Hermiane. − croyez−moi, nous n'avons pas lieu de plaisanter. partons.

les deux sexes n'ont rien à se reprocher, Madame : vices et vertus, tout est égal

Meslis, s'arrêtant au milieu du théâtre. − Ah ! chère Dina, que de personnes ! Dina. − Oui, mais nous n'avons que faire d'elles.Meslis. − Sans doute, il n'y en a pas une qui vous ressemble

Hermiane, entrant avec vivacité. − non, laissez−moi, Prince je n'en veux pas voir davantage ; cette Adine etcette Eglé me sont insupportables, il faut que le sort soit tombé sur ce qu'il y aura jamais de plus haïssableparmi mon sexe

Adine, en riant. − Bonjour, la belle Eglé, quand vous voudrez vous voir, adressez−vous à moi, j'ai votreportrait, on me l'a cédé.Eglé, lui jetant le sien. − Tenez, je vous rends le vôtre, qui ne vaut pas la peine que je le garde.Adine. − Comment ! Mesrin, mon portrait ! et comment l'a−t−elle ? Mesrin. − C'est que je l'ai donné.Eglé. − Allons, Azor, venez que je vous parle.Mesrin. − Que vous lui parliez ! et moi ? Adine. − Passez ici, Mesrin, que faites−vous là, vous extravaguez, je pense

Eglé. − Eh ! non, je serai bien aise qu'Azor me regrette, moi ; ma beauté le mérite ; il n'y a pas de mal aussiqu'Adine soupire un peu, pour lui apprendre à se méconnaître

Carise. − Azor et elle vont être au désespoir.Mesrin. − Tant pis.Eglé. − Quel remède

Eglé. − je voudrais bien m'en dispenser si je le pouvais, à cause d'azor qui compte sur moi.Mesrou. − Mesrin, imitez Eglé, ne soyez point infidèle.Eglé. − Mesrin ! l'homme s'appelle Mesrin ! Mesrin. − Eh ! oui.Eglé. − L'ami d'Adine ?

Mesrou, de loin, voulant retenir Mesrin, qui se dégage. − Il s'échappe de moi, il veut être inconstant,empêchez−le d'approcher.Carise, à Mesrin. − N'avancez pas.Mesrin. − Pourquoi ? Carise. − C'est que je vous le défends ; Mesrou et moi, nous devons avoir quelque autorité sur vous, noussommes vos maîtres.

Je ne suis contente de rien, d'un côté, le changement me fait peine, de l'autre, il me fait plaisir ; je nepuis pas plus empêcher l'un que l'autre ; ils sont tous deux de conséquence ; auquel des deux suis−je le plusobligée ? Faut−il me faire de la peine ? Faut−il me faire du plaisir ?

mon bon coeur le condamne, mon bon coeur l'approuve, il dit oui, il ditnon, il est de deux avis, il n'y a donc qu'a choisir le plus commode

Carise. − Eh ! dites−moi, ne rougissez−vous pas un peu de votre inconstance ? Eglé. − Il me parait que oui, mon accident me fait honte, j'ai encore cette ignorance−là.

il n'a qu'a me plaire davantage, car à l'égard d'être aimée, je suis bien aise de l'être, je ledéclare, et au lieu d'un camarade, en eût−il cent, je voudrais qu'ils m'aimassent tous, c'est mon plaisir ; ilveut que ma beauté soit pour lui tout seul, et moi je prétends qu'elle soit pour tout le monde

mes mains sont à moi, je pense, elles m'appartiennent, et il défend qu'on les baise

Carise. − Eglé, ce ne peut pas être son trop d'empressement à vous voir qui lui nuit auprès de vous, il n'y apas assez longtemps que vous le connaissez.Eglé. − Pas mal de temps ; nous avons déjà eu trois conversations ensemble, et apparemment que la longueurdes entretiens est contraire.Carise. − Vous ne dites pas son véritable tort, encore une fois

Carise. − Pourquoi fâchée contre vous ? Eglé. − C'est que j'ai dessein d'aimer toujours Azor, et j'ai peur d'y manquer.Carise. − Serait−il possible ? Eglé. − Oui, j'en veux à Azor, parce que ses manières en sont cause

Eglé. − Ce n'est pas du chagrin non plus, c'est de l'embarras d'esprit.Carise. − D'ou vient−il ? Eglé. − Vous nous disiez tantôt qu'en fait d'amitié on ne sait ce peut arriver ? Carise. Il est vrai.Eglé. − Eh bien ! je ne sais ce qui m'arrive.

allez vous−en, Azor, vous savez bien que l'absence estnécessaire, il n'y a pas assez longtemps que la nôtre dure.Azor. − Comment ! il y a je ne sais combien d'heures que je ne vous ai vue.Eglé. − Vous vous trompez, il n'y a pas assez longtemps que, vous dis−je ; je sais bien compter, et ce que j'airésolu je le veux tenir.

