3

Wednesday, January 15, 1958

THE COLLEGE NEWS

~

Page Three



Trend to Surrealism and Existentialism
Is Subject of Morot-Sir French Lecture

M. Edouard Morot-Sir, Cultural
Counsellor of the French Embassy,
who spoke on “Les Bases Philoso-
phiques de la Litterature Contem-
poraine,” in the Ely Room, Janu-
ary 9, began his talk in French by

“noting that literature ahd philo-
sophy had always been closely re-
lated throughout the centuries.

In contemporary French litera-
ture—from 1925 to the present—
he explained, could be seen two
basic movements, to which he lim-
ited his discussion; the.-surrealist
trend, and existentialism,

The origins of surrealism lie in
the nineteenth century poets, Rim-
baud and Mallarmé, who attempted
a literary revolt, their point of de-
parture being a criticism of their
civilization, The surrealist’s ob-
ject was to attain the “Abbsolu;”
that is, to establish man in a sur-
realist world.

A basis for this was humor,
which might, to some, appear ma-
cabre. M. Morot-Sir related the in-
cident mentioned by André Breton
in his book, Anthologie de l’Hu-
mour Noir, of the murderer who
was told on Monday morning that
he would be executed soon. His
reaction was, “Now here’s a week
that is beginning well!” Humor
of this kind, though it may be
black, serves to combat the preju-
dices of society and those that man
may have about himself; a humor
which surpasses’ life and death.
Surrealism is an effort not only to
escape the necessity of sociéty’s
demands, but also to escape ne-
cessity per se. As a matter of fact,
man must escape anything which
prevents him from being spirit-
ually free, such as laws, the con-
cept of fatality, and a lack of
courage. The problem faced by
the surrealists. was how to find
that world. Here the role of the
human. conscience comes into play,
much as it does in the Freudian
theories. For in a kind of dia-
logue between the conscious and
the subconscious, the effort to ex-
tract the maximum significance
from human experience is obvious.
The dream of the surrealist is to
recreate man “thanks to the spon-
taneous magic of words.” (Breton).
The idea is to break the logic, the
bonds which society imposes upon
man, and to find the “Absolu” in
an irrational world. This may at
first seem futile, but it actually is
the first step necessary for all hu-
man experience. Freedom, then,
found through a “new technique of
language,” is the aim of surreal-
ism,

One basic theme of existential-
ism, again, is liberty. It is essen-
tially a pessimistic conception of
the universe, a paralyzing universe.



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The only method by which man can
escape it is through his conscious
disgust with a life which is not
worth living the way it stands.

Another Leitmotif|is the aware-
ness of “the Other/One.” As. M.
Morot-Sir pointed out, ancient
philosophy was based upon the in-
dividual; the “Other One” was re-
constructed on the basis of one’s
own experience. Here, the reverse
holds true, in that the conscious-
ness of one’s own existence is true
only in relation to “the Other One.”
This leads Sartre to conclude his
famous play, Huits Clos, with “Hell
is the Others.” Indeed, the agony
of the world is inflicted upon us
through others.

But—and ‘this is perhaps the
strength of Sartre—“man is con-
demned to be free.” Man has a pro-
found responsibility to struggle to
escape the worthless world in the
search for something. better. It is
therefore that we observe atheis-
tic tendencies in : existentialism.
The recognition of God would im-
ply that certain things are beyond
man’s control, thus permitting ex-
cuses for him. Sartre never denies
God; he simply advocates “to act
as though He did not exist.”

Existentialism

Before concluding, M. Morot-Sir
briefly discussed Christian exist-
entialism, and the existentialism of
Albert Camus. The former, he
said, is a criticism of ancient phi-
losophy ,which it found too intellec-
tual, It endeavored to discover the
real meaning of existence, of the
relation of men to each other, and
of his relation to God. The prin-
cipal exponent of this branch of
existentialism was Gabriel Marcel,
who unfortunately was not as good
at expressing himself as the more
pessimistic Sartre.

