Le Nouvel Observateur , 13 / 11/05
SACRED JESUIT! By Philippe Sollers
Just today still use the word "Jesuit" for cause immediately, especially in France, a rejection of bias. There are words like that, "Manichean", "Machiavellian" or, once, when you do not understand something, "is Hebrew "or" it's Chinese. " Jesuit means, therefore, long: false, hidden, hypocritical, evil, dark, scheming, perverse. In comparison, we are genuine, true, frank, honest, moral, fraternal, pure. Do not tell me that a Jesuit could be a thinker and a writer of genius, and he remains today, a news and modernity burning. It's impossible, I think not. And yet, though. And here it is: Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) finally assembled and beautifully translated and annotated by his connoisseur Benito PelegrÃn.
What historians, after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), called the Counter-Reformation Catholic opening on the baroque is actually the foundation of a new religion that has only distant relationship with the former program doleful. The Puritan Protestants and Jansenists have managed this miracle: to create a revolutionary attack against which we are still dazzled. Gracian, its treaties, participates fully in this dazzling infinity. Not English as a language, has gone to such splendor. Concentration, brevity, multiple points of view, intelligence, spirals, spillage, volts, it is as if God, we wanted to align and simplify, enslave channel and, in short, gentrify, replaying in his dimension elusive, incomprehensible, free, infinite, aristocratic. Gracian inaugurates a religion of the spirit "in the shadow of the Holy Spirit." Christianity and the Word become Enlightenment. It sounds extravagant, but it does. [...]
Against the flattening and the billowing threatening (Future of Capitalism), it is therefore sunk to form singularities. "What I want you unique! "Says Gracian, starting with a master stroke at age 35:" Hero. " Follow the "Policy ',' The Honest Man "(" El Decreto Tell ")," Oracle Manual "," Art and Figures of the Spirit ", all written under the name of Lorenzo Gracian (name of his brother) for not too offend the rule of the Company. He was called to order? It continues unabated. It is also unusual insolent, he can count on an enlightened patron, he receives his royalties, he must delay when he persists in it alone. At the end of his life, still a great novel under a pseudonym, the "Criticon" but at the same time, under his real name of religion, an "Art of Communion," marvelously mystical rhetoric. In sum, constantly at war with the energy of the devil in the service of God. Castiglione is a deeper, more assertive in a Machiavelli and lyrical. It will be widely read, plundered, imitated throughout Europe. It inspires the French moralists (La Rochefoucauld), is translated by Schopenhauer, is, of course, Nietzsche's ear. "Great men never die," he said, and it's true: there he is, paradoxically, as an author for the future (he seems to think in Chinese). The world is a void, nothingness is "a lot", but the language itself is more. Look, listen, what takes place in "the intense depth of the word." "The style is laconic and oracular so divinely, as the most sacred scriptures, even in its punctuation, it contains mysteries. "
The Hero is not the Prince, it can be anyone, you, me, someone else, the door of heaven is open, but the lie must reign and thus restrict arm to escape. "That all may know that no one understands you, for by this ruse, the few published many, many infinite, and infinitely more. The hero is the man of any community or any party, he exercised, he protects himself, he is a "prudent audacity" or an "intelligent fearlessness." The nothingness of the world is his opponent, he never plays the move that it implies, much less what he wants. What dominates? Stupidity, wickedness. "All those who appear are fools, more than half of those who do not appear. "It's the world, greedy, acid. Does this mean withdrawing from the scene? Hand not the contrary.