Azor, lui reprenant cette main. − Oh ! doucement, ce n'est pas ici votre blanche, c'est la mienne, ces deuxmains sont à moi, vous n'y avez rien

il n'y a que sa compagnie que jecherche pour parler de vous, de votre bouche, de vos yeux, de vos mains, après qui je languissais

Mesrin. − Ah ! qu'on a de plaisir dans celui−ci ! Eglé. − En avez−vous plus que dans le vôtre ? Mesrin. − Oh ! je vous assure.Eglé. − Eh bien ! l'homme, il n'y a qu'à y reste

la bonne humeur que je vous regarde ; à propos, prenez−vous vosrepas ? Azor. − Tous les jours.Mesrin. − Eh bien ! je les prends aussi ; prenons−les ensemble pour notre divertissement

Oui−da ; vous me réjouissez, je me plais à vous voir sans que vous ayez des charmes.

Non, car elle n'est point difforme.Azor, le considérant. − Vous êtes pareille à moi, ce me semble ? Mesrin. − C'est ce que je pensai

Je suis furieux

Bien humiliée

elle a des yeux, comment vous dirai−je ? des yeux qui nefont pas plaisir, qui regardent, voilà tout ; une bouche ni grande ni petite, une bouche qui lui sert à parler ;

je veux absolument que vous la méprisiez, quand vous la trouverez, jeveux qu'elle vous fasse peu

mon mérite est son aversion

et qui prétend être aussi belle que moi ! Adine. − Je ne dis pas cela, je dis plus belle

Tenez, je sais le moyen de lui faire entendre raison, je n'ai qu'à lui ôter son Azor dont je ne mesoucie pas, mais rien que pour avoir la paix

qui est le véritable.

Passez votre chemin : dès que vous refusez de prendre du plaisir à me considérer, vous ne m'êtesbonne à rien, je ne. vous parle plus.Elles ne se regardent plus.Eglé. − Et moi, j'ignore que vous êtes l

j'ai un Azor qui vaut mieux que lui, un Azor que j'aime, qui est presque aussi admirable que moi, et qui ditque je suis sa vie ; vous n'êtes la vie de personne, vous ; et puis j'ai un miroir qui achève de me confirmertout ce que mon Azor et le ruisseau assurent

contemplez−moi un peu attentivement, là, comment me trouvez−vous ? Eglé. − Mais qu'est−ce que c'est que vous ? Est−il question de vous ? Je vous dis que c'est d'abord moiqu'on voit, moi qu'on informe de ce qu'on pense

Elle me considère avec attention, mais ne m'admire point, ce n'est pas là un Azor. (Elle se regardedans son miroir.) C'est encore moins une Eglé... Je crois pourtant qu'elle se compare.

Prenez garde à vous−même, ne vous lassez pas de m'adorer, en vérité, toute belle que je suis, votrepeur m'effraie aussi.

Eglé, tâchant d'ouvrir la boîte. − Voyons, je ne saurais l'ouvrir ; essayez, Azor, c'est là qu'elle a dit de presser.Azor l'ouvre et se regarde. − Bon ! ce n'est que moi, je pense, c'est ma mine que le ruisseau d'ici près m'amontrée.Eglé. − Ah ! ah ! que je voie donc ! Eh ! point du tout, cher homme, c'est plus moi que jamais, c'estréellement votre Eglé, la véritable, tenez, approchez. Azor. − Eh ! oui, c'est vous, attendez donc, c'est nous deux, c'est moitié l'un et moitié l'autre ; j'aimeraismieux que ce fût vous toute seule, car je m'empêche de vous voir tout entière.

car j'ai déjà son portrait dans monesprit, ainsi donnez−moi le mien, je les aurai tous deux.

un portrait que Carise lui donne. − Comment donc ! je me reconnais ; c'est encore moi, et bienmieux que dans les eaux du ruisseau, c'est toute ma beauté, c'est moi, quel plaisir de se trouver partout

Pourquoi tentés

que, rassasiés de vous voir, vous seriez tentés de vous quitter tous deux pour nousaimer

nous ne le comprenons pas, nous qui le sentons, ilest infini

moi qui vous aime, par exemple, quand je ne vous vois pas, je me passe de vous, jen'ai pas besoin de votre présence, pourquoi ? C'est que vous ne me charmez pas ; au lieu que nous nouscharmons, Azor et moi

ce n'est qu'en pratiquant ce qu'elle vous dit là, etqu'en nous séparant quelquefois, que nous continuons de nous aimer, Carise et moi.

Au contraire, c'est qu'il faut de temps en temps vous priver du plaisir de vous voir.Eglé, étonnée. − Comment ? Azor, étonné. − Quoi ? Carise. − Oui, vous dis−je, sans quoi ce plaisir diminuerait et vous deviendrait indifférent.

