Paul Claudel 18: Claudel poète? de ‘La Cantate à trois voix’ (1912) à ‘Poésies diverses’ (1952) ed. by Didier Alexandre (review)

Abstract

1058 Reviews Paul Claudel 18: Claudel poete? de 'La Cantate a troisvoix' (igi2) d 'Poesies diverses' (ig52). Ed. by Didier Alexandre. Paris and Caen: Lettres Modernes Minard. 2003. 164 pp. ?18. ISBN 2-256-91053-9. The aim ofthis publication is to explore and celebrate the body of lesser-known poetry that appears in the 1952 edition of Claudel's (Euvres completes,ed. by Louis-Raymond Lefevre and Robert Mallet (Paris: Gallimard). The editor's engaging defence ofthe poet's use of the epic form as a successful means of conglomerating the paradoxical elements ofthe earthly and the factual, the celestial and the eternal, sets the standard for an analysis of the exhilarating diversity of form and style that characterizes this part of Claudel's poetic output. Didier Alexandre argues that the diversity of the poems brought together and the journeys travelled by the poetic subjects requires a reading that is both expansive and assimilative and that this, in turn, captures the principle of inclusiveness at the heart of Claudel's artistic and spiritual vision. Much later in the study, Pascal Alexandre-Bergues's detailed analysis of sections of Corona benignitatis anni Dei provides a fascinating insight into the nature of this creative reading. He identifies what he terms 'ce mouvement de reactualisation' (p. 97) that comes into play when Claudel transfuses an apparently chronological poetic narrative with biblical references that reactivate a spiritual past, thereby transforming his indi? vidual voice into a voice representative ofhumanity at large. Both these articles convey the book's general sense of admiration forthe challenging expansiveness of Claudel's artistic methodology, but there are times when the reader detects a disconcerting sense of unease in relation to the audacity characterized by Jacques Houriez as 'les familiarites de Claudel avec le divin' (p. 55). Dominique Millet-Gerard's article, however, is certainly free from this over-cautiousness, presenting an uplifting and particularly informative account of the relationship between Claudel's poetical methodology and his spiritual vision. Millet-Gerard makes particular reference to the way in which Claudel's hymns are steeped in the liturgical poetry of his spiritual forefathers,the Mass itself,and the pattern of sacraments that structure the Catholic calendar. Another tendency common to many different contributions to this study is the expansion of the discussion beyond the confines of the body of poetic work under scrutiny towards an analysis of the relationship between Claudel's poetic and theatri? cal works as a whole. Pierre Brunel comments on the subtextual drama of La Cantate a trois voix, Millet-Gerard points to the theatrical nature of liturgical celebration in general, and Michel Autrand suggests that the use of short strophes of short verse in Claudel's drama signals the passage from the earthly to the spiritual. I suspect that a more consistent investigation of this inspiring line of enquiry might have led to a more conclusive answer to the fundamental question posed by the study: Claudel, poete? University of Wales, Aberystwyth Anwen Jones Malraux: (La Condition humaine'. By Christopher Shorley. (Critical Guides to French Texts, 129) London: Grant & Cutler. 2003. 89 pp. ?7.95. ISBN 07293 -0438-8. Grant & Cutler's series of Critical Guides is now apparently coming to its end. Like all such, they have at times been uneven, but have brought out much work, especially by younger scholars, which might not otherwise have seen publication. Christopher Shorley's competent and relatively jargon-free study of one ofthe bestknown twentieth-century European novels will be welcomed. The ideal critics of a shortish monograph such as this would be intelligent final-year undergraduates who already know La Condition humaine and are not simply hoping to avoid reading the novel by mugging up a bluffer's guide. They would hope to find indications of the ...