ANALELE

UNIVERSITII

BUCURETI

LIMBI I LITERATURI STRINE

2013 Nr. 2

SUMAR SOMMAIRE CONTENTS

LITERATUR I STUDII CULTURALE / LITTRATURE ET TUDES CULTURELLES /

LITERATURE AND CULTURAL STUDIES

IOANA COSTA, The Hermit and His World ...................................................................... 3 DIANA YUKSEL, Toegye as a Teacher: From Sage Learning to Sagehood ...................... 11 ROXANA UTALE, Itinerari critici danteschi: Francesco de Sanctis .................................. 23 MARIA SRBU, Rgime diurne et rgime nocturne de limage dans loeuvre

dAlain-Fournier ...................................................................................................... 33 ANCA PEIU, A Rose for Edith: An Oasis of Poetry in the Citadel of Old New

York Prose ............................................................................................... 45 IRINA DUBSK, The Gates of the Invisible. Moby Dick as the Hieroglyph of

the Absolute ............................................................................................. 55 ANCA-LUISA VIUSENCO, Sylvia Plath and Zelda Fitzgerald or Madness and

Creativity Intertwined .................................................................................... 65 IRINA-ANA DROBOT, Modernist and Postmodernist Representations of the World in

Virginia Woolfs Mrs Dalloway and in Graham Swifts The Light of Day ............. 75 HANIBAL STNCIULESCU, Strategie de riscrittura nella narrativa italiana postmoderna ...... 89

2

MIHAI IACOB, La Indistincin ontolgica del discurso ertico: Coos de Juan Manuel de Prada ................................................................................................................... 101

LAURA SITARU, On Cultural and Political Constants in the Context of Contemporary Developments in the Arab World ............................................................................ 115

DELIA GRIGORE, School Education and Rroma Ethnic Self-Esteem .............................. 127

*

Recenzii Comptes rendus Reviews .................................................................................. 147 Contributors ........................................................................................................................ 161

THE HERMIT AND HIS WORLD

IOANA COSTA

Abstract

Hieronymus opusculae Vita Beati Pauli, monachi Thebaei, [Vita Malchi] De monacho captiuo and Vita Hilarionis are parts of a triptych meant to explain his ascetic ideal; its defining traits are chastity, temperance, generosity, acceptance of models and advices that are of true Christian spirit. The three Vitae are distinct, though in perfect harmony. Hieronymus himself is part of the three stories, either as narrative link (he once heard a story, while being a young man, and tells it now, by the end of his life), or as an explicit comment regarding his present work and the way his previous work was read. His moral annotations are remarkably discreet.

Keywords: Hieronymus, hermits, ascetic life, desert, solitude, trials.

The ascetic ideal of Hieronymus is pictured in three opusculae: Vita Beati Pauli, monachi Thebaei; [Vita Malchi] De monacho captiuo; Vita Hilarionis. In his biography, these opusculae equal stages of his inside becoming, succeeding in an explicit order: dwelling in the desert, in 376, he wrote Vita Pauli, basis of monachal life. During the exile years, beginning with 385, he settled in Bethlehem, being followed by Paula, one of the aristocratic women that represented the Aventine Circle; in Bethlehem, he wrote Vita Malchi, in 388, mirror of the life inside the community. Some years later, he accomplished, with Vita Hilarionis, what was to be a well articulated trilogy, with perfect tension. This triple work set the fundaments of Latin hagiographic literature, designing the paths for the future authors: the eulogy of virginity and the commendation to embrace it (laudatio, exhortatio), models and examples (exempla), advices (praecepta, disciplina).

The pieces of this triptych are well individualised, though preserving a common tone, beyond the story of each protagonist: they are in perfect harmony, both with each other and with their author. The components belong to biographic elements, details of the life in desert, including the creatures of the desert, trials, visions, miracles1.

Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest, ioanacosta@yahoo.com.

This paper is the written version of the presentation that I gave at the Annual Conference of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest, 5-6 November 2010.

1 The abbreviations used here are: P. for Vita Beati Pauli, monachi Thebaei, M. for [Vita Malchi]

De monacho captiuo and H. for Vita Hilarionis.

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1. Biographies

Paulus (P. 4.1), born around 228, lost both his parents while still an adolescent and, together with his sister (recently married), inherited a fine wealth; by the age of sixteen, he was already acquainted with Greek and Egyptian learning, was gentle and loved God dearly. When Decius persecution began, his brother-in-law succumbed to the accursed hunger for gold (vide Vergilius, Aeneis, 3.57: auri sacra fames) and planned to handover the young man he was supposed to hide. That moment Paulus decided to hide, seeking refuge in the mountains (P. 5.1), where he found some rocky heights with a cave, closed by a huge stone. Driven by curiosity, he entered the cave and discovered an open space, under the sky, well shadowed, due to an old palm tree. The tree provided Paulus not only with shadow, but also with dates and it was, from the very beginning, the evidence of good, limpid, water, that seemed to exist only for the sake of this holly man, as it was immediately swallowed by the same soil that gave birth to it. There he spent all the rest of his life, in prayers and solitude (P. 6.1).

Malchus biography is revealed in a first-person account, accomplished by the end of his life to bishop Evagrius, an intimate of Hieronymus; being only child, Malchus was the offspring of his family and was supposed to inherit the wealth: this is why he was insistently advised to get married. Reluctant as he was to this perspective and being overwhelmed by his fathers threats and his mothers tears, Malchus decided to leave home, having as unique purpose to remain chaste (M. 3.1). He headed towards west, finally reaching the Chalcis desert (M. 3.4-7); there he settled in a monastic community, working and fasting. Many years later he decided to return to his mother, a widow now, to sell his property, give the money to the poor and retaining something for him. He stubbornly resisted the abbot who thought that this plan was a trial of the devil and warmly and tearfully asked him to stay. The predictions of the wise abbot were completely accurate and Malchus encountered a turning point in his life: the group he was travelling with (M. 4.1: men, women, old men, young men, children, about seventy persons) is attacked by Ismaelits; they are captured and taken as slaves. Malchus became, together with a little woman, property of a master, but this somehow seemed to be not the most acerbic fate ever. He had to take care of the sheep and at least was thankful (M. 5.3) for not seeing too often his master and the other slaves.

Hilarion lived his first years in the desert much earlier than Malchus or Paulus. He was born (H. 2.1) in a town in Palestine; his parents used to worship idols, so that Hilarion was blooming like a rose among thistles. Just like Malchus, he felt the need to return to the place of his birth: he did that after the death of his parents (H. 2.6); he gave some of the wealth to his brothers and offered the rest to the poor, without keeping anything for himself; he was fifteen (H. 2.7-10).

THE HERMIT AND HIS WORLD 5

Hilarion was chased by fame his whole life: the miracles he accomplished unwillingly, barely surrendering the pleas of the people around him, laymen and hermits were yelling everything he wanted to keep in silence. Man of the desert, he always felt overflowed by the people he attracted, no matter how far away he was travelling and hiding (H. 19.1-3): and so, by the age of sixty three, looking around and seeing so many brothers and people brought to him by those who wanted to cure them from illness and bad spirits, he burst into tears and sadly rememorated his life in solitude. He left (H. 22.1), accompanied by no more than two brothers, and lived in such restraint, that used to say that only then began to be the servant of Jesus. Nevertheless, the fame followed and reached him: he left (M. 23.1) for Sicily, on a ship, together with a disciple, Zaranus; followed once more by fame, he wanted to head towards Egypt, but finally settled in Cyprus, in a secluded place found by his disciple, where humans could hardly climb.

The hermit life Hilarion so greatly desired was also the life of the other two in Hieronymus triptych. Malchus once abandoned it, wanting to see again his mother, somehow regained it while being a slave, lost it when trying to quit slavery (M. 7.1).

Antonius, the character that connects the stories in Vita Pauli, also lived in solitude. He was taken over by the vision of a hermit older than him, who was Paulus (P. 7.1-3): while being one hundred and thirteen years old, and Antonius, ninety years old, the latter suddenly thought that there was nobody else in the desert. Having this thought, he headed towards nowhere, without knowing why; on the other hand, Paulus was announced that it was to arrive the man meant to burry him.

2. Life in the Desert: Food, Clothes

To Paulus, the palm-tree (P. 6.1-2) gave food and clothes. Malchus seems always willing to offer details about his everyday life:

(M. 3.2) we had some meat, almost raw, and camel milk to drink; (M. 5.2) in some sort of prison, I change my clothes: I learn to be almost naked; (M. 5.4) I was feeding myself with fresh cheese and milk.

Hilarion is the most amazing of all and amazing is, quite the same, the precise description: (H. 3.1) he only wore a sack to cover his body []; he ate fifteen dried dates a day, after the sunset. Leaving aside the story, Hieronymus registers details of the everyday life Hilarion lived (H. 4.1-5.7): from sixteen to twenty, he dwelt in a tiny hut, made of sedge and twigs []; he only cut his hair once a year, on Easter day; to the last day of his life, he slept on the ground, directly on some twigs, without ever washing the sack he was wearing []; from twenty to twenty three, he ate half a pint of lentils moistened with cold

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water; from twenty three to twenty seven, he ate dried bread with salt and water; from twenty seven to thirty, he ate wild herbs and roots; up to thirty five, he ate six ounces of barley bread and scarcely boiled vegetables, without oil; suffering from signs of malnutrition, he had to modify his diet: up to sixty three, he ate six ounces of barley bread and boiled vegetables with oil and, up to eighty, he added a broth made from flour and crushed herbs always after sunset.

Probably the most touching episode is described in P. 10.2-3: Antonius finally found Paulus and they received bread fallen from a ravens beak; it was one whole piece, as Paulus for sixty years received every day half a bread from a raven and now there were two soldiers of Christ.

3. Creatures of the Desert

The desert is the place where the creatures get unexpected forms; either imaginary or common, as the raven that brought in his beak bread for Paulus an Antonius, they act miraculously.

The journey of Antonius to Paulus is marked by marvellous creatures (P. 7.4-8.5): a mixed living being, man and horse; a little man, with curved nose, with horns on his forehead and goat legs; a mortal belonging to Fauni, Satires and Incubi species. Paulus was guided towards Antonius cave by a thirsty she-wolf. After Paulus death, two terrifying lions help Antonius to dig a grave for the saint (P. 16.2-7) and then asked for blessing.