Justement, nous l'avons deviné de nous−mêmes.

Mon Eglé, mon charme, mes délices, et ma femme !

Je ne m'étonne point qu'il vous aime et que vous l'aimiez, vous êtes faits l'un pour l'autre

J'étais bien aise qu'il me la tint ; il me latenait par ma permission

Qui vous tenait la main, Eglé ! Que n'avez−vous a appelé à votre secours ? Eglé − Du secours contre quoi ? contre le plaisir qu'il me faisait

j'ai fait l'acquisition d'un objet qui me tenait la main tout à l'heure

ni moi ni ma bouche ne saurions plus nous passer d'elles.

nous nous ressemblons en tout.Azor. − Oh ! quelle différence !

J'obéis, car je suis à vous.

Vous m'enchantez.Eglé. − Vous me plaisez aussi

une épreuve qui ne laissât rien à désirer.Quatre enfants au berceau, deux de votre sexe et deux du nôtre, furent portés dans la forêt où il avait fait bâtircette maison exprès pour eux, où chacun d'eux fut ! logé à part, et où actuellement même il occupe un terraindont il n'est jamais sorti, de sorte qu'ils ne se sont jamais vus. Ils ne connaissent encore que Mesrou et sasoeur qui les ont élevés, et qui ont toujours eu soin d'eux, et qui furent choisis de la couleur dont ils sont, afinque leurs élèves en fussent plus étonnés quand ils verraient d'autres hommes. On va donc pour la premièrefois leur laisser la liberté de sortir de leur enceinte, et de se connaître ; on leur a appris la langue que nousparlons ; on peut regarder le commerce qu'ils vont avoir ensemble comme le premier âge du monde

Le ruisseaufait toutes mes mines, et toutes me plaisent. Vous devez avoir eu bien du plaisir à me regarder, Mesrou etvous. Je passerais ma vie à me contempler ; que je vais m'aimer à présent !

c'est là moi, c'est mon visage ? Carise. − Sans doute.Eglé. − Mais savez−vous bien que cela est très beau, que cela fait un objet charmant

Qu'est−ce que c'est que cette eau ne je vois etqui roule à terre ? Je n'ai rien vu de semblable à cela dans le monde d'où je sors.

voici de nouvelles terres que vous n'avez jamais vues, et que vouspouvez parcourir en sûreté

c'est la nature elle−même que nous allons interroger, il n'y a qu'elle qui puisse décider laquestion sans réplique

le monde et sacorruption

A un spectacle très curieux

e lieu du monde le plus sauvage et le plus solitaire, et rien n'yannonce la fête que vous m'avez promise.Le prince, en riant. − Tout y est prêt.Hermiane. − Je n'y comprends rien ; qu'est−ce que c'est que cette maison où vous me faites entrer, et quiforme un édifice si singulier ? Que signifie la hauteur prodigieuse des différents murs qui l'environnent

Ialsoagreetosubordinateitsclaimstotheobjectivewill-to-emancipationofthatmultitudeofhumanbeingswhoarestilldeniedthemeansofchoosingtheirowndestiny

hatroledoesnot,however,assigntoourraceapositionofindependence.Nor,evenifManhimselfiscondemned,arehisvaineffortsdirectedtowardsthearrestingofauniversalprocessofdecline.Farfromit:hisroleisitselfamachine,broughtperhapstoagreaterpointofperfectionthananyother,whoseactivityhastensthedisintegrationofaninitialorderandprecipitatesapowerfullyorganizedMattertowardsaconditionofinertiawhichgrowsevergreaterandwillonedayprovedefinitiv

Asandwhenthesedreamsturnedintoknowledge,sodidManspowerincrease;thisgaveus,ifImaysoputit,theupperhandovertheuniverse,andwestilltakeanimmenseprideinit.Butwhatisit,inreality,ifnotthesubjectiveawarenessthathumanityisbeingprogressivelymoreandmoresunderedfromthephysicaluniverse?

ALittleGlassofRum389Man.WithinthatnaturalMan,anartificialManwaslaterintroduced.Betweenthetwo,warbrokeout,andwillgoonragingtilllifecomestoanend.Thisconceptionisabsurd.WhoeversaysMan5,saysLanguage,andwhoeversaysLanguage,saysSociety.ThePolynesiansvisitedbyBougainville(anditwasintheSupplementtoBougainvillestravelsthatDiderotputforwardhistheory)livedinsocietyeverybitasmuchaswedo.Anyonewhoquestionsthisismovingcountertothedirectioninwhichanthropologicalanalysiswouldhaveusgo

