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Quinet an Early Discoverer of Emerson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Maurice Chazin
Maurice Chazin*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Extract

In the midst of the stormiest days of his career at the Collège de France, we find Edgar Quinet plunged in the Essays of Emerson. The striking example of a great French teacher and reformer taking refuge in the writings of the Concord philosopher, then practically unknown, during so violent and eventful an academic year as was 1844–45, is clearly shown in Quinet's lectures and commonplace book of that same period. Doubtless he found in the pages of the American essayist at this trying period both inspiration and solace. Little wonder, then, that he proclaimed enthusiastically to his auditors at the Collège de France that America had given birth to an original philosophy; and furthermore, that Emerson “was the most idealistic writer of our time.”

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , March 1933 , pp. 147 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1933

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References

1 We utilize for the first time, we believe, Quinet's manuscript notebook (which is to be found at the Department of MSS., Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris) in which he made excerpts from Emerson. Cf. Carnets d'Edgar Quinet, Notes et extraits sur divers sujets de philosophie et d'histoire, N.A.F. MSS. Nos. 20738–20744.—MS. 20742 (to which we shall refer henceforth as MsQ.) is a closely written notebook of 197 folio pages in which Quinet jotted down, in a hand often illegible, his impressions, drafts of poems or lectures, extracts, and other miscellaneous information. Beginning with folio 86, and going to folio 89 inclusive, are selections and translations from Emerson's Essays. Quinet continues the extracts on folio 176 (verso), and with a few interruptions (176 recto, 177 verso, 178 recto), goes to folio 185. On folio 86 at the head of his quotations is the following note: “Emmerson (sic) essays, by emmerson of Concord, Massachusetts. London, james Fraser, Regent Street, 1841.” For analysis of MsQ. see below footnote 26.

2 Oeuvres Complètes d'Edgar Quinet, tome iii, Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française, (Cours professés au Collège de France en 1845) (Paris: Pagnerre, 1857), vii+425 pp. in –8; see Leçon xi, Amérique et la Réformation, p. 195.

3 Cf. Ladislas Mickiewicz, La Trilogie du Collège de France—Mickiewicz, Michelet, Quinet (Paris: Bibliothèque Polonaise, 1924), 71 pp. in –8; p. 56; cf. also G. Monod, La Vie et la Pensée de Jules Michelet, 1798–1852 (Paris: Champion, 1925), 2 vol. in –4, v + 388 pp., 266 pp., see ii, 102.—For Mickiewicz's appreciation of Emerson, see below.

4 See L'Ultramontanisme, ve leçon.

5 See Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française, pp. 195–196.—Mickiewicz began a quotation from Emerson in a course at the Collège de France in 1843 in almost identical terms. Both he and Quinet were admirers of the American republic. Having discovered the idealism of Emerson, they were anxious to counteract the charges of American materialism circulated in the French press, in travellers' accounts, and in the French Chamber (apropos of the discussion of American debts). To cite but one accusation of American materialism, made in 1822 by none other than Chateaubriand: “Les Américains ne réuississent guère que dans la mécanique et dans les sciences parceque les sciences ont un côté matériel. … L'esprit mercantile commence à les envahir; l'intérêt devient chez eux le vice national—une aristocratie chrysogène est prête à paraître avec l'amour des distinctions … (Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe, introduction, notes par E. Biré, i, 423, 430–431.)

6 Quinet's words are: “Comparez les formules souvent alexandrines de la philosophie allemande à l'inspiration, à l'essor, à l'élan moral d'Emerson!” Ibid., p. 195.

7 See Quinet's letter of July 15, 1843, to a young disciple of his “très engoué de l'esprit germanique” in which Quinet says “Prenez pour la France la foi qui vous manque. … Figures-vous cet abîme de philosophie allemande éclairé par le soleil de … Montaigne. … Mais pour Dieu, ne reniez pas votre pays.”—Lettres à sa mère (Paris: Hachette), 3e edition, pp. 388–389.

8 The French philosopher's characterization of America is worthy of note: “America,” he says, “has the fire of Luther and the austerity of Calvin.” Emerson undoubtedly inspired this description of young America: “un empire se fait artisan, l'atelier est un nouvel univers, les instruments sont les fleuves; le Christ redevient charpentier.” (Ibid. p. 195). Even Columbus is seen through Emerson's personality, for Quinet uses some of the same terms in characterizing the great discoverer (MsQ. fol. 89) and the “pioneer in metaphysics.” (MsQ. fol. 183) Quinet says of Columbus: “Du haut de toutes les Eglises accumulées, il aperçoit des yeux de l'âme comme du haut d'une tour, le nouveau monde à travers l'abime. Unité, solidarité, indivisibilité morale de l'univers, ce sentiment respire dans la moindre de ses paroles.”—Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française, p. 180.

