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Le Cours des devises in Marguerite Yourcenar's Mémoires d'Hadrien Author(s): Jeanine S. Alesch Source: The French Review, Vol. 72, No. 5 (Apr., 1999), pp. 877-885 Published by: American Association of Teachers of French Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/398361 Accessed: 13/04/2009 03:47 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=french. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Association of Teachers of French is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The French Review. http://www.jstor.org

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  • Le Cours des devises in Marguerite Yourcenar's Mémoires d'HadrienAuthor(s): Jeanine S. AleschSource: The French Review, Vol. 72, No. 5 (Apr., 1999), pp. 877-885Published by: American Association of Teachers of FrenchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/398361Accessed: 13/04/2009 03:47

    Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

    Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=french.

    Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

    JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with thescholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform thatpromotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

    American Association of Teachers of French is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The French Review.

    http://www.jstor.org

    http://www.jstor.org/stable/398361?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=french

  • THE FRENCH REVIEW, Vol. 72, No. 5, April 1999 Printed in U.S.A.

    Le Cours des devises in Marguerite Yourcenar's Memoires d'Hadrien

    by Jeanine S. Alesch

    NARRATION FUNCTIONS IN A DUAL FASHION in Yourcenar's Memoires d'Ha- drien. On the one hand, Hadrian presents his letter to Marcus Aurelius as an "examen des faits," which he undertakes "pour me definir, me juger peut-etre, ou tout au moins pour me mieux connaitre avant de mourir."1 This ostensible goal suggests that he intends to use his text as a means of reaching some unforeseen truths about himself and his life, and narrative therefore serves an open-ended process of self-analysis and self-defini- tion. Narrating permits him to speak of fact, potentiality, and illusion con- currently, and blending these three facets of human experience produces the truest or most accurate portrayal of a person's life.2 On the other hand, narrating risks creating the illusion of order where none otherwise exists: "L'existence des heros, celle qu'on nous raconte, est simple; elle va droit au but comme une fleche. Et la plupart des hommes aiment a re- sumer leur vie dans une formule" (304). Such potential reductiveness is contrary to Hadrian's purpose, and he values his own experience be- cause it fails to reproduce predigested patterns: "Ma vie a des contours moins fermes" (304). Indeed, he asserts that his own life resists simple formulation: "Je m'efforce de reparcourir ma vie pour y trouver un plan . . . mais ce plan tout factice n'est qu'un trompe-l'oeil du souvenir. .. trop de routes ne menent nulle part, trop de sommes ne s'addition- nent pas" (305).

    What Hadrian calls "formules" are nonetheless scattered abundantly throughout the text, and the Roman empire itself. They are present for in- stance in inscriptions, which he instinctively associates with rigidity and a loss of nuance. Having just been named emperor, he feels an enormous sense of helplessness when an ally, acting without orders, executes sever- al of his enemies. Tellingly, he likens these events to words carved in stone: "Ma vie publique m'echappait deja: la premiere ligne de l'inscrip- tion portait, profondement entaillee, quelques mots que je n'effacerais plus" (363).3 He fears that the narrative he hopes to construct-that of a reign of peace-will be eclipsed by gossip that escapes his control, and he dreads the "banale legende de tyran qui me suivrait peut-etre jusqu'a

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  • la fin de l'Histoire" (363). He becomes adept at exploiting the simplifying force of narrative to achieve his political ends, however, and successfully manipulates gossip and what his biographers write about him.4 He large- ly overcomes the reductiveness of "la formule," and escapes its control.

