Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 3. The Reaction in FranceBrandes, Georg
History
Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 3. The Reaction in France
Brandes, Georg
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Naturalism in literature; Romanticism
In the state it leads to the principle of right being superseded by
the principle of might--which goes by the name of divine power, and
becomes monarchy by the grace of God. In society it banishes the
idea of fraternity, substituting a half-patriarchal, half-tyrannical
paternal relation--the idea of equality being simultaneously superseded
by that of dependence. In the domain of morality it effaces the inward
law and substitutes papal bulls and the decrees of church councils. It
does not look upon religion as faith, but as a bond, as the "political
fetter" which the Revolutionists had so lately upbraided it with being.
It champions indissolubility in marriage and in the state. It teaches
that language was a direct gift to man from God, thereby stifling
the science of language at its birth in order to erect a theological
pyramid above its corpse. It makes real scientific progress impossible
by keeping all inquiry and research in the leading-strings of powerful
outward authority. It dulls the understanding of the rising generation
by entrusting its education to a corps of cultivated, well-bred
half-men, sworn to blind obedience to the General of the Jesuit order.
And as this same idea, not long after its first vigorous appearance,
attains to the possession of a literature, it soon sets its mark upon
fiction, upon lyric poetry, from ballad and song to ode and hymn, nay,
even upon the drama. In literature, too, the lily reigns. The new
school becomes known as the seraphic school. Its heroes, its typical
characters, are martyrs, as in Chateaubriand's writings, or prophets,
as in Hugo's and De Vigny's. Its poets seek their inspiration and their
points of departure in the Bible and Milton. Authoresses like Madame de
Krüdener play the rôle of prophetesses, and as such exercise a distinct
influence on the social development of the period. The consecration
of the King and the birth of the Crown Prince call forth high-flown
and deeply reflective poems from such authors as Hugo and Lamartine.
The birth of the Count de Chambord is little less than a miracle, and
is celebrated in song throughout the country. Chateaubriand, with
the cross in his hands, drives heathen mythology out of fiction; and
with the cross in their hands, Lamartine and Hugo expel it from lyric
poetry. On the stage the Knights Templar and the Maccabees (whose
acquaintance we made in Zacharias Werner's _Sons of the Vale_ and _The
Mother of the Maccabees_) make their appearance, the former introduced
by Raynouard, the latter by Guiraud. There is not a feeling in the
human heart, not a corner of the human mind, and not a branch of
literature, upon which this restoration of the spirit of the past does
not set its stamp during its day of power.[10]
[1] See John Stuart Mill's essay on De Vigny in _Dissertations and
Discussions_, i.
[2] _Emigrant Literature_, p. 199.
[3] Hegel, _Werke_, viii., "Philosophie des Rechts," 367; Heiberg,
_Pros. Skrifter_, 10 B, 335.
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