the “poèmes d'humanité” of guernsey and alsó-sztregova: victor hugo'sla légende...

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DIETER P. LOTZE THE "POEMES D'HUMANITI~" OF GUERNSEY AND ALSO-SZTREGOVA: VICTOR HUGO'S LA LI~GENDE DES SIECLES AND IMRE MAD~CH'S THE TRAGEDY OF MAN When Ferenc Kazinczy (1759-1831) undertook the linguis- tic reforms that were to led to the creation of Hungarian as a literary language during the first decades of the 19th century, and consequently to the rapid development of a national litera- ture in Hungary, he looked towards Germany in his search for models. But even though his nickname, "The Goethe of Sz6p- halom," gives evidence of his orientation, it should be noted that, next to Goethe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was his idol, and the French Revolution was the event that most strongly affected his political philosophy. Among the writers of the post- Kazinczy period, German influence very quickly lost its impor- tance, and novelist M6r J6kai, an outstanding representative of this generation, could justifledly say of the Hungarian writers after 1830, "We were all Frenchmen." While German Romanticism was generally ignored in Hungary, French Romantic works were widely admired and imitated. Of all the French authors of the time, Victor Hugo probably exerted the greatest impact, z Baron Jdzsef E6tv~Ss, a leading political and literary figure who translated Hugo's Angelo into Hungarian, served as an important intermediary, especially through his article of 1837, Hugo Victor mint drdma( kSltg 10tt6 Siipek, in his article, "L'influence de Victor Hugo en Hongrie /t l'6poque des r6formes," (Actes du IV e Congr~s de l'Assoeiation Inter- nationale de Littdrature Comparde, Fribourg 1964, The Hague: Mouton, 1966, II, 1154--603, discusses in some detail Hugo's impact on Hun- garian literature between 1831 and 1848. But Sflpek uses this specific example mainly to clarify the concept of "literary influence".

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DIETER P. LOTZE

THE "POEMES D'HUMANITI~"

OF GUERNSEY AND ALSO-SZTREGOVA:

VICTOR HUGO'S LA LI~GENDE DES SIECLES

AND IMRE MAD~CH'S THE T R A G E D Y OF M A N

When Ferenc Kazinczy (1759-1831) undertook the linguis- tic reforms that were to led to the creation of Hungarian as a literary language during the first decades of the 19th century, and consequently to the rapid development of a national litera- ture in Hungary, he looked towards Germany in his search for models. But even though his nickname, "The Goethe of Sz6p- halom," gives evidence of his orientation, it should be noted that, next to Goethe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was his idol, and the French Revolution was the event that most strongly affected his political philosophy. Among the writers of the post- Kazinczy period, German influence very quickly lost its impor- tance, and novelist M6r J6kai, an outstanding representative of this generation, could justifledly say of the Hungarian writers after 1830, "We were all Frenchmen." While German Romanticism was generally ignored in Hungary, French Romantic works were widely admired and imitated.

Of all the French authors of the time, Victor Hugo probably exerted the greatest impact, z Baron Jdzsef E6tv~Ss, a leading political and literary figure who translated Hugo's Angelo into Hungarian, served as an important intermediary, especially through his article of 1837, Hugo Victor mint drdma( kSltg

10tt6 Siipek, in his article, "L'influence de Victor Hugo en Hongrie /t l'6poque des r6formes," (Actes du IV e Congr~s de l'Assoeiation Inter- nationale de Littdrature Comparde, Fribourg 1964, The Hague: Mouton, 1966, II, 1154--603, discusses in some detail Hugo's impact on Hun- garian literature between 1831 and 1848. But Sflpek uses this specific example mainly to clarify the concept of "literary influence".

72 DIETER P. LOTZE

(Victor Hugo as Dramatist), in which he stressed the view that a playwright must possess a "moral conviction," so that he can promote justice and instruct his audience; but in order to per- form that task, he has to be able to give pleasure to the spec- tators, too.

It is most likely that one of the writers who tried to heed E6tvSs's advice was Imre Madhch (1823-1864), whose Az ember tragddi6ja (The Tragedy of Man) is generally considered the greatest philosophical drama written in Hungary. It consti- tutes one of the most outstanding examples of the "po~me d'humanit6" in European literature. Mad~ch's play was drafted in 1859-60 and published in 1862. The time of its creation thus coincides with that of the publication of a work that is very similar in its overall Objectives, Hugo's La L~gende des sikcles, whose first series was published in the fall of 1859. (The present discussion focuses on this first series, although the entire work should really be viewed as a unit - and even the fragments of Dieu and Fin de Satan ought to be considered along with it as forming a trilogy, according to the intentions of the author - and although we do not know when some of the poems included in this or the later two series were actually written. However, the fact that the first series can also be consid- ered as complete in itself - and indeed is much more uniform than the finished work - and that Mad~ch's play was written at almost exactly the same time, made this limitation appear justified.)

