Le Temps fait tout à l’affaire ROMANICA GOTHOBURGENSIA 70 Le Temps fait tout à l’affaire Conscience de mort et stratégie de vie chez Molière Richard Sörman © RICHARD SÖRMAN, 2014 ISBN 978-91-7346-789-6 ISSN 0080-3863 Ce livre est également disponible en version numérique : http://hdl.handle.net/2077/37088 Dépositaire général : Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Box 222, 405 30 Gö- teborg ([email protected]) Imprimé par Reprocentralen, Humanistiska fakulteten, Göteborgs universitet (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:51)(cid:82)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:73)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:73)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:71)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:72)(cid:81)(cid:73)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) Abstract Title: Le Temps fait tout à l’affaire, Conscience de mort et stratégie de vie chez Molière Language: French ISBN: 978-91-7346-789-6 ISSN: 0080-3863 Keywords: Molière, 17th century French literature, the Miser, economy, action, happiness, awareness of death, life strategy, Epicureanism, Augustinianism, comedy, tragedy This monograph deals with awareness of death and life strategy in Molière’s comedies. The first part focuses on L’Avare and shows that notions as “action” and “economy” are vital for a conceptual understanding of the play’s fundamental topics. The starting point is the recognition of a remarkably high frequency of the word “affaire” in the play, suggest- ing the operating presence of an economy of action in Molière’s fictional world that literary criticism has not fully recognized. The miser himself offers an example of a highly dysfunc- tional economy of action. First because he looks upon money as an end in itself though it’s so clear that the important presence of money in traditional comedy largely comes from its being a means (and not end) of action and will. Secondly because money tends to become a means of suspending action end enjoyment in the miser’s life rather than achieving it: by constantly suspending fulfilment of the virtual value contained in his money, and thus by constantly suspending the achievement of enjoyment of consumption, he lives as if it were possible to overcome the reality of death. This fundamental motivation of the miser’s ac- tion also explains his dysfunctional relation to his children and his narcissistic relation to himself. In the second part the perspectives are widened and the general implications of the is- sues discussed in the first part are studied on the basis of Molière’s work in general and of some of his contemporary writers as well as of the Antique writers in which the French 17th century sought for inspiration. Molière has a clear Epicurean tendency which exhorts us to enjoy life while we can and to appreciate life as our most valuable gift. While Blaise Pascal can argue with the same economical vocabulary as Molière that life is nothing Molière seems to say life is everything. The notion of “action” is discussed and it is shown that there is a moral of action and entrepreneurship in the plays at the same time as the limits of individual action and will are painfully exposed. It is argued that the tragic element of the plays comes from the fact that the opponents to the comedies’ happy end are so important in Molière and that their own failing projects often surpass what is humanly possible. The project of the miser is fundamentally to escape from death and to escape from the debt he has to pay for having received the gift of life. In this perspective the main conclusion of the study is that Molière’s work teaches us that recognition of death is necessary for the ful- fillment of life and that this universal problem gives a lot of its significant meaning to a play like L’Avare. Table des matières Introduction .................................................................................................... 9 PREMIÈRE PARTIE : L’ÉCONOMIE, LES ENFANTS ET LE MOI. TRIPTYQUE DE L’AVARE ........................................................ 17 I. Économies ................................................................................................. 19 1. Les affaires ............................................................................................ 20 2. Action et économie ............................................................................. 28 3. L’argent et son usage ........................................................................... 38 4. Économie et finitude .......................................................................... 50 II. Parents et Enfants ................................................................................... 63 1. Obéissance et devoir ........................................................................... 64 2. Épouser la femme de son fils ............................................................ 68 3. Vie des enfants et mort des parents ................................................. 71 III. Narcissisme ............................................................................................. 79 1. Amour paternel et amour de soi ....................................................... 80 2. Symptomatologie du narcissisme ...................................................... 84 3. Paranoïa ................................................................................................. 91 4. Puissance et jouissance ....................................................................... 98 5. Le moi et le temps ............................................................................. 114 DEUXIÈME PARTIE : ACTION ET BONHEUR ENTRE VIE ET MORT. IMPLICATIONS ET PERSPECTIVES ............... 123 Introduction de la deuxième partie ......................................................... 125 IV. Vivre dans et pour la mort ................................................................. 131 1. Temporalité ........................................................................................ 134 2. Conscience et certitude ..................................................................... 141 3. La « fin » de l’action........................................................................... 145 LE TEMPS FAIT TOUT A L’AFFAIRE 4. Peut-être « pour » mais pas « dans » ............................................... 149 5. Subsister comme mort ...................................................................... 159 V. Plaisirs et divertissements .................................................................... 169 1. Épicurisme .......................................................................................... 170 2. « Buvons, chers Amis, buvons » ..................................................... 176 3. Divertissement ................................................................................... 189 4. « La grande affaire est le plaisir » .................................................... 196 VI. La vie comme valeur suprême ........................................................... 205 1. « Rien ne vaut la vie » ........................................................................ 206 2. Pascal : la vie et la mort comme enjeux ......................................... 214 VII. Agir ....................................................................................................... 225 1. L’agir fondamental de la comédie ................................................... 226 2. Les vrais héros de la comédie .......................................................... 236 3. « Pauvre Sganarelle » ......................................................................... 245 VIII. Le tragique dans la comédie ........................................................... 251 1. La conduite des affaires .................................................................... 253 2. Le Ciel .................................................................................................. 268 3. L’augustinisme de Molière ............................................................... 276 4. La faute et la dette ............................................................................. 294 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 307 Bibliographie des ouvrages cités .............................................................. 321 Index ............................................................................................................. 331