Isitthenthecasethatanthropologytendstocondemnallformsofsocialorder,whatevertheymaybe,andtoglorifyaconditionofNaturewhichcanonlybecorruptedbytheestablishmentofsocialorder?Donttrustthemanwhocomestoputthingsinorder,saidDiderot,whosepositionhasjustbeenstated.Forhimthehistoryofourracecouldbesummedupasfollows:Oncetherewasn

Ifanalysesofthissortaresincerelyandmethodicallyconductedtheyhavetworesults.First,theyencourageustotakealevel-headedandunbiassedviewofcustomsandwaysofliferemotefromourownwithout,however,attributingtothemabsolutemeritssuchasnosocietycanclaimtopossess.Second,theydissuadeusfromtakingforgrantedtherightnessornaturalnessofourowncustoms,ascaneasilybethecaseifweknowofnoothers,orknowofthemonlypartlyandwithbias.Anthropologicalanalysistends,admittedly,toenhancetheprestigeofothersocietiesanddiminishthatofourown:inthatrespectitsactioniscontradictory.Butreflectionwillshow,Ithink,thatthiscontradictionismoreapparentthanreal

Thatobsessionputsthemonaparwithourselves;for,iftheywerenotaloneintheiriniquity,theyneverthelessstand,asweourselvesstandinotherrespects,onthesideofimmoderation

Secondwouldcomethosewhich,likeourown,adoptwhatmightbecalledanthropoemia(fromtheGreekemein,tovomit).Facedwiththesameproblem,theyhavechosentheoppositesolution.Theyexpeltheseformidablebeingsfromthebodypublicbyisolatingthemforatime,orforever,denyingthemallcontactwithhumanity,inestablishmentsdevisedforthatexpresspurpose.Inmostofthesocietieswhichwewouldcallprimitivethiscustomwouldinspiretheprofoundesthorror:weshouldseemtothembarbarianinthesamedegreeasweimputetothemonthegroundoftheirno-more-than-symmetricalcustoms

utaboveallwemustrealizethatcertainofourownusages,ifinvestigatedbyanobserverfromadifferentsociety,wouldseemtohimsimilarinkindtothecannibalismwhichweconsideruncivilized*.

Ifhewishestocontributetotheimprovementofhisownsocialsystemhecannotbutcondemn,whereverhecomesuponthem,conditionsanalogoustothosewhichhedeploresathome.

Thedifficultydoesnotliethere.Certainsocialgroupsmustbeadjudgedsuperiortoourselves,ifthecomparisonrestsupontheirsuccessinreachingobjectivescomparabletoourown;but,inthesameinstant,weearntherighttopassjudgmentuponthem,andthereforetocondemnallthoseotherobjectiveswhichdonotcoincidewithourown.Implicitlyweclaimforourownsociety,foritscustoms,andforitsnorms,apositionofprivilege,sinceanobserverfromadifferentsocialgroupwouldpassdifferentverdictsuponthosesameexamples.Thisbeingso,howcanweclaimforourstudiestherankofascience?Ifwearetogetbacktoapositionofobjectivity,weshouldabstainfromalljudgmentsofthissort.Wehavetoadmitthathumansocietiescanchooseamongagamutofpossibilities.Thesechoicescannotbecomparedwitheachother:oneisasgoodasanother.Butthentherearisesanewproblem;forif,inthefirstinstance,wearethreatenedbyobscurantism,intheformofablindrejectionofanythingthatisnotourown,thereisalsoanalternativedanger:thatofaneclecticismwhichbidsusrejectnothingatall,whenfacedwithanalienculture.Evenifthatsocietyshoulditselfprotestagainstthecruelty,theinjustice,andthepovertywhichcharacterizeit,wemustnotpassjudgment.Butastheseabusesalsoexistamongourselves,howshallwehavetherighttofightthemathomeif,whentheyappearelsewhere,wemakenomovetoprotest?

Hieenr-qtririesofarchaeologyandanthropologyshowthatcertaincivilizationssomeofthemnowvanished,othersstillwithushaveknownquitewellhowbesttosolveproblemswith,whichwearestillstraggling.

theparadoxofcivilization:weknowthatitsmagicderivesfromthepresencewithinitofcertainimpurities,andyetwecanneverresisttheimpulsetodeanuppreciselythoseelementswhichgiveititscharm.Wearedoublyrightbutthatverytightnessprovesuswrong.Forwearerighttowishtoincreaseourproductionandcutmanufacturingcosts.Butwearealsorightwhenwetreasuresomeoftheimperfectionswhichwearedoingourbesttoeliminate.SocietysetsitselCinshort,todestroypreciselythosethingswhichgiveitmostflavour

A

Weourselvesweretheproductsofcertaininescapablenorms;andifweclaimedtobeabletoestimateoneformofsocietyinitsrelationtoanotherweweremerelyrlaiming.,inashamefacedandroundaboutway,thatoursocietywassuperiortoalltheother