Students of Hungarian literature have occasionally compared Mad~ich's drama with Hugo's work, starting as early as 1862 with K~iroly Sz~isz, the translator of La L~gende des sikcles into Hungarian. 2 Ignace Kont claimed in 1902 that The Tragedy of Man might have been influenced directly by Hugo's "petites 6pop6es," even though this is chronologically impossible. 3

Az ember tragddt2i]dr61," Szdpirodalmi Figyel~. l~tude sur rinfluence de la littdrature fran~aise en Hongrie (Paris,

1902), especially his no te on p. 349. But a t the t ime when the first ex-

pOI~MES D'HUMANITs 73

Lfiszl6 Juhfisz, who called Madfich, in his 1930 study, "un disciple du romantisme franqais", thought that Mad~ich's view of women and his pantheism could in part be attributed to his contact with the works of H u g o ) More recently, scholars like Jfinos Barta, 5 Istv~n S6t6r, ~ GySrgy Mih~ly Vajda, 7 and Mihfily Szegedy-Maszfik 8 have included references to Hugo in their discussions of Madfich's drama, and Enik6 M. Basa devoted a large part of her 1972 doctoral dissertation to the two "pobmes d'humanit6. ''9 French literary scholarship, on the other hand, does not seem to have paid much attention to the Hungarian work.

Mad~ch certainly was familiar with and interested in Victor Hugo. He quoted him in his correspondence, 1~ used the dedica- tion f rom Cromwell for his own first collection of poetry (Lant- virfigok, 1840), 11 had a copy of Ruy Blas in his library, 12 and

cerpts 'from La Ldgende ("Le Sacre de la femme" and "Le Mariage de Roland") were published in the Revue des Deux Mondes (September 1, 1859), Madfich had been working on his drama for months (since February 17).

4 Un Disciple du romantisme frangais : Maddch et La Tragddie de l'Itomme, l~tudes Fran~aises publi6es par l'Institut Franqais de l'Uni- versit6 de Szeged, 4 (Szeged, 1930), especially pp. 32--38.

5 Maddch Imre (Budapest: Franklin T~irsulat, 1942). 6 "Imre Mad~ich," Acta Litteraria Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae,

1 (1957), 27--85: r "L'61dment europ~en et hongrois dans la 'Trag6die de l'Homme',"

Acta Litteraria, 15 (1973), 337--46. 8 "Life-Conception and structure in 'The Tragedy of Man,' " Acta

Litteraria, 15 (1973), 327--35: 9 "The Tragedy of Man as an Example of the Po~me d'Humanit6:

An Examination of the Poem by Imre Ma&ich with Reference to the Relevant Works of Shelley, Byron, Lamar.tine and Hugo," Diss, Univ, of North Carolina 1972.

10 See his letter of March 2, i843 to P~ii Szontagh, as published ini Imre Ma&ich, Osszes Mavel, ed. G~ibor Hal~isz (Budapest: Rdvai, 1942), II, 950.

1~ Madgch, Osszes Mgvei, II, 809. is See J6zsef Szficsi, Maddch Imre kOnyvtdra, Magyar KOnyvszemle,

23 (1915), 5--28.

74 DIETER P. LOTZE

acquired the Hungarian translation of the L~gende as soon as it appeared.

The Tragedy of Man was Madfich's first literary success and projected him almost overnight into the position of one of the most respected authors of his country, whereas Hugo's epic took at world history was only one of many works by a writer who was already famous and assured of a large audience. Nevertheless, Mad/tch probably felt akin to the French poet whose political interests (both men were elected to their respec- tive parliaments) and philosophical or religious attitudes he shared to a large extent. Both authors wrote during a period of disillusionment with the political situation, Hugo in exile on Guernsey, waiting and hoping for a change in the power structure, Mad~tch in the seclusion of his rural estate of Als6- Sztregova, after having been imprisoned for political reasons following the revolution of 1848 - 49 which had brought tragedy to him and his family. Even though both appeared to give factual accounts of historic events, personal experience helped shape the two works, whether it is Hugo's bitterness toward the regime of Napol6on III that seems to emerge again and again, or the French author's spiritualist experimentation that ted to the creation of specific poems, or, in Mad~tch's case, the failure of his marriage that found its reflection in the portrayal of Eve in several scenes.