The story of Malchus has dissimilar creatures in its turning points: ants and a lioness. The ants (M. 7.2) made him remember the work of the free communities; the lioness (M. 9.2) was a providential presence, killing the followers and setting free Malchus and the little woman.

Whenever Hilarion met an animal, some miracle happened, due to his taming powers and capability of chasing the bad spirits: for instance, in H. 14.1, a huge Bactrian camel, full of rage, brought to the holly man by thirty men, in solid ropes, was suddenly disciplined and acted like a gentle creature.

4. Trials

The faith of the hermits is always tested, in numberless ways, specific to each biography. Regarding Paulus, we know nothing on this matter, probably just because Hieronymus only told the story of the first and last years of Paulus life. The character is described solely through the eyes of Antonius and this latter hermit is painfully tested in the desert, by visions and strange creatures.

THE HERMIT AND HIS WORLD 7

Malhus willingly changed the course of his life twice or thrice, and each of these turnings became a longstanding trial, in itself and in its consequences. Being among monachs, he decided to return to his mother and resisted the pleas of his abbot; during the journey, he was caught by thieves and became a slave; while being a slave, with a life relatively settled, is unpredictably and repulsively rewarded by his master: he is given a wife that he did not want, and is on the verge of taking his own life (M. 6.1-9): nothing is ever certain with the devil! many and unspeakable are his traps! this is how his envy found me, no matter how I tried to hide!

Hilarion, gone to the desert while still very young, in the years of innocent adolescence, is assaulted by visions that are whipping his senses (H. 3.2): What does the devil do? [] The apprentice of Christ was compelled to think about things that he did not know and to mirror in his soul experiences that he did not have. Mad at himself, he struck his chest with the fists and decided not to feed his body anymore, to keep it in hunger, thirst, cold, heat and misery.

5. Visions

The trials are sometimes difficult to be distinguished from visions. Even if sublimely meant and leading to meritorious acts, visions are no less than trials of the soul strength that has to bridle the feeble and frightened body. Antonius saw, in a night vision (P. 7.2), that deep inside the desert was another hermit, much better than himself. After meeting Paulus, Antonius saw him among angels, raised in heaven, radiant, glowing as white as the snow (P. 14.1).

Malhus is closer to simple facts, to real life, and his visions (whenever appear) are the consequence of tangible elements, such as the ant colony that brought to his memory the proverbs of Solomon and made him crave for free life, urged him to run away from slavery.

Hilarion is, as seen above, a tender and delicate personality that grants large space to visions and, nevertheless, is capable of endless miracles, in a natural way, adequate to his spirit. While fasting with huge faith, weaken and ill (H. 3.7), one night he began to hear sheep that were bleating, oxen that were bellowing, some womanly cries, lions roar, armies clanging, impossible voices and he was flooded by fear only hearing them, long before even seeing something. He frequently saw visions of naked women and abundant feasts. Once an impatient coachman jumped on his shoulders and began spur him with scorning words, as if he was a lazy, hungry horse.

6. Miracles

Miracles are defining for Hilarion. He accomplished them against his own will, being repeatedly besought by those in suffering and, nevertheless, by his

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own disciples. He tried to resist them all, as he felt the need of staying in the shadow, anonymously. The moment he did the first miracle, he began being famous, almost chased by fame as a healer and source of blessing for all the living beings, humans or animals: the people, the huge crowds that are always looking for him with only one, miraculous, exception, of the final years succeed in finding him (H. 7.1-13.10).

All the miracles are memorable, but some of them seem to be even more beyond compare, becoming part of the local history, e.g. H. 22.2: there were already three years since the last rain and everybody was weeping; the people, with sad faces and weaken bodies, approached Hilarion as servant of Christ and successor of holy Antonius. Impressed by their lamentations and grieve, he prayed: immediately the place got wet and the rains went on and on, so that appeared snakes and poisoned reptiles: again Hilarion had to save the people.

He can never remain hidden, as seen in H. 26.1: landing unknown in Sicily, Hilarion appeared in a vision a shield maker had in Rome, in St Peters Basilica.

Some more stupendous miracles: (H. 28.3) a huge snake laid a region to waste, swallowing cows, sheep, and people, but Hilarion made the snake enter, by his own will, into a large pyre and than fire it up; (H. 29.1) a tremendous earthquake raised the sea, that was about to cover the earth: he made the cross sign trice on the sand and raised his hands, the sea billow stopped stock-still in front of him and, boiling and roaring, slowly withdrew.

7. Moral annotations

The moral passages are rare and unobtrusive; they occurre only in the first two Vitae, lacking in Vita Hilarionis.

One of them (P. 4.2) is worded in classical tradition: auri sacra fames (vide supra, cap. 1) pushed Paulus brother-in-law to act duplicitously and to plan a betrayal.

More natural in these texts appear notes on faith, as in P. 6.1: the things he narrated seemed unbelievable only to those that can not understand the power of faith.

Placing a moral note by the end of an opuscula increases its strong message (P. 7.1): marble, precious stones and precious clothes, gold and pearls were not missed by the naked hermit that drank pure water directly from the spring. Paulus was only covered by earth, but he will be glorified in heaven; those buried in prized graves will burn in fire, together with their fortunes.

In Vita Malchi, solely the final paragraph suggests a moral teaching: the story of Malchus was told to Hieronymus while he was still very young; now, as old man, he tells this story of a pure life and leaves his descendants the legacy of a chaste model.

THE HERMIT AND HIS WORLD 9

8. Auctorial Approach

The presence of Hieronymus is totally self-effacing in this hagiographic triptych. The introductory parts are, nevertheless, to be interpreted as a unit, in a dense network of threads that links the lives of the three hermits.

The first of the Vitae, of Paulus, enlightens the roots of monachal life in the desert (P. 1.1): many asked themselves who was the first to live in the desert [] said the usual answer is that a certain Paulus of Thebes was the founder of this institution, and Hieronymus agrees with that opinion.

The presence of Hieronymus is exemplary, without being severe (P. 18.1): the final paragraph of Vita Pauli is a gentle request toward the reader, to remember the sinful author that if possible would have chosen the poor tunic of Paulus instead of all the purple of the kings.

The Life of Malchus is a writing exercise that, explicitly, was meant to help Hieronymus in preparing for a huge work (M. 1.1): the history of mankind from Jesus to his time.

The Life of Hilarion becomes, intentionally, the argument of monachal life, no matter the changes and the relationship with the human world (H. 1.6): we do not intend, he says, to credit the voices of some malevolent readers who, after criticizing my beloved Paulus, might criticize now Hilarion, slandering one for his loneliness just as slandering the other one for the crowds that were following him: for those malevolent, the person that lived in seclusion did not live, and the person who had been seen by many did not deserve to be praised.

In these words we completely recognise Hieronymus, the author, who defends his writings and, nevertheless, his models. The option belongs completely to the reader, bringing to our memory a famous passage from Senecas letters: he advises his younger friend, Lucilius (Epistulae morales, 1.1.1) to be jealous of his own time, to keep it only for himself, saving it from the thieves that overlooked, as if their prey was worthless harass us all, to master his own time: Ita fac, mi Lucili: uindica te tibi, et tempus quod adhuc aut auferebatur aut subripiebatur aut excidebat collige et serua. In these three Vitae, time is as precious as it was for Seneca, but from a different prespective, of the eternity.

REFERENCES

Aigrain, R. (2000), L hagiographie: ses sources, ses mthodes, son histoire, Socit des Bollandistes, Brussels.

Cousin, P. (1959), Prcis dhistoire monastique, Bloud & Gay, Paris. Gregoire, R. (1987), Manuale di agiologia. Introduzione alla letteratura agiografica, Monastero

San Silvestro Abate, Fabriano. Jrme, Trois vies de moines (Paul, Malchus, Hilarion) (2007), Edgardo M. Morales, Pierre

Leclerc (eds.), ditions du Cerf, Sources Chrtiennes, Paris.

TOEGYE AS A TEACHER: FROM SAGE LEARNING TO SAGEHOOD

DIANA YUKSEL*

Abstract

Yi Hwang Toegye is one of the most prominent icons of Korean Confucianism from Joseon. Dubbed as the promoter of the Korean Confucian orthodoxy, Toegye is renowned for his comprehension of the Confucian Way. Yet, he formally withdrew from official positions in a time when scholarly worthiness was closely related to ones social duty. Then what made a scholar like Toegye become an icon of Korean Confucianism and moreover what made him more iconic than some of his contemporaries? These questions have been raised before and have been answered primarily from either a philosophical or a political perspective. I believe that there has to be more than that in order to create such a powerful image, something that made Toegye be the providential Teacher, in the same way Confucius had been centuries before, something that pertains to the domain of the sacred rather than secular. The aim of this paper is to identify the elements of spirituality in Toegyes discourse and to analyze their implications in the shaping of the iconic image of the Korean Neo-Confucian thinker of the 16th century which acquired an almost religious significance.

Keywords: Confucian spirituality, Sage-learning, self-cultivation, moral duty, reverential seriousness.

1. Introduction

Since the beginning of Confucianism, the exemplary Confucian was meant to play twin roles: reformer and preserver, discoverer and transmitter, scholar and prophet. His utmost mission was to uphold the Way (Dao ). In Korea, Yi Hwang (1501-1570) is one of the most prominent beacons of Korean Confucianism from Joseon. He is one Confucian who took his mission seriously and became an iconic master of all times in Korea. Yet, he is known to be Toegye1, the one who formally withdrew from public duty, due to the fact that he had a few attempts to withdraw to a secluded place to dedicate himself to study, recollection and the perfection of the moral self. He was always called

* University of Bucharest, Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures, diana.yuksel@g.unibuc.ro.

This paper was presented at the 26th AKSE Conference in Vienna, 6-9 July 2013. 1 , Retreating creek, Yi Hwangs pen name.