Inthusthinkingthematterout,Imayhaveshownjustwherethecontradictionlies.Imayhaveshownwhereitbegan,andhowwemanagedtocometotermswithit.ButIhavecertainlynotputanendtoit.Mustwethereforeconcludethatitiswithusforeve

Wherewehadbeenagentsinthetransformationsinprogress,webecomemerespectators,allthemoreabletoestimatethesituationinthatthebalanceoffutureandpast,whichhadbeenpresenttousasamoraldilemma,cannowbeapretextforaestheticcontemplationanddisinterestedmeditation

Thedilemmaisinescapable:eithertheanthropologistclingstodienormsofhisowngroup,inwhichcasetheotherscanonlyinspireinhimanephemeralcuriosityinwhichthereisalwaysandementofdisapproval;orhemakeshimselfovercompletelytotheobjectsofhisstudies,inwhichcasehecanneverbeperfectlyobjective,becauseingivinghimselftoallsocietieshecannotbutrefusehimself,wittinglyornot,tooneamongthem.Hecommits,thatistosay,thesinwithwhichhereproachesthosewhoquestiontheprivilegedstatusofhisvocation

Athome,theanthropologistmaybeanaturalsubversive,aconvincedopponentoftraditionalusage:butnosoonerhasheinfocusasocietydifferentfromhisownthanhebecomesrespectfulofeventhemostconservativepractices.

Itisnotbychancethattheanthropologistisrarelyontermsofneutralitywithhisownsocialgroup.Whereheisamissionaryoranadministrator,hecanbepresumedtohaveidentifiedhimselfsoentirelywithacertainorderthatallhisenergiesarenowgiventoitspropagation.Andwhenhisprofessionalactivitytakesplaceonthescientificorhigheracademiclevel,objectivefactorsinhispastcanveryprobablybeadducedtoprovethatheisill-orunstatedtothesocietyintowhichhewasborn.Hehas,infact,becomeananthropologistforoneoftworeasons:eitherhefindsitapracticalmethodofreconcilinghismembershipofagroupwithhisseverelyqualifiedacceptanceofitor,moreamply,hewishestoturntoadvantageaninitialattitudeofdetachmentwhichhasalreadybroughthim,aswesay,half-waytomeet5societiesunlikehisown.

ButwhenIwastravellinginareaswhichfewhadseteyesupon,andsharingtheexistenceofpeopleswhosewretchednesswasthepricepaidbythem,ofcourseofmyinvestigationintothedistantpast,Ifoundthatneitherpeoplenorlandscapestoodintheforegroundofmymind.Thiswasoccupied,rather,byfugitivevisionsoftheFrenchcountrysidefromwhichIhadcutmyselfoff,orfragmentsofmusicandpoetrywhichweretheperfectlyconventionalexpressionofacivilizationagainstwhichIhadtakenmystand

Ordoesitfollowuponsomemoreradicaldecisiononethatcallsinquestionthesystemwithinwhichonewasbornandhascometomanhood?

Wasitallaruse,awelt-judgeddetourwhichwouldallowmeeventuallytoresumemycareerwithcertainextraadvantagesofwhichduenotewouldbetaken?Ordidmydecisionbespeakaprofoundincapacitytoliveongoodtermswithmyownsocialgroup?WasIdestined,infact,toliveinevergreaterisolationfrommyfellows

Whetherheisorisnotinbusinessonhisown,thepatronlivesinterrorofbankruptcy.Andbankruptcyisneverfarawayifhisclientsdisappearwithouthavingrepaidhisadvances.Soheemploysanarmedforemantokeepwatchontheriver.AfewdaysafterIlefttheTupi-KawahibIhadastrangeencounterontheriver,whichremainedwithmeastheveryimageoflifeontheseringal

societywhich,betterthaneitherthehighpeaksorthesun-bakedfladands,hadknownhowtokeepusatadistance:acollectivityoftreesandplantsthatcoveredourtracksassoonaswehadpassed.Oftendifficulttopenetrate,theforestdemandsofthosewhoenteritcon^cessionseverybitasweighty,iflessspectacular,thanthoseexac^dbythemountainsfromthewa

Nowthatthefinestwasnolongeravailabletous,wehadtoscaledownourambitionstothosewhichwerestillwithinourreach,andsetourselvestoglorifywhatwasdryandhard,sincenothi

Butinthatforcedmarchwehadforgottendieforest.

themountainsceneinvitedmetoaconversation,asitwere,inwhichwebothhadtogiveofourbest.Imadeovertothemountainsthephysicaleffortthatitcostmetoexplorethem,andinreturntheirtruenaturewasrevealedtome.Atoncerebelliousandprovocative,neverrevealingmorethanhalfofitselfatanyonetime,keepingtheotherhalffreshandintactforthosecomplementaryperspectiveswhichwouldopenupasIclamberedupordownitsdopes,themountainscenejoinedwithmeinakindofdance

