The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Mandarins' by Sally J. Scholz, Shannon M. Mussett

Abstract

MLR, I 01.4, 2oo6 I I43 Bourg-en-Bresse. Nott's genetic analysis of Vailland's notes, drafts, and manuscripts produces interesting and, occasionally, crucial observations concerning the author's thought-processes and how they impinged on the composition of the novels. We are thereby given insights into the way inwhich Vailland modified his characters Eugene-Marie Favart (the lonely young man of the title), Madru (his ideological model hero), and Inspector Marchand of the Vichy police in Un jeune homme seul and Bernard Busard (eager to earn a fortune in six months of factory work), Marie Jeanne (his fiancee), and leBressan (his enigmatic sidekick) in 325 ooo francs. Despite Vailland's commitment to the French Communist Party, he was not an or thodox Communist. His novels avoid what Nott calls the 'straight-jacket of socialist realism' (p. 20). Nott argues, furthermore, that 'theweight of personal, psychological and mythological factors bearing, consciously and unconsciously, on the characters and actions of these novels [. . .]puts them at a distance from the tenets of socialist realism' (p. 22). In the section devoted to 325 ooo francs, Nott shows how this novel grew out of a project for a series of articles that were prompted by a suggestion from Vailland's friend, the trade union leader Henri Bourbon, who felt that they would contribute usefully to a campaign in the local Communist press against 'an unac ceptably high incidence of mutilating accidents in the plastics industry inOyonnax' (P. 52). Vailland and his wife had moved to the region of Bourg-en-Bresse near Oyon nax in I954. This project was combined with Vailland's coverage as sports reporter for L'Avant-garde of the principal East European cycle race, the Course de laPaix, a few weeks before his visit toOyonnax. In terms of the novel's narrative structure, Nott demonstrates the complex 'inter play of cyclical and linear trajectories, both leading nowhere' (p. 7 1) in 325 00o francs, as opposed to the basically linear and parallel structure of the two parts of Un jeune homme seul, the second part of which relies significantly on a 'flashback' technique. It is, however, a pity that the guide contains no formal section on the structure of the latter novel. Despite the broad chronological span (I923-43) and intriguing characters (Eugenie Favart, Inspector Marchand, and others), togetherwith the 'acute awareness of the in terplay between socio-economic pressures and individual psychological motivations' (p. 8i) in Un jeune homme seul, Nott's study produces clear evidence that 325 000 francs is probably the richest, most challenging, and most complex of Vailland's no vels. The possible readings and interpretations of many aspects are almost infinite in number, as Vailland himself hinted in a comment in his Ecrits intimes (Paris: Galli mard, I968), P. 7I2, written in I963. David Nott's guide will be invaluable to readers of Vailland generally and, in particular, to students of literature who are seeking to discover more about the intentions and motivations of the novelist in his composition of the two novels. QUEEN'SUNIVERSITYBELFAST PETERTAME The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Mandarins'. Ed. by SALLY J. SCHOLZ and SHANNON M. MUSSETT. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2005. 244 pp. $8i.50 (pbk $25.95). ISBN o 79 I4-65 59-4 (pbk 0-7914-6560-8). This volume of collected essays devoted uniquely to the Goncourt prizewinner, Les Mandarins, fills a lacuna in Beauvoir scholarship. Scholz andMussett bring together essays that focus on political, philosophical, and ethical issues raised in and by the text. The introduction offers an overview of the novel followed by information, drawn from the autobiographical writings, on the genesis of the work, and reviews of it I I44 Reviews upon publication. Reference ismade, where appropriate, to Beauvoir's earlier essays and fiction, and existentialist concepts inform many of the analyses. The latter en compass: conflicting political ideologies (William L. McBride); changing notions of solidarity (Sally J. Scholz); the importance of 'situation' to discussions of the indi vidual's decision-making processes (Sonia Kruks); the implications of truth-telling, in particular the ethico-political responsibility of the committed intellectual (Ursula Tidd...