Paul Claudel’s Cosmism and Maurice Barres’s Egotism

• Main Author: Vera V. Shervashidse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2019-06-01
• Series: Studia Litterarum
• Subjects: rhythmical prose; intuitivism; positivism; artistic cognition; inexpressible; mysticism; syncretism; vibration; nationalism; foundation; ancestor’s cult.
• Online Access: http://studlit.ru/images/2019-4-2/Shervashidse.pdf
• ISSN: 2500-4247; 2541-8564

The article examines the poetics of Paul Claudel and Maurice Barres developed in the transitional time and representing different variants of the threshold or transgressive consciousness. The article is concerned with comparison of Barres’ and Claudel’s work. Inventor of the new poetic language, Claudel destroyed the canons of French poetry and drama. He was called a cosmic poet who conveyed the unity of the universe and the vibrations of cosmos with the help of the verse.” However, Claudel’s innovations were ahead of time and did not fit into the cultural context of his time. In contrast to Claudel, Barres after the publication of his trilogy The Cult of the Self became “the sovereign of thoughts” of his generation. Contemporaries saw fascinating history in the work of Barres that reproduced the drama of European consciousness. The title of the trilogy referred to the romantic tradition. Parodying romantic discourse, Barres destroyed the pathos of romantic and decadent exclusivity. The last representative of the 19 th century, Barres contributed to the destruction and to the decline of romanticism. He established the continuity of the new art in relation to romanticism, claiming that “romanticism is not only approved, but also justified, that is, completed in a timely manner.” A comparative analysis of Barres’s and Claudel’s poetics reveals differences in their methods.