There may be an art of sound, combined with the subterranean solitude more lucid. No ascetic, practice, no martyrdom, the gap. Everything around you, maneuvers of interest background of jealousy, resentment, revenge? Irrelevant: you will "divert, nourishing, malice. "Exercise your enemies, they ask that. But beware: "Regardless of being right with a face that is wrong. Fortunately, thanks to the sharpness of your mind (agudeza, the great word of Gracian, that evokes the tip of the sword and the sharpness of the eagle), you shall not fear the chance, "What the mind can be great opportunities in the sudden! "The mind is a chance, a flash, an allusion to the angelic realms. That's why this disciple of Loyola is up say: "We must use human means as though there was no divine and divine as if there were no humans. "There, of course, everybody cries of cynicism, then it is simply the division of powers. Anyway, you know where you stand on the power and glory: "The glory is not to be the first in time but in quality. "
Gracian has always insisted that his books are published in paperback. You walk with him, you read it, you re-read, like Nietzsche or Chuang-tzu. You come across: "Everything must be double, and more sources profit, benefit, pleasure. "Or:" Understanding was once the art of arts. It is not enough, we must guess. "Or:" Do not expect anything of a sad face. "Or:" The trouble is usually a result of the stupidity, and there is no disease more contagious. "The es-took him, is" ambidextrous ", he always speaks on both sides at once, with two main qualities: ease, taste. "We measure the height of an ability to rise to his taste. "What you need to do? "Squirting slowly act quickly. "You're looking for the lost time? "We must walk to through the spaces of time until the heart of the occasion. And this, unexpected, amazing, extreme: "In short, be holy, because it's all up in one word. "You do not expect this new definition of holiness, I guess.
is that you have not yet understood the new anatomy, "look at things inside." See how do the saints: "They know much decipher the intentions and purposes, as they always have the appropriate figure-cons. The deception can boast only a few victories over them, and ignorance even less. "Better still, when Gracian wants to do his own eulogy, here's how he speaks of a Neapolitan prince: "Nothing could equal the mastery he displayed in the most desperate situations, his imperturbable logic, his brilliance of performance, ease of his process, the rapidity of his success . Where other bent back, he plunged his hand into the dough. His vigilance did not know the unexpected, nor his vivid confusion in an outpouring of ingenuity and wisdom. He could lose the favors of fortune, save honor.
"Treaties political, aesthetic, ethical," by Baltasar Gracian, translated from English, introduces and annotated by Benito PelegrÃn, Seuil, 940 p., 33 euros.
By Philippe Sollers
SACRED JESUIT! By Philippe Sollers
Just today still use the word "Jesuit" for cause immediately, especially in France, a rejection of bias. There are words like that, "Manichean", "Machiavellian" or, once, when you do not understand something, "is Hebrew "or" it's Chinese. " Jesuit means, therefore, long: false, hidden, hypocritical, evil, dark, scheming, perverse. In comparison, we are genuine, true, frank, honest, moral, fraternal, pure. Do not tell me that a Jesuit could be a thinker and a writer of genius, and he remains today, a news and modernity burning. It's impossible, I think not. And yet, though. And here it is: Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) finally assembled and beautifully translated and annotated by his connoisseur Benito PelegrÃn.
What historians, after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), called the Counter-Reformation Catholic opening on the baroque is actually the foundation of a new religion that has only distant relationship with the former program doleful. The Puritan Protestants and Jansenists have managed this miracle: to create a revolutionary attack against which we are still dazzled. Gracian, its treaties, participates fully in this dazzling infinity. Not English as a language, has gone to such splendor. Concentration, brevity, multiple points of view, intelligence, spirals, spillage, volts, it is as if God, we wanted to align and simplify, enslave channel and, in short, gentrify, replaying in his dimension elusive, incomprehensible, free, infinite, aristocratic. Gracian inaugurates a religion of the spirit "in the shadow of the Holy Spirit." Christianity and the Word become Enlightenment. It sounds extravagant, but it does. [...]
