Moderne Contre Moderne: Exorcismes Spirituels IV (Romans, Essais, Poesie, Documents)

by Philippe Muray

English Philippe Muray loved our era. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have talked about it so much. Yet we need to discover its key, its substance and its meaning.By writing an ongoing chronicle of all that is in the news and frightening, Muray believed he found the Modern, he observes, is no longer in conflict with anything but the Modern. The confrontation is no longer between the older order and new values, but between these new values themselves, which multiply ad infinitum. The prevailing antagonistic forces want the new world - and only that. The Good is fighting it out with the Good. Freedom of conscience is opposing freedom of thought. The law is suing the law. The ruptured is battling with the broken, the unstable with the changeable, the unreasonable with the outrageous, and the new with the new. The incompatible dwells in the Same and nowhere else.It was once said that modernity was a battle. Now, it is battling with itself. That is why this fourth volume of Exorcismes spirituels is entitled Moderne contre Moderne. It presents the start of an unprecedented war and the means for us to amuse ourselves uninhibitedly at its expense.A ragingly grotesque comedy of such is the world according to Muray. French Philippe Muray adore notre epoque. Sinon, il n'en parlerait pas tant.Encore faut-il en decouvrir la cle, le coeur et le sens.A force de tenir la chronique de tout ce qui defraye et effraye la chronique, Muray pense les avoir le Moderne, observe-t-il, ne se bat plus desormais qu'avec le Moderne. La confrontation n'est plus entre l'ordre ancien et les nouvelles valeurs mais entre ces nouvelles valeurs seules, qui se dedoublent a l'infini. Les forces antagonistes en presence veulent le monde nouveau et ne veulent que lui. Le Bien en vient aux mains avec le Bien. La liberte de conscience revendique contre la liberte de pensee. La loi porte plainte contre la loi. La rupture se bat avec la cassure, l'instable avec le mouvant, le deraisonnable avec le delirant, le neuf avec le neuf. L'inconciliable loge dans le Meme et il ne loge plus que la.On racontait naguere que la modernite etait un combat. Elle n'est plus un combat qu'avec elle-meme. C'est pourquoi ce quatrieme volume d'Exorcismes spirituels s'intitule Moderne contre Moderne. Il expose les debuts d'une guerre sans precedent, et le moyen de s'en amuser sans retenue.Une furieuse et grotesque comedie des tel est le monde selon Muray.Philippe Muray loved our era. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have talked about it so much.Yet we need to discover its key, its substance and its meaning.By writing an ongoing chronicle of all that is in the news and frightening, Muray believed he found the Modern, he observes, is no longer in conflict with anything but the Modern. The confrontation is no longer between the older order and new values, but between these new values themselves, which multiply ad infinitum. The prevailing antagonistic forces want the new world - and only that. The Good is fighting it out with the Good. Freedom of conscience is opposing freedom of thought. The law is suing the law. The ruptured is battling with the broken, the unstable with the changeable, the unreasonable with the outrageous, and the new with the new. The incompatible dwells in the Same and nowhere else.It was once said that modernity was a battle. Now, it is battling with itself. That is why this fourth volume of Exorcismes spirituels is entitled Moderne contre Moderne. It presents the start of an unprecedented war and the means for us to amuse ourselves uninhibitedly at its expense.A ragingly grotesque comedy of such is the world according to Muray.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Philippe Muray (1945 in Angers, France – March 2, 2006 in Paris) was a French essayist and novelist. None of his works have yet been translated into English. In 2002, Daniel Lindenberg included him in his list of "new reactionaries", along with Michel Houellebecq, Maurice Dantec, Alain Badiou, Alain Finkielkraut and others. In 2010, the French actor Fabrice Luchini read some of Muray's works at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris, which contributed to a renewed discussion of his writings in the French press.