    Yet Hadrian sees his own formulas as being productive of greater truth. For example, he uses inscriptions and architectural constructions to com- municate his ideals of human liberty to the masses, even though, to do so, they must of course shape natural landscapes that would otherwise re- main without form: "Dans un monde encore plus qu'a demi domine par les bois, le desert, la plaine en friche, c'est un beau spectacle qu'une rue dallee, un temple a n'importe quel dieu, des bains et des latrines pub- liques" (386). The buildings, columns, and tombs reflect the harmony that Hadrian would like to make normative for the entire populace. For him, the regularity of Roman towns represents the ideals of grace, utility, and moderation. These ideals also distinguish his prose which, uniform and restrained, functions as a harmonizing force. The buildings and monu- ments minimize the rifts and discontinuities of the empire-differences in

    landscapes and inhabitants-just as his "style toge" conceals the impor- tance of the unconscious in his letter, and eliminates the interventions and miscommunications associated with speech and dialogues.5 Ultimately the constructions, architectural and authorial, are designed to control the movement of the "other"-inhabitants in the case of towns, viewers in the case of an individual temple or monument, and of the reader in the case of the letter. What the other sees and experiences is determined by the cre- ative force behind the construct. Yet the signs of manipulation are subtle, almost imperceptible. Hadrian describes the effect of his monuments and his language when he writes, "l'autorite que j'exercais etait moins un pou- voir qu'une mysterieuse puissance, superieure a l'homme" (422). He cre- ates the illusion of truth from his personal vision.

    Hadrian's maxim-like pronouncements, which appear frequently in his letter, both benefit from the ostensible neutrality of his prose and con- tribute to it. Like the commemorative inscriptions, they are designed to capture and foster the monumentality and immortality of Roman civiliza- tion; they testify above all to Rome's exemplarity. Although the maxim by its very nature might seem highly authoritarian, even here Hadrian ef- faces himself as creator or "author." He implies that they are eternal veri- ties he has simply discovered and put into practice, and he creates the impression that both the Roman empire and his personal truths are eter- nal and timeless.6

    Yet various currents undermine Hadrian's reasoned and immobile- monumental-portrayal of the empire and of himself. The most impor- tant rupture occurs when Antinoiis kills himself, hoping in this way to contribute to the emperor's "genie." Suddenly Hadrian is confronted with the existence of a hidden narrative that contradicts his own. He per-

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    ceives the inadequacy of his insights into Antinoiis, and suffers from the impossibility of reconciling this subversive narrative into his former un- derstanding. He spends the rest of his life attempting to decipher Anti- noiis's secret. Forced to continue with his duties as emperor, he officially relegates the truth to the realm of the unknowable: the funerary inscrip- tion on Antinoiis's coffin states, "II a obei a l'ordre du ciel" (456).7

    Hadrian confesses that the "ordre du ciel" remains closed to him: "Se pouvait-il que le ciel nous intimat des ordres, et que les meilleurs d'entre nous les entendissent la oiu le reste des hommes ne per?oit qu'un acca- blant silence?" (456).8 Nonetheless he is willing to defend this indecipher- ability vehemently. When it is implicitly challenged by the Jewish popu- lation of Jerusalem he reacts violently, in spite of his usual policies of peace. Clearly his attack is motivated in large part by his desire to repress what he sees as an erroneous reading of Antinoiis's death, and of him- self. By treating Hadrian as an outsider who does not understand the truth of one god, the Jewish people reject Hadrian's monumental truths. Moreover, for them, Antinoiis's death represents a terrible personal tragedy for the emperor, but it is nothing more: Antinoiis killed himself because of a lover's indifference. Too, they refuse to participate in any continuation of Hadrian's "narration" and resist the apotheosis that the emperor wishes to confer upon his lover. Hadrian writes openly of his dislike for those who want to benefit from Rome's protection without being subject to its idols: "Je pensais aux transfuges [juifs] qui, quelques heures plus tot, s'etaient assis sous cette tente, humbles, conciliants, serviles, mais s'arrangeant toujours pour tourner le dos a l'image de mon genie" (the deified Antinoiis) (473).

    Hadrian is intensely threatened by a people who, according to him, mis- read. He arranges to assimilate Antinoiis's hidden narrative into his own story and vision, and attempts to maintain external signs of control by having the reference to the greater, mysterious "ordre du ciel" inscribed on Antinoiis's tomb.9 Yet the Jewish people in Jerusalem fail utterly to honor Hadrian's narrative in their practices. He is therefore confronted by the "other" who is most radically other: the one who refuses his au- thorial directives.