Albert Camus has remained
faithful to the tradition of French
morality. He passed through sev-
eral stages, the first one being one
of extreme pessimism. Here he
found life to be absurd. His sec-
ond stage is neatly summed up in
the phrase, “Je suis revolté, donc
nous sommes.” (I am _ revolted,
therefore we are.) After absurdity
and revolt, he comes to a mysti-
cism which promotes Love and
brotherhood; it embraces a positive
consciousness of existence, so that
man will find liberty in Love.

Contemporary French thinking,
M. Morot-Sir concluded, desires to
give a philosophic sense to exist-
ence and literary creation. This is
no doubt a crisis in modern think-
ing, but a fruitful one; the enmesh-
ing of philosophy and creation
cannot be harmful, he felt, since it
makes its appeal to the human
soul.





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Quick Application
Entreated for Fun,
Study in Florence

by Cathya Wing

Mare Slonim, Director of the
Sarah Lawrence College Summer
Session in Florence, is now receiv-
ing applications for the summer’s
month in a sixteenth century villa
in the Tuscan hills just outside
Florence.

Last July I was Bryn Mawr’s
single representative at the ses-
sion’s initial summer. Of the 30
girls, 20 were from Sarah Law-
rence and 10 from 10 other colleg-
es. Classes in Italian Language,
Art, History, and Literature were
conducted in English in the morn-
ings in the villa by Sarah Law-
rence professors. Afternoons and
evenings were at our own dispos-
al, and we spent most of them in
Florence. Mr. Slonim, a_ writer
himself, was frequently able to
bring writers, cultural attaches,
musicians and Italians prominent
in other fields, to lecture at the
villa,

« The summer began with an in-
auguration, at which the mayor of
Florence spoke, and to which the
United States Ambasador sent a
letter of welcome. There was a
dance later, with students at the
University of Florence and sons of
neighboring nobility. Highlights
of the month were the weekend ex-
cursions—Saturdays’ and Sundays
spent in Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Peru-
gia, Assisi, and other nearby towns.

This summer’s program will be
much the same as last, focusing on
Renaissance in Italyy Classes will
start on Monday, June 23, and will
end on Saturday, July 26. The cost
of $450 includes room and board,
tuition, excursions, and daily bus
into Florence,

Applications are due by January
15, BUT: if those possibly interest-
ed would see me (Rhoads North)
immediately, and ask me any ques-
tions about the session, I will beg
Mr. Slonim to leave a few places
for Bryn Mawr until the beginning
of second semester.

‘New Yorker’ Editor
To Discuss Writing

Miss Rachel Mackenzie of the
New Yorker will speak at Bryn
Mawr on Thursday, February 6,
at 4:30 P.M. Her topic will be
“Opportunities in the Field of
Writing.” Miss Macknzie, a gradu-
ate of Wells and Radcliffe, has
taught at Radcliffe, Wellesley, and
the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference.

She has been an editor on the
Fiction staff of the New Yorker
for two years and is well qualified
to .discuss current opportunities
for writers.

@
Notice

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announces the new snow regula-
tions.

Dress Regulations will be sus-
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(not the Deanery) when the follow-
ing weather conditions prevail:

1) two inches of snow and still
snowing.
2) six inches of snow.

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Speaks on English

William Beckford, one of the

atgreatest book collectors of the

early 19th century, was “considered
eccentric because he didn’t buy
early editions and English class-
ics,’ Mr. Anthony Hobson, direct-
or of Sotheby and Company, Lon-
don (the oldest book auction house
in the English speaking world)
told the»Friends of the Library in
the Deanery, January 8.

(Beckford, author also of the
novel ‘“Vathek,”’ regarded as the
precursor of the antic revival,
was born in 1760, heir to a large
sugar fortune.

At 18, he made his first purchase
for the collection that was to grow
with rapidity — a manuscript on
demonology corrected by King
James. By January, 1784, he was
buying books in Paris with the
King of France as his competitor.
Beckford’s library was known to
have more of a French than Eng-
lish character.

Auguste Chardin, a French pro-
revolutionary who supposedly had
his finger bitten off by a Swiss
guard in the attack on the Tuiler-
ies, soon became Beckford’s skill-
ful bookseller and buyer. After
the flight of the French aristocrats



Engagements |

Deborah Flint ’58 to David Long-
maid.