There are a number of striking similarities. Both works show in fifteen segments the development of humanity from Eden into the distant future, and Mad~ch sould largely have accepted as his own goal what Hugo described as his objective in writing La Ldgende des siOcles : "Exprimer l'humanit~ dans une esp~ce d'oeuvre cyclique; la peindre successivement et simultan6ment sous tous ses aspects, histoire, fable, philosophic, religion, science ... faire apparaitre dans une sorte de miroir sombre et clair.., eette grande figure une et multiple, lugubre et rayonnan- te, fatale et sacr6e, l'Homme..."Jz

1~ Victor Hugo, La Ldgende des Si~eles, La Fin de Satan, Dieu, ed. Jacques Truchet (Paris: i~ditions Gallimard, 1950), p. 3.

PO~MES D'ttUMANIT~ 75

Some of the significant periods of history selected by the two writers are nearly or completely identical, from the state of innocence in Paradise ("D'Eve ~t J6sus," especially "Le Sacre de la femme," in La Ldgende des sikcles Scenes 2: In Paradise, and 15: Outside Paradise, in The Tragedy of Man) and man's early sinfulness ("La conscience"; Scene 2: In Paradise) through the moral decay of Rome ("D6cadence de Rome: Au Lion d'Androcl~s"; Scene 6: Rome) and medieval chivalry ("Le Cycle h6roi'que chr6tien" and "Les Chevaliers errants"; Scene 7: Constantinople) as well as oriental despotism ("Les Tr6nes d'Orient: Zim-Zizimi"; Scene 4: Egypt) into the writers' own century with its social problems (the segment "Maintenant" of the first series; Scene 11: London) and beyond ("Vingti~me Si6cle"; Scenes 12: Phalanstery, 13: Space, and 14: Ice Region). Both works establish the mythological framework by discussing initially the attitudes of God and His adversary toward creation ("Puissance 6gale bont6"; Scene 1 : In Heaven) and by returning at the end of the historical panorama to the extra-human powers ("Hors des Temps: La Trompette du jugement"; Scene 15: Outside Paradise).

Since Hugo and Mad/tch selected similar periods in history, a number of specific parallels can be shown. In addition, some of Hugo's favorite themes are also to be found in the Hungarian work. Naomi Schor has discussed the many variations of the �9 'protector-protege" relationship in La L~gende, where frequently the "knight in shining armor" or the "heroic loner" comes to the aid of someone young and vulnerable. 14 Mad~tch repeatedly presents the same theme, most clearly in the Constantinople scene, where Adam, as the crusader Tancred, rescues Isaura. Hugo used the same name for the orphaned ."prot6g6e" in "La Confiance du marquis Fabrice". It is quite in keeping with this relationship that later in Mad/tch's play, Adam will repeat his chivalrous gesture, albeit in a very anachronistic

1~ "Superposition of Models in La L~gende des Si~cles," Romanic Review, 65 (1974), 42--51.

76 DIETER P. LOTZE

manner, by brandishing a sword in the utopian world of the Phalanstery.

But more significant are some of the similarities in thephilos- ophies expressed through the two works. Both writers held rather unorthodox religious views, but professed a basic belief in God. Organized religion appears as a negative force, enslav- ing man rather than setting him free. Thus, the attitude toward the church as shown in Mad/tch's Constantinople scene, where heretics are led to their execution because of their refusal to embrace the principle of Homoousianism, is the same that Hugo displays in "Les Raisons de Momotombo". Both authors look at human sinfulness, but it is remarkable that Mad~ch's drama focuses on Adam's fall, whereas Hugo's poem presents Cain's slaying of Abel without really facing up to the question of the origin of sin. Yet a scene like that of the children torturing the toad to death ("Le Crapaud") seems to tie in with the traditional belief in original sin. Understandably, some of the most severe attacks on both writers have come from the Catholic church. (Madhch did not share Hugo's experience of seeing his works on the lndex of Forbidden Books, but The Tragedy of Man prompted an anti-Mad~ch play, Eduard Hlatky's Weltenmorgen of 1896, written expressly to offer a Catholic answer to the alleged atheism of the Hungarian drama.)

In their overview of history, both authors dwell on some of the darker aspects of the struggle of mankind. 15 There is con- tinuous disillusionment, but also some progress, and both writers see the human urge for liberty as one of the driving forces. In both works, therefore, the French Revolution is seen as a very significant event, but it is interesting that only Mad~ch

15 In this connection, Mad~ch 's letter of March 18, 1863 to K~troly Sz~isz is quite illustrative. Sz~sz had suggested the inclusion of a scene dealing with t he Reformation. Mad~fch responded to the effect tha t he had indeed considered tha t possibility, but had decided against it, because he did not know how to present ,that movement as also having failed. See Osszes Milvei, II, 947.

