sleeves of her pullover.
‘ “… which replaces principles with rules and emotions with conventions, and which condemns scandal as tiresome, not as immoral, because it …” ’
‘Society,’ said Kitty.
‘ “… because society is quite accommodating towards vice when there is no scandal attached; one feels …” ’
‘ “It is felt …” ’
‘ “It is felt that attachments which have been made without reflection can be broken without any harm being done”.’
‘Remember that sentence,’ said Kitty. ‘That is what the novel is all about.’
Mr Mills, quite unmoved by what he was reading, looked over the top of his glasses and asked her if she meant him to go on. Kitty indicated that she did.
‘ “But when one sees the anguish that results from these broken attachments, the painful astonishment of a deceived soul, that defiance …” ’
‘Mistrust,’ murmured Kitty.
‘ “That mistrust that succeeds perfect confidence …” ’
‘ “That mistrust that succeeds perfect trust”,’ saidLarter, in wonder, with an expression of pain.
At least one of them is getting there, thought Kitty, and aloud she said, ‘Take that sentence again, please, Philip.’
‘ “But when one sees the anguish that results from these broken attachments, the painful astonishment of a deceived soul, that mistrust that succeeds perfect trust, and which, forced to direct itself against one being out of the whole world, spreads to that whole world, that esteem driven back on itself and not capable of being re-absorbed, one feels, then, that there is something sacred in the heart that suffers because it loves; one discovers how deep are the roots of the affection one thought to inspire without sharing it; and if one overcomes what one calls weakness, it is by destroying in oneself all that was generous, by tearing up all that was faithful, by sacrificing all that was noble and good. One stands up after such a victory, which is applauded by friends and acquaintances, having condemned to death a portion of one’s soul, tilted at sympathy, abused weakness, and outraged morality by taking it as a pretext for harshness; and one survives one’s better nature, ashamed or perverted by this sad success. This was the picture that I wanted to paint in Adolphe”.’
They were all silent for a moment. Even through the clumsy translation they had felt the writer’s sadness. And his skill. Kitty drew a deep breath.
‘Now, Jane,’ she said. ‘Do you still feel that you can dismiss Ellénore’s use of the word
misérable
? It doesn’t mean miserable, remember. It means wretched. Wretched as in poor. One of the early meanings of
misère
is poverty.’
Miss Fairchild smiled. Kitty decided to take this for assent. She cleared her throat.
‘We are in fact talking about a particular state of bankruptcy,’ she said. ‘And although the novel iswritten completely without imagery, in the driest traditions of the eighteenth-century moral tale, it lacks the buoyancy and optimism of the eighteenth century. Has it acquired anything that would have been unthinkable in the eighteenth century?’
‘Despair,’ said Larter.
‘All right,’ said Kitty. ‘What sort of despair?’
Larter took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and for fifteen minutes gave them an almost seamless account of the Romantic dilemma. This, according to Larter, but in fact according to Chateaubriand, was due to the collapse of moral standards in the Revolution, to the repudiation of the supernatural, to the deconsecration of the churches and the exiling of the priests, to the attempt to live according to the humanitarian rules of the eighteenth century, to live without piety and belief and consolation. But God, having been lost, was difficult to find again. Romantic man, man without God, had to behave existentially, and experienced isolation.
‘Yes,’ said Kitty. ‘Romantic man has lost his original unity and uncovered a new
‘ “… which replaces principles with rules and emotions with conventions, and which condemns scandal as tiresome, not as immoral, because it …” ’
‘Society,’ said Kitty.
‘ “… because society is quite accommodating towards vice when there is no scandal attached; one feels …” ’
‘ “It is felt …” ’
‘ “It is felt that attachments which have been made without reflection can be broken without any harm being done”.’
‘Remember that sentence,’ said Kitty. ‘That is what the novel is all about.’
Mr Mills, quite unmoved by what he was reading, looked over the top of his glasses and asked her if she meant him to go on. Kitty indicated that she did.
‘ “But when one sees the anguish that results from these broken attachments, the painful astonishment of a deceived soul, that defiance …” ’
‘Mistrust,’ murmured Kitty.
‘ “That mistrust that succeeds perfect confidence …” ’
‘ “That mistrust that succeeds perfect trust”,’ saidLarter, in wonder, with an expression of pain.
At least one of them is getting there, thought Kitty, and aloud she said, ‘Take that sentence again, please, Philip.’
‘ “But when one sees the anguish that results from these broken attachments, the painful astonishment of a deceived soul, that mistrust that succeeds perfect trust, and which, forced to direct itself against one being out of the whole world, spreads to that whole world, that esteem driven back on itself and not capable of being re-absorbed, one feels, then, that there is something sacred in the heart that suffers because it loves; one discovers how deep are the roots of the affection one thought to inspire without sharing it; and if one overcomes what one calls weakness, it is by destroying in oneself all that was generous, by tearing up all that was faithful, by sacrificing all that was noble and good. One stands up after such a victory, which is applauded by friends and acquaintances, having condemned to death a portion of one’s soul, tilted at sympathy, abused weakness, and outraged morality by taking it as a pretext for harshness; and one survives one’s better nature, ashamed or perverted by this sad success. This was the picture that I wanted to paint in Adolphe”.’
They were all silent for a moment. Even through the clumsy translation they had felt the writer’s sadness. And his skill. Kitty drew a deep breath.
‘Now, Jane,’ she said. ‘Do you still feel that you can dismiss Ellénore’s use of the word
misérable
? It doesn’t mean miserable, remember. It means wretched. Wretched as in poor. One of the early meanings of
misère
is poverty.’
Miss Fairchild smiled. Kitty decided to take this for assent. She cleared her throat.
‘We are in fact talking about a particular state of bankruptcy,’ she said. ‘And although the novel iswritten completely without imagery, in the driest traditions of the eighteenth-century moral tale, it lacks the buoyancy and optimism of the eighteenth century. Has it acquired anything that would have been unthinkable in the eighteenth century?’
‘Despair,’ said Larter.
‘All right,’ said Kitty. ‘What sort of despair?’
Larter took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and for fifteen minutes gave them an almost seamless account of the Romantic dilemma. This, according to Larter, but in fact according to Chateaubriand, was due to the collapse of moral standards in the Revolution, to the repudiation of the supernatural, to the deconsecration of the churches and the exiling of the priests, to the attempt to live according to the humanitarian rules of the eighteenth century, to live without piety and belief and consolation. But God, having been lost, was difficult to find again. Romantic man, man without God, had to behave existentially, and experienced isolation.
‘Yes,’ said Kitty. ‘Romantic man has lost his original unity and uncovered a new
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