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Portrait de Alain

Alain

What first strikes us in Alain is his robust health: sharp eyes, tall build, rosy complexion. He is cheerful. He makes you want to live. That is not so common among philosophers. He says of himself: "I have the Percheron build. If you travel from Nogent-le-Rotrou to Argentan, you will meet me more than a hundred times."
So Alain is normal. Careful: I do not mean ordinary. It is the opposite. A friend of mine suffered from eye problems. The ophthalmologist who examined him said: "Your eyes are perfectly normal." He added: "That is strange. It does not happen once in millions."
Alain, too, does not happen once in millions. He is not only normal, he knows what it means to be normal. That is a kind of knowledge that cannot be reduced to formulas or systems. But it is enough, to evoke it, to recall Alain's favorite maxims. For example:

On pessimists:

Some people are unhappy because the stars are too far away.

On citizens' duty:

Orders and freedoms are correlative. Obey while resisting, that is the whole secret.

Or again:

Freedom dies if it does not act.

On eloquence:

Words permit everything, and houses fly away.

To his students:

To anyone who asks me how to work, I answer: work.

And:

Above all, do not reflect. Write!

On reflection:

One is never sure of finding ideas where one left them. On the contrary, they must be reinvented each time.

What does he mean, what does he show by his example? This: for human beings, nothing is ever acquired once and for all, neither thought, nor science, nor technique, nor society. Everything must be started again.

And that is precisely how Alain is normal and, if I may say so, popular. When a little girl goes to a dance for the first time, she is far from thinking that, in fact, she is going to a dance for the first time. In a surge of happiness, it seems to her that she is the first little girl in all time to be allowed to go to a dance.
If you read Alain, you will quickly see that this is our chance, all of us, and the greatness of our destiny: the world, whatever people say, has not yet been created. It has been waiting for us.

Jean Paulhan, 1952.

Resources

List of Alain's works

Ainsi parlait Alain

Alain and happiness by Andre Maurois [1954]

Passions and wisdom according to Alain

Gods and the arts according to Alain

Conversation about Alain

Alain - Propos / Systeme des Beaux-Arts - Artracaille 14-04-2009

WikipediaWikidataDataBnfWorldcat

Correspondance : Alain, Gabrielle Chartier-Alain & Jean Paulhan, 1927-1952

See also, by Jean Paulhan :

Bibliography of texts published in the NRF

The texts below, published in La Nouvelle Revue Française, are grouped into four main sets: texts by Alain, notes and columns by the author, texts about the author, and, when available, translations by the author.

Texts by Alain

  1. Mars ou La guerre jugée, 1921-05-01
  2. Les idées et les âges, 1921-10-01
  3. Études pour les idées et les âges, 1926-02-01
  4. Propos, 1927-04-01
  5. Propos, 1927-05-01
  6. Propos, 1927-06-01
  7. Propos, 1927-07-01
  8. Propos, 1927-08-01
  9. Propos, 1927-09-01
  10. Propos, 1927-10-01
  11. Propos, 1927-11-01
  12. Propos, 1927-12-01
  13. Propos, 1928-01-01
  14. Propos, 1928-02-01
  15. Propos, 1928-03-01
  16. Propos, 1928-04-01
  17. Propos, 1928-05-01
  18. Propos, 1928-06-01
  19. Propos, 1928-07-01
  20. Propos, 1928-08-01
  21. Propos, 1928-09-01
  22. Propos, 1928-10-01
  23. Propos, 1928-11-01
  24. Propos, 1928-12-01
  25. Propos, 1929-01-01
  26. Propos, 1929-02-01
  27. Propos, 1929-03-01
  28. Propos, 1929-04-01
  29. Propos, 1929-05-01
  30. Propos, 1929-06-01
  31. Propos, 1929-07-01
  32. Propos, 1929-08-01
  33. Propos, 1929-09-01
  34. Propos, 1929-10-01
  35. Propos, 1929-01-11
  36. Propos, 1929-12-01
  37. Propos, 1930-01-01
  38. Propos, 1930-02-01
  39. Propos, 1930-03-01
  40. Propos, 1930-04-01
  41. Propos, 1930-06-01
  42. Propos, 1930-07-01
  43. Propos, 1930-08-01
  44. Propos, 1930-09-01
  45. Propos, 1930-10-01
  46. Propos, 1930-11-01
  47. Propos, 1930-12-01
  48. Propos, 1931-01-01
  49. Propos, 1931-02-01
  50. Propos, 1931-03-01
  51. Propos, 1931-04-01
  52. Propos, 1931-05-01
  53. Propos, 1931-06-01
  54. Propos, 1931-07-01
  55. Propos, 1931-08-01
  56. Propos, 1931-09-01
  57. Propos, 1931-10-01
  58. Propos, 1931-11-01
  59. Propos, 1931-12-01
  60. Propos, 1932-01-01
  61. Propos, 1932-01-02
  62. Propos, 1932-04-01
  63. Propos, 1932-05-01
  64. Propos, 1932-06-01
  65. Propos, 1932-07-01
  66. Propos, 1932-08-01
  67. Propos, 1932-09-01
  68. Propos, 1932-10-01
  69. Propos, 1932-11-01
  70. Propos, 1932-12-01
  71. Propos, 1933-01-01
  72. Propos, 1933-02-01
  73. Propos, 1933-03-01
  74. Propos, 1933-04-01
  75. Propos, 1933-05-01
  76. Propos, 1933-06-01
  77. Propos, 1933-07-01
  78. Propos, 1933-08-01
  79. Propos, 1933-09-01
  80. Propos, 1933-10-01
  81. Propos, 1933-11-01
  82. Propos, 1933-12-01
  83. Propos, 1934-01-01
  84. Propos, 1934-03-01
  85. Propos, 1934-04-01
  86. Propos, 1934-05-01
  87. Propos, 1934-06-01
  88. Propos, 1934-07-01
  89. Propos, 1934-08-01
  90. Propos, 1934-09-01
  91. Propos, 1934-10-01
  92. Propos, 1934-11-01
  93. Propos, 1934-12-01
  94. Propos, 1935-01-01
  95. Propos, 1935-02-01
  96. Propos, 1935-03-01
  97. Propos, 1935-04-01
  98. Propos, 1935-05-01
  99. Propos, 1935-06-01
  100. Propos, 1935-07-01
  101. Propos, 1935-08-01
  102. Propos, 1935-09-01
  103. Propos, 1935-10-01
  104. Propos, 1935-11-01
  105. Propos, 1935-12-01
  106. Propos, 1936-01-01
  107. Histoire de mes pensées (I), 1936-02-01
  108. Histoire de mes pensées (II), 1936-03-01
  109. Histoire de mes pensées (Fin), 1936-04-01
  110. Propos, 1936-05-01
  111. Propos, 1936-06-01
  112. Le Roi Pot, 1938-09-01
  113. Le Roi Pot (II), 1938-10-01
  114. Le Roi Pot (Fin), 1938-11-01
  115. Le déjeuner chez Lapérouse, 1939-08-01
  116. Le fantastique et le réel d'après les Contes de Noël de Dickens, 1939-12-01
  117. Les Aventures du cœur (I), 1941-03-01
  118. Les Aventures du Cœur, 1941-04-01
  119. La Frivolité, 1941-06-01
  120. Les Aventures du Cœur, 1941-08-01
  121. Les arts – La nature, 1941-10-01
  122. Le Travail, 1942-05-01
  123. Le Théâtre, 1942-06-01

