Jules Laforgue and the Illusion of Spontaneity

Abstract

This article asks whether Jules Laforgue's poetic practice constitutes an attempt to create the illusion of spontaneity. His aesthetic theories are extrapolated from the philosophy of Eduard von Hartmann, who holds that genius is inspired by the Unconscious; this is not the psychoanalytic unconscious, but the metaphysical principle that governs all existence, including human activity. Laforgue seems to endorse the Hartmannian notion of creativity guided by the Unconscious, both in his writings on aesthetics and in his apparently spontaneous poetry. 'Complainte du Sage de Paris', which can be read as an aesthetic manifesto, also seems to advocate this approach. However, Anne Holmes has demonstrated that Laforgue's method of composition was in fact based on a process of drafting and redrafting. This would seem to imply an irreconcilable tension between theory and practice, but this article argues that resolution is possible by distinguishing between the notions of spontaneity and improvisation.