DIANA YUKSEL 12

back to public duty and to serve the kings until the last years of his life. Withdrawing from public duty was not something unheard of, Confucius himself had done so, but in Joseon Korea, scholarly worthiness was almost institutionalized and was very closely related to ones social duty, to the point of recreating the Mencian desideratum of a socially engaged heroic scholar (hogeol ji sa ). Yi Hwang Toegye does not seem to fulfill the role of a heroic scholar and yet he is undoubtedly an icon of Korean Confucianism. He has been dubbed the unequalled master of the Way, the clarifier of the Neo-Confucian thought and the one who makes the line of Confucius-Mencius-the Cheng brothers-Zhu Xi complete, the very Zhu Xi of Korea.

What made him an icon and moreover, what made him more iconic than all of his contemporaries? These questions have been raised before and have been answered primarily by analyzing Toegyes contribution as a philosopher, moralist or adviser in state matters. I believe that the powerful image that Toegye projected has to be rooted in something else, something that singled him out and made him the providential Teacher, in the same way Confucius had been centuries before, something that pertains to the domain of the sacred rather than the secular. What made Toegyes teachings transcend the borders of communitarian ethics and socially engaged metaphysics and acquire an almost prophetic dimension? Following the theories of Michael C. Kalton and Edward Y. J. Chung on the nature of Confucian spirituality in Korea, it seems that what gives Toegyes teachings an aura of out-of-this-world and of spiritual leadership is his belief in the power of the self-cultivation, expressed in numerous occasions and developed in various works.

Taking the thesis of the sage learning (seong hak ??) as the core of his teachings, Toegye advocated the power of self-cultivation through moral practice to restore the social harmony and the Heavenly order. In his most synthetic work, Ten Diagrams for Sage Learning (Seonghank sipdo????), Toegye shows that by becoming one with the Heavenly principle (Dao) (through self-cultivation among other methods) the ordinary self can turn into a sage, a process that implies an individual effort, but has consequences of global importance. Confucius said that Man can make the Way great it is not the Way that makes the man great.2 That is why for Toegye, the self-cultivation is not only a scholarly task, it is a way of life and a process of spiritual formation and trans-formation.

Endowed with spiritual implications, the practice of self-cultivation becomes thus for Toegye the true Confucian Way. One of the key elements in this process of self-transformation towards sage learning is the practice of mindfulness or reverent seriousness (gyeong ), which becomes a medium

2 Analects 15:29

TOEGYE AS A TEACHER: FROM SAGE LEARNING TO SAGEHOOD 13

of reaching the state of sage-learning, an almost beatification if we consider the fact that for Confucius this was an ideal impossible to reach, reserved only for the sage kings of the old (the legendary Emperors Yao and Shun, and the Duke of Zhou). In his efforts to promote practical self-cultivation (often by the power of self-example), Toegye raised a secular concept like gyeong to a sacred dimension. His idea of self-cultivation implied an active engagement into a practice which acquired spiritual span, and which made of him the providential Teacher. While his moral conduct and active implication in teaching the Confucian Way and establishing the Confucian orthodoxy in Korea played an important role in establishing Toegye as one of the iconic figures of Korean Confucianism, I believe that it was his contribution to Confucian spirituality that singled him out from among other prominent Confucian scholars and shaped the final image of the Korean Neo-Confucian thinker who has left a clear-cut cultural footprint on the scholarly scenery of 16th century Joseon.

2. Confucian Spirituality Le pari sur lhomme

Confucian spirituality can be analyzed by starting from the words of Confucius: Man can make the Way great it is not the Way that makes the man great. The Master has made a bet on man3, gambled all on the importance of man in the scheme of the Universe and established a tradition in which the ordinary became the locus of the extraordinary, immanence acquired a transcendent dimension and the secular became the sacred4. The master has challenged the simple secular moralism with a sort of spiritual nobility5. But the confidence he placed on the capacity of man to recover the sacrality of his initial position on the axis of Heaven and Earth is somehow limited. The ideal of a sage (sheng ren ) is not attainable even for himself.

The paradigm shifted with the rise of the Neo-Confucian thought and the contributions of Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073), Cheng Hao ? (1032-1085), Cheng Yi (1033-1107) and most of all for Zhu Xi ? (1130-1200). For the Neo-Confucians, the Heavenly-endowed nature was recoverable by cultivation of ones self and the sagehood, no longer a long-lost ideal, was attainable by self-transformation, an act of constant care for the luminous virtue ( ming de) within oneself. The bet was upped. Confucian spirituality was now aiming at moral cultivation so that the individuals can

3 Anne Cheng launched the phrase le pari de Confucius sur lhomme in Histoire de la

pense chinoise (1997), referring to the centrality of man in Confucius thinking, to the importance he had in the triad Heaven-Earth-Man and to his capacity of fulfilling his role in this triad, the matrix of the Universe.

4 Mary Evelyn Tucker, Introduction to Confucian Spirituality (2004).

5 Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred, 1998 (reissue).

DIANA YUKSEL 14

realize their full personhood.6 Zhu Xis synthesis of Neo-Confucian ideas, recorded in the collection Reflections on Things at Hand (Jinsilu ?), provided a comprehensive metaphysical basis for Confucian thought and practice that could rival with the Buddhist metaphysics, and which encompassed the cosmological element, the ethical and ritual practices, scholarly reflection and the social participation into a this-worldly spirituality7 with the aim of balancing the inner cultivation with the outer investigation of things.

Yi Hwang Toegye continued this line of thought in Korea by placing the practice of self-cultivation at the center of Confucian spirituality, since the ultimate goal of man was to reach the sages understanding of things. Toegye believes in the innate capacity of man to transform the ordinary self into sagehood in unity with the Heavenly Way (cheon do??), the ideal model, based on the transcendent yet immanent reality of human goodness. Into this frame of Confucian spirituality which unites the immanent and the transcendent, the process of self-cultivation offers a model of self-transcendence8 which allows for identifying the transcendent with what is immanent. The self-cultivation (sugi ??) for Toegye encompasses a few processes such as expanding knowledge through the investigation of things (gyeokmul chiji???), making ones thoughts sincere (seong eui ? ?), rectifying ones mind-heart (jeongsim??) and cultivating ones own body (susin??). But most of all, as explained in the work that crowned his scholastic career, Seonghak sipdo, self-cultivation and attainment of sagehood is conditioned by the practice of reverential seriousness (gyeong ). The self-cultivation is also the key element in education for Toegye, which refers primarily to moral conduct, to which reverential seriousness is vital. This spirituality that Toegye promotes and which requires a disciplined way of self-transformation through a constant practice of the processes of self-cultivation has made a valuable contribution to Neo-Confucian scholarship9. It is very possible that in the end, this counted more in creating the final image of Toegye than his role in perpetuating the orthodox line of Confucianism in Korea or his philosophical debates over the nature and importance of Principle (I?) and Substance (gi ?).

6 Ibid., p. 4.

7 Ibid., p. 10.

8 Edward Y. J. Chung, A Confucian Spirituality in Yi Toegye: A Korean Neo-Confucian

Interpretation and Its Implications for Comparative Religion in Confucian Spirituality, pp. 215-216. 9 JaHyun Kim Haboush, Martina Deuchler (2002): For Toegye, self-cultivation constituted

the core of a generative process of self that would eventually lead to harmonization of the human order with the cosmic order. It required intellectual discipline and an ascetic way of life two premises that grew out of his rather pessimistic view of human nature and demanded close interpretation of the Neo-Confucian textual tradition. (Introduction, Culture and State in Late Choson Korea, p. 3).

TOEGYE AS A TEACHER: FROM SAGE LEARNING TO SAGEHOOD 15

3. Toegye as the Teacher

Like a true Confucian master, Yi Hwang Toegye was a teacher. He had activated in a few educational institutions in an official capacity10 and he had also dedicated himself to the informal, personal and insightful study of Confucian values on a few occasions when he retired from public life. He left public duty and retreated to a quiet place where he could write and refine his thinking, and where he was followed by an increasing number of disciples. Consequently, he established the Dosan Academy (Dosan Seowon ????) on the Mountain Do. One of the areas of interest for his own study and for the instruction of his followers was the study of the mind-heart from the Classic of Mind-Heart (Xinjing ?), a work he had studied with fervor. This book offered him guidance in the process of spiritual cultivation, for he was not a simple scholar, but he proved to be an engaged man of faith and spiritual practice. 11 As a teacher, Toegye had followers who went on becoming respected Confucian scholars themselves. To his disciples he offered an inspirational model, not only of a scholar that masters the art of hermeneutics in Confucian texts, but also as the image itself of self-cultivation and a dedicated educator: His zeal in the personal pursuit of learning was matched by his zeal in teaching others, and his lectures continued up to the month before his death. Yun Sasoon (1990: 9) Even as a formal educator, Toegye had emphasized the importance of balancing the inner transformation with the outer quest, so that the future officials he was training would be cultivated men with strong Confucian values (propriety, loyalty, trustworthiness, modesty, reverent seriousness):

[...]Throughout your daily lives you must endeavor to practice propriety. You must urge one another on to put forth vigorous effort to correct old habits: at home consider the proper disposition for serving your parents and elder brothers, and in society maintain the proper propriety in serving elders and seniors. Internally make loyalty and trustworthiness your focus, and externally practice modesty and deference; thus you may fittingly respond to the nations intent in founding schools, encouraging the literary arts, and fostering literati.12

Toegye again took his mission seriously, not only for transmitting the Way, but also for creating transmitters of the Way, by means of practicing the Confucian values13. But his individual mission and personal commitment had determined changes in the way man related to the universal matrix. He is no longer a simple educator, he is recreating the tradition of transmitting the Way and becomes

10 He was named, for instance, head instructor (Daesaseong ) of Sungkyunkwan

Academy in 1552. 11

Edward Y. J. Chung, p. 216. 12

Toegye jeonseo, B, Yeonbo, 1.11a, translation found in Yun Sasson (1990), p. 17. 13

For more on Toegye as an educator see Yun Sasoon, pp. 17-21.