Ontheseloftybalconies,andwiththatundomesticatedlandscapebeforeone,itiseasy,thoughdoubtlesserroneous,toimaginethatManinhisbeginningswasconfrontedwithjustsuchasightasmeetsoneseyes

Abeachwasonceaplacewheretheseayieldeduptheresultsofcommotionsmanythousandsofyearsinthemaking,admittingus,inthisway,toanastonishingmuseuminwhichNaturealwaysrankedherselfwiththeavant-garde;todaythatsamebeachistroddenbygreatcrowdsandse

.TryastheBororomaytobringtheirsystemtofullfloweringwiththeaidofadeceptiveprosopopoeia,theywillbeunable,asothersocietieshavealsobeenunable,tosmotherthistruth:thattheimagerywithwhichasocietypicturestoitselftherelationsbetweenthedeadandthelivingcanalwaysbebrokendownintermsofanattempttohide,embellishorjustify,onthereligiouslevel,therelationsprevailing,inthatsocietyamongtheliving

espite,thatistosay,alltheappearancesofinstitutionalizedbrotherhood,theBororovillageismadeupinthelastanalysisofthreegroups,eachofwhichalwaysmarrieswithinitsownnumbers

Buttheircredulity,whetherpresumedorauthentic,hasalsoapsychologicalfunction:thatofgiving,forthebenefitofbothsexes,anaffectiveandintellectualcontenttofantasy-figureswhichmightotherwisebealtogetherlessmeaningfullymanipulated

Forthemoralist,Bororosocietyhasoneparticularlesson.LethimBsfcentohisnativeinformers:theywilldescribetohim,astheydescribedtome,theballetinwhichthetwohalvesofthevillagesetthemselvestoliveandbreatheinandforoneanother;exchangingwomen,goocls,andserviceinakindofsharedpassionforreciprocity;intermarryingtheirchildren;buryingoneanothersdead;offeringeachothergmranteesthatlifeiseternal,thathumanbeingshelponeanother,andthatSocietyisbasedonjustice.

Ttiisoppositionthelivingagainstthedeadisexpressed,inthefirstplace,bythedivisionofthevillagers,throughouttheceremonies,intoparticipantsandspectators.Buttherealparticipantsarethemen,protectedastheyarebythesecreciesofthecommunalhouse.Thelayoutofthevillagemust,therefore,haveasignificanceevendeeperthanthatwhichweascribedtoitonthesociologicallevel.Whenavillagerdies,eachhalftakesitinturntoplaytheliving,orthedead,inrelationtotheother.Butthisgameofpoiseandcounterpoisemirrorsanother,inwhichtheroleshavebeendistributedonceandforall;forthemenwhohavegrownupinthebaitemanm^eosymbolizethesocietyofspirits,whereasfromthehutsallaround,whichbelongtothewomen(whohavenopartinthemostsacredoftheritesandare,therefore,predestinedspectators),isdrawntheaudienceofthelivin

Thesportisonethatrecursamongcertainrelatedpeoplesinapurelyprofanesensein,forinstance,thelog-racesoftheGeontheBrazilianplateau;butamongtheBororoitstillretainsitsfullreligioussignificance;thehilariousanddisorderlysceneisoneinwhichthenativereallyfeelsthatheisplayingwiththedeadandwrestingfromthemtherighttogoonbeingalive

Theseprivileges(theymaybeboughtandsold,bytheway)aretheobjectofwatdiful,nottosayquiet-temperedsupervision.Itsinconceivable,peoplesay,thatoneclanshouldusurptheprerogativesofanother;civilwarwouldresult

Yetthesedifferencesremainedindividual:ephemeral,thatistosay.Theonlyexceptiontothiswasthechief,whoreceivedtokensofhomagefromallthedans,intheformoffoodandmanufactures.Butaseachgiftentailedasubsequentobligation,hewasinthesituationofabanker:wealthpassedthroughhishands,buthecouldnevercallithisown.Mycollectionsofreligiousobjectswerebuiltupinreturnforpresentswhichthechiefwouldatonceredistributeamongthedans,thusconservinghisbalanceofpaymentsintact.

ThechiefofthevillagewasalwayschosenfromaparticularCeradan,andthetitlewentinthefemalelinefromthematernaluncletohisastersson.