    The uncontrollable circulation of language-through mail and gossip primarily-is frequently unnerving to Hadrian. Its elusiveness haunts him, and although he conducts secretive correspondence himself, he clearly dislikes the idea that others might do so. He condones private forms of communication to the extent that they are in some way con- trolled by public structures: he encourages the circulation of products, ideas, customs, and languages, and even establishes a public postal ser- vice.10 The mystery of Antinoiis's death, however, and another defining moment in his life-his ascension to the position of emperor-are both enshrouded in a disconcerting silence. Hadrian admits that his rule is

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  • founded upon Trajan's possibly forged or coerced testament, and a com- bination of official and secretive correspondence which apprises him of his ascension but hides from him the chain of events leading up to it.

    Et c'est ici, dans cet intervalle entre le debarquement du malade [Trajan] et le moment de sa mort, que se place une de ces series d'evenements qu'il me sera toujours impossible de reconstituer, et sur lesquels pour- tant s'est edifie mon destin. Ces quelques jours passes par Attianus et les femmes dans cette maison de marchand ont a jamais decide de ma vie, mais il en sera eternellement d'eux comme il en fut plus tard d'une certaine apres-midi sur le Nil, dont je ne saurai non plus jamais rien. (356-57)

    Wishing to establish clear, incontrovertible truths that are publicly ac- knowledged and accepted by all, Hadrian is nonetheless subject to hid- den and unknowable realities. His monumental truths are incessantly threatened by covert forms of communication. During the war against Jerusalem, he omits the standard closing from his official correspond- ence, "L'Empereur et l'armee vont bien" (471). His customary formulas are suspended during this period of self-doubt and self-rage.

    Hadrian never acknowledges overtly that his rage against the Jewish population of Jerusalem derives from personal reasons, those being pri- marily his grief at Antinoiis's death and his need to have that death par- take of some greater significance. Still, subtle indications permit us as readers to make this connection. For instance, intentionally or not Hadri- an presents a series of three "old men" characterized by closure and rigidity, and against whom he seeks revenge: the Jewish wise man Akiba, a mediocre secretary, and himself (recall that Hadrian is "old" es- pecially in comparison to the young Antinoiis). Hadrian identifies Akiba as a fanatic, and resents his "refus d'accepter tout ce qui n'etait pas ses livres saints et son peuple" (435). He speaks of his secretary's "rage d'er- goter sans fin sur des details inutiles" (466). He laments in himself "ce grossier aveuglement d'homme trop heureux, et qui vieillit" (443). All three men manifest a sense of "suffisance hargneuse et butee" (466), and Hadrian, like the Jewish people and Akiba, prefers self-sufficiency to in- tegration into a larger entity.11 After Antinoiis's death, Hadrian admits to having lost a good deal of his mental agility, his "souplesse," and con- fesses that he is preoccupied with "des details fort futiles."'2 Horrified at the part he knows he played in Antinoiis's suicide, he attacks those fig- ures that evoke too acutely his own failings and, in the process, raises is- sues regarding the authenticity of his carefully constructed identity. He crushes Jerusalem; he strikes the secretary in the eye with a pen, partially blinding him; and he destroys much of what he himself had hoped to represent: the strength of peace, nurtured through understanding and mutual assistance between peoples. Earlier he had dreaded the idea that his rule might be characterized by an act of revenge, by brutality or a "le- gende de tyran." Yet here he provokes just such inferences. He (partially)

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    destroys himself by undermining his own fiercely protected narrative. He gives to the reading "other" the means to dismantle his pretensions of objectivity.

