{"id":8156,"date":"2018-10-10T04:39:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T04:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/?p=8156"},"modified":"2018-10-10T12:01:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T12:01:17","slug":"yourcenar-marguerite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repeatright.com\/engine\/yourcenar-marguerite\/","title":{"rendered":"YOURCENAR, Marguerite"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453315804311{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531588223-e020d87d-f7dd094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA man who reads, reflects, or plans belongs to a species rather than to his sex; in his best moments he rises even above the human.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Marguerite Yourcenar<\/strong>, Belgian-French author<\/p>\n

Memoirs of Hadrian <\/em>(1951) trans. Grace Frick, New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1955, p. 165; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531588755-96303790-852e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Hadrian]:<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have desired more: to see the human creature unadorned, alone with herself as she indeed must have been at least sometimes, in illness or after the death of a first-born child, or when a wrinkle began to show in her mirror. A man who reads, reflects, or plans belongs to a species rather than to his sex; in his best moments he rises even above the human.<\/span> But my fair loves seemed to glory in thinking only as women: the mind, or perhaps the soul, that I searched for was never more than a perfume.\u201d (p. 64)<\/p>\n

French text<\/em><\/strong> [Title: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em>]: \u201cUn homme qui lit, ou qui pense, ou qui calculi, appartient \u00e0 l\u2019esp\u00e8ce et non au sexe; dans ses meilleurs moments, il \u00e9chappe meme \u00e0 l\u2019humain.<\/span>\u201d (p. 75)<\/p>\n

[French text source<\/em>: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951) \u00c9ditions Gallimard, 1974, p. 75; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternative translation<\/em><\/strong> [Translator Grace Frick, 1955]: \u201cI should have desired more: to see the human creature unadorned, alone with herself as she indeed must have been at least sometimes, in illness or after the death of a first-born child, or when a wrinkle began to show in her mirror. A man who reads, reflects, or plans belongs to a species rather than to his sex; in his best moments he rises even above the human.<\/span> But my fair loves seemed to glory in thinking only as women: the mind, or perhaps the soul, that I searched for was never more than a perfume.\u201d (p. 64)<\/p>\n

[Alternative translation source<\/em>: Memoirs of Hadrian<\/em> (1951) trans. Grace Frick, New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1955, p. 65; online via Open Library [free subscription service] www.openlibrary.org<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531589797-29580b31-8c50094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>:\u00a0Memoirs of Hadrian<\/em> (1951|1955 Farrar, Straus & Young English edition) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoirsofhadrianyourrich#page\/64\/mode\/2up\/search\/reads<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[French text]: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951|1955 Gallimard) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoiresdhadrien00your#page\/74\/search\/homme+qui+lit<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315829087-ce67c619-0fbc5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cA young musician plays scales in his room and only bores his family. A beginning writer, on the other hand, sometimes has the misfortune of getting into print.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Marguerite Yourcenar<\/strong>, Belgian-French author<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Immortal\u201d (16 February 1981) TIME<\/em> magazine, [no author named] Vol. 117, No. 7, New York, NY: Time, Inc. \u2018Books,\u2019 p. 80, column 2; online via \u2018The Vault\u2019, [subscription service] www.time.com\/vault<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315829475-7c82a017-1e625381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Article following the announcement of Yourcenar\u2019s admission to the Acad\u00e9mie fran\u00e7aise ]:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the girl was 16, her papa privately published her first work of verse, and the two devised Marguerite\u2019s almost anagrammatic nom de plume. Reviewing her own debut, Yourcenar admits, \u201cA young musician plays scales in his room and only bores his family. A beginning writer, on the other hand, sometimes has the misfortune of getting into print.<\/span>\u201d (p. 80, column 2)<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315829682-63e8fade-cf4c5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link<\/strong><\/em><\/span>: \u201cNew Immortal\u201d (16 February 1981) online via \u2018The Vault,\u2019 TIME magazine [subscription service]: http:\/\/time.com\/vault\/issue\/1981-02-16\/page\/80\/<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cEvery bliss achieved is a masterpiece; the slightest error turns it awry, and it alters with one touch of doubt; any heaviness detracts from its charm, the least stupidity renders it dull.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Marguerite Yourcenar<\/strong>, Belgian-French author<\/p>\n

Memoirs of Hadrian <\/em>(1951) trans. Grace Frick, New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1955, p. 165; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

French text<\/em><\/strong>: \u201cTout Bonheur est un chef-d\u2019\u0153uvre: la moindre erreur le fausse, la moindre hesitation l\u2019alt\u00e8re, la moindre lourdeur le d\u00e9pare, la moindre sottise l\u2019ab\u00eatit.<\/span> Le mien n\u2019est responsable en rien de celles ne mes imprudences qui plus tard l\u2019one bris\u00e9: tant que j\u2019ai agi dans son sens, j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 sage.\u201d (p. 172)<\/p>\n