9 Ibid., p. 11.

10 Quinet had extracted and translated the sentence closing Emerson's essay on compensation: “We are the idolators of the old and so we walk ever with reverted eyes like those monsters who look backward,” and characterized this thought with expressions like: “Elan, inspiration, aspiration, extraordinaire.” See MsQ., fol. 185.

11 Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française, p. 13.—A well-turned phrase of this kind was effective in a book advocating with revolutionary fervor the abolition of many venerable institutions.

12 See MsQ. fol. 87.

13 See Essays p. 214, and MsQ. fol. 184 verso.

14 Le Christianisme et la Révolution française, p. 13.

15 Essays, p. 8.

16 Le Christianisme et la Révolution française, p. 14.

17 Ibid., p. 52.

17a Ibid., pp. 90–91; cf. Emerson's “Thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never left open … God enters by aprivate door into every individual, etc.”

18 Ibid., p. 26.

18a Ibid., pp. 261–262.

19 Quinet believed that material and intellectual progress went hand in hand; and saw no reason for distinguishing the guiding spirit of the useful and the fine arts.—See Unité Morale des peuples modernes, discours prononcé á Lyon le 10 avril 1839, Oeuvres complètes (Paris: Hachette), ii, 535–566.—He cites the example of North America as proof: “En effet” he writes, “les découvertes accomplies dans le monde material … sont sorties des mêmes instincts qui ont produit les découvertes dans le monde idéal. … Il y a au fond de toute industrie, de tout effort de l'homme, une pensée vers laquelle il tend sans cesse. Or ce rivage lointain et radieux c'est celui vers lequel tendent l'artiste, le poète, le philosophe, en sorte qu'ils se ressemblent tous par le but.” (Ibid., pp. 548–549). Compare this with the following passage from the essay Nature (1836) with which Quinet was apparently familiar: “The poet, the painter … seek each to concentrate this radiance of the world on one point, and each in his several work to satisfy the love of beauty which stimulates him to produce. …” (p. 24.)

20 Ibid., p. 261.

21 MsQ., fol. 177.

22 Over-Soul, p. 295. Centenary edition.

23 Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française, p. 263. The following is Quinet's summary of Emerson's essay on heroism, as found in his notebook: (MsQ. fol. 184) “L'héroisme—”Always do what you are afraid to do.“ Emerson's text is: ”It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person: [Reference to the advice given by his aunt, Miss Mary Moody Emerson]. ‘Always do what you are afraid to do.‘ “ (See Essays, Centenary edition, ii, 260.)

24 Ibid., p. 262.

25 Ibid., p. 267.

26 MsQ. (see above footnote 1) contains Quinet's extracts from Emerson. To determine the exact period during which Quinet made excerpts from the Essays has been a problem. Fortunately, the commonplace book contains some memoranda that are helpful. On folio 178 recto, we find mention of the dates on which Quinet borrowed and returned books to the Bibliothèque Mazarine. The following are the dates mentioned: December 19; May 21; and July 19. From these notations we may deduce that the later extracts beginning on folio 176 were written during the close of 1844 and the first half of 1845. The earlier excerpts (folios 86 ff.) were probably made in the spring of 1844 (cf. lecture of May 15, 1844). Immediately following the last quotations from Emerson (fol. 185) is a brief reference to the French newspaper Le Siècle dated May 3 ('45). Even more enlightening is the note on folio 186 which reads as follows: “fini mon cours, le 2 juillet! envoyé à l'imprimerie Ire page de la Ire leçon le 17 juillet 1845.” It would seem, therefore, that his last lecture of July, 1845, entitled L'Idéal et la démocratie followed close upon the completion of his last extracts from Emerson.

27 A table of the number of excerpts (without reference to their length) from each of the Essays reveals that Quinet preferred by far the Over-Soul; and, if this be a criterion, next in order of preference are: Spiritual Laws, History, and Circles. From Over-Soul 50 excerpts, and again on a later occasion 23; Spiritual Laws 25 and again 32; History 13 and again 18; Circles 2 and again 27; Self-Reliance 7 and again 5; Intellect 1 and again 12; Compensation 10; Friendship 8; Art 6; Heroism 4; Prudence 4; Love 3.

28 MsQ. fol. 88 verso. Emerson's words are: “The great poet makes us feel our own wealth and then we think less of his compositions.”

29 MsQ., fol. 89.

30 Ibid., fol. 183.—It will be recalled that this is similar to the statement made on page 195 of Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française.

31 This is an interesting idea. Quinet attributes Emerson's pantheism to the same source as he does the Grand Esprit of the American Indian (cf. Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française, p. 182), namely, the American natural scene.