POI~MES D'HUMANITI~ 77

deals with it directly (with Adam appearing in the role of Dan- ton), whereas in Hugo's L~yende it is only hinted at, even though the poet had specifically stated in his preface that he would pursue the fate of mankind "depuis Eve, mbre des hommes, jusqu'~t la R6volution, m~re des peuples. ''16 In "Dix-septibme Si~cle: Les Mercenaires," homage is paid to the Swiss people for having fought for freedom in the past, but Hugo makes it quite clear that the movement leading to liberty for all mankind will not originate in the country of Tell and Winkelried, but, as the "g~ant chevalier" says in "1453":

Mon nom sous le soleil est France. Je reviendrai dans la clart6, J'apporterai la d61ivrance, J'am6nerai la libert6? 7

In Hugo, as well as in Mad/tch, there is hidden or direct criticism of existing political or economic conditions, and it has been argued that some of the Saint-Simonian views voiced by Adam in Madhch's London scene were inspired by Hugo's philosophical position. 18

However, with all these parallels, we must not overlook some of the very important formal, thematic, and philosophical differences between the two works. The most obvious contrast is, of course, in the different forms utilized by both authors for their respective "po~mes d'humanit6." Mad/tch's drama is much more uniform when compared with Hugo's collection of "petites 6pop6es" of greatly varying length and tone. But although Hugo's poems range from the lyrical to the epic, their character is largely dramatic, and his frequent use of dialogue brings much of the work closer to Mad/tch's play than might be expected. (The actual inclusion of a short drama, "Welf, Castellan d'Osbor," in a later series, does therefore not appear completely inorganic.) But because of the fact that

16 La Ldyende des Si~cles, p. 4. 1~ La L~yende des SiOcles, p. 277. 18 Juhfisz, pp. 41 ft.

78 DIETER P. LOTZE

Mad/tch consistently uses the dramatic mode to express his philosophy, he is forced to rely on a more realistic treatment of the various episodes, while Hugo's choice of epic poetry makes it easier for him to move from the level of realistic description to that of symbolical or allegorical representation. Perhaps the "Satyre" episode is the most striking example. The transition from the realistic and very human portrayal of mythological figures, reminiscent of Jacques Offenbach, to the awe-inspiring vision of the future by the Satyre who is growing to gigantic dimensions would of course be unthinkable in dramatic litera- ture. But in Mad/tch, too, there are a number of purely symbol- ic episodes~ such as the appearance of the Spirit of the Earth (probably inspired by the "Erdgeist" in Goethe's Faust, but assuming a very different role in the framework of this drama), the vision at the end of the Roman scene, or the danse macabre with which the London scene concludes.

What adds to the unity and coherence of Mad/tch's play is certainly his clever use of a central hero. By making Adam the protagonist who is led by Lucifer from one epoch to another, and who plays an active role in each one (at least in the scenes depicting the past ,- starting with the London scene, Adam becomes more and more a spectator), the Hungarian playwright skillfully combines individual drama with an overview of world history, while the French writer attempts to substitute thematic centrality, in order to show how all of humanity's struggle combines to form "un seul et immense mouvement d'ascension vers ia lumi~re, ''19 But the reader is easily led astray and be- comes absorbed in the individual action without being able to see the universal trend at the same time. The "po6me d'humanit6'" with Hugo becomes more of a collection of human poems.

Two other differences spring from the presence of a central figure in the Tragedy o f Man : Madgtch, possibly influenced by Hegel's philosophy of history, emphasizes the great historical personages, from (a fictitious) Pharao, the builder of the

xo, La LOgende, des Sidcles, p. 3.