Notes by Alain

These texts by Alain may include reading notes, mood notes, performance reviews, miscellaneous pieces, or previously unpublished texts. They appeared in NRF sections such as Chronique des romans, L'air du mois, Le temps comme il passe, etc., or in tribute issues.

  1. Propos, 1932-03-01, Chroniques
  2. D'abord le grec, 1932-07-01, Revue des revues
  3. Propos, 1936-08-01, Chroniques
  4. Propos, 1936-09-01, Chroniques
  5. Propos, 1936-10-01, Chroniques
  6. Propos, 1936-11-01, Chroniques
  7. Entretiens chez le sculpteur : Deuxième entretien, 1937-05-01, Chroniques
  8. Entretiens chez le sculpteur : Troisième entretien, 1937-06-01, Chroniques
  9. Entretiens chez le sculpteur : Quatrième entretien, 1937-07-01, Chroniques
  10. Entretiens chez le sculpteur : Cinquième entretien, 1937-08-01, Chroniques
  11. Entretiens chez le sculpteur : Sixième entretien, 1937-09-01, Chroniques
  12. Trois Propos, 1939-09-01, Chroniques
  13. Vues sur le théâtre, 1940-12-01, Chroniques
  14. L'ennui, 1942-07-01, Chroniques

Texts about Alain

These texts may include thematic studies about the author, correspondence, reading notes on works by or about the author, interviews conducted by the author, or works edited by the author.

  1. Mars ou La guerre jugée, par Alain (Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française), by Michel Arnauld, 1921-12-01, Notes : littérature générale
  2. Quatre-vingt-un chapitres sur l'Esprit et les Passions, par Alain (Camille Bloch), by Albert Thibaudet, 1922-06-01, Notes : littérature générale
  3. Souvenirs concernant Jules Lagneau, par Alain (Éditions de la N. R. F.), by Albert Thibaudet, 1925-11-01, Notes : littérature générale
  4. Éléments d'une doctrine radicale, par Alain (Éditions de la N. R. F.), by Ramon Fernandez, 1926-11-01, Notes : littérature générale
  5. Les idées et les âges, par Alain (Éditions de la N. R. F.), by Ramon Fernandez, 1928-01-01, Notes : littérature générale
  6. Idées, par Alain (Hartmann), by Samuel Sylvestre de Sacy, 1932-06-01, Notes : la philosophie
  7. Stendhal, par Alain (Rieder), by Jean Prévost, 1935-08-01, Notes : la critique
  8. Propos sur la religion, par Alain (Rieder), by Denis de Rougemont, 1939-04-01, Notes : les essais
  9. Portraits de famille, par Alain (Mercure de France), by Henri Thomas, 1961-04-01, Notes : les essais

Chronological distribution of texts published in the NRF (1908-1968)

This chart shows the chronological distribution of texts across the four categories defined above: Texts, Notes, Translations, and Texts about the author.

Bibliography of texts published in the journal Mesures

The texts below, published in the journal Mesures, are grouped into two sets: texts by Alain and texts translated by the author.

Texts by Alain

  1. Jeunesse, 15 janvier 1936 [206 p.]

Bibliography of texts published in Les Cahiers de la Pleiade

The texts below, published in Les Cahiers de la Pleiade, are grouped into three sets: texts by Alain, texts translated by the author, and texts about the author.

Texts by Alain

  1. Rabelais, avril 1946 [218 p.]

Translated texts by Alain

  1. Gottfried Benn, Cerveaux ; Morgue, hiver 1950-1951 [214 p.]