Early Cavafy and the European "Esoteric" Movement

Early Cavafy and the European "Esoteric" Movement Diana Haas The modest aim of this paper1 is to examine certain themes in Cavafy 's work which reflect his receptivity to the nineteenth century European "esoteric" movement, without forgetting, of course, that the poet also had access to the ancient texts which that movement sought to revive.2 As most of his poems and prose writings which may be directly connected with modern "esoterism" belong to the years 1891-1903, when Cavafy was looking in several directions at once for answers to his aesthetic and spiritual needs, our main focus will necessarily be on this period. We will, however, also consider the continuation of these themes into the work of his maturity. In 1891 Cavafy wrote his 'Αλληλουχία κατά τόν ΒωδελαΕ Ï• ον, an unpublished poem into which he incorporated a translation of Baudelaire's "Correspondances." Renata Lavagnini, to whom I am indebted here and elsewhere in this paper, has pointed out the poem 's two essential "esoteric" themes (Cavafy, Etc το φως 44, 45, 50, 51): that of the correspondances between the material and the spiritual 1ThIs paper, which was given at the 1983 Symposium of the MGSA (New York), constitutes a preliminary survey of a subject which I examine at greater length in my doctoral dissertation, "Chrétiens et païens dans l'oeuvre de Cavafy," to be submitted to the Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne. I have profited greatly from a number of suggestions and comments made to me by Professor George P. Savidis, especially with regard to the poems Πλησίον παϕ αθϕ Ï• ου ανοικτοϕ and Κατά Ï„Î-Ï‚ συνταγÎ-Ï‚ αϕ χαίων Έλληνοσϕ Ï• ων μάγων. It is a pleasure to express my thanks to him here. 2On the significance and development of nineteenth-century "esoterism" and on its principal representatives, see Viatte, Mercier, and Michaud. Cavafy's familiarity with a number of writers and artists directly or indirectly connected with this movement is attested by references in his writings and by his personal library. The list includes, in addition to the names which will be mentioned later in this paper: Hugo, the "Sâr" Joséphin Péladan, Mallarmé, Huysmans, Rodenbach, Rémy de Gourmont, Maeterlinck, Bulwer Lytton, Swinburne, Pater, Arthur Symons, D'Annunzio, Ibsen, Wagner, Gustave Moreau, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites. 209 210 Diana Haas worlds and between the different senses (synaisthesia), which goes back, of course, beyond Baudelaire to Swedenborg; and that of the privileged role of the poet as "seer," as the interpreter of symbols for the rest of mankind who are unable to perceive their hidden meaning . Cavafy declares in the opening verses, T' αϕ ώματα μ' εμπνÎ-ουν ÏŽÏ‚ ή μουσική, ώςόϕ υθμός,ώςοίωϕ αίοιλόγοι, καίτÎ-Ï• πομαιοπότανÎ-νάϕ μονικοΕ Ï‚ στίχοιςόΒωδελαΕ Ï• οςεϕ μηνεϕ ει όσα αποϕ οϕ σα ή ψυχή καί ασαφώς αίσθάνετ'Î-νάγόνοιςσυγκινήσεσιν. He goes on, in the last four stanzas, to emphasize the opposition between the poet and the "others": ΜήμόνονόσαβλÎ-πετεπιστεϕ ετε. ΤωνποιητώντόβλÎ-μμαείν'όξϕ τεϕ ον. ΟΙκεΕ οςκήποςεϊν'ήφϕ σιςδι'αυτοϕ Ï‚. Έν παϕ αδείσω σκοτεινώ οί άνθϕ ωποι οί άλλοι ψηλαφώσι δϕ όμον χαλεπόν. Both of these interrelated themes are evident in several other texts of Cavafy's early period, as Lavagnini has also shown ("Poesia" 93 and Cavafy, ΕΙς Ï„ÏŒ φώς 49): in two "rejected" poems written during the year following 'Αλληλουχία, entitled ΤΩϕ αι με- λαγχολίας and Τιμόλαος ÏŒ Συϕ ακοϕ σιος,3 and in certain of his annotations to Ruskin, written between 1893 and 1896. One of these annotations is particularly revealing: to Ruskin's contention that AU violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the "pathetic fallacy." [. . .] I believe, if we look well into the matter, that we shall find the greatest poets do not often admit this kind of falseness,—that it is only the second order of poets who much delight in it 3*Ωϕ αι μελαγχολίας: 'Ακοϕ ω στεναγμοϕ Ï‚ Î-ν τοις ζεφϕ Ï• οις. / ΒλÎ-πω παϕ άπονον Î-πί των ϊων. / Αίσθάνομαι του Ï• όδου άλγεινόν τόν βίον / μυστηϕ ιώδους λϕ πης τους λειμώνας πλήϕ εις· / κ' εντός του δάσους του πυκνοϕ λυγμόςήχεΕ .ΤιμόλαοςόΣυϕ ακοϕ σιος:ΚαίοτεÎ-νχεϕ σίτήνμαγαδίν του/λαμβάνει,αϊχοϕ δαίαυτήςτήνποίησιν/εκπÎ-μπουντήςθεϕ μής 'Ασίας—μϕ ησιν/ήδυπαθείαςκαίγλυκείαςϕ Î-μβης,/τώνΈκβατάνωνκαί τήςΕ ίνουάϕ ωμα. Early Cavafy 211 and that there is a class of men "who feel nothing, and therefore see truly," Cavafy objects: Διαφιλονεικώ[...]τόΟτι"ήπαθητικήάπατη",τόνάαποδίδεται ζωήκαίψυχήείςτάνεκϕ άκαίτάάψυχα(ουχίευτελήςλειτου- Ï• γείατήςΤÎ-χνης),δÎ-νευϕ ίσκεταιείςτουςπϕ ώτηςτάξεως ποιητάς."ΟσονδÎ-διάτους"ανθϕ ώπουςοΕ τινεςδÎ-ναισθάνονται τίποτεκαίώςÎ-κτοϕ τουβλÎ-πουνοϕ θώς",ήδϕ ασίςτωνπεϕ ιοϕ ίζε- ταιείςκϕ κλοντόσωστενόνδπουείτεβλÎ-πουνοϕ θώςÎ-κειείτεδχι καταντάάδιάφοϕ ον.ΒλÎ-πουνδÎ-άϕ αγεοϕ θάήβλÎ-πουνμόνον Î-να πλάγι τών πϕ αγμάτων;4 Another dimension is added to the theme of the poet's privileged position in the "rejected" poem 'Αοιδός, published in 1892, a dialogue between the poet's advocate and the "others." The world of poetry is seen here as a magical, immaterial one, invulnerable to the fate of ordinary men: Μακϕ άντουκόσμου,τόνμεθάποιητικήμαγεία· όκόσμοςδλοςδι'αυτόνεϊν'οίωϕ αίοιστίχοι. Διά τόν άοιδόν αυτής Î-κτισ' ή φαντασία άϋλονοίκονστεϕ εόνδνδÎ-νκλονίζ'ήτϕ χη. And to the accusation that this withdrawal from the hardships of everyday life is "senseless," the speaker replies, Μήκϕ ίνετ'Î-ντήλογική,τυφλήσαςάσθενεία. Εϊν'Î-κσμαϕ άγδουμαγικοϕ τοϋοίκουτουοίτοίχοι— καίψιθυϕ ίζουνÎ-ναϕ τοΕ ςφωναί-"Φίλε,ήσϕ χει· σκÎ-πτουκαίψάλλε.ΜυστικÎ-απόστολε,εϕ ψϕ χει!" In this rejection of the everyday, material world in favor of the world of the imagination, and of logic in favor of magic and mystery, we may, I believe, discern a first indication of an anti-positivist attitude on Cavafy's part...