32 Emerson says: “More and more the surges of everlasting nature enter into me, and I become public and human in my regards and actions.” In L'Esprit Nouveau, Quinet declares: “Plus vous pénétrez (le monde), plus vous le trouvez conforme et fidèle à lui-même.” (p. 314.)

33 See G. Monod, La Vie et la Pensée de Jules Michelet (Paris: Champion, 1925), 2 vols., in –4, ii, 104.

34 Cf. “Vico vit bien que l'humanité allait par cercles, mais il ne vit pas [as did Michelet] que les cercles allaient toujours s'élargissant.”—Emile Montégut, “Emerson, un penseur et poète américain,” Revue des Deux Mondes (le ler août 1847), p. 490.

35 Cf. Régis Michaud “Le Transcendantalisme d'après l'Histoire” in Modern Philology (December, 1918), p. 70 fn.

36 In 1830 Emerson had culled from de Cérando, Histoire comparée des systèmes de philosophie material to illustrate, as he puts it, “the terms which compose one of the most important laws of the intellectual world.—Emerson, Journals, 1824–1832, p. 333.

37 Quinet's text is as follows: “… ce que nous publions ici du haut du passé, bien souvent il (Emerson) le publie de même dans l'essor et la solitude d'une nature toute neuve.” Ibid., p. 195.

38 The close affinity of the doctrines of Quinet and Emerson is mentioned by Charles L. Chassin, the first biographer and disciple of Edgar Quinet, in his analysis of Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française. Chassin states that in more than one respect “the Christianity advocated by Quinet resembled the philosophical and unitarian Christianity of Emerson and Channing. It differed with it in that it did not tend toward the establishment of a new religion but rather to the immediate creation of a new order of things in the political and civil domain.” Chassin justifies his opinion by remarking that he was repeating merely what Quinet himself had said in Lettre sur la situation religieuse et morale de l'Europe, par Edgar Quinet à Eugène Sue (Bruxelles: Briard, le 5 décembre, 1856), 35 pp. in –18.—Cf. La Libre Recherche (Bruxelles, 1858), xii, in –4, pp. 84 ff. and pp. 242 ff.—Chassin wrote a series of articles on Quinet in this review, which were later collected in one volume and published at Paris by Pagnerre, 1859, 473 pp. in –12. It is curious to note that the article to which we refer here (La Libre Recherche, 1858, xii, in –4, pp. 84 ff. and pp. 242 ff.) was not included in this volume. In a footnote on p. 398, Chassin notes that the editor refused to reprint the article. No reason is given for the omission.

39 See H. M. Jones, America and French Culture (Chapel Hill, 1927), p. 463.

40 This parallel movement was not unknown to contemporaries. It is pointed out by Brownson in 1846 in an article on Quinet's The Roman Church and Modern Society, edited by E. E. Lester (New York, 1845).—After an exposition of the principles (which he deplores) of the “movement party” the reviewer declares that these principles are those of the groups variously known as Progressist (sic) St. Simonian, Fouriérist, Societary—in Europe and America. The Professor of the College of France preaches progress, reform, liberty, social regeneration and places God in humanity—these views are shared by “Young France,” “Young Germany,” “Young Italy,” and “Young America.” The same spirit, writes Brownson, is in France as in America. In referring to the “younglings” of America, the reviewer was aiming at the followers of the New England Transcendentalists.—See Brownson's Quarterly Review, iii (1846), 119, 122.

41 Lettre sur la situation religieuse et morale de l'Europe, par Edgar Quinet à Eugene Sue, pp. 18–19.

42 MsQ., fol. 89.

43 The affinity of the personalities, as well as ideas, of Quinet and Emerson is striking. Although too much stress cannot be given to superficial resemblances, we may see in the similarity of their backgrounds, training, and temperaments a partial explanation of Quinet's sympathetic reaction to his New England contemporary. Born in the same year, they received the same rigorous early education. In the autobiography of his youth, Quinet reveals the stern training given him by his mother and the high ideals which she inspired in him and which influenced the development of his character and intellect. A like rôle was played in Emerson's life by his aunt, Mary Moody Emerson. Both these women inculcated similar ideas into their young charges, ideas which in the sphere of religion derived from liberal protestantism. The personalities of Quinet and Emerson were essentially in harmony, as may be seen in their response to art (which was unfeeling), to friendship (which was warm) and nature (which was intense). Their poetry was colored by mysticism. Both were guided in similar directions, for Quinet took to moralizing and preaching reform from a professorial chair and Emerson did the same, first, from the pulpit and, later, from the lecturer's platform. Quinet epitomized his ideas in the phrase: “Liberté pour tous, expansion de toutes les énergies de l'âme et de l'esprit en dehors de l'Eglise despotique.”—See La Libre Recherche (Bruxelles, 1858), xii, 250.—This phrase, with slight modification, might serve as an epigraph to Emerson's work. Both were accused of having no well-integrated system of philosophy and of being unilateral in their thought. The style of Quinet like that of Emerson has often been criticized as being vague and obscure. Both felt isolated and took refuge in seclusion from the outside world. Cf. Quinet's maxim: “Surtout réserves une partie de toi-même, ne permets pas aux clameurs d'y pénétrer jamais”;—L'Esprit Nouveau (Hachette: Paris, 1874), p. 109. Quinet was referred to by Montégut as “Une âme sereine et haute.” This would characterize Emerson even better. It is not surprising, then, that in the 1840's, on both sides of the Atlantic, these two kindred spirits were passionately preaching a similar gospel of democracy and of a new era.