Against the flattening and the billowing threatening (Future of Capitalism), it is therefore sunk to form singularities. "What I want you unique! "Says Gracian, starting with a master stroke at age 35:" Hero. " Follow the "Policy ',' The Honest Man "(" El Decreto Tell ")," Oracle Manual "," Art and Figures of the Spirit ", all written under the name of Lorenzo Gracian (name of his brother) for not too offend the rule of the Company. He was called to order? It continues unabated. It is also unusual insolent, he can count on an enlightened patron, he receives his royalties, he must delay when he persists in it alone. At the end of his life, still a great novel under a pseudonym, the "Criticon" but at the same time, under his real name of religion, an "Art of Communion," marvelously mystical rhetoric. In sum, constantly at war with the energy of the devil in the service of God. Castiglione is a deeper, more assertive in a Machiavelli and lyrical. It will be widely read, plundered, imitated throughout Europe. It inspires the French moralists (La Rochefoucauld), is translated by Schopenhauer, is, of course, Nietzsche's ear. "Great men never die," he said, and it's true: there he is, paradoxically, as an author for the future (he seems to think in Chinese). The world is a void, nothingness is "a lot", but the language itself is more. Look, listen, what takes place in "the intense depth of the word." "The style is laconic and oracular so divinely, as the most sacred scriptures, even in its punctuation, it contains mysteries. "
The Hero is not the Prince, it can be anyone, you, me, someone else, the door of heaven is open, but the lie must reign and thus restrict arm to escape. "That all may know that no one understands you, for by this ruse, the few published many, many infinite, and infinitely more. The hero is the man of any community or any party, he exercised, he protects himself, he is a "prudent audacity" or an "intelligent fearlessness." The nothingness of the world is his opponent, he never plays the move that it implies, much less what he wants. What dominates? Stupidity, wickedness. "All those who appear are fools, more than half of those who do not appear. "It's the world, greedy, acid. Does this mean withdrawing from the scene? Hand not the contrary.
There may be an art of sound, combined with the subterranean solitude more lucid. No ascetic, practice, no martyrdom, the gap. Everything around you, maneuvers of interest background of jealousy, resentment, revenge? Irrelevant: you will "divert, nourishing, malice. "Exercise your enemies, they ask that. But beware: "Regardless of being right with a face that is wrong. Fortunately, thanks to the sharpness of your mind (agudeza, the great word of Gracian, that evokes the tip of the sword and the sharpness of the eagle), you shall not fear the chance, "What the mind can be great opportunities in the sudden! "The mind is a chance, a flash, an allusion to the angelic realms. That's why this disciple of Loyola is up say: "We must use human means as though there was no divine and divine as if there were no humans. "There, of course, everybody cries of cynicism, then it is simply the division of powers. Anyway, you know where you stand on the power and glory: "The glory is not to be the first in time but in quality. "
Gracian has always insisted that his books are published in paperback. You walk with him, you read it, you re-read, like Nietzsche or Chuang-tzu. You come across: "Everything must be double, and more sources profit, benefit, pleasure. "Or:" Understanding was once the art of arts. It is not enough, we must guess. "Or:" Do not expect anything of a sad face. "Or:" The trouble is usually a result of the stupidity, and there is no disease more contagious. "The es-took him, is" ambidextrous ", he always speaks on both sides at once, with two main qualities: ease, taste. "We measure the height of an ability to rise to his taste. "What you need to do? "Squirting slowly act quickly. "You're looking for the lost time? "We must walk to through the spaces of time until the heart of the occasion. And this, unexpected, amazing, extreme: "In short, be holy, because it's all up in one word. "You do not expect this new definition of holiness, I guess.
is that you have not yet understood the new anatomy, "look at things inside." See how do the saints: "They know much decipher the intentions and purposes, as they always have the appropriate figure-cons. The deception can boast only a few victories over them, and ignorance even less. "Better still, when Gracian wants to do his own eulogy, here's how he speaks of a Neapolitan prince: "Nothing could equal the mastery he displayed in the most desperate situations, his imperturbable logic, his brilliance of performance, ease of his process, the rapidity of his success . Where other bent back, he plunged his hand into the dough. His vigilance did not know the unexpected, nor his vivid confusion in an outpouring of ingenuity and wisdom. He could lose the favors of fortune, save honor.
"Treaties political, aesthetic, ethical," by Baltasar Gracian, translated from English, introduces and annotated by Benito PelegrÃn, Seuil, 940 p., 33 euros.
By Philippe Sollers
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