Julien Gracq

French writer (1910-2007) · 1910–2007

Appears in 22 videos · 36 passages, 18 of them in depth.

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Summary

Dominique Pagani reads two of Julien Gracq's novels closely. In Au château d'Argol, the hero Albert takes Hegel's Science of Logic with him to his manor in Brittany. Pagani sees Gracq as one of the few writers who manage to bring philosophical abstraction into the fabric of a novel without weighing it down1. From this novel he takes the Hegelian interpretation of the Fall, according to which the hand that wounds is also the hand that heals. He also takes from it the engraving of Amfortas's sufferings, in which the wound illuminates the Grail2. He often cites the preface, which reproaches Nietzsche for handing Parsifal over to the Christians and sees in Wagner's work an underground, even infernal, quest3. For him, Le Rivage des Syrtes is a novel of waiting, where everything stops once the action begins4. He comments on its Christmas sermon, which denounces sleep and security5, and on the final "qui vive". Finally, he links Gracq to the poetic prose that descends from Rousseau and counts him among the rare authors who render music through words6.

Summary produced automatically from 35 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Who is this?

Julien Gracq (French:; born Louis Poirier; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their dreamlike abstraction, elegant style and refined vocabulary. He was close to the surrealist movement, in particular its leader André Breton.

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Cycle 12 · 1 Apr 2024The quest for the Grail, sanctimony or sacrilege?

1:02:34A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)In his preface, he reproaches Nietzsche for having handed Parsifal over to Christians: Wagner's work pursues an underground, or rather infernal, search.
1:15:55A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)His hero Albert is passionate about Hegel. Gracq manages to carry philosophical abstraction into the novelistic weave; he is the surrealist who remained most faithful to the movement.
1:56:02A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)He takes up the Hegelian interpretation of the fall: the hand that inflicts the wound is also the one that heals.
2:20:26The Opposing ShoreThe novel ends as the war begins; the Christmas sermon denounces sleep and stagnation, and announces the inextinguishable voice of desire.

Cycle 12 · 21 Apr 2024Saving the saviour? Redemption, the end of the cycle or its new beginning?

12:51A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)Her preface sees in Wagner's work a widening of the subterranean search, against Nietzsche's reading.
27:03A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)He brings abstract philosophical notions into the novelistic weave without weighing it down.
33:13A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)The engraving of Amfortas shows that the blood of the Grail comes from the wound and that salvation is given, not earned.
1:15:29A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)The bitter motto closes the cycle only upon itself.

Cycle 12 · 30 May 2024From fidelity to grace: from substance to subject

18:19A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)It is in his first novel that he speaks most of Parsifal.
18:50The Opposing ShoreThe Christmas sermon denounces the sentinels of eternal rest and shows salvation born in the blackest of night.
47:21A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)Albert studies Hegel's Logic and discovers his explanation of the myth of the Fall.
1:12:42Unlike gnosis, he puts symbols to work.

Cycle 9.1 · 13 Nov 2020#4 Benefits and harms of amnesia…

1:36:30The Opposing ShoreA masterpiece rejected by Gallimard; a novel of waiting, where everything stops once the action begins.
1:42:38The Opposing ShoreA three-century war occupies a disproportionate place among the poets: overdetermination of a memory that keeps everything.
1:50:04The Opposing ShoreThe chapter "The Envoy" brings the ultimatum from Farghestan.

Cycle 12 · 4 Jun 2024The matrix of all illusion: the past lived as present

14:03Compared the Grail temple to Piranesi's architecture.
49:38A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)In the chapter "The Chamber," the engraving of Amfortas's suffering shows that the wound illuminates the Grail and that the savior turns pale before it.
2:09:20Recalled in connection with the kiss and the lips of the wound.

Cycle 12 · 22 Dec 2023Birth and carnage: the Massacre of the Innocents

2:13:38The Opposing ShoreNovel of waiting; the Christmas sermon at Saint-Damas denounces sleep and security.

Cycle 11 · 19 Oct 2022“Speech is the best and the worst of things” (Aesop)

33:17A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)The hero, passionate about philosophy, devotes his energies to Hegel and carries the Greater Logic with him to his manor in Brittany.

Series · 28 Jan 2021#12 Nietzsche (right up) against Wagner

1:50:50A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)He reproaches Nietzsche for having delivered Parsifal to Christians; Wagner's quest is underground, infernal.

Cycle 8 · 9 Jul 2020#13 Return to the logics of the subject

11:17A Dark Stranger (The Castle of Argol)A rare writer able to integrate abstract philosophy into a novel; his hero embodies finality without representation of an end.