing room are still to subsist after the

grander and soberer canvases shall have  become moldy through their

wearisome exhalations。  Everywhere else the sap dries up; and; instead

of blooming plants; we encounter only flowers of painted paper。  What

are all the serious poems; from the 〃la Henriade〃 of Voltaire to the

〃Mois〃 by Roucher or the 〃l'Imagination〃 by Delille; but so many

pieces of rhetoric garnished with rhymes? Examine the innumerable

tragedies and comedies of which Grimm and Collé gives us mortuary

extracts; even the meritorious works of Voltaire and Crébillon; and

later; those of authors of repute; Du Belloy; Laharpe; Ducis; and

Marie Chénier? Eloquence; art; situations; correct verse; all exist in

these except human nature; the personages are simply well…taught

puppets; and generally mere mouthpieces by which the author makes his

declamation public; Greeks; Romans; Medieval knights; Turks; Arabs;

Peruvians; Giaours; or Byzantines; they have all the same declamatory

mechanisms。  The public; meanwhile; betrays no surprise。  It is not

aware of history。  It assumes that humanity is everywhere the same。  It

establishes the success alike of the 〃Incas〃 by Marmontel; and of

〃Gonsalve〃 and the 〃Nouvelles〃 by Florian; also of the peasants;

mechanics; Negroes; Brazilians; Parsees; and Malabarites that appear

before it churning out their exaggerations。  Man is simply regarded as

a reasoning being; alike in all ages and alike in all places;

Bernardin de Saint…Pierre endows his pariah with this habit; like

Diderot; in his Tahitians。  The one recognized principle is that every

human being must think and talk like a book。  … And how inadequate

their historical background! With the exception of 〃Charles XII。;〃 a

contemporary on whom Voltaire; thanks to eye eye…witnesses; bestows

fresh life; also his spirited sketches of Englishmen; Frenchmen;

Spaniards; Italians and Germans; scattered through his stories; where

are real persons to be found? With Hume; Gibbon and Robertson;

belonging to the French school; and who are at once adopted in France;

in the researches into our middle ages of Dubos and of Mably; in the

〃Louis XI〃 of Duclos; in the 〃Anarcharsis〃 of Barthélemy; even in the

〃Essai sur les Moeurs;〃 and in the 〃Siecle de Louis XIV〃 of Voltaire;

even in the 〃Grandeur des Romains;〃 and the 〃Esprit des Lois〃 of

Montesquieu; what peculiar deficiency! Erudition; criticism; common

sense; an almost exact exposition of dogmas and of institutions;

philosophic views of the relationships between events and on the

general run of these; nothing is lacking but the people! On reading

these it seems as if the climates; institutions and civilizations

which so completely modifies the human intellect; are simply so many

outworks; so many fortuitous exteriors; which; far from reflecting its

depths scarcely penetrate beneath its surface。  The vast differences

separating the men of two centur
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