    Hadrian comes to terms with the loss of Antinous only near the end of his life. In a letter, Arrien, a government official and friend, provides him with an alternative framework for conceiving of Antinous's death. He

    says of Achilles, "rien en lui ne me parait plus grand que le desespoir qui lui fit mepriser la vie et desirer la mort quand il eut perdu le bien-aime" (500). Still the good reader, Hadrian discovers a means of surpassing what he has come to recognize as the inadequacy of his own narrative. The blending of fact, potentiality, and illusion is insufficient to account for the richness of life because it excludes the profound reaches of the other. Unable to exist in a vacuum, we are always potentially subject to elements of incoherence; we must finally accept the legitimacy of realities that contradict our own. It is in literature, however, certainly not in "for- mules" and not even in narrative, that contradictions can coexist and en- rich each other. Arrien's letter places Hadrian's and Antinoiis's relation- ship within a poetical or mythological sphere, and allows truth to assume a more comprehensive, fluid form.13 Tellingly, the only time Hadrian cedes his place as narrator occurs when he incorporates part of this letter. His text becomes literary to the extent that he loses control of it, and his life becomes mythological to the extent that it exceeds his powers of com- prehension. Hadrian finally realizes that no maxims or truths are ade- quate to speak of his relationship with the deceased, and his last conver- sations with him take the form of silent meditations.14

    Arrien's letter, crucial to the emperor's renewed and deepened under- standing of his relationship with Antinoiis, is followed by other events or signs that offer him a degree of solace and absolution. Reproached for his blindness, above all by himself, and having inflicted upon another man the same partial blindness, Hadrian, near the end of his life, miraculously restores an old woman's vision. Although he ascribes the woman's cure to her own faith, he allows himself to believe that his twenty years of public service perhaps earned him her immense trust. He reports another incident in connection with this one: a Jewish man describes him as a ruler of superhuman capabilities, who is seen traveling the earth estab- lishing peace and prosperity. Hadrian writes of this man, "cet adversaire rallie complete Arrien; je m'emerveille d'etre a la longue devenu pour certains yeux ce que je souhaitais d'etre" (507). Arrien, the blind woman, and the Jewish man form a triad that brings Hadrian a degree of comfort and satisfaction. They reassure him that the events of his life might be understood, interpreted well, by others. Friends, colleagues, and even strangers will occasionally see in us the profound truths we value in our- selves, and will at times judge us with generosity.

    Hadrian's project, his long letter to Marcus Aurelius, must be evaluated in light of his understanding of the nature of truth, narrative, and litera-

    881

  • ture. He produces a text that is destined to an unknowable future and to a reader who is unlike him: one, therefore, who might misread. Although he occasionally admonishes Marcus Aurelius for those aspects of his per- sonality which might impede his understanding-reminding him that he is not his ideal reader-he nonetheless releases his narration to him and his interpretations.15 Significantly he writes a letter, and enters willingly into the nebulous realm of the other, the uncontrollable forces of mail, gossip, and oracles, all of which solicit hypothetical constructions of mean-

    ing from their recipients. Symbolically, Hadrian's "style de metal" is replaced with a "calame de

    roseau" at the end of his life (503). As a younger man, Hadrian had a

    physician place an "X" in red ink over his heart when he feared he might not be named emperor; it was intended to ensure that his weapon would

    go "droit au but comme une fleche," killing him quickly (304, 353). On his deathbed, he finally relinquishes the idea of suicide and shows his

    openness to the hidden, powerful forces that control our destinies. He lis- tens to the "instructions secretes" of his body, attentive to "cette fin lente- ment elaboree au fond de mes arteres" (505).16 The circulation of blood, and of speech, letters, and water, all become acceptable, even desirable, in the end. The rigidity of the style de metal, capable of blinding and even of

    killing, gives way to the reed, associated with the fluidity of water, and the ambiguity of marshes, comprised of both water and earth. Hadrian cedes to the uncertainty, and also the vitality, of that which is unknown and uncontrollable.17