DIANA YUKSEL 16

a prophetic voice14, the Teacher, who impacts the personal consciousness and conscience with impact at universal level. He advocated the importance of the individual moral effort and of the self-cultivation for the harmony of the universe, and by the self-example showed that this was not an impossible desideratum. This moral effort is not only necessary, but it is required of man, it is compulsory so that the man be able to distinguish the moral principle from the selfish desires and thus reach moral achievement15. Therefore, to do what morally ought to be so means to abide in reverential seriousness (geogyeong), which is the learning of the morally accomplished men (gunja ji hak ???), which Toegye calls the learning of reverential seriousness (gyeonghak ?)16.

When the student is sincerely able to abide to reverence [gyeong] and makes the clear distinction between the principle and the desires, his efforts of nourishing and cultivating [it] will be deep. If the self-examination and correction of the mind-heart is continued with sincerity for a length of time, one can reach a state of detachment.17

Toegye understood the way of mind cultivation as an inner-directed and spiritual task of self-transformation. In this regard we may identify his learning as a new kind of Cheng-Zhu school that stresses spiritual mind cultivation. In the Diagram of Heavens Imperative Explained (Cheon myong do seol ???), he gives primordial importance to the learning of reverence, which is the beginning and the end of moral education and thus quintessential to becoming morally accomplished:

When the mind is tranquil, the superior man preserves and nourishes its substance (che ?). When feelings and intentions are aroused, one examines and corrects oneselfand rectifies their usefulness. If one does not take gyeong to be the first principle of learning, how can one establish the original mind? Hence, before the mind is aroused, the learning of the superior man is to take gyeong as the first principle and to give full effort to preserving and nourishing. After the mind is aroused, it is to give full effort to self-examination and self-correction. This is the reason why gyeonghak completes the beginning and the end.18

The moral effort pays off only by constant practice, only if continued for a length of time19. In order to do this, the method of practicing reverence should be doubled by the discipline of controlling ones mind-heart (sim beob ??).

14 Wm. Theodore de Bary.

15 Toegye jeonseo 1:205b.

16 Toegye jeonseo, 29:15a, Letter to Kim Yi Jeong.

17 Toegye jeonseo, 7:24b, v. 1, p. 205, Letter to Yi Pyeong Suk.

18 Toegye jeonseo, v. 3, p. 144, op. cit. in Edward Chung, p. 252.

19 In reference to the method of quiet-sitting and thoughtful study explained by the Cheng

brothers and which were also part of the inspirational practice of reverential seriousness.

TOEGYE AS A TEACHER: FROM SAGE LEARNING TO SAGEHOOD 17

When the mind-heart is tranquil at night, one must experience Heavens principle (cheon I??) in oneself. One should examine what one has done and work at self-reflection and self-rectification every day. Once you get used to this practice, you should realize the truth of learning to become a Sage.20

Toegye revisits the Mencian theory of the inherent goodness of the human nature. When a human being is born and the germs of the human nature are still latent, the selfish desires are not manifest. With the growth of the human being and the coming into contact with the environment, the material desires (fuelled by the vital energy) dominate and the pure principle of the inherent human nature is lost. Through the constant moral effort of practicing reverence, the selfish desires and the emotions triggered by the social environment can be suppressed. The evil (ak ?) is present in the individual just as the good (seon?) is. The prevalence of the evil is an acquired condition, it is the failure of the individual to nurture his human nature inherently good21. So what one needs to do is the practice of good nature. Toegye warns against the precarious balance of power between good and evil in man and shows that the selfish desires can become manifest with any hesitation from the path of moral cultivation. Therefore, the one who aims for moral self-accomplishment should be apprehensive of the selfish desires and guard his mind-heart against them with the vigilance of a castle guard:

Always cautious and fearful, never venture to slacken. Stop up your mouth like the opening of a bottle, and guard your intentions as you would a city wall.22

This state of moral vigilance is necessary. The moral anxiety which makes the human being question his actions can become useful for controlling the individual selfish desires and preserving the balance and the harmony of the mind-heart. Once the inner space is in harmony, the outer world will also be in harmony. In order for the mind to keep the inner balance and thus ensure the outer harmony, the subtle principle (I) should prevail over the course vital energy (gi) and the human mind should be one with the principle and unaffected by the movement of gi. The constant practice of reverence is one way to keep the unity of the mind-heart and the principle and secure the control of the ethical virtue over the selfish desires. If the balance is lost, the consequences acquire ontological dimensions:

If one should falter for a single moment, selfish desire will put forth ten thousand shoots; one will be hot when there is no fire, cold when there is no ice. If there is a hair's

20 Toegye jeonseo, vol. 4, p. 209, op. cit. in Edward Chung, pp. 205-206.

21 Chai-sik Chung, Between Principle and Situation: Contrasting Styles in the Japanese and

Korean Traditions of Moral Culture, in Philosophy East and West, p. 262. 22

Diagram of the Admonition for Mindfulness Studio, translated by Michael C. Kalton, p. 178.

DIANA YUKSEL 18

breadth disparity [from what is right] Heaven and Earth will change their places; the Three Guidelines will perish and the Nine Laws will be wiped out.23

The cultivation of the mind-heart through reverence and seriousness implies respecting a set of rules of proper conduct that Toegye suggests to everyone, including the king, rules which constantly remind the individual of him moral duty: attention paid to protocol, proper situational conduct, solemn silence, respect for the hierarchy, obedience in front of authority and most importantly, an ascetic attitude and repression of selfish desires and emotions:

When you go abroad, behave to everyone as if you were meeting an important guest; preside over affairs as if presiding at a sacrifice.24

The aura of dignity and seriousness projected over the one who abides by the practice of reverence mirrors the tranquility and the harmony of the mind-heart. For Toegye, the harmony reflects also through the unity of the inner world and the outer one. The sacrality of the ritual involves an almost magical element: by understanding the Way, respecting the rules of proper conduct and setting ones mind-heart in a state of balance, everything falls in place effortlessly, as foreseen by Confucius: With correct manners, no commands are necessary and affairs move forth. 25 The social adequacy, the respect for hierarchy and etiquette, the reverence in conduct and the cultivation of the mind-heart become for Toegye valuable virtues:

Properly order your clothing and cap and make your gaze reverent; recollect your mind and make it abide, as if you were present before the Lord on High. The appearance of the feet must be as if they were heavy, the disposition of the hands respectful. First select the ground and then tread; twist and turn [your way] through the ant mounds.26

The practice of reverence for achieving and preserving the harmony and the balance of the mind-heart and its unity with the transcendental principle through morally oriented actions should be doubled by a mental state of detachment. In other words, the active exterior should be balanced with an inner state of tranquility and they should mutually correct and control. Toegyes understanding of gyeong becomes in a way more spiritual than that of the previous Neo-Confucian scholars. He adds a personal dimension to the moral self-accomplishment not only through emphasizing the importance of the process towards going closer to the Buddhist idea of illumination than to that of the Confucian sage (seong in ??), a status virtually impossible to attain. The

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Analects 13:6 .

26 Diagram of the Admonition for Mindfulness Studio, translated by Michael C. Kalton, p. 178.

TOEGYE AS A TEACHER: FROM SAGE LEARNING TO SAGEHOOD 19

inner self-transformation cannot be though separated from the outer moral accomplishment of the individual as a social being. The self-cultivation through the practice of reverence has as ultimate goal an interior illumination, but not restricted to the inner individual world (like the Buddhist total detachment from the outer world), but an illumination of the self for the greater good of the other, according to the universal law of harmony, which encompasses the nature of interaction, of flowing, of rising and falling, of action and non-action.27.

4. Toegyes Cultural Footprint

Appreciated as the synthesizer of Korean Confucianism, Toegye recreated a world defined by the unity of Heaven and man (cheon in hab il ????) where man has an all-important and central position. His decisions and actions determine the course of events and the harmony of the triad Heaven- Earth-man. His mission of correctly transmitting the Way may be seen as prophetic, in that it is also doubled by practice of the values taught and by the power of self-example. Naturally, he was appreciated by his ideological followers and disciples as an unequalled master of the Way, as the providential Teacher. Jo Mok?, Kim Seongil, Jeong Yuil and others praised him in their writings as the One (il in) true teacher of the Confucian Way. Even his renowned opponent, Yi I Yulgok (1536-1584), finds him the most achieved scholar in his understanding of the Way, even more than the martyr-master Jo Gwangjo? (1482-1519):

Since Cho Kwangjo [1482-1519], there is no one who can compare with Toegye as the leading Confucian of his time. It might be said that he did not quite equal Cho Kwangjo in pure native ability, but in the investigation of principle Cho could not match his precision and subtlety. 28

In the second half of the 19th century, there is another wave of recognition for Toegyes work. Two scholars, particularly, underlined in their studies the unicity of Toegyes grasp of Confucian teachings and the image of exemplary Teacher that he projected. One of them was Jang Ji Yeon (1864-1921) who compiled a history of Korean Confucianism and appreciated that Toegye is the one and only who clarified true learning and guided aright the scholars who succeeded him, clearly making shine again here the Tao (Way) of

27 Zhang Zai, Siku qianshu in Zhang Dainian, Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, p. 275

28 " (), . () , ()

". See also Toegye jeonseo, B, Toedo eonhaeng tongnok, 1.27a in Yun Sasoon, p. 1.

DIANA YUKSEL 20

Confucius, Mencius, the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi.29 Mun Ilpyeong (1888-1939) sees in Toegye the paradigmatic image of Korean Confucianism:

[...] before Toegye Confucianism [in Korea] did not go beyond the conventional political and literary pursuits, and only with the appearance of Toegye on the scene does it first attain the status of a full philosophy, and the development of theory in the area of propriety and ritual also comes only with him, so it would be fitting to take Toegye as this peninsulas paradigmatic Confucian figure.30

Through his teachings Toegye seems to have skillfully created not only an important and relevant Confucian legacy, but a heritage of cultural resources and universal values that he promoted in necessary relation to the individual practice of self-cultivation with the aim of acquiring sage learning. His cultural footprint outlines an exemplary Teacher, the true image of a sage scholar, one that continues the line of Confucius, Mencius and Zhu Xi.

REFERENCES

Primary Sources

Confucius, Lun yu (Analects), internet database: http://ctext.org/analects, accessed on 18.06.2013. Yi Hwang, Toegye Jeonseo (The Complete Works of Toegye), Seoul, Seonkyungwan University

Press, compiled in 1986. ?? (Yi Hwang). ??? (Seonghak sibdo), microfilm, Academy of Korean Studies, compiled

in 1999.

