T. S. Taimanova

CHARLES PÉGUY

The name of Charles Péguy is almost completely unknown to our readers. At present, references to him have begun to appear, but so far not a single study has been published specifically devoted to Péguy, and a wide range of readers has not been able to get acquainted with his work, because Péguy has almost not been translated in Russia. Only small fragments of his poetic heritage have been translated and published, in addition, there is a thin book of excerpts from Péguy's journalism translated into Russian, published in Great Britain. [1] Meanwhile, Charles Péguy, for almost 85 years since his death in 1914, was and remains in France, so to speak, a cult figure. In his homeland and in other countries of Western and Eastern Europe, America, Asia and Australia, interest in the writer's work is extremely great. Indeed, Charles Péguy, a poet, philosopher, publicist, publisher, is one of the most original and significant figures in the history of not only French, but also world literature and political thought at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Researchers compared him with Pascal and Kierkegaard, with Dostoevsky, Nietzsche and Berdyaev, but all agreed that Péguy could not be "classified".

Many of Péguy's contemporaries admired him: "This small man with glowing eyes behind the glasses looked like a raging flame," wrote one of them. [2] Another famous contemporary of Péguy, Romain Rolland, gave a portrait of him, imbued with deep sympathy, in the seventh book of Jean-Christophe: "... he was a writer who possessed iron logic, a strong will, who devoted himself entirely to the service of higher morality, to unselfish service, and who was ready to sacrifice the whole world and himself for its sake; … he vowed to fight for the idea of a pure, heroic and free France, the authority of which would be recognized not only in France, but throughout Europe. He firmly believed that the day would come when everyone would understand that he had written one of the most daring pages in the history of French thought, and he was not mistaken." [3] Péguy continues to be admired even now: "Philosophy, poetry, criticism. Péguy came into this world, lived for 40 years, and revolutionized all these areas," writes Louis Chégne, one of the greatest contemporary historians of French literature. [4] But Péguy had many enemies during his lifetime, and after his death, many critics accused him of all mortal sins: inconsistency, betrayal of the ideals of youth, apostasy, at least contradictory. Yet there were no more faithful friends, comrades-in-arms, and followers than Péguy's friends, associates, and followers. To this day, there is a kind of spiritual brotherhood of pegists in France, apart from the officially existing "Society of Friends of Charles Péguy" in Paris and the Center Charles Péguy in Orléans, scientific institutes that stimulate and coordinate research related to Péguy.

As for the accusations of inconsistency and contradiction of the writer, such a view is certainly very superficial. It is not for nothing that one of the prominent modern researchers of Péguy's work noted: "Never since the time of Pascal in our (French. — T. T.) literature, creativity did not constitute such a single whole with the personality, it was not without any impurities only the voice of conscience and soul." [5]

Undoubtedly, the most precious spiritual qualities of the writer began to form in childhood. Péguy wrote in his essay "Money" that by the time a person turns 12 years old, everything has already been decided.

So, Charles Péguy was born on January 7, 1873 in the suburb of Orleans, Bourgogne. His father, Désiré Péguy, a carpenter by profession, died shortly after the birth of his son from wounds sustained in the war of 1870. After the death of his father, Charles was raised by his mother, a chair weaver, and his grandmother, a simple peasant woman. Péguy grew up surrounded by two women who, through hard and hard work (little Charles was very proud that his mother was the best craftswoman in the district and she was entrusted with the most difficult work) managed to protect the boy from hunger, instilling in him respect for work and hatred for poverty. He grew up among small artisans and merchants, inhabitants of the suburbs, many of whom had participated in the recent war. He had heard many stories filled with anger and pain for the violated honor of France. These stories were intertwined with legends about the former glory and exploits of compatriots. Let us not forget that Péguy grew up in Orleans, a city inextricably linked with the name of the Virgin Liberator, where festivities dedicated to Joan of Arc were held annually in May, and the church of Saint-Anian, of which little Péguy was a parishioner, bore the name of the bishop who went out alone to meet Attila's army and stopped it with his prayers.

Let us also remember that 1870 is not only the year of France's defeat in the war, but also the year of the Republic. Thus, Hugo, with one expression "terrible year", united both the triumph of the Prussians and the defeat of the Commune. As a boy, Péguy was friends with a neighbor, a carpenter, a republican, and this was his first teacher. For him, national freedom became inseparable from political freedom. Of course, over time, Péguy's idea of freedom changed, or rather, deepened, but its origins lie in the suburb of Bourgogne. Many years later, in 1912, in the poem "Clio II", he wrote:

"You are happy, Péguy," History tells him, "you have been involved... Your confession will not be lost, you will give us a testimony... what this noble France and, it must be added, this noble Republic were. You've touched a time when people were hiding, sneaking away a copy of Vengeance. [6] It is this lifelong memory that will not allow you to reconcile yourself to any tyranny, be it radical or clerical." [7] In 1880, Péguy entered the preparatory school at the École Normale Supérieure in the Loire department. Students of the Normal School taught here, and they put into their work not only all the ardor of youth, but also the desire to get rid of the inertia of the old education, to create a new school. This is how Péguy recalls his childhood years of study: "Our young vicars told us something exactly opposite to what our young teachers-students said." [8] But so far, such contradictions did not touch the little student too much. This is how Pegy the schoolboy is described by his old friend D. Halévy:

"He naively and recklessly accepted everything that was offered to him: care for the house, common sense, patriotism and civic duty inspired by the school, charity and faith inspired by the church. A diligent student of catechism and a diligent student at school, he was a child with a high forehead, a clear straight look, the first in everything. Teachers watch him and support him. His mother, ambitious and domineering, who knows his worth, works fifteen hours a day to give him freedom and a future." [9] At the age of 14, Péguy entered a trade school, but soon left it. "Péguy should learn Latin," says one of his former teachers and wins a municipal scholarship for him. Péguy entered the Lycée d'Orléans. This is the end of his childhood, which he reproduces magnificently and in detail, with that attention to detail and piercing sadness that are given only by love, in the autobiographical work "Pierre" (1898).

From 1891, Péguy studied at the Lycée Lacanal in Sault near Paris: the same teachers who had decided that Péguy should study Latin now recommended that he continue his education outside of Orléans.

In October 1893, Péguy continued his studies at the School of St. Barbara, where he prepared to enter the École Normale Supérieure. The first attempt was unsuccessful, and Péguy devoted a year to military service near Orleans (1892–1893). Then the young man returned to the School of St. Barbara, and in 1894, he finally entered the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Péguy considers the years of study to be the best period in his life: "Two or three of the most wonderful years of our youth, fiery years; everything was clean then, everything was young..." [10] He, who had always been lonely, suddenly became the center of a circle of young, full of strength and hope, noble people. The story of one of them, Ernest Taraud (Jérôme), explains the power that Péguy acquired over them without doing anything special for this: "He felt happy in this courtyard, where the first of his talents was fully manifested: to unite people around him, to influence them, or, to be more precise, to imagine their lives with them... He took us all to an amazing future, where we felt like heroes and gods. He deliberately exaggerated the small talents that were instilled in us... Péguy wanted to see us more exalted, and his imagination left a golden gleam on each of us. And if one or another of us managed to do something good, then there is a particle of Péguy in it, albeit unconscious..." [11] But this is not at all evidence of some kind of beautiful soul of Péguy, but an expression of trust and respect for people of his generation, to whom he felt as much responsibility as to his family, homeland or era. A curious remark is made by Rolland: "Péguy strictly limited the circle of his closest friends, allowing only "peers" to join it." [12] He dedicated the following lines to the friendship of people of the same generation: "Due to the fact that an unbridgeable abyss separates the present from the past, it is necessary to choose friends only among people of your time and age, your circle, your class. Friendship is an amazingly full-blooded feeling that is given to us once in a lifetime and never happens again. Friendship is a highly earthly, unique feeling, connected with a certain time in a person's life, with certain places where he lived... Friendship is a phenomenon of the same order as infancy, family, people, homeland, epoch – all the events that determine our life; Friendship is not that sphere of human relations where the brilliance of genius or the seal of grace can compensate for the traits that are absent in a person, which are cultivated by the long-term influence of a certain environment. No genius will help if people are not connected by a similar childhood, a common homeland, environment, time, place..." [13] Knowing Péguy's biography, it is impossible to reject the idea that these lines were caused by the memory of a man whose influence on Péguy was decisive. At the school of St. Barbara, he met Marcel Baudouin. "A strange young man, shy to the point of sickness, secretive, of insignificant appearance, immersed in himself... He walked sideways, pulling his head into his shoulders and putting one foot directly in front of the other, like a man walking along the edge of the sidewalk... In lectures, everywhere he retained his absent appearance." [14] And "this lunatic Baudouin" won the heart of the "strong, somewhat ponderous" young peasant. "Péguy almost always took him by the hand, standing in the line that we formed as we walked around the courtyard," writes Tarot, and explains the influence that this "man reminiscent of Gérard de Nerval, mysterious and charming, as if marked with the seal of fate" had on Péguy by the nearness of his death. Rolland wrote about the almost religious mystery that shrouded the fusion of the souls of both friends: "One of them, Marcel Baudouin, died in the prime of life, the other, our Péguy, for many years stubbornly called himself by the name of the deceased (he signed his works - Pierre Baudouin), just as Montaigne wrapped himself in La Boétie's cloak. No doubt Péguy made a secret vow, and for a long time he kept it, to do everything to keep the thought of his dead friend alive in him." [15]