Joseph Malègue
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Joseph Malègue (8 December 1876 – 30 December 1940), was a French catholic novelist, principally author of ' (1933) and '. He was also a theologian and published some theological surveys, as ''Pénombres'' about
Faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...
and against
Fideism Fideism () is an epistemological theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths (see natural theology). The word ''fideism'' c ...
. His first novel is, following the French historian of spirituality Émile Goichot, the most accurately linked to
Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
.
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
quoted in several circumstances, among them in
El Jesuita ''Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words'' is a biography of Jorge Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis in 2013. Written by Sergio Rubin, it is the only biography of him that appeared before his election as Pope ...
this Malègue's view about
Incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
: ‘’ It is not Christ who is incomprehensible for me if He is God, it is God who is strange for me if He is not Christ.‘’


Life

Malègue twice took the entrance examination for the ''
École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...
'', in 1900 and 1901. His failure may have been due to poor health. Between 1902 and 1912, during several stays in England, he wrote a doctoral
thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
about the high unemployment among casually employed English dockers : Malègue worked principally with
Charles Gide Charles Gide (; 1847–1932) was a French economist and historian of economic thought. He was a professor at the University of Bordeaux, at Montpellier, at Université de Paris and finally at Collège de France. His nephew was the author André ...
. This was published in 1913 as ''Une forme spéciale de chômage : le travail casuel dans les ports anglais''. In January 1912, during one such stay, he found the whole name of ''Augustin Méridier'', the principal character in '. The first handwritten pages of the book date from that month. During the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, once more because of his poor health, he was only able to work in an infirmary, despite his repeated attempts to enlist in a fighting unit. In 1917 he worked in the ''International Commission for relief'' in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. From 1922 until 1927, he taught at the ''École Normale'', educating teachers for elementary schools of
Savenay Savenay (; ''Savenneg'' in Breton) is a town (administratively a commune) in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France which is part of the Pays de la Loire region. It is located on the Sillon de Bretagne (a mountain range defining the sou ...
. In 1923 he married Yvonne Pouzin, a doctor of medicine, and they lived together in
Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
. Malègue's novel ''Augustin ou le Maître est là'' was finished in 1930. The French philosopher
Jacques Chevalier Jacques Chevalier (13 March 1882 – 19 April 1962) was a French Catholic philosopher and a politician. Chevalier was born in Cérilly, Allier, educated at the École normale supérieure and the University of Oxford and taught at the Faculty of ...
, a friend of Malègue, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Plon to publish the work, and in the end Malègue was forced to pay the publisher Spes for the production of the first 3,000 copies . This ''roman fluvial'' or '' roman fleuve'' of 900 pages immediately had a great success following the French literary critic Claude Barthe. Most French, Belgian, Walloon, and Swiss critics favoured the new novelist and his work, as did the most important literary critics of other countries in Europe, both Catholic and Protestant. Spes printed 10,000 copies at the end of 1933, 9,000 in June 1935, 6,000 in March 1940, and there were further large editions. Malègue was named ''the Catholic
Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
'' by many French and Walloon literary critics, including Jacques Madaule and Léopold Levaux. He received many letters and among them communications from
Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...
,
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson
, and
Maurice Blondel Maurice Blondel (; 2 November 1861 – 4 June 1949) was a French philosopher, whose most influential works, notably ''L'Action'', aimed at establishing the correct relationship between autonomous philosophical reasoning and Christian belief. Bi ...
. With this philosopher, he engaged in a philosophical correspondence, which has been studied by Geneviève Mosseray. He published ''Pénombres'' in 1939. In 1940, he was found to be suffering from stomach cancer and died in December that year. Despite all his efforts, he was unable to finish '. Father interviewing the pope thinks the pope is referring to this second novel but the pope speaks about ''holy middle class'' in order to say that each christian is able to become a saint. And it is also the Malègue's opinion when he writes about ''holy middle class'' in ''Augustin ou Le Maître est là''. Following the sources, it is Father Spadaro who made an error, in his footnote at this place. Malègue used the words ''Salvation middle classes'' in the title of his second novel. And therefore, Malègue doesn't mean authentic holy people. The way he means the same idea as the one of the pope is (in ''Augustin ou Le Maître est là'') : ''la sainteté ordinaire'' (banal holiness). ''Salvation middle class'' means the mediocre existence of many Christians who are in favour of the established order which would not bother those who are searching for earthly happiness, to be followed without obstacle by heavenly happiness. This novel, which was more ambitious (almost 1,000 pages already written for the two first parts of the book and there would have been a third part, the most important), was published in 1958 after Malègue's death.


Writings

Malègue's ''Augustin ou le Maître est là'' is unique among Catholic novels, following Victor Brombert, because, instead of writing about sex and sin as
François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Priz ...
or
Georges Bernanos Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (; 20 February 1888 – 5 July 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defea ...
, he poses the religious problem from an intellectual (not intellectualist) point of view. The hero is clearly victim of the ''libido sciendi''. But Malègue insists not on his pride, but on the seduction of the mind. He is not against intelligence, on the contrary. On the contrary a writer as Bernanos is in a sense against intelligence. Victorm Brombert citates ''L'imposture'' and the statement '' Yes intelligence can penetrate everything, just as a light can go through the thickness of crystal, but it is incapable of moving, of embracing. It is a sterile contemplation.'' The Augustin's return to his faith, in the end of the novel, is not an abdication of the intelligence, but a reconquest through pain and lucidity. This return to faith "sharply departs from Jean Barois" (of Roger Martin du Gard) because "Barois' physical and mental anguish provokes a state of moral depression and a yearning for childhood coziness" until in ''Augustin ou le Maître est là'' the return to faith (as in Jean Barois) and "suffering is an exalting experience which elevates him ugustinto the "icy zones of spiritual meditation." Reason or intelligence is not abandoned but only cold reason which is unable to meet the person, both of men and God, in the same sense as the philosophers
Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...
or
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson
, thinking that Jewish or Christian God is not the God of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
. But, in doing so, the author wrote a long (900 pages in the first edition) and authentic novel "without loss of either dramatic or psychological intensity". Following him, the drama of intelligence appears in a different light in other Catholic novels. If this author is a little forgotten, even in France, some literary critics continue to study his work, and among them William Marceau who wrote in 1987, ''Henri Bergson and Maurice Malègue, la convergence de deux pensées'' (French and Italian Studies,
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, 1987), or Claude Barthe in 2004.
Jean Guitton Jean Guitton (August 18, 1901 – March 21, 1999) was a French Catholic philosopher and theologian. Biography Born in Saint-Étienne, Loire in August 1901, he studied at the Lycée du Parc in Lyon and was accepted at the École Normale Sup ...
told that a great reader of Malègue was the pope
Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
Jean Guitton, ''Paul VI secret'', DDB, Paris, 1980, p. 79. : Le pape ajoute : « Un de mes amis me racontait que le livre de Malègue l'avait tellement séduit qu'il n'avait pas pu dormir de la nuit : il avait passé la nuit à le lire, c'était ''notre propre histoire de l'âme qui y était racontée''. Malègue a fait un autre livre, sur les saints des classes moyennes. Je ne l'ai pas lu, je suis sûr que c'est un très beau livre ». Malègue was also appreciated by unbelievers or atheists as for instance Fernand Vandérem, a Jewish literary critic for
Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...
, who wrote articles in the most laudatory terms.


Worthy of interest again

Since Pope Francis quoted Malègue, a little part of the French public are more aware of his importance, which is the one of a great writer; the press reports on him. The great Malègue's novel ''Augustin ou Le Maître est là'' was published for the last time in 1966. In January 2014, the great publishing house,
Éditions du Cerf ''Éditions du Cerf'' ( French: "Editions of the Deer") is a French publishing house specializing in religious books. It was founded in 1929, and operated by the Dominican Order. The name is a reference to Psalm 42 (41): As the hart pantet ...
republished the novel. For the first time Malègue is published by a great publishing house.