Secondary Sources

Ames, Roger T. & Rosemont, Henry Jr. (1998), The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation, Ballantine Books, New York.

Chan, Wing-tsit ed. (1986), Chu Hsi and Neo-Confucianism, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. Chan, Wing-tsit (1963), A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Chen, Yong-jie (1986), "How T'oegye Understood Chu Hsi" in T'oegye hakpo, no. 49, pp. 66-90. Cheng, Anne (2001), Istoria gndirii chineze, translated from French by Florentina Vian i

Viorel Vian, Editura Polirom, Iai. Chung, Edward Y. J. (1995), The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi Toegye and Yi Yulgok: A

Reappraisal of the "Four-Seven Thesis" and Its Practical Implications for Self-Cultivation, Suny Series in Korean Studies, State University of New York, New York.

29 " () ' () ' "

30 () () , ,

() . See also Yun Sasoon (1990), p. 2.

TOEGYE AS A TEACHER: FROM SAGE LEARNING TO SAGEHOOD 21

Chung, Edward Y. J. (1992), "Yi T'oegye on the Learning of Reverential Seriousness (Kyonghak): A Korean Neo-Confucian Spirituality?" in Korea Journal, volume 32, no. 1 / Spring, pp. 61-71.

Chung, Edward Y. J. (1992), "Yi T'oegye on the Neo-confucian Learning of Principle and Mind: A 'Religious' Way of Self-Cultivation.", in Asian Profile, vol. 20, no. 5 / October, pp. 353-365.

De Bary, Wm. Theodore (1991), Learning for One's Self: Essays on the Individual in the Neo-Confucian Thought, Columbia University Press, New York.

Deuchler, Martina (1992), The Confucian Transformation of Korea,. A study of Society and Ideology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London.

Fingarette, Herbert (1972), Confucius: The Secular as Sacred, Harper Torchbooks, New York. Gardner, Daniel K. (1990), Chu Hsi-Learning to Be a Sage. Selections from the Conversations of

Master Chu, Arranged Topically, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles. Haboush, JaHyun Kim, Martina Deuchler (eds.) (1999), Culture and State in Late Chosn Korea,

Volume 182 of Harvard East Asian Monographs, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London.

Hwang Joon-yon (2001), "Neo-Confucian Scholars of Chosun Dynasty and the Problems of Spiritual Cultivation in Case of the Four-Seven Debate" in Tongyang cholhak yongu vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 217-234.

Kalton, Michael C. (1988), Yi Hwang, To Become a Sage: The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, Columbia University Press, New York.

Kim, Young-doo (2005), Toegye and Gobong Write Letters, translated by Louis Choi, Jain Pub. Co., Fremont, California.

Tu, Weiming, Mary Evelyn Tucker eds. (2004), Confucian Spirituality, Volume Two, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York.

Yun, Sa-soon (1985), "T'oegye's Identification of 'To Be' and 'Ought': T'oegye's Theory of Value", in The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea, Wm. Theodore de Bary, JaHyun Kim Haboush, (eds.), Columbia University Press, New York.

Yun, Sa-soon (1988), "T'oegye's Social Thought", in T'oegye hakpo, no. 57, pp. 91-80. Yun, Sa-soon (1991), Critical Issues in Neo-Confucian Thought: The Philosophy of Yi T'oegye,

University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. Zhang, Dainian (2002), Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, translated by Edmund Ryden, Yale

University Press, New Haven and London & Foreign Languages Press, Beijing.

ITINERARI CRITICI DANTESCHI: FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS

ROXANA UTALE*

DANTESQUES CRITICAL ITINERARIES: FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS

Abstract

After the nearly complete disappearance of the Dantesque exegesis in the Italian Baroque period, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, Alighieri returns (slowly, but surely) to the attention of literary critics and historians. One of the most well-founded voices on the subject belonged to Francesco De Sanctis, who dedicated long years to the study of Dantes works (Lezioni e saggi su Dante, 1842-73, but also, more importantly, pages of Storia della letteratura italiana, 1870-1871), and who actually laid the groundwork for the modern interpretation of the Florentine. De Sanctis is the first to identify the nucleus of Dantes poems to be none other than the universal and human motif, the first to hear in Alighieri the voice of mankind and not just of man. This gives way to a personal, human-to-human level of reading, without intermediaries and filters.

Keywords: Italian literature, Dantesques studies, history of criticism, Francesco de Sanctis, the voice of mankind.

Ad onta della sua impressionante attivit (soprattutto se pensiamo allepoca in cui pubblic e alle difficolt collegate allora alleditoria e al mercato del libro culturale), Francesco De Sanctis non riusc a portare a compimento un caro progetto: un libro su Dante, anche se questo fu lobiettivo costante di ben pi quindici anni della carriera del critico napoletano. Sin dai suoi inizi didattici (particolarmente precoci) aveva desiderato scrivere unopera in cui, in un secolo che gi si era concluso sotto i fertilissimi auspici dello studio di Dante in Italia e non solo (scriveva: oggi lera di Dante1 oppure Dante e Shakesperare i due idoli della critica odierna2), mettere le cose a punto ma anche porre fine alla vertigine di misteri e sinuose interpretazioni che il povero Fiorentino riceveva ormai da centinaia di anni. Distratto per

* Universit di Bucarest, Dipartimento di Linguistica Romanza, di Lingue e Letterature Iberoromanze e Italiano, roxut@yahoo.com.

1 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi su Dante, a c. di Sergio Romagnoli, Giulio Einaudi

Editore, Torino, 1955, p. 243. 2 Ibid., p. 19.

ROXANA UTALE 24

dallattivit didattica ma anche dallattivismo politico rimand sempre il suo ambizioso progetto3. E nel 1850 venne pure incarcerato a Castel dellOvo con laccusa di essere mazziniano. Seguirono tre anni in cui tradusse 4 parte di Goethe, scrisse due drammi5 ma soprattutto studi seriamente Hegel, il filosofo con i cui concetti avrebbe confrontato dallora in poi il proprio pensiero anche se le sue posizioni nei confronti del tedesco sarebbero mutate rapidamente: dallapprovazione, alla riformulazione, al rigetto.

Nel 1853 venne imbarcato su una nave diretta in America ma riusc a sbarcare a Malta e rifugiarsi da esule a Torino. Oltre al lavoro di insegnante in una scuola femminile, dal 1854 pro bono, cominci a presentare in unaula del Collegio San Francesco di Paola corsi serali su Dante6.

Purtroppo le memorie che avrebbe dettato verso la fine della vita si fermano agli eventi del 1848, cos che non si hanno impressioni e testimonianze dirette degli anni trascorsi a Torino oppure dei progetti che si andavano disegnando nella mente continuamente desta di De Sanctis.

Non possiamo essere daccordo con Benedetto Croce quando afferma che De Sanctis non concep il proposito di scrivere la Storia della letteratura italiana prima dellestate del 18687 . Se si analizzano cronologicamente gli interessi letterari di De Sanctis si pu quasi rifare un diario del suo interesse per lo studio di Dante, soprattutto della Divina Commedia. Anche se le principali idee e la struttura portante dellanalisi di Dante furono presentate gi nel saggio Esposizione critica della Divina Commedia, databile 1853-54, quindi prima dellinizio delle lezioni torinesi, certo che De Sanctis concepiva le sue relazioni pensando allo stesso progetto di unopera dedicata esclusivamente a Dante oppure a una serie di monografie dedicate alle grandi personalit della letteratura italiana. Queste lezioni di certo le prime (di 34) ebbero il ruolo di chiarire allautore stesso le principali questioni relative al metodo critico da applicare a Dante, una specie di propedeutica a quello che il letterato aveva gi in mente. De Santis infatti, continuando a parlare su questargomento, chiariva e compiva la propria interpretazione. Affermava al finale delle lezioni torinesi: vi confesso che non sarei giunto a colorire il mio disegno, se non fossi stato

3 Nel 1868 pensava di comporre unopera articolata in tre volumi, uno allanno. Intervenne

per il contratto con Morano per la stesura della Storia della letteratura italiana che gli avrebbe rapito pi tempo di quanto si era immaginato. Il progetto di un libro su Dante fu abbandonato.

4 Traduce Handbuch einer allgemeinen Geschichte der Poesie (Manuale di storia generale

della poesia), apparso a Napoli, nel 1853, incompleto ed anonimo. 5 Cristofo Colombo (oggi perduta) e Torquato Tasso.

6 Sarebbe interessante precisare che in quel periodo egli non era lunico a tenere a Torino corsi su

Dante. Oltre alle voci istituzionali (Pier Alessandro Paravia, alluniversit, tanto per fare un nome), cerano tanti altri che presentavano delle lezioni interpretative soprattutto sulla Divina Commedia.

7 Benedetto Croce, Storia della letteratura italiana. Nota bibliografica, in Scritti su Francesco

De Sanctis, a c. di Teodoro Tagliaferri e Fulvio Tessitore, Giannini editore, Napoli, 2007, p. 225.

ITINERARI CRITICI DANTESCHI: FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS 25

aiutato da voi8, diceva a chi aveva assistito con tanto entusiasmo alle sue lezioni9. E il suo disegno era stato dal principio quello di una percezione realistica dellarte ma anche di una argomentazione metodologica che nasceva dalla necessit di unesegesi esaustiva, che avrebbe permesso la spiegazione del mondo dantesco nel suo contesto storico, culturale, politico.

Il secondo corso torinese inizi con lampia analisi del XIII canto dellInferno (la cantica prediletta di De Sanctis) e del personaggio di Pier delle Vigne. Il relatore proponeva il concetto di situazione particolarmente importante nel suo pensiero perch analizzava la contraddizione tra le intenzioni dellautore e il mondo poetico, compiuto. Nelle sue pagine era sempre attento a identificare il movente culturale e illustrare le correnti antagoniche10, cos che ciascuno degli scrittori fosse fortemente connesso alla sua epoca (e nel caso di Dante il contesto determinante, la sua opera il riflesso di una societ e di un contesto ben documentabili) ma che anche il critico potesse stabilire e dimostrare la storicit di ogni manifestazione artistica.