44 We have been unable to find any record of Michelet's readings from Emerson in the abundant collection of Michelet's manuscripts at the Musée Carnavelet.

45 Le Christianisme et la Révolution Française is dedicated to Michelet ‘his alter ego,‘ whose thoughts, writes Quinet, are in perfect accord with his own. Casimer Stryienski in analyzing Mickiewicz's mysticism, asserts that Mickiewicz combined harmoniously the beliefs of his colleagues at the Collège de France, the Fouriéristes, and Emerson. See Revue Blanche, (Nov., 1894), p. 386.

46 Margaret Fuller, writing to Emerson from Naples on March 15, 1847, remarks that “Mickiewicz, the Polish poet, first introduced the Essays to acquaintance in Paris.”—Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Philipps, Sang; Boston: 1852), ii, 207.

47 See lecture of January 31, 1843.

48 Adam Mickiewicz, Les Slaves, cours professés au Collège de France, en 1842–43, avec préface de M. F. Strowski et introduction de M. Ladislas Mickiewicz (Paris: Musée Adam Mickiewicz, 1914), xxxii–871 pp. in –8; cf. pp. 78–79.

49 Ibid., pp. 96–97.

50 Ibid., iiie leçon, le 9 janvier 1844, p. 246; for further references to Emerson, see pp. 121, 122, 233, 234, 240. Monod cites the following of Mickiewicz apropos of Emerson's essay on history: “C'est en nous-mêmes que nous devons lire l'histoire. L'histoire doit marcher incarnée dans chaque homme juste et sage.”—Cf. G. Monod, loc. cit.

51 In the Etudes sur la littérature et les mœurs des anglo-américains au XIX e (Amyot: Paris, 1851), I v.–515 pp. in –12, Chasles reprints this article with a few modifications. For instance, the sentence quoted above is slightly changed to read: “C'est l'esprit le plus original que les Etats-Unis aient produit jusqu'à ce jour” (p. 297). Chasles was more critical of Emerson, the literary artist, and less eulogistic of Emerson, the reformer and philosopher, than Quinet and Mickiewicz.

52 The firstarticle in France entirely devoted to Emerson was written in 1846 in the Revue Indépendante July 25, pp. 195–209, by Daniel Stern (Countess d'Agoult). She confessed that it was a lecture by Mickiewicz, which made her a disciple of Emerson. To her, Emerson was a superior being who had the courage and wisdom to say what he thought and to act in accordance with his beliefs. Cf. also Esquisses morales, pensées, réflexions et maximes, précedées d'une étude biographique et littéraire par L. de Ronchaud (Paris, 1880), 382 pp. in –12. The volume was in press in 1847 and first appeared in 1849.—The essays on Self-reliance and the Over-soul were the two from which she took material to illustrate her own Essai sur la liberté, considerée comme fin et principe de l'activité humaine (Paris, 184), IV–338 pp. in –8; cf. pp. 53, 61, 62, 85, 138, 139. L. de Ronchaud in his preface to Esquisses Morales points out the affinity between the author of Representative Men and Stern, whom he calls a representative woman. Stern's sympathetic but superficial appraisal of Emerson “ce génie original et libre” was based on one volume of his work for which she had to send to England. In May, 1848, Emerson, while in Paris on a short trip, thanked Daniel Stern personally for her article. A souvenir of this visit is a pencil portrait by Henry Lehmann, done at the request of Daniel Stern. Emerson wrote to his wife Lydia from London early in June, 1848, that, while in Paris, he “was to meet Quinet” but did not do so because his stay was too brief. Another contemporary felt as did Stern that Emerson's defense of nonconformism and self-reliance was a lesson to be impressed on the people of France. Emile Montégut in a long study in the Revue des Deux Mondes (le Ier août 1847) on Emerson, the thinker and poet, closes with the conviction that Emerson's philosophy was eminently appropriate then in Europe “comme protestation en faveur de l'individu.” (Ibid., p. 493.)