Works

* ''Une forme spéciale de chômage: le travail casuel dans les ports anglais'', Rousseau, Paris, 1913. * ''Augustin ou le Maître est là'', roman, Spes, Paris 1933. * (German translation ''Augustin'' by
Edwin Maria Landau The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (die ...
, Benziger, Einsideln, 1956 and Italien translation, ''Agostino Méridier'' Società Editrice Internazionale, Torino, 1960. At that time, no English translation) * ''Pénombres, glanes et approches théologiques'', essai, Spes, Paris, 1939 * ''Pierres noires. Les classes moyennes du Salut'', roman, Spes, Paris,1958 * ''Sous la meule de Dieu et autres contes'', Spes, Paris, 1965


Bibliography

* Dom Germain Varin : ''Foi perdue et retrouvée, la psychologie de la perte de la foi et du retour à Dieu'' dans "Augustin ou le Maître est là" de Joseph Malègue, Fribourg, 1953 * Article de Jean-Marc Brissaud dans ''Histoire de la littérature française du xxe siècle'' * Charles Moeller, ''Malègue et la pénombre de la foi'' in Littérature du xxe siècle et christianisme. t. II La foi en Jésus-Christ, Casterman, Tournai-Paris, 1953 * Elizabeth Michaël (an American scholar but who wrote in French): ''Joseph Malègue, sa vie, son œuvre'', Spes, Paris, 1957 * Léon Emery : '' Joseph Malégue romancier inactuel'', Les Cahiers Libres, Lyon, 1962 * Jean Lebrec : ''Joseph Malègue romancier et penseur'', H. Dessain et Tolra, Paris, 1969 * Di Wanda Rupolo, "Malègue e la 'Lege della dualità in Di Wanda Rupolo ''Stile, romanzo, religione: aspetti della narrativa francese del primo Novecento'', Edizioni di storia e letteratura, Roma, 1985. *
Victor Brombert Victor Henri Brombert (born November 11, 1923) is an American scholar of nineteenth and twentieth century literature, the Henry Putnam University Professor at Princeton University. Early life Brombert was born in Berlin in 1923 into a well-to- ...
, ''The Intellectual Hero. Studies in the French Novel, 1880–1955'', The University of Chicago Press, 1974, . * Jean-Pierre Jossua, ''Pour une histoire religieuse de l'expérience littéraire'', volume 1, Beauchesne, Paris, 1985. * William Marceau : ''
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson
et Joseph Malègue, la convergence de deux pensées'', Stanford French and Italian studies,
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,1987. * Henri Lemaître, ''Joseph Malègue'' in ''Dictionnaire Bordas de la littérature française'', Bordas, Paris, 1994, pp. 522-523. * Geneviève Mosseray, ''Au feu de la critique, J. Malègue lecteur de Blondel'' in ''Les Écrivains et leurs lectures philosophiques: Le chant de Minerve'', publié par Bruno Curatolo, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1996. * Claude Barthe, ''Joseph Malègue et le « roman d'idées » dans la crise moderniste'' in ''Les Romanciers et le catholicisme'', Les cahiers du roseau d'or, n° 1, Editions de Paris, Paris, 2004. * Philippe van den Heede, ''Réalisme et vérité dans la littérature'', Academic Press Fribourg, Fribourg, 2006. * Pauline Bruley, Les écrivains face à la Bible, Paris,
Éditions du Cerf ''Éditions du Cerf'' ( French: "Editions of the Deer") is a French publishing house specializing in religious books. It was founded in 1929, and operated by the Dominican Order. The name is a reference to Psalm 42 (41): As the hart pantet ...
, 2011, 272 p. (), « Le clair-obscur de la Bible dans deux romans de la crise moderniste, « Augustin ou Le Maître est là » de Joseph Malègue et « Jean Barois » de Roger Martin du Gard », p. 83‒98. * Yves Chevrel, Imaginaires de la Bible - Mélanges offerts à Danièle Chauvin (dir. Véronique Gély et François Lecercle), Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2013, 354 p. (), « Romanciers de la crise moderniste. Mary A . Ward, Antonio Fogazzaro, Roger Martin du Gard, Joseph Malègue », p. 289-302.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malegue, Joseph 1876 births 1940 deaths French Roman Catholics 20th-century French novelists French male essayists French male novelists 20th-century French essayists 20th-century French male writers French Roman Catholic writers