Su proposta dei corsisti questa lezione fu pubblicata sullo Spettatore di Firenze nel 1855; pi tardi sarebbe entrata a far parte del volume Saggi critici11. probabile che intorno al 3 giugno De Sanctis abbia concluso anche il secondo corso di Torino, senza per poter concludere la presentazione della Divina Commedia: dovette fermarsi al Purgatorio.

A Torino fece lezioni, scrisse, pubblic12, si fece uneccellente fama nei circoli culturali. Purtroppo nella capitale del Piemonte 13 lesule napoletano trovava a stento il poco necessario al sostentamento e le prospettive di una cattedra universitaria erano inesistenti vista lavversit dellambiente accademico torinese. Cos che quando gli fu proposto (infatti gli era stato gi proposto a gennaio) di occupare la cattedra di letteratura italiana dellappena fondata Eidgenssische Polytechnische Schule di Zurigo accett senza indugi. Qui sarebbe entrato in un ancora pi fervido clima culturale, a lato di altri emigrati di sinistra, amici deccezione (Burckhardt, Vischer), sarebbe tornato su autori importanti (Quinet, Heine, Schopenhauer) e tutto questo avrebbe contribuito al compimento dei suoi principi di poetica realista.

A Zurigo inizi le sue conferenze con una introduzione ai primi secoli di letteratura italiana (Io voglio, o, signori, presentarvi la letteratura nel secolo chella letteratura, cio nel secolo XIV, quando la lingua e il pensiero

8 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., p. 349.

9 Sembra che nel pubblico si sia trovato un paio di volte Umberto di Savoia stesso, il futuro re.

10 V. anche Giuseppe Petronio, Lattivit letteraria in Italia. Storia della letteratura, Palumbo,

Palermo, 1984, p. 667 e Carlo Muscetta, Francesco De Sanctis, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1978, p. 101. 11

Morano, Napoli, 1869. 12

Anche da Zurigo continuer a pubblicare sulle gazzette di Torino. 13

O almeno di Genova.

ROXANA UTALE 26

acquistano una forma fissa14; un altro materiale che pi tardi avrebbe adoperato nella redazione dei primi capitoli della Storia) ma nei primi due semestri(dei nove che avrebbe trascorso a Zurigo) la sua intera attenzione and a Dante, perch in De Sanctis si era risvegliato lintento di scrivere alla fine il libro sul Fiorentino. A quellepoca risalgono i saggi apparsi su La rivista contemporanea di Torino: Dellargomento della Divina Commedia e Carattere di Dante e della sua utopia, che avrebbero dovuto costituire i primi capitoli del libro su Dante. Purtroppo la terza lezione non stata pubblicata e loriginale si perso. Ci sono rinvenute per le tormentate e tormentanti redazioni della quarta e quinta. Nellepistolario con lamico Camillo De Meis il critico dichiarava: No, Dante non ancora lho afferrato; unombra che mi sfugge sempre, e non posso fissarla15. Quindi abbandon la maledetta quarta lezione16 confessando di farlo per svogliatezza. Dicendo ci De Sanctis era onestissimo. Sergio Romagnoli17 pubblic per la prima volta questi manoscritti in possesso della Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli e ne esce la misura dello stress dellautore di questi due testi: li scriveva e riscriveva semplicemente ricopiando da una stesura allaltra intere pagine, ne sbagliava la numerazione ecc.18

Era il 1858 e senza rendersene conto De Sanctis cos lasciava Dante. Si sarebbero reincontrati solo nella rielaborazione di materiali pi vecchi per la Storia della letteratura italiana19 oppure in occasione della pubblicazione di volumi contenenti scritti ancora pi vecchi, Saggi critici oppure Francesca da Rimini secondo i suoi critici e secondo larte, Il Farinata di Dante, LUgolino di Dante (1869 in Nuova Antologia, poi in Nuovi saggi critici, 1873).

Tornando per alle lezioni di Zurigo (48 in tutto) va detto che anche a causa del periodo molto lungo oltrech della composizione del pubblico, De Sanctis s, riprese i materiali di Torino ma li ritagli diversamente, ridusse la loro tematica e la concentr, rinunci alla parte teorica introduttiva.

Questa decisione era, al di l del suo aspetto, anche di natura personale: a Torino non aveva fatto in tempo a presentare tutto, il Paradiso non laveva neanche iniziato. Cos che gli giov fare un ripasso dei suoi appunti sulle due

14 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., p. 526.

15 Francesco De Sanctis, Lettere dallesilio (1853-1860), a c. di Benedetto Croce, Laterza,

Bari, 1938, p. 179. 16

Idem. 17

Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., pp. 563-630. 18

Niente per pi emblematico dello stato di scontentezza di De Sanctis per il mancato progresso dei suoi lavori che il finale della prima redazione della quinta lezione: La poesia rappresentazione, e come tale, non pu attin; n Lezioni e saggi, cit., p. 591.

19 Solo che per il capitolo della Storia ..., come una ulteriore prova che, man mano che gli

anni passavano, le sue opinioni critiche ed estetiche si saldavano, De Sanctis sceglie di inversare lordine delle lezioni di Zurigo: parla prima dellallegoria e della poesia, dellopposizione tra il monod dellallegoria e quello poetico, dellideale morale del poeta e solo dopo attacca la genesi della Divina Commedia.

ITINERARI CRITICI DANTESCHI: FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS 27

cantiche. cos che ritroviamo quasi immutate met delle tematiche. Per altre invece sent il bisogno, da un lato, di concettualizzare di pi e di partire da Dante per allargare poi il discorso verso la letteratura universale, verso la teoria letteraria (perch egli non si limit alla stretta trattazione di Dante ma si era anche proposto di seguire le caratteristiche di una vera sperimentazione di un criterio generale di interpretazione). Dallaltro, rinunciare sempre di pi alla forma didattica delle presentazioni, allanalisi testuale (ad esempio, allanalisi di ognuno dei canti) nellintento di trovare lequilibrio tra lanalisi estetica e le questioni collegate alla critica.

De Sanctis aveva tentato questo approccio anche a Napoli, a scala ridotta certo, perch era stato da sempre contrario alla critica a spizzico e a bocconi20. Per nei testi del 1842-43, cos come sono stati ricomposti dagli appunti di svariati corsisti e dai ricordi dettati dal critico (nel 1882) nellultimo capitolo di La giovinezza di Francesco de Sanctis 21 , a quella data sembra che il suo tentativo di mantenere un equilibrio interpretativo nella polemica tra il Classicismo e il Romanticismo non gli abbia permesso di svolgere pienamente le sue abilit critiche e i tentativi di dare uninterpretazione teorica alla sua critica non labbiano soddisfatto. Solo quando, ormai pi maturo e pi sicuro sulle sue doti interpretative, permise che lincontro tra lautore e il critico avvenisse allinterno dellopera poetica, giunse a rivive[re] con lui la genesi della poesia e le passioni del suo animo e del suo tempo22.

Nella quarta lezione di Torino rispettivamente terza di Zurigo stabil quali erano le caratteristiche di ciascuno dei generi e prov ad applicarle successivamente alla Divina. Tutte le volte per cera qualcosa che traboccava. E ci non poteva significare che: Di tal fatta la Divina Commedia, che per vastit di contenuto entra a tutte innanzi, o, per dir meglio, essa il contenuto universale, di cui tutte le poesie non sono che frammenti (...) Essa non dunque questo o quel genere di poesia, ma tutta la poesia in tutte le sue forme essenziali.23

Il concetto di forma sta infatti non solo al centro degli scritti su Dante ma di tutte le sue analisi letterarie. Superata laccezione hegeliana di forma

(Il sistema sospingeva Hegel a cercare nella forma lidea; ma il sistema non lo sospinse sino a disconoscere lunit organica dellidea e della forma, anzi la sua maggior gloria di avere altamente proclamata la contemporaneit dei due termini nello spirito del poeta, e di aver posta leccellenza dellarte nellunit personale in cui lidea sta involuta e come smemorata24),

20 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., p.381.

21 Francesco De Sanctis, La giovinezza di Francesco De Santis, a c. di Pasquale Villari,

Morano, Napoli, 1889; apud Sergio Romagnoli, n Lezioni e saggi, cit., pp. XVI-XVIII. 22

Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., p. XIX. 23

Ibid., pp. 99-100. 24

Ibid., p. 604.

ROXANA UTALE 28

De Sanctis cerc a lungo il proprio linguaggio, cos che non raramente finito in imprecisioni, inconguenze di natura terminologica notate da tanti dei suoi commentatori25. Per una volta definito ed esplicitato, esso apparve nella sua piena pertinenza:

La forma vive nel seno stesso della materia; ciascun argomento ha in s la sua poetica, cio le sue leggi organiche, le sue condizioni vitali, in cui posta la sua personalit, quello per il quale esso s e non altro: e quel lavoro perfetto che come un individuo compiuto, proprio ed incomunicabile26;

cio la forma compiuta allorquando gli elementi obiettivi e soggettivi si fondono perfettamente.

In seguito De Sanctis volle chiarire ai suoi corsisti di Torino oppure di Zurigo ma anche ai lettori di tutte le sue opere su Dante quanto fosse gigantesca la confusione in cui i commentatori indifferentemente della loro origine27 avevano affondato Dante facendo della Divina Commedia un testo quasi illeggibile, nel quale il lettore avrebbe dovuto trovarsi perennemente in uno stato di allerta, pronto in qualsiasi momento a scoprire il senso celato di unimmagine. Partendo proprio da unaffermazione dal valore assiomatico, che la Divina un poema allegorico, De Sanctis present alcune delle proposte pi strambe di decodificazione del testo: dalle interpretazioni mistico-religiose a quelle socio-politiche, a quelle filosofiche ecc., per trovare poi anche una possibile motivazione a questa fioritura delle interpretazioni:

Ebbene, lallegoria fu una specie di salvacondotto, per il quale la poesia pot avere il suo diritto di cittadinanza e ricevere il battesimo nel mondo cristiano. Cos il Boccaccio nel suo commento sopra Dante prova lungamente che poesia e teologia solo lo stesso (...). Linterpretazione allegorica necessaria per gustare e apprezzare una poesia? (...) tempo che nella grande poesia si cerchi la poesia, quella sola per cui Dante immortale28.