    The coins produced during Hadrian's reign reunite the specificity of his monumental inscriptions and his later openness to the circulation as- sociated with mail, gossip, and literature. They communicate specific de- vises, pronouncements given by him to the masses, and like inscriptions and architectural monuments, they reveal the greatness of his reign. They are marked by truths that surpass reality, and are intended to re- flect the best that it is within human potential to achieve. "[C]es mots memes d'Humanite, de Liberte, de Bonheur," engraved on some of his coins, are personal symbols of the well-being that he tries to make nor- mative for the entire society (372). He used them to construct his pro- found sense of human liberty, which guided his own process of be- coming "le plus possible Hadrien" (366). Yet the coins are destined to circulation, continual exchange between the Roman people. Stable in form, they are constantly reused, recreated in new contexts, and subject to new meanings. Their rigidity is attenuated by their openness, and it is precisely their flexibility that will enable them to outlast monuments of stone: Rome "echapperait a son corps de pierre; elle se composerait du mot d'Etat, du mot de citoyennete, du mot de republique, une plus sure immortalite" (371). The devises, subject to perpetual fluctuation, will re- tain their value across the ages.

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  • MARGUERITE YOURCENAR'S MEMOIRES D'HADRIEN

    The mottoes on the coins also rejoin Hadrian's personal history and the eternal. They demonstrate consecutive changes in his self-knowledge, and testify simultaneously to something that goes beyond the boundaries of his life, much like the maxims, and is eternally true. They constitute more than a series of scattered, disjointed moments.18 They create a mo- bile, shifting image of Hadrian as a man and as emperor, and, bearing both his physical and moral likeness, they form an image that he can be content to pass on to History. The structure of the novel overall upholds Hadrian's vision of himself and his empire, since Yourcenar uses certain devises as titles to the novel's four central chapters ("Varius multiplex multiformis," "Tellus stabilita," "Saeculum aureum," and "Disciplina Au- gusta" [Levillain 51]). In this fashion she emphasizes the close corre- spondence between that which the emperor wanted and believed himself to be, and what he was.19 The unraveling of his narration, instigated by various signs in the text, is to some extent compensated for by the author who chooses to confirm his "truths," even as she permits the text to sug- gest their inadequacy.

    BRYN MAWR AND HAVERFORD COLLEGES

    Notes

    'CEuvres romanesques 302. Other references to this work will be given in parentheses. 2Hadrian acknowledges the importance of the unrealized aspects of existence when he

    writes: "Les trois quarts de ma vie echappent d'ailleurs a cette definition par les actes: la masse de mes velleit6s, de mes desirs, de mes projets meme, demeure aussi n6buleuse et aussi fuyante qu'un fant6me. Le reste, la partie palpable, plus ou moins authentifiee par les faits, est a peine plus distincte, et la sequence des 6evnements aussi confuse que celle des songes" (305).

    3Hadrian envisions his work as emperor as a means of surpassing the limitations of a name inscribed on a monument. He writes that, had he died before becoming emperor, "il ne resterait de moi qu'un nom dans une serie de grands fonctionnaires, et une inscription en grec en l'honneur de l'archonte d'Athenes" (353).

    4Hadrian uses gossip to promote his own goals as soon as he becomes emperor: "je fis re- pandre partout que Trajan lui-meme m'en avait charge [with negotiations for peace] avant de mourir" (359). A recent official account of his life is partially fictive: "J'y ai menti le moins possible. L'interet public et la decence m'ont force n6anmoins a rearranger certains faits" (301).

    5In the essay "Ton et langage dans le roman historique," Yourcenar describes Hadrian's "style toge' as "soutenu, mi-narratif, mi-meditatif, mais toujours essentiellement ecrit, d'oi l'impression et la sensation imm6diates sont a peu pres exclues, et d'oi tout echange verbal est ipso facto banni" (Essais et memoires 294).

