The white Review with the magnifying glass

By Jean-Baptist Baronian
The Literary Magazine n°468
October 2007

In addition to Alfred Jarry and Octave Mirbeau, the white Review accomodated talented writers, aujourd’hui forgotten.

Jarry and Octave Mirbeau, the white Review accomodated talented writers, aujourd’hui forgotten.

"Center of rallying of all the divergences" according to the formula d’André Gide, the white Review regularly makes l’objet, these last decades, d’études and of work. Witness, the very recent bibliography of the a hundred and forty pounds qu’elle published, of 1892 to 1902, established by Patrick Fréchet with the editions of Lérot (see the literary Magazine n° 461).

Aujourd’hui appears, under the signature of Paul-Henri Bourrelier, l’ouvrage richest, vastest, most detailed and undoubtedly most exhaustive on the review, its activities and its history. They are twelve hundred pages in small characters where all is thoroughly described and commenté: life of the three Natanson brothers, founders, the part played by famous collaborators like Alfred Jarry or Mirbeau Octave, l’affaire Dreyfus, Nabis, writings of Claude Debussy, operas of Richard Wagner, occult sciences if appraisals in the French cultural life of the end of the XIXe siècle…

One of the great interests of this work is to put l’accent on figures aujourd’hui little known, but extremely active and sometimes extremely influential with l’époque. C’est as Paul-Henri Bourrelier devotes a whole chapter to Gustave Kahn qu’il describes as "ombrageux poet" and which one will remember qu’il was one of the flag-holders of symbolism. In the same way, it s’attarde on the curious personality of Victor Barrucand, one of the pillars of the white Review since 1895, at the same time "fighter, globe trotter, cosmopolitan, seducer unrepentant, inventive, dilettante". In revolt against the injustices of the company, Barrucand will n’aura be to be strictly accurate an anarchist. On the other hand, it will have l’idée d’en to change the reports/ratios of force by proposing the free distribution of bread "In l’état present, will say it, one can quite simply die of hunger. C’est the social evil qu’il is necessary to cure, before speaking about the cases d’anémie. "In 1900, it was to publish With fire, a novel which occurs in the anarchistic mediums at the time from the attacks. The Phébus editions republished this book in 2005, with an excellent presentation d’Éric Dussert.
Evocations of this type, one finds tens throughout this history of them. Manes for impassioned letters and the bibliophiles, always in search of references and bent information hand. From now on, c’est sure, one will not be able to evoke any more the white Review without speaking at once about Paul-Henri Bourrelier and his gigantic work.

The white Review, a generation in l’engagement, 1890-1905, Paul-Henri Harness-maker
Éd. Beech, 1195 p., 29 €.

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The Literary Magazine October 2007: Great quarrels between philosophers

Benefits of the controversy
By Jean-Louis Hoots

L’art of the polemic goes up with highest Antiquity "Polemos [ the conflict ] is the father of all things and the king of all things", affirmed Héraclite. All l’histoire of Greek philosophy can be summarized with a succession of arguments. Oscillating between theoretical debates and personal attacks, refutation and invective, this practice of the controversy, lengthily ground in the Platonic dialogues, n’a ceased d’échauffer philosophers. In the middle of the XIXe century, Schopenhauer reformulated of them the rules and the tricks in a treated court, nicely entitled L’Art to always d’avoir reason. Enumerating thirty-eight stratagems, the philosopher taught how to be right at all costs by sapping the arguments of l’adversaire and while showing himself of worse faith than him. After having suggested many easy ways, pretences and pro­vocations, Schopenhauer advised like ultimate ad personam l’attaque recourse, by showing "die­sobligeant, aggressive, offensive, coarse".

This file of the literary Magazine is made l’écho various invectives, insults, mocking remarks and insults that the philosophers during two millenia launched out. Perhaps one will reproach us for bringing back squabbles sometimes worthy d’une playground "polé­the mists disgust me", said Bernanos, repenting the pannings of which it overpowered so many of its contemporaries. The polemic, when it concerns the mania, is useless, even degrading. But it can be salutary when it emerges with relevance to revive the debate. It s’apparente then with a tournament where it s’agit less to embank l’adversaire that to d’enrichir a common reflexion.
This file wants to be an illustration of the good use of the dialectical one. It recalls by the menu the most famous duels, and most fertile, of l’histoire of philosophy "the controversy is often beneficial with l’un as with l’autre, of the fact qu’ils rub their heads between them, and is used for each one d’eux to rectify its own thoughts, and also to conceive new sights", concludes in its Schopenhauer treaty which, definitely, had...

Read the completed content of this edition at http://www.magazine-litteraire.com/

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