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montrer un Ă©tat d’ñme, ou, inversement, choisir un objet et en dĂ©gager un Ă©tat d’ñme, par une sĂšrie de dĂ©chiffrements.


 Si un ĂȘtre d’une intelligence moyenne, et d’une prĂ©paration littĂ©raire insuffisante, ouvre par hasard un livre ainsi fait et prĂ©tend en jouir, il y a malentendu, il faut remettre les choses Ă  leur place. Il doit y avoir toujours Ă©nigme en poĂšsie, et c’est le but de la littĂ©rature, il n’y en a pas d’autre⁠—d’évoquer les objets.

—⁠“EnquĂȘte sur l’évolution littĂ©raire,” Jules Huret, pp. 60, 61.69

Thus is obscurity elevated into a dogma among the new poets. As the French critic Doumic (who has not yet accepted the dogma) quite correctly says:⁠—

“Il serait temps aussi d’en finir avec cette fameuse ‘thĂ©orie de l’obscurité’ que la nouvelle Ă©cole a Ă©levĂ©e, en effet, Ă  la hauteur d’un dogme.”

—⁠Les Jeunes, par RenĂ© Doumic.70

But it is not French writers only who think thus. The poets of all other countries think and act in the same way: German, and Scandinavian, and Italian, and Russian, and English. So also do the artists of the new period in all branches of art: in painting, in sculpture, and in music. Relying on Nietzsche and Wagner, the artists of the new age conclude that it is unnecessary for them to be intelligible to the vulgar crowd; it is enough for them to evoke poetic emotion in “the finest nurtured,” to borrow a phrase from an English aesthetician.

In order that what I am saying may not seem to be mere assertion, I will quote at least a few examples from the French poets who have led this movement. The name of these poets is legion. I have taken French writers, because they, more decidedly than any others, indicate the new direction of art, and are imitated by most European writers.

Besides those whose names are already considered famous, such as Baudelaire and Verlaine, here are the names of a few of them: Jean MorĂ©as, Charles Morice, Henri de RĂ©gnier, Charles Vignier, Adrien Remacle, RenĂ© Ghil, Maurice Maeterlinck, G. Albert Aurier, RĂ©my de Gourmont, Saint-Pol-Roux-le-Magnifique, Georges Rodenbach, le comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac. These are Symbolists and Decadents. Next we have the “Magi”: JosĂ©phin PĂ©ladan, Paul Adam, Jules Bois, M. Papus, and others.

Besides these, there are yet one hundred and forty-one others, whom Doumic mentions in the book referred to above.

Here are some examples from the work of those of them who are considered to be the best, beginning with that most celebrated man, acknowledged to be a great artist worthy of a monument⁠—Baudelaire. This is a poem from his celebrated Fleurs du Mal:⁠—

No. XXIV

Je t’adore Ă  l’égal de la voĂ»te nocturne,
O vase de tristesse, ĂŽ grande taciturne,
Et t’aime d’autant plus, belle, que tu me fuis,
Et que tu me parais, ornement de mes nuits,
Plus ironiquement accumuler les lieues
Qui séparent mes bras des immensités bleues.

Je m’avance à l’attaque, et je grimpe aux assauts,
Comme aprùs un cadavre un chƓur de vermisseaux,
Et je chĂ©ris, ĂŽ bĂȘte implacable et cruelle,
Jusqu’à cette froideur par oĂč tu m’es plus belle!71

And this is another by the same writer:⁠—

No. XXXVI

Duellum

Deux guerriers ont couru l’un sur l’autre; leurs armes
Ont Ă©claboussĂ© l’air de lueurs et de sang.
Ces jeux, ces cliquetis du fer sont les vacarmes
D’une jeunesse en proie à l’amour vagissant.

Les glaives sont brisés! comme notre jeunesse,
Ma chÚre! Mais les dents, les ongles acérés,
Vengent bientĂŽt l’épĂ©e et la dague traĂźtresse.
O fureur des cƓurs mĂ»rs par l’amour ulcĂ©rĂ©s!

Dans le ravin hanté des chats-pards et des onces
Nos hĂ©ros, s’étreignant mĂ©chamment, ont roulĂ©,
Et leur peau fleurira l’ariditĂ© des ronces.

Ce gouffre, c’est l’enfer, de nos amis peuplĂ©!
Roulons-y sans remords, amazone inhumaine,
Afin d’éterniser l’ardeur de notre haine!72

To be exact, I should mention that the collection contains verses less comprehensible than these, but not one poem which is plain and can be understood without a certain effort⁠—an effort seldom rewarded, for the feelings which the poet transmits are evil and very low ones. And these feelings are always, and purposely, expressed by him with eccentricity and lack of clearness. This premeditated obscurity is especially noticeable in his prose, where the author could, if he liked, speak plainly.

Take, for instance, the first piece from his Petits Poùmes:⁠—

L’étranger

Qui aimes-tu le mieux, homme Ă©nigmatique, dis? ton pĂšre, ta mĂšre, ta sƓur, ou ton frĂšre?

Je n’ai ni pùre, ni mùre, ni sƓur, ni frùre.

Tes amis?

Vous vous servez lĂ  d’une parole dont le sens m’est restĂ© jusqu’ Ă  ce jour inconnu.

Ta patrie?

J’ignore sous quelle latitude elle est situĂ©e.

La beauté?

Je l’aimerais volontiers, dĂ©esse et immortelle.

L’or?

Je le hais comme vous haĂŻssez Dieu.

Et qu ’aimes-tu donc, extraordinaire Ă©tranger?

J’aime les nuages⁠ ⁠
 les nuages qui passent⁠ ⁠
 là bas,⁠ ⁠
 les merveilleux nuages!

The piece called “La Soupe et les Nuages” is probably intended to express the unintelligibility of the poet even to her whom he loves. This is the piece in question:⁠—

Ma petite folle bien-aimĂ©e me donnait Ă  dĂźner, et par la fenĂȘtre ouverte de la salle Ă  manger je contemplais les mouvantes architectures que Dieu fait avec les vapeurs, les merveilleuses constructions de l’impalpable. Et je me disais, Ă  travers ma contemplation: “Toutes ces fantasmagories sont presque aussi belles que les yeux de ma belle bien-aimĂ©e, la petite folle monstrueuse aux yeux verts.”

Et tout Ă  coup je reçus un violent coup de poing dans le dos, et j’entendis une voix rauque et charmante, une voix hystĂ©rique et comme enrouĂ©e par l’eau-de-vie, la voix de ma chĂšre petite bien-aimĂ©e, qui me disait, “Allez-vous bientĂŽt manger votre soupe, s⁠ ⁠
 b⁠ ⁠
 de marchand de nuages?”73

However artificial these two pieces may be, it is still possible, with some effort, to guess at what the author meant them to express, but some of the pieces are absolutely incomprehensible⁠—at least to me. Le Galant Tireur is a piece I was quite unable to understand.

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