    6Hadrian is self-effacing too in the inscriptions he has attached to his architectural monu- ments. For example, he prefers to have an old plaque placed on the Pantheon (built under his direction), in order to inscribe it more firmly into the history of the Roman empire: "I1 m'importait peu que mon nom figurat sur ce monument, qui etait ma pensee. II me plaisait au contraire qu'une inscription vieille de plus d'un siecle l'associat au d6but de l'em- pire ... j'aimais a me sentir avant tout un continuateur" (415).

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  • 7Ambiguities obfuscate many deaths in Yourcenar's semi-autobiographical triptych, Le

    Labyrinthe du monde. Three deaths of particular interest are those of Yourcenar's father's first wife Berthe, Berthe's sister Gabrielle, and Yourcenar's mother Fernande. Berthe and Gabrielle died within four days of each other, "des suites 'd'une legere operation chirurgi- cale'" writes Yourcenar, quoting from the Souvenirs of her half-brother (Essais et memoires 1167-68). The relationships between Yourcenar's father and the two women remain unde-

    cipherable, and the harshness of Gabrielle's souvenir pieux could be due either to her di- vorce or to some other, hidden transgression: "'Dieu l'a fait passer par de longues souffrances, et, apres l'avoir purifi6e, il l'a trouvee digne de lui"' (Essais et memoires 1169). The "souvenir pieux" of Fernande states ambiguously, "Elle a toujours essay6 de faire de son mieux" (Essais et memoires 742). Yourcenar examines these three deaths at some length, but ultimately cannot unravel their mystery, despite their immediate relevance to the events leading to her birth.

    8Hadrian reiterates this idea when he notes that the deceased Antinoiis's palm is blank "comme de ces tablettes de cire desquelles on efface un ordre accompli" (456).

    'Significantly Antinoiis's death is also surrounded by the building of a town and tombal structures, all efforts to regulate the ambiguity associated with his death.

    10 Products for trade, money, and language, like blood in the body, are all destined to "cir- culation." According to Hadrian, the Roman empire is largely characterized by harmony in all of these processes, which unite widely diverse groups of people. He is content to see "marchands ... rechargeant ... pour le transport en pays inconnu, un certain nombre de pensees, de mots, de coutumes bien a nous ... La circulation de l'or, le passage des idees, aussi subtil que celui de l'air vital dans les arteres, recommencaient au-dedans du grand corps du monde; le pouls de la terre se remettait a battre" (359-60).

    "Hadrian reproaches the Jewish people for their unwillingness to assimilate themselves into a larger community of men, but he resists committing himself completely to Antinoiis. He admits that he withdrew from intimacy: "il s'y melait... plus inavouee, l'intention de le [Antinoiis] ravaler peu a peu au rang des delices banales qui n'engagent a rien" (423-24). Hadrian pretends that he rejects the Jewish people's isolationism because it violates all human standards, but he must recognize that the irreparable fault for which he blames them is in fact his own.

    12"J'avais quelque peu perdu mon gofit des idees et des rencontres nouvelles, et cette souplesse d'esprit qui me permettait de m'associer a la pensee d'autrui . . . Ma cu- riosite ... l'un des fondements de ma methode, ne s'exercait plus que sur des details fort futiles" (464). Significantly, Hadrian becomes paranoid and opens his friends' mail during this period of time.

    "For an excellent account of the role of this letter, see Henriette Levillain 87-88. 4Another instance when Hadrian recognizes the pallor of words next to reality is associ-

    ated with the mysticism of a cult: "L'enseignement recu a Eleusis doit rester secret: il a d'ailleurs d'autant moins de chances d'etre divulgue qu'il est par nature ineffable. Formule, il n'aboutirait qu'aux evidences les plus banales" (400).

    '"Je ne m'attends pas a ce que tes dix-sept ans y comprennent quelque chose. Je tiens pourtant a t'instruire, a te choquer aussi" (301).

    '6In this way he resembles Nathanael of Un Homme obscur who, dying, listens closely to "ce qui se faisait ou se defaisait en lui" (1035).

