Hello everyone. I thought I’d kick off this blog with an article on a book I love, and that I feel should be known more, Les confessions d’un enfant du siècle by Alfred de Musset. This article will be the first of a series called History and modernity which aims at integrating history into our present through novels. I have read it again recently, and it struck me just as much as the first time, and particularly resonated with me as a contrast to the challenging times we are going through with the pandemic. I’ll try the best I can to make you want to read.
Two centuries ago, yet…
Written in 1836, this novel showcases with talent et lyricism the state of mind characteristic of the romantic era which struck Europe in the 19th century, the mal du siècle, the ennui, the melancholy. All throughout, you are violently thrown in this ambiance, the emptiness between a finished past and an uncertain future, where time and hopes are suspended. While the fall of Napoleon and the return of monarchy may seem very far away from us, the feeling Musset conveys through this novel echoes deeply with the Covid-19 atmosphere which has been ours for over a year now. Possibilities denied, strange routines, the feel that you are merely floating through life… What was then, has come back in a different form, for different reasons, but leaves the same lingering feeling… One question is left: what now?
Hope
What now; that is precisely the question Octave, the young man we follow throughout the novel and which seems to be a mirror of Musset, asks himself after sinking in debauchery upon his disillusion regarding love. The book has a historical dimension to it indeed, but is mostly a book about love, about growing up, learning from your mistakes, and comprehending that the beauty and the worth of life lies in learning how to appreciate the little things. In that, it couldn’t be more adapted to our situation. It is a reminder that we need to center our lives on loving each other, loving ourselves, and loving nature.
Now, your turn!
I hope this has been enough to make you want to read this book without having spoiled it too much. If you were hesitating, this is your call: go! Once you have opened it, you won’t be able to let go. It will make you smile; it will make you hope; and most importantly it will make you dream…