Buthecangobacktherewheneverhelikesandbeassuredofawarmwelcome.Andwhentheatmosphereofhiswifeshousebecomesoppressivewhenhisbrothers-in-lawcomevisiting,forinstancehecanalwaysgoandsleepinthemenshouse.Therehewillfindmuchtoremindhimofhisadolescence.Theatmosphereisoneofmasculinecamaraderie,anddiereligiousenvironmentnotsostrongastopreventanoccasionalflirtationwithunmarriedgirls

ThosetothenortharetheCera;thosetothesouth,theTugare.Itseems,thoughitsnotabsolutelycertain,thatthefirstnamemeansweak*andthesecondonestrong*.Bethatasitmay,thedivisionisfundamentalfortworeasons:one,thateachindividualbelongsindissolublytothesamegroupashismother;andtheother,thatheiscompelledtomarryamemberoftheothergroup.IfmymotherisCera,ItooamCera,andmywifemustbeTug

ovitaltothesocialandreligiouslifeofthetribeisthiscircularlay-outthattheSalesianmissionariessoonrealizedthatthesurestwayofconvertingtheBororowastomakethemabandontheirvillageandmovetooneinwhichthehutswerelaidoutinparallelrows.Tlieywouldthenbe,ineverysense,,dis-oriented.Allfeelingforthektraditionswoulddesertthem,asiftheirsocialandreligioussystems(thesewereinseparable,tasweshallsee)weresocomplexthattheycouldnotexistwithouttheschemamadevisibleintheirgrouni-plans.andreaffirmedtotheminthedailyrhythmoftheirliv

Tlieseweiediemissionarieswho,incollaborationwiththeProtaectiofnService,hadmanagedtoputastoptotheconflictsbetwieensettlersandIndians.Theyhadalsocarnaloutsomeadmirablepiecesofethnographicalfield-work.(OntheBororotheirworkis,indeed,thebestsourceavailabletous,aftertheearlierstudiesofKarlvonderSteinen.)UnfortunatelythiswenthandinhandwithasystematicattempttoeadErminatetheIndians*culture.

OoPROFOUND,andyetalsosoconfused,areonesfirstimpressionsofanativevillagewhosecivilizationhasremainedrelativelyintactthatitisdifficulttoknowinwhatordertosetthemdown

AshasoftenhappenedinthehistoryofBrazil,ahandfulofadventurers,madmen,andstarvelingshadbeensweptintotheinterioronanimpulseofhighenthusiasm,onlytobeabandoned,forgotten,andcutofffromallcontactwithcivilization

Hieprospectormaybecomerichovernight;and,ifhedoes,hispolicerecordwillforcehtmtospendthemoneythenandthere.Thatswhythelorrieslumbertoandfrowiththeirloadofsuperfluousgoods.Tliemomentthecargoarrivesatthegmmpoitwillbemappedupatnomatterwhatprice;notnecessity,butthewishtoshowoff,willbethemotive,

AllthisweighedthemoreheavilyupontheconsciencesoftheCuiabanosbecausetheirhopes,thoughdashed,hadnonethelessproducedonesmalltangibleresult:theexploitationofthoseemployedinthetelegraphservice.Beforeleavingtotakeuptheirposts,everyemployeehadtonominateaprocurador,orrepresentative,whowouldcollecttheirsalariesforthemandusethemaccordingtoinstructions.Theseinstructionswerelimited,asarule,torequestsforthepurchaseofcartridges,paraffin,salt,sewingneedles,andcloth.Allthesewereaccountedforathighprices,thankstoanunderstandingbetweenpracuradores,Lebanesemerchants,andcaravan-managers.Afterafewyearsthewretchedemployeewassoheavilyindebtastobeevenlessablethanbeforetoenvisageescapingfromthebush

Iftheyhavetobearmed,itisnotonlytowardoffthemenaceofrivalbands.Untilquitelately,andsometimesevennow,itwastokeepthepoliceatbay.Thediamondr^zoneformed,infact,astatewithintheState,andtheonewasoftenatwarwiththeother.In1935weconstantlyheardofthewarwagedbytheEngineerMorbeckandhisbravoes,thevalentoes,againsttheStatePoliceoftheMatoGrosso.Thishadendedinacompromise.Itmustbesaidindefenceoftherebelsthattfazgarim-peirowhowastakenprisonerbythepolicerarelyreachedCuiabaalive

Greatwastheirstupefactionwhenwereturnedsomeweekslaterwithoxenasheavilyladenasthoseofacaravan:hugeceramicjars,paintedandengraved,roebuek-iidesdecoratedinarabesque,woodensculpturesrepresentingavanishedPantheon....Itwasarevelation,andonewhichleftthemstrangelychanged:whenDonFelixcametocallonmeinSaoPaulo,twoorthreeyearslater,Iunderstoodfromhimthatheandhiscompanion,whohadtreatedthelocalpopulationsovarymuchdehmtenfws,had*gonenative*,astheEnglishsay.Thelittlebourgeoisparlouroftfazfazewlawashungwithpaintedskins,andnativepotteriesweretobefoundineverycorner.OurfriendswereplayingatthebazaarsofMoroccoortbeSudan,liketheexemplarycolonialadministratorswhomtheyshouldreallyhavebeen.AndtheIndians,nowtheirofficialsuppliers,weremadewarmlywelcomeatthefazenda;wholefamffffswerelodgedthere,inexchangefortheobjectstheybrought.

ouldre-presentthemselves,thistimeascustomers,andpayahighpricefortherighttoofiertheirchildrentheirownproductrefijr-bished,bythen,asthesertaosonlysweetmeat.

