Le Mal chez Gabriel Marcel: Comment affronter la souffrance et la mort? by René Davignon, and: Vocabulaire philosophique de Gabriel Marcel by Simonne Plourde et al. (review)

HUMANITIES 2 I 9 in connection with her domineering mother and her own tendency to domineer as a mother. But lest we scoff at the unruly early psychoanalysts and their sometimes outlandish notions, let us remember just how new and untried most of their conceptions and techniques actually were. As pioneer followers of Freud, they were brilliantly rugged and self-willed; without psychological problems of their own, they would hardly have ventured into this dangerous area of inquiry. Contributions to theory tend to mirror their originators' own unresolved anxieties. If we cannot excuse the rivalrous mayhem, at least Phyllis Grosskurth makes us see how difficult it was to find a starting place for a study of emotional disorder. That first insights led to premature closure of theory and to group protectionism must be deplored. Grosskurth makes us see the perils of the proto-feminist in-group which Klein gathered. More than anything else about psychoanalysis, its closed-minded party politics have tended to alienate thoughtful people and direct them to the duller but often more reliable procedures of medical psychiatry. Not only do Klein's self-protective intensities arouse apprehensions among males, they underscore the whole problem of gender formation. This is the 'unanalysed ' material so skilfully brought forward by Grosskurth's book, a model of its kind and a challenge to any venturing to write about the creative personality. (ANDREW BRINK) Rene Davignon. Le Mal chez Gabriel Marcel: Comment affronter 1a souffrance et 1a mort? Recherches, Nouvelle serie 4. Bellarmin. 174. $12.00 paper Simonne Plourde, Jeanne Paray-Val, Rene Davignon, Marcel Belay. Vocabulaire philosophique de Gabriel Marcel Recherches, Nouvelle Serie 6. Bellarmin. 583. $30.00 paper Just when discouragement was turning to despair at seeing the thought of one of the most fertile and original philosophers of the century, Gabriel Marcel, sink into neglect, miraculously two superb works appear from Quebec. Both are useful for introduction to the French Catholic existentialist 's thought, and as means of deepening one's understanding of his thought. Rene Davignon's short study is somewhat misleadingly entitled. It does indeed deal at the end, and very lUCidly, with the problem of evil. But in setting the scene for this discussion, Davignon offers one of the best succinct introductions to Marcel's philosophy. The title gives no indication that the book can be profitably read by beginners in Marcel's thought. Serious students of existentialism will also find this brief overview useful because it is so clear, balanced, and insightful. 220 LEITERS IN CANADA 1986 Marcel, who with Karl Jaspers was the real pioneer of existentialism, exploring this post-Hegelian way of thinking five or six years before Heidegger published the first part of Being and Time, remains an indispensable thinker because of his willingness to investigate important aspects of human existence which other philosophers neglect. Marcel is not afraid of mystery. His tentative, probing style, his resolute refusal of 'system,' make it possible for him, like Kierkegaard, to be 'fragmentary,' believing as he does that little glimpses of the truth are valuable, even when they serve to heighten rather than dispel mystery. Davignon shows us Marcel at his exploratory best, probing the enormous mystery of evil. These are meditation-provoking pages, beautifully put together by the young Quebec philosopher from texts scattered far and wide in the considerable opus of Marcel. Davignon threads his way through the labyrinth of problems with skill and the sureness of a master of Marcel's thought. The 'philosophical wordbook,' as the Germans might call it, which Simonne Plourde and collaborators (including Davignon, but Jeanne Paray-Vial is the principal co-author) have put together is a valuable instrument de travail. They have built remarkable essays around each of Sixty-three key terms, drawing on insights scattered throughout Marcel's work. I would stress that these are valuable not only as authoritative recapitulations of what Marcel has had to say on each subject but also as thought-provoking reflections on each of the subjects. Someone wishing to reflect, for instance, on vocation, on the nature of contemplation , on grace, or on intersubjectivity will find the respective essays a good place to start. The encyclopaedic references to all...