POI~MES D'HUMANITI~ 79

Pyramids, through Kepler, the watcher of the skies, to a disil- lusioned Danton. Hugo, on the other hand, deals with average people and with collective bodies as well. Furthermore, Mad~tch is forced to economize much more in the selection of historical scenes. There are hints, to be sure, that Adam has gone through several additional historic roles, but we observe him only in a few representative periods. The dialectical structure of the play, therefore, becomes much dearer than the intended pattern in Hugo's work. By trying to be all-inclusive, by attempting to show various cultures in different stages of development, the French writer presents a more fragmented and diffuse picture. Mad~tch has Adam go through a series of dream visions, showing him the future development of the human race whose ancestor he is destined to become, and the awakened hero tries to draw the conclusion from what he has seen. Lucifer almost succeeds in leading him away from God and into suicide (in an attempt to end it all before it begins), but his desperate action is rendered futile by Eve's pregnancy, which thus assumes a different function from what Hugo relates in "Le Sacre de la femme," where the author's anger over the 1853 Papal Bull on the Immaculate Conception may have found translation into lyrical poetry. The final reappearance of the Lord, and Lucifer's admission of failure, are organic consequences of the drzma's exposition. In Hugo's work, however, the final poem with its vision of the day of judgment appears somewhat unmotivated after the celebration of man's technological and moral progress on "Plein Ciel." The later addition of the introductory poem, "La Vision d'ofi est sorti ce livre," actually written as early as 1857, partly clarifies the function of "La Trompette du juge- ment" as an element of a greater frame.

With the optimism expressed in "Plein Cie!" and in the pivot- al "Satyre" poem, we come to the sharpest philosophical difference between the two works. Hugo saw the development of mankind as one great Upward movement, as he stated in his preface, and the vision of 20th century man soaring high above the earth is a symbolic expression of this faith in the future

80 DIETER P. LOTZE

(and in the role science was to play in the progress of humanity). Such simple faith was impossible for the Hungarian author after the events of 1848-49 and in view of the centuries of struggle for national and cultural survival so characteristic of Hungary. The scientist he depicts in the Pha!anstery scene, optimistically building a "brave new world," does not succeed: The last humans on earth vegetate in a frozen desert under a dying sun. And what at first glance seems a strong parallel between both works, man's flight through space, is actually radically different in its implication. In Madfich's play, it is Lucifer's attempt to pull man away from the positive powers of nature, and life can be retained only by returning to earth. Thus, we have here the exact opposite of what Richard Grant has found to be the central motif in Hugo's narratives: Adam must ascend rather than descend in order to face his ultimate contest/~ The final admonition of the Lord to Adam, "O Man, strive on, strive on, have faith; and trust! ''21 despite the fact that the accuracy of the shattering historic visions is not denied in any way, demands Tertullian's "Credo, quia absurdum," which is a far cry from the belief in a perfectible world that was voiced in French Romanticism.

Perhaps the different titles chosen by the two authors are indicative of their similarities and differences. Madfich, in his Tragedy of Man, sees each individual as yet another reincarna- tion of the same Adam, and his eternal struggle is essentially tragic. Hugo, after having considered La Ldgende de l'Humanitd and La Ldgende de l'Homme, decided on the emphasis on his- tory rather than on man, the individual, or mankind. But the singular of Ldgende stresses the attempt to view the multitude of centuries as aspects of the same general development, the move- ment towards the light.

20 Ricard B. Grant , The Perilous Quest : Image, Myth, and Prophesy in the Narratives o f Victor Hugo (Durtmm, N. C.: Duke Univ. Press, 1968).

21 Imre Mad~ch, The Tragedy o f Man, tr. J. C. W. Home, 4th ed. (Budapest: Corvina, 1970), p. 195.

POI~MES D'HUMANITI~ 81

Despite the universality aimed for in Hugo's poem, there are many references to French history and French conditions. Mad~ich, on the other and, carefully avoided the inclusion of anything specifically relating to his native country (except for one brief mention of Hunyadi). Yet, Hungarians have always seen this work as particularly expressive of their culture, and the encouragement to strive and have faith despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation has inspired generations. Hugo, reflecting a somewhat different philosophy, was likewise to be- come a source of inspiration for his nation. According to an underground newspaper of 1944, he was the poet most frequent- ly read and quoted at that time, and the resistance movement considered him the "po&e 6pique du peup!e libre promu ~t la conscience et ~t la parole. ''2z

La L~gende des sikcles and The Tragedy of Man, the two "po~mes d'humanit6" written almost simultaneously in the relative isolation of Guernsey and Als6-Sztregova, are the last and the most outstanding representatives of this Romantic genre. Ever since Dante wrote his great work, poets had attempted to discuss the question of the destiny of mankind in epic or dramatic form, and the Romantic movement of the 19th century, with its concern for individuality and universality, with its interest in history and in metaphysical questions, had developed the "po~me d'humanit6" to its highest point.

~2 David Owen Evans, Social Romanticism in France 1830--1848 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1951), p. 102. Similar testimony can be found in Louis Aragon's spirited defense of the poet in his anthology, Avez- vous lu Victor Hugo? (Montreuil: Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1952).