Itwasverydifficultindeedforustogetholdofoneofthesepatheticobjects:oftenapreliminaryandwholesaledistributionofrings,necklaces,andglassbroocheswouldhavefoiledtoestablishthefriendlycontactwithoutwhichnothingcouldbedone.Eventheofferofmilreis,inaquantityvastlyinexcessoftheintrinsicvalueofthecovetedobject,wouldleaveitsownerindifferent.Hejustcant.Ifhedmadeithimselfhedgiveitgladly.Buthegotitalongtimeagofromanoldwomanwhoaloneknewthesecretofitsmanufacture,andifhegaveitawayhecouldnevergetanother.*Theoldwomanis,ofcourse,neverathand.S

Wevisitedthewoodenhouseswhichthefederalgovernmenthadbuilt.Theyweregroupedinvillagesoffromfivetosixfires,withwaternearby;wealsosawthemoreisolatedhouseswhichtheIndiansoccasionallybuiltforthemselves;theseconsistedofasquarepalisadeofpalmito-trunks,boundtogetherwithliana,andaroofmadeofleavesandhungontothewallsbyitsfourcorners.Andwealsoexaminedthosebranch-hungawningsbeneathwhichwholefemilieswouldoftenlive,leavingtheadjacenthouseunoccupie

Tlieywereaperfectexampleofthatsociologicalpredicamentwhichisbecomingevermorewidespreadinthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcentury:theywereformersavages,thatistosay,onwhomcivilizationhadbeenabruptlyforced;and,assoonastheywerenolonger*adangertoSociety*,civilizationtooknofurtherinterestinthem.Theirculturewasmadeupforthemostpartofancienttraditions(suchasthepractice,stillcommonamongthem,offilingdownandinlayingtheirteeth)whichhadli^Moutagainsttheinfluenceofthewhites.Butitalsoincludedcertainborrowingsfromthecivilizationofourownday,andthecombination,thoughnotrichintheaccepteddementsofthepicturesque,wasneverthelessanoriginalfieldofstudy,andonequiteasinstructiveasthatofferedbytheuncontaminatednativeswithwhomIwastohavetodolater.

Butforthemostparttheyhadbeenroundeduptowardstheyear1914,andtheBraziliangovernmenthadcorralledthemwiththeobjectofintegratingthemintomodernlife.Inthevillage,forinstance,ofSaoJeronymo,whichwasmyownparticularbase,therehadbeenalocksmithsshop,achemists,aschool,andasaw-mill.Axes,knives,andtyaiUweresentupatregularintervals,andclothesandblanketsweremadeavailabletoall.Twentyyearslaterthisexperimenthadbeenabandoned.TheProtectionServicelefttheIndianstotheirowndevices,andinsodoingrevealedtowhatanextentithaditselfbeendesertedbytheauthorities(ithassinceregainedalittleground);andtheServicewascompelled,quiteinvoluntarily,totryanothermethodthatofincitingthenativestotakethingsintotheirhands,onceagain,andfollowtheirownbent.

hisgracelesserectionwasthecontraryofGoyaz.Ithadnohistory.Ithadneitherlivedlongenoughnoracquiredanyoftheassociationswhichmighthaveconcealeditsemptinessorsofteneditsawkwardoutlines.Onefeltasonefeelsinastationorahospital:alwaysintransit.Onlythefearofsomecatastrophecouldhavejustifiedtheerectionofthissquarewhitefortress.Andindeedthatcatastrophehadoccurred:silenceandstillnessservedonlytoheightenitsmenaces.Cadmusthecivilizerhadsownthedragonsteeth.Theearthhadbeentornupandburntawaybythedragonsbreath:Manwouldbethenextcrop.

Whatauthoritywasparkingoutonesetofcitizenshere,andanotherthere,andgivingeachsectorofthenewtownaninescapablefunction?Eachtownwasinitiallyarectangularclearingintheforest,witheverystreetatrightanglestoeveryotherstreet:theyweredepersonalizedtracings,geometricaloutlinesnothingmore.Yetsomewereinthecentre,andsomeontheperiphery;someparalleltotieroadortherailway,someatrightanglestothem.Some,therefore,Ventwith*thestreamoftraffic,whiletheotherscutacrossit.Businessandcommercetendedtostringthemselvesoutalongtiefirstgroup;privatehousesandcertainpublicserviceseitherchosethesecondgrouporwereforcedintoit.Thetwoantitheses(central/peripheral,parallel/perpendicular)immediatelyestablishedfourdifferentmodesofurbanlife;andoverthefutureinhabