Art & Faith

by Jacques Maritain, Jean Cocteau

The meaning of poetry and the sociological and political significance of art are dealt with in these letters.

Genres: Art

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

T. S. Eliot once called Jacques Maritain "the most conspicuous figure and probably the most powerful force in contemporary philosophy." His wife and devoted intellectual companion, Raissa Maritain, was of Jewish descent but joined the Catholic church with him in 1906. Maritain studied under Henri Bergson but was dissatisfied with his teacher's philosophy, eventually finding certainty in the system of St. Thomas Aquinas. He lectured widely in Europe and in North and South America, and lived and taught in New York during World War II. Appointed French ambassador to the Vatican in 1945, he resigned in 1948 to teach philosophy at Princeton University, where he remained until his retirement in 1953. He was prominent in the Catholic intellectual resurgence, with a keen perception of modern French literature. Although Maritain regarded metaphysics as central to civilization and metaphysically his position was Thomism, he took full measure of the intellectual currents of his time and articulated a resilient and vital Thomism, applying the principles of scholasticism to contemporary issues. In 1963, Maritain was honored by the French literary world with the national Grand Prize for letters. He learned of the award at his retreat in a small monastery near Toulouse where he had been living in ascetic retirement for some years. In 1967, the publication of "The Peasant of the Garonne" disturbed the French Roman Catholic world. In it, Maritain attacked the "neo-modernism" that he had seen developing in the church in recent decades, especially since the Second Vatican Council. According to Jaroslav Pelikan, writing in the Saturday Review of Literature, "He laments that in avant-garde Roman Catholic theology today he can 'read nothing about the redeeming sacrifice or the merits of the Passion.' In his interpretation, the whole of the Christian tradition has identified redemption with the sacrifice of the cross. But now, all of that is being discarded, along with the idea of hell, the doctrine of creation out of nothing, the infancy narratives of the Gospels, and belief in the immortality of the human soul." Maritain's wife, Raissa, also distinguished herself as a philosophical author and poet. The project of publishing Oeuvres Completes of Jacques and Raissa Maritain has been in progress since 1982, with seven volumes now in print.

Reviews

[Quash]

“What am I? A convert. A man God has turned inside out like a glove. All the seams are on the outside, the skin is inside, and is of no more use.”

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I must repeat this to myself to feel worthy of your welcome, you about whom one wonders whether your body is not a formula of politeness, a garment thrown quickly over the soul to receive your friends." (Cocteau)

"You have always cared about angels. You speak of them in all your books. Their name made streaks of blue on all kinds of objects you touched. You would see them in window pane reflections, in the sensitive mirror of analogy, in enigmas, diagrams and rebuses. In poetry you were gradually rediscovering them, you were sensing their immensity, their strength, their tenseness, their elegance, their danger. For, to tell the truth, it was they who were catching you in a trap, holding the bird-catcher in their nets." (Maritain)

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of Art and Faith

A difficult and yet beautiful book

This is a small book with a letter from Jean Cocteau and a reply from Jacques Maritain. A “dialogue” between a poet and a philosopher. It is full of beauty and deep contemplation on poetry and on faith and the best way of living true to yourself. But it isn’t an easy read by any means. It is a book to be read slowly. A couple of pages read, then a pause to think about what is being said and then pick the book up again after a gap. If read from start to finish then it is likely a lot will be missed.

In his introduction to the letters in 1947, Maritain writes: -

" It may be with the future of poetry, those who love poetry, and who are not indifferent to the mysteries and ambiguous relations it entertains with religion, may perhaps find in the letters exchanged between a poet and philosopher something to give them a few moments thought."

If this is the purpose of publishing the letters, I think Maritain succeeds. Cocteau writes in October 1925 and his language (as you would expect) is sublime and whether he is talking about God, religion, metaphysics or mutual friends, Cocteau is a master. An example: -

"The soft sand burns your feet like embers. The ocean thunders behind three dunes without footprints save those I left the day before; it heaves into sight. You could hear its waves many miles away. They break on the beach and shoulder each other, grinding a pearly powder that marks out the water’s bottom from right to left. My dogs bathe, I bathe. Lying in the sun with not one detail to betray the epoch, I float on my back over the ages."

Truly beautiful and I can see the scene and feel the sand.

This is a book for lovers of poetry, for fans of Cocteau or Maritain or for lovers of language but it is definitely one to savour slowly.