    "7Is Yourcenar's choice of the roseau a sign to the reader that Hadrian, in this period of ap- parent weakness, still overcomes all that surrounds him? Pascal wrote, "L'homme est un roseau pensant...."

    18"A premiere vue, l'enfant robuste des jardins d'Espagne, l'officier ambitieux rentrant sous sa tente ... semblent aussi aneantis que je le serai quand j'aurai passe par le bfcher; mais ils sont la; j'en suis inseparable" (511).

    "9According to Yourcenar, a human life consists of three essential aspects: "ce qu'un homme a cru etre, ce qu'il a voulu etre, et ce qu'il fut" (536).

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  • MARGUERITE YOURCENAR'S MEMOIRES D'HADRIEN 885

    Works Cited

    Gergely, Thomas. "La Memoire suspecte d'Hadrien." Marguerite Yourcenar. Revue de l'Uni- versite de Bruxelles. Eds. Adolphe Nysenholc and Paul Aron. 3-4 (1988): 45-50.

    Levillain, Henriette. Memoires d'Hadrien de MargueriteYourcenar. Paris: Gallimard, Collec- tion Foliotheque, 1992.

    Yourcenar, Marguerite. Essais et memoires. Paris: Gallimard, Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, 1991. . CEuvres romanesques. Paris: Gallimard, Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, 1982 (tirage de

    1991).

    Article Contentsp.877p.878p.879p.880p.881p.882p.883p.884p.885

    Issue Table of ContentsThe French Review, Vol. 72, No. 5 (Apr., 1999), pp. 817-990Front Matter [pp.817-981]Le Discours scolaire au dix-neuvième siècle: le cas La Fontaine [pp.824-838]L'Adaptation cinématographique dans le cours de littérature française [pp.839-852]A Tele-Collaborative Course on French-American Intercultural Communication [pp.853-866]Liberating Maupassant: Christian-Jaque's Boule de suif (1945) [pp.867-876]Le Cours des devises in Marguerite Yourcenar's Mémoires d'Hadrien [pp.877-885]Abortion and Contamination of the Social Order in Annie Ernaux's Les Armoires vides [pp.886-896]The Gender-Coded Stereotype: An American Perception of France and the French [pp.897-908]NotesLa Vie des mots [pp.909-911]

    ReviewsLiterary History and Criticismuntitled [pp.914-915]untitled [pp.915-916]untitled [pp.916-917]untitled [pp.917-918]untitled [pp.918-919]untitled [pp.919-921]untitled [pp.921-922]untitled [pp.922-923]untitled [pp.923-924]untitled [pp.924-926]untitled [pp.926-927]untitled [pp.927-928]untitled [pp.928-929]untitled [pp.929-930]

    Creative Worksuntitled [pp.930-931]untitled [pp.931-932]untitled [pp.932-933]untitled [p.934]untitled [pp.935-936]untitled [pp.936-937]untitled [pp.937-938]untitled [pp.938-939]untitled [p.940]untitled [pp.940-941]untitled [p.942]untitled [pp.942-943]untitled [p.944]untitled [p.945]untitled [pp.945-946]untitled [pp.946-947]untitled [pp.947-948]

    Linguisticsuntitled [pp.948-949]untitled [pp.949-950]untitled [pp.950-951]untitled [pp.951-952]

    Course Materials and Methodologyuntitled [pp.952-953]untitled [pp.953-954]untitled [pp.954-955]

    Film51e Festival de Cannes 98-dérangeant: "Familles, je vous hais" [pp.955-963]

    Society and Cultureuntitled [pp.963-964]untitled [pp.964-965]untitled [pp.965-966]untitled [pp.966-967]untitled [pp.967-968]untitled [pp.968-969]untitled [pp.969-970]untitled [pp.971-972]

    DepartmentsFrom the Editor's Desk [pp.974-975]Announcements [p.979]

    AATF [pp.982-988]Back Matter [pp.989-990]