[French text source<\/em>: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951) \u00c9ditions Gallimard, 1974, p. 180; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a>]\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>:\u00a0Memoirs of Hadrian<\/em> (1951|1955 Farrar, Straus & Young English edition) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoirsofhadrianyourrich#page\/164\/mode\/2up\/search\/masterpiece<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[French text]:\u00a0M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951|1955 Gallimard) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoiresdhadrien00your#page\/180\/search\/tout+bonheur<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cLet us try, if we can, to enter into death with open eyes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Marguerite Yourcenar<\/strong>, Belgian-French author<\/p>\n

Memoirs of Hadrian <\/em>(1951) trans. Grace Frick, New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1955, p. 297; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Final lines of book; ellipsis is original to cited source and does not represent missing text.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle soul, gentle and drifting, guest and companion of my body, now you will dwell below in pallid places, stark and bare; there you will abandon your play of yore. But one moment still, let us gaze together on these familiar shores, on these objects which doubtless we shall not see again…Let us try, if we can, to enter into death with open eyes<\/span>…\u201d (p. 297)<\/p>\n

French text<\/em><\/strong> [Title: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em>]: \u201cPetite \u00e2me, \u00e2me tendre et flottante, compagne de mon corps, qui fut ton h\u00f4te, tu vas descendre dans ces lieux pales, durs et nus, o\u00f9 tu devras renoncer aux jeux d\u2019autrefois. Un instant encore, regardons ensemble les rives famili\u00e8res, les objets que sans doute nous ne reverrons plus… T\u00e2chons d\u2019entrer dans la mort les yeux ouverts…<\/span>\u201d (p. 316)<\/p>\n

[French text source<\/em>: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951) \u00c9ditions Gallimard, 1974, p. 316; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a>]\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source link<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: Memoirs of Hadrian<\/em> (1951|1955 Farrar, Straus & Young English edition) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoirsofhadrianyourrich#page\/296\/mode\/2up\/search\/open+eyes<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[French text]<\/span>: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951|1955 Gallimard) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoiresdhadrien00your#page\/316\/search\/petite+ame<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1453316221301{margin-top: 0px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1453315828001-b5e2e52e-ea1e5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cMorals are a matter of private agreement; decency is of public concern.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Marguerite Yourcenar<\/strong>, Belgian-French author<\/p>\n

Memoirs of Hadrian <\/em>(1951) trans. Grace Frick, New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1955, p. 108; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1453315828385-86abfac4-79bf5381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text<\/p>\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fictional autobiography of the Emperor Hadrian]:<\/p>\n

\u201cMorals are a matter of private agreement; decency is of public concern.<\/span> Any conspicuous license has always struck me as a tawdry display.\u201d (p. 108)<\/p>\n

French text<\/em><\/strong> [Title: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em>]: \u201cLa morale est une convention priv\u00e9e: la d\u00e9cence est affaire publique<\/span>; toute licence trop visible m\u2019a toujours fait l\u2019effet d\u2019un \u00e9talage de mauvais aloi.\u201d<\/p>\n

[French text source<\/em>: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951) \u00c9ditions Gallimard, 1974, pp. 199-120; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source Link” tab_id=”1453315828572-dac97b48-68e05381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

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Source link\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>[Featured source]<\/span>:\u00a0Memoirs of Hadrian<\/em> (1951|1955 Farrar, Straus & Young English edition) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoirsofhadrianyourrich#page\/108\/mode\/2up\/search\/agreement<\/a><\/p>\n

Source link <\/em><\/strong>[French text]<\/span>: M\u00e9moires d\u2019Hadrien<\/em> (1951|1955 Gallimard) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/memoiresdhadrien00your#page\/118\/search\/la+morale+est<\/a><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_tta_tabs style=”modern” shape=”square” active_section=”1″][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-book” add_icon=”true” title=”Citation” tab_id=”1449531591105-7edf5f39-feaa094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

\u201cWe say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with grief.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~Marguerite Yourcenar<\/strong>, Belgian-French author<\/p>\n

Fires<\/em> (1935) trans. Dori Katz, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 79<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-plus-circle” add_icon=”true” title=”Context” tab_id=”1449531591631-43861bc7-da28094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Extended excerpt<\/em><\/strong> [Fiction. Italics as it appears in cited text.]:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy God, I place my body between your hands again.<\/em><\/p>\n

We say: mad with joy. We should say: wise with grief.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

To possess is the same thing as to know: the Bible is always right. Love is a sorcerer: it knows the secrets, love is a dowser: it knows the sources.\u201d<\/em> (p. 79)<\/p>\n

Source notes<\/em><\/strong>: According to the cited text, Dori Katz\u2019s 1981 English translation was \u201cin collaboration with the author.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Repeat Right has not reviewed the French language copy of the text. (Title: Feux<\/em> )<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-search” add_icon=”true” title=”Source ISBN” tab_id=”1449531592891-f39e055b-a66e094f-cf635381-89e5486b-50b8″][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”]\n

Source<\/em><\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Library \u2013 Fires<\/em> (1935|1994 University of Chicago) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-226-96528-7<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Resources<\/h4>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”Wrapper-Author-Resources”]Learn more about Marguerite Yourcenar\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>| Here are a few good places to start –<\/p>\n