Roberta Pizor
Waldman.

Ilana Kara Diamond ’60 to Emil
Harrison Hubschman.

Pamela Thompson
Deas Sinkler, ITI.

Ann Coe ’56 to Lambert Heyn-
iger.
Barbara Pinney
Thomas,

Judith Mercuri ’58 to Jerome W.
Platek.

Elizabeth Simpson ’54 to Robert
Bennet, Jr.

Jessica Dragonnette ’55 to Theo-
dore Hellwig.

Nancy English *58 to Peter C.
King.

Mary Louise Kemp ’57 to Vladi-
mir Resky de Dubnic.

Peggy King ’56 to Peter And-
rews Poole.

Nancy Schwartz
Goldberg.
_ Carole
Ewing.
Jacqueline Esmerian to Jonathan
King.

Helen Niemtzow ’60 to Seymour
Berger.

Shelley Rich ’59 to Wallace C.
‘Miller.

Barbara Gambrill ’61 to William.
Murray.

Sally Wood ’59 to Peter Zavitz.

Debbie Pinkas ’60 to Lewis
Weinstein. 2

’61 to Arnold
"60 ‘ta °'§;

’*b8- to John

’b7 to Alan

Sonne to Alexander

Marriages

Josephine Case ’54 to Nathaniel
Schnurman.

Alexandra Quandt ’57 to Fred
C, Aldridge.

Mary Jo Griffith 58 to William
Myers.

Linda Lauretz_ 760 to Michael

Head of London Book Auction: House

Collector Beckford.

and abandonment of their belong-
ings, Chardin served his employer
well, especially since there were
few buyers.

In 1797, Beckford made his most
criticized purchase— the library
of Edward Gibbon. Gibbon had
told his executors he hoped his
books would serve the world. Some
said Beckford’s purchase took place
to spite the historian’s wishes. By
1808, Beckford’s collection was so
large that he held a sale at Sothe-
by’s, and remarked that the “Ital-
ian trash brought-more than the
Bible.” During the War of 1812,
Chardin smuggled over certain
items from France to the collector,
But by now sugar price fluctua-
tions had made it impossible for
him to compete with the richest
English collectors, and Beckford
organized a sale of duplicates
again although he continued to
buy.

Finally, Beckford decided to sell
most of his library and Font Hall,
his famed residence. In 1823, a 37-
day sale saw 4,000 printed books,
22 manuscripts and 11 albums of
drawings sold — approximately
more than half the collection. With
in the last 20 years of his life, how-
ever, Beckford ended with a library
larger than the original Font Hill
collection.

Chardin retired in 1823; another
bookseller" took care of Beckford’s
French” business. I England,
Beckford wrote letters to his
agents instructing em which
books were to b ght at any
price, and which were to be run up
and dropped on rival booksellers.
Beckford’s library at his death in
1837 consisted of 80 manuscripts
and 10,000 books. Art books, biog-
raphies, memoirs, travel and his-
tory books figured prominently in
the collection. His 1803 catalogue
shows 17 editions of Horace and
only three of Shakespeare and
Milton.

In 1882-83, Sotheby’s sale of
Beckford’s library at the request
of his descendants was marked by
English ra German competitive
bidding Yor a Dante manuscript
with 81 ‘illustrations by Botticelli.
The German government’s victory
caused great consternation among
the English, but apparently also
rendered Bismarck furious because
payment had to be made from a
secret service grant. Whether this
caused a reduction of the chancel-
lor’s spies is unknown *.

Alliance

In spite of the briefness of the
two weeks preceding exams, Alli-
ance board members still attended

‘Yeconferences at neighboring col-

leges. On Sunday afternoon, a con-
ference was held on parliament-
ary procedure and Bryn Mawr was
represented at Ursinus’ Conference
on Pennsylvania Politics on Mon-
day, January 13.

Roberta Holder, head of Debate
Team, plans a_ practice meeting
with Haverford shortly after the
exams, |
Following their request for a
joint meeting, the Pennsylvania
Military Academy will join the
Alliance on Fébruary 5. An in-
formal panel discussion of “The



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Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania