The Undying Spirit of France

by Maurice Barrès

Excerpt from Les Traits Éternels de la France: Discours Prononcé à Londres dans la Salle de la Société Royale Sous les Auspices de l'Académie Britannique le 12 Juillet, 1916

Comme on insistait sur ce mot: une vieille nation! C'est vrai, la France exis tait quand il n'y avait pas encore un sentiment allemand, un sentiment italien, anglais; c'est vrai, nous sommes la nation qui la première de toute l'europe, a eu l'idée qu'elle formait une patrie; mais on ne s'explique pas que ces grands titres aient pu nous discréditer auprès des na tions plus récentes.

80 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Auguste-Maurice Barrès (19 August 1862 – 4 December 1923) was a French novelist, journalist and politician. Spending some time in Italy, he became a figure in French literature with the release of his work The Cult of the Self in 1888. In politics, he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1889 as a Boulangist and would play a prominent political role for the rest of his life.

Barrès was associated in his literary works with Symbolism, a movement which had equivalence with British Aestheticism and Italian Decadentism, indeed he was a close associate of Gabriele d'Annunzio representing the latter. As the name of his trilogy suggests, his works glorified a humanistic love of the self and he also flirted with occult mysticisms in his youth. The Dreyfus affair saw an ideological shift and he was a leading anti-Dreyfusard, popularising the term nationalisme to describe his views. He stood on a platform of "Nationalism, Protectionism and Socialism."

Politically, he became involved with various groups such as the Ligue des Patriotes of Paul Déroulède, which he became the leader of in 1914. Barrès was close to Charles Maurras founder of Action Française, a monarchist party. Despite the fact that he remained a republican, Barrès would have a strong influence on various following French monarchists, as well as various other figures. During the First World War, he was a strong supporter of the Union Sacrée. In later life, Barrès returned to the Catholic faith and was involved in a campaign to restore French church buildings and helped establish 24 June as a national day of remembrance for St. Joan of Arc.

Reviews

[aslan · Rating 1 out of 5]

heureusement que t’es plus en vie Momo, t’aurais vu ta France Éternelle dire skibidi rizz