Paris-Venise, 1887-1932: La "folie venitienne" dans le roman francais de Paul Bourget a Maurice Dekobra (review)

Basch, Sophie. Paris-Venise, 1887-1932. La "folie vénitienne" dans le roman français de Paul Bourget à Maurice Dekobra. Travaux et recherches des Universités rhénanes, No. 15. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2000. Pp. 198. ISBN 2-7453-0217-5

A specialist in the reception of Italy and the Orient in Western literature, Professor Basch has written a short but important study on Venice. In "Avant-propos" she explains what compelled her to add another item to the already long list of publications on the subject. She spurns the mass production of books that are little more than "une brochette de citations" gleaned from writings by famous visitors to the city. Basch is also disappointed with the works of scholars who overlook Venice's appeal as a cultural phenomenon. Angelika Corbineau-Hoffmann's Paradoxie der Fiction. Literarische Venedig-Bilder 1787-1984 and Marie-Madeleine Martinet's Le Voyage d'Italie dans les littératures européennes are written from the perspective of travel literature. This genre is defined by the narrator, invariably a newcomer to a city, who can not refrain from comparing it to his/her place of origin. Basch critiques the tendency of writers like Corbineau-Hoffmann and Martinet to reference works that often reduce Venice to picturesque wallpaper. The balk of literary Venice scholarship neglects the city itself and seems oblivious to its singular place in literary history.

Basch aims to fill, at least partially, this gap. The author limits her investigation to "folie vénitienne," an epidemic among the French literati circumscribed in time by the publication of the first and last (1887 and 1932, respectively) Venetian novels penned by Paul Bourget. That was the halcyon era for French writers who felt a special affinity with their "Italian cousins" and considered Venice a home away from home. Their frequent long visits yielded prose fiction that featured Venice in the starring role.

In six compact chapters, Basch shows how Venice became an "haut lieu" of French snobbery that was cultivated and made fun off by two distinct groups of French writers. In the first group we find Maurice Barrès, Paul Bourget, Louis Chadourne, Edmond Jaloux, Camille Mauclair, Anna de Noailles, Marcel Proust, Henri de Régnier, Nicolas Ségur, Gabriel Soulages, Jean-Louis Vaudoyer. In the second group called by Basch "le club des railleurs" are Félicien Champsaur, le comte de Comminges, Maurice Dekobra, Maurice Donnay, Abel Hermant, Jean Lorrain, Max Jacob, Paul-Jean Toulet.

Basch presents French writers' obsession with Venice in a thematic and roughly chronological order, often complicated by asides. For instance in Chapter 2, ostensibly on Paul Bourget and his disciple Maurice Barrès, Basch offers a protracted comparison of Bourget's Venetian writings with Jean-Paul Sartre's Venise de ma fenêtre written in 1953. While the materials and the author's erudition may justify the often meandering line of argument, the book is a discouraging cover to cover read and is best enjoyed as a reference source. An excellent index of proper names is provided, as well as an extensive bibliography divided into two parts: "A Venise" lists fiction that takes place in the city, and "Sur Venice et sur la décadence" features critical works. Basch's learned study is for specialists who will enhance their knowledge of the period and discover works by authors that are worth reading anew. To prove the point, Basch quotes generously from writers such as Abel Hermant, and Louis Chadourne. Not unlike Mireille Dottin-Orsini, Jean de Palacio, and Guy Ducrey she is a rescuer of unjustly forgotten literature.

Henri de Régnier deserves full rehabilitation. His fiction typically features Parisians returning to Venice in search of health, love and moral solace. His stories often exude Poesque anxiety provoked by the overbearing Venetian atmosphere. Basch finds...