Ed per questo che avverte i suoi studenti che il Dante che io vi spiego me lo foggio io29. Una posizione alla quale rimase sempre fedele, tanto da riformularla con maggiore autorit e allargandole larea di azione in Nuovi saggi critici 30: Gittate

25 Infatti limprecisione non colpisce solo il concetto di forma ma, almeno nel caso presente,

cio Dante, De Sanctis non particolarmente costante n con quello di artista, n con quello di Risorgimento (che adopera per Rinascimento; v. i Dante Della Terza, Francesco De Sanctis e il Medioevo, n D. Della Terza, M. DAmbrosio, G. Scognamiglio, Tradizione e innovazione. Studi su De Sanctis, Croce e Pirandello, Liguori editore, Napoli, 1999, pp. 5-13) oppure di Medioevo.

26 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., p. 82.

27 I tedeschi si trovano per tra i suoi bersagli prediletti.

28 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., pp. 408-409.

29 Ibid., p. 305.

30 Il volume raccoglie scritti del periodo 1868-1869, ma stato pubblicato con la Morano,

Napoli, n 1872.

ITINERARI CRITICI DANTESCHI: FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS 29

via i commenti e avvezzatevi a leggere gli autori tra voi e loro solamente. Ci che non capite, non vale la pena che sia capito: quello solo bello che chiaro.31

Si gi capito che una delle costanti di lavoro di De Sanctis era la sistematica demolizione dei pregiudizi letterari. Quasi tutti gli studi danteschi precedenti a lui non lo soddisfacevano e anche le loro pretese di offrire al pubblico diverse versioni romanzate della vita di Dante. Quindi non poteva lasciarsi scappare lopportunit di fare luce anche su ci. Quasi ironicamente (anche se De Sanctis pure quando criticava i pi maldestri commentatori lo faceva gentilmente) abbozz anche egli dieci righe di vita dellautore: qualera il suo nome, come si era innamorato di Beatrice, come aveva sofferto alla morte di lei, come era entrato in politica, come fu odiato ed odi, fu offeso ed offese32 ecc., per poi dimostrare quanto potesse essere errata la convinzione che i dati biografici potrebbero spiegare la complessit dellopera di un artista: la vera vita di Dante, che rimane a fare, la storia della sua anima, il determinare del suo ingegno, il suo carattere, le sue passioni33.

E nelle lezioni immediatamente seguenti mostr come lo stesso processo di filtrazione della realt attraverso la mente e lanima dellartista avviene anche nel caso della trasformazione del suo personaggio e applic il tutto a Beatrice. Lei una nella Vita nuova ed unaltra nella Divina; nella mente di Dante lei ha subito le naturali modifiche presupposte dallo scivolamento dalla realt verso larte:

Cos la nuova Beatrice contiene in s lantica, ed ancora qualcosa di pi: il primo e il secondo amore, la donna, la santa e lidea, il passato e il presente di Dante, non figura luno dellaltro, ma fusi insieme, il fantasma del passato trasformato dal tempo e trasfigurato dalla poesia (...). La poesia trasfigurazione, la realt innalzata a verit34.

Ma anche

Dante, come Beatrice, un personaggio non operante, ma contemplante, un essere allegorico, luomo o lanima nella storia della sua redenzione: unidea, non un carattere. Ma in seno a questo Dante ascetico e teologico, venuto dalla scuola e dai libri, rimasto vivo laltro Dante, quale la storia ce lo dipinge e quale lo abbiamo veduto dianzi: il partigiano, il patriota, lesule, lo sdegnoso e vendicativo Dante, tutto umano e carnale, in flagrante contraddizione con quello35.

Tutto in una perfetta coerenza con il concetto di forma che De Sanctis proponeva: Per me, lessenza dellarte la forma (...) ma la forma, in cui lidea gi passata, ed a cui lindividuo si gi innalzato: qui la vera unit organica dellarte36.

31 Francesco De Sanctis, Lezioni e saggi, cit., p. 635.

32 Ibid., p. 125.

33 Ibid., p. 377.

34 Ibid., pp. 144-145.

35 Ibid., p. 656.

36 Ibid., p. 609.

ROXANA UTALE 30

Allesperienza personale e sentimentale, Dante aggiunse anche quella intellettuale: Dante stato dottissimo: abbracci quasi tutto lo scibile (...): teologia, filosofia, storia, mitologia, giurisprudenza, astronomia, fisica, matematica, rettorica, poetica, fece suo tutto il mondo intellettuale di quel tempo37. E, per spiegare lo spessore di informazione delluniverso dantesco, De Sanctis prov a scrivere quelle insoddisfacenti quarta e quinta lezioni del pensato libro su Dante. Infatti consideriamo si possa affermare che la massima profondit dellanalisi dantesca fu raggiunta appunto in questi testi. Come gi detto, gli studi anteriori, quelli di Napoli oppure di Torino (con lestensione di Zurigo) non erano che il cantiere del pensiero del critico e i capitoli della Storia della letteratura italiana lultimo sguardo di De Sanctis a Dante dovevano rispettare certi canoni: inizialmente la Storia ... doveva essere un manuale ad uso dei licei, doveva avere una certa dimensione (duramente negoziata dallautore con il suo editore) ecc.38 Erano quindi lesposizione delle conclusioni alle quali era giunto De Sanctis dopo tre lustri di analisi. Per i saggi Dellargomento della Divina Commedia e Carattere di Dante e sua utopia, da un lato, e le due lezioni incompiute, dallaltro, danno la vera misura di quello che sarebbe dovuto essere il libro su Dante.

Soprattutto la maledetta quarta lezione in cui De Sanctis provava e riprovava a sorprendere la chiave dellinterpretazione di Dante. In essa si discuteva della maniera in cui lautore incorpora il volume delle conoscenze assimilate ma anche il ruolo che esse occupano nella realizzazione dellallegoria generale del poema. Pensando allattaccamento cos insistentemente manifestato per Dante, il lettore potrebbe trovare sorprendenti i brani in cui De Sanctis espone gli errori commessi nella composizione della Divina:

Il poeta ha voluto innalzarsi in una regione trascendente la poesia, nella regione della scienza; ha fatto di essa scienza lo scopo della poesia; ha voluto far servire la materia poetica a questo scopo. Ha voluto tre cose assurde, contradditorie; Omero non ci ha voluto mettere un secondo senso, e Dante ce lha messo. Tanto peggio per Dante. Si voluto dare una pena infinita per giustificare le sue finzioni, e questo gli forse costato pi fatica che tutto il resto. Ond che la sua storia non n s chiara, n s intelligibile, n s compiuta, come la storia omerica, e non fa lo stesso piacere39,

paradossalmente per lesito si rivel molto pi interessante dellintento. Se Dante ci fosse rimasto coerente dice De Sanctis , non avrebbe ottenuto che un facsimile dellopera del suo maestro, Brunetto Latini. Allontanandosi per dagli obiettivi stabiliti in partenza, Dante avrebbe cominciato a provare un

37 Ibid., p. 554.

38 Per pi informazioni, v. Benedetto Croce, Come fu scritta La storia della letteratura

italiana, in Una famiglia di patrioti ed altri saggi, Bari, 1949, pp. 267-76, ma anche Storia della letteratura italiana. Nota bibliografica, cit., pp. 223-239.

39 Ibid., p. 630.

ITINERARI CRITICI DANTESCHI: FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS 31

sentimento di inquietudine: la sua finzione non poteva essere credibile, non aveva un senso; cio tutto quanto le avrebbe conferito valore e lavrebbe giustificata. Di conseguenza avrebbe cominciato ad aggiungerci epiteti, circostanze il cui ruolo sarebbe stato di tenere desta lattenzione del lettore per poter afferrare quel senso secondo. Cos traviato da una falsa poetica guasta la poesia e non giova alla scienza. Questo il difetto della poesia dantesca; questo fa che la non sia schietta poesia; il difetto generato da quella torta concezione; dallo stare ostinato in sulle idee40.

In assenza di una conclusione del libro su Dante non ci possiamo affidare che allultima, cio quella messa in conclusione al VII capitolo della Storia..., dedicato alla Commedia: In quelle profondit [del mondo di Dante] scavano i secoli, e vi trovano sempre nuove ispirazioni e nuovi pensieri. L vive involto ancora e nodoso e pregno di misteri quel mondo, che (...) si chiama oggi letteratura moderna41.

Purtroppo De Sanctis ha avuto, come Dante stesso, i suoi limiti e i suoi intenti falliti. Non ha capito quanto fosse avanti la critica che praticava e perci non ha elaborato una definizione filosofico-sistemica42. E questo ha condotto a mende nella sua opera: non ha potuto proprorre una terminologia coerente, n riuscito a superare le posizioni romantiche ed idealistico-hegeliane. Inoltre aveva ragione almeno in parte Gabriele DAnnunzio, cos attento all abito di uno scritto, quando diceva che lopera di De Sanctis, essendo priva di quella resistente virt che lo stile, dovr in breve perire43. I suoi scritti non sono necessariamente periti prova sta che, tanto tempo dopo laffermazione di DAnnunzio, cio negli anni 60-70 del Novecento, la sua opera ha conosciuto una seconda fortuna, ulteriore a quella procuratale dallattivit di editore di Croce ma rendono difficile la lettura e alcuni dei giudizie oggi fanno proprio ridere. Sin dai tempi di Croce era nata la domanda cosa resta tuttora della critica di De Sanctis?, qualunque fosse quel tuttora. Di sicuro un metodo che i posteri hanno adattato, che ha fatto storia e che ancora non ha smesso di essere appetibile ai critici. Ma anche un atteggiamento di patriota e () educatore etico-politico44.

40 Ibid., p. 627.

41 Francesco De Sanctis, Storia della letteratura italiana, cit., p. 287.

42 Cfr. anche Gennaro Savarese, Leggere De Sanctis oggi, in Francesco De Sanctis. Recenti

ricerche, Atti del convegno di studi organizzato dallIstituto per gli Studi Filosofici e dalla Provincia di Avellino, Avellino, 1-2- marzo 1985, Edizioni Quattroventi, Urbino,1989, p. 40: Quello che invecchia pi rapidamente in uno storico e critic letetrario come De Sanctis [] la parte sistemica.

43 Gabriele DAnnunzio, Prose di ricera, di lotta, di comando, di conquista, di tormento,

dindovinamento, di rinnovamento, di celebrazione, di rivendicazione, di liberazione, di favole, di giuochi, di baleni, a c. di E. Bianchetti, Mondadori, Milano, 1956, vol. III, p. 341.

44 Paolo Jachia, Introduzione a Francesco De Sanctis, Laterza Editori, Roma-Bari, 1996, p. 68.

ROXANA UTALE 32

BIBLIOGRAFIA

De Sanctis, Francesco (1955), Lezioni e saggi su Dante, a c. di Sergio Romagnoli, Giulio Einaudi, Torino. De Sanctis, Francesco (1889), La giovinezza di Francesco De Sanctis, a c. di Pasquale Villari,

Morano, Napoli. De Sanctis, Francesco (1968), Storia della letteratura italiana, U.T.E.T., Torino. Croce, Benedetto (1949), Come fu scritta La storia della letetratura italiana, in Una famiglia

di patrioti ed altri saggi, Bari. Croce, Benedetto (2007), Storia della letteratura italiana. Nota bibliografica, in Scritti su Francesco

De Sanctis, a c. do Teodoro Tagliaferri e Fulvio Tessitore, Giannini editore, Napoli. DAnnuzio, Gabriele (1956), Prose di ricera, di lotta, di comando, di conquista, di tormento,

dindovinamento, di rinnovamento, di celebrazione, di rivendicazione, di liberazione, di favole, di giuochi, di baleni, a c. di Egidio Bianchetti, Mondadori, Milano.

Della Terza, Dante (1999), Francesco De Sanctis e il Medioevo, in Dante Della Terza, Matteo DAmbrosio, Giuseppina Scognamiglio (eds.), Tradizione e innovazione. Studi su De Sanctis, Croce e Pirandello, Liguori, Napoli, pp. 5-13.

Jachia, Paolo (1996), Introduzione a Francesco De Sanctis, Laterza Editori, Roma-Bari. Muscetta, Carlo (1978), Francesco De Sanctis, Laterza, Roma-Bari. Petronio, Giuseppe (1984), Lattivit letteraria in Italia. Storia della letteratura, Palumbo, Palermo. Savarese, Gennaro (1989), Leggere De Sanctis oggi, in Francesco De Sanctis. Recenti ricerche,

Atti del convegno di studi organizzato dallIstituto per gli Studi Filosofici e dalla Provincia di Avellino, Avellino, 1-2 marzo 1985, Edizioni Quattroventi, Urbino.

RGIME DIURNE ET RGIME NOCTURNE DE LIMAGE DANS LUVRE DALAIN-FOURNIER

MARIA SRBU*

DIURNAL ORDER AND NOCTURNAL ORDER OF THE IMAGE IN ALAIN-FOURNIERS WORK

Abstract

Our study aims to identify, in Alain-Fourniers work, the symbolic values of the two orders analyzed by Durand. We found that the significant images cluster around the discovery of the Lost Estate. The moral height and purity required by the diurnal set of symbols are essential conditions to access the Estate. These characteristics of the Lost Estate are fulfilled by Yvonne. The same image can combine symbolic values of the diurnal and nocturnal order, but it is the nocturnal order that dominates Fourniers work. The discovery of the mysterious Domain, land of the privacy dreamed by Meaulnes, supposes an initiatory journey, placed by Durand among the cyclic symbols of the nocturnal order. Meaulnes existential quest is presented in terms of an optimism that overcomes any difficulty.

Keywords: orders of the image, Alain-Fournier, quest, discovery, elevation.

Gilbert Durand regroupe les images en deux rgimes : le rgime diurne de la hauteur, de la puret et de lantithse, et le rgime nocturne de linversion, de lintimit et des euphmismes. Il comprend par rgime un groupe de structures smantiques dfinies comme des formes transformables, jouant le rle de protocole motivateur pour tout un groupement dimages. Il dfinit le rgime diurne comme un rgime de lantithse en soulignant que, si la nuit a une existence symbolique autonome, la lumire, par contre, ne peut pas exister sans les tnbres et le rgime nocturne comme un rgime de la conversion et de leuphmisme. Selon Durand, il y a, dune part, des symboles du rgime nocturne qui se caractrisent par une inversion de la valeur affective attribue aux visages du temps, de sorte quau sein de la nuit lesprit pressent la lumire, la chute devient descente, labme prend la forme dune coupe, ltre entrevoit un espace intime et protecteur. Dautre part, il y a les symboles du retour ou les

* Universit Alexandru Ioan Cuza de Iasi, Roumanie, bleu_mariaa@yahoo.com.

MARIA SRBU

34

symboles cycliques qui visent rechercher et dcouvrir un facteur de stabilit lintrieur du temps et synthtiser les aspirations un monde au-del de la transcendance et des intuitions immanentes du devenir. A lintrieur de ce groupe, la nuit par exemple nest quune promesse de laube. Durand (1977 : 70, 77, 80, 243-244)

Lunivers imaginaire dAlain-Fournier pourrait tre dcrit par des symboles du rgime diurne des symboles thriomorphes (les symboles prenant une forme animale), ascensionnels (les symboles de llvation) et diartiques (les symboles qui exigent un procd dialectique, o ils affrontent leur contraire) , aussi bien que par des symboles du rgime nocturne des symboles de linversion et de lintimit et des symboles cycliques.

1. Rgime diurne

La dcouverte du Domaine sans nom vnement essentiel du Grand Meaulnes qui exige une me pure au voyageur subissant les preuves de linitiation, est prcde par lapparition dune tourelle grise qui ressemble un vieux pigeonnier. Le renvoi indirect au pigeon oiseau rang par Durand parmi les symboles thriomorphes de la puret suggre ltat dme de ltudiant gar. Longtemps aprs, Meaulnes avoue quil est arriv au Domaine lorsquil tait un degr de puret quil natteindrait jamais plus. Alain-Fournier (2000 : 160) La puret, mais aussi linstinct dlvation et de sublimation se rattachent aux figures fminines (Yvonne de Galais, Valentine et leurs inspiratrices) associes la prsence doiseaux : hirondelle, tourterelle, pigeon ou colombe. Yvonne de Galais lui semble toute frmissante, comme une hirondelle un instant pose terre et qui dj tremble du dsir de reprendre son vol. Alain-Fournier (2000 : 72-73) ; Colombe Blanchet est une chaste jeune fille admirable Alain-Fournier (1990 : 31-32) Fournier se voit lui-mme le veilleur aux colombes, la vieille me trs pure Alain-Fournier et Jacques Rivire (1926-1928, tome IV : 153) ou bien il imagine, dans A travers les ts , un aprs-midi la Maison des Tourterelles Alain-Fournier (1986c : 130) avec la jeune fille quil aime.

Lascension fascine Fournier au moins autant que la puret. Un extrait dIbsen de Solness le Constructeur, o le mouvement vertical est attribu une tour est retenu par lavide chercheur de significations quil est :

Ibsen. Solness le Constructeur. Beau. Grand symbole. Une tour ? Que voulez-vous dire ? Je songe quelque chose qui slve Qui slve librement dans les airs ! Alain-Fournier (1930 :100)

Son enthousiasme pour les images dlvation se manifeste sous plusieurs formes. Action ralise par des personnages, attribut des objets ou des forces

RGIME DIURNE ET RGIME NOCTURNE DE LIMAGE DANS LUVRE DALAIN-FOURNIER

35

motionnelles, lascension est arbore aussi bien dans le roman que dans les lettres. Un jour, Fournier aperoit des montagnes qui paraissent merger dun gouffre immense dont la ligne dhorizon serait un bord ; un autre, lors des manuvres militaires, il prouve la grande et furtive satisfaction davoir encourag rellement ses soldats, sentiment quil sent monter sous lui et qui est, dans son opinion, peut-tre plus prcieux quune grande passion ou un grand amour. Son livre mme est projet comme une gradation ascensionnelle ; son point terminus aboutit au sommet de la puret et du sacrifice, cest--dire la joie : Et puis, il y aura une troisime partie, o le personnage de la premire (de lenfance) reviendra et cela montera plus haut que la puret, plus haut que le sacrifice, plus haut que toute la dsolation la joie Alain-Fournier (1930 : 269, 268) ; Alain-Fournier et Jacques Rivire (1926-1928, tome IV : 244). Le sjour au Domaine suppose non seulement un certain tat spirituel (la puret), mais aussi lascension vers une rgion chaste o rgnent les enfants. Avant dentrer dans sa chambre du vieux chteau, Meaulnes doit franchir le mur moussu qui se trouve entre la lisire du bois et la cour du domaine. Une fois le mur surmont, lascension continue. Le mur et les voitures qui remplissent la cour reprsentent les marches dun escalier imaginaire, appuy sur la terre pour figurer le monde mortel en tant que support partir duquel toute ascension doit commencer. Meaulnes passe dune voiture lautre, du sige dun char bancs au toit dune berline pour arriver une fentre des annexes. La dernire marche avant la fentre est le sige dun haut char bancs ; de l, il arrive la hauteur de la fentre , quil pousse sans bruit comme une porte Alain-Fournier (2000 : 55). La dernire voiture et la fentre portent visiblement la marque de la hauteur.

Cependant, selon Durand, les escaliers descendent toujours; monter dans le grenier ou dans le chambres situs ltage cest toujours descendre dans le cur du mystre, un mystre nuanc par lisolement et lintimit. Durand (1977 : 304) Lendroit cach dans le bois, la fte et ses participants sont tranges pour Meaulnes, et le simple fait dtre prs de Meaulnes et dcouter lhistoire de ces aventures plonge Seurel dans le mystre. Le grenier de la maison de Sainte-Agathe est le lieu propice des confessions. Cest l que Meaulnes raconte Seurel son trange aventure quil avait si longtemps garde pour lui et qui chassait son sommeil, de sorte que, vers une heure du matin, Seurel tait rveill par le bruit de ses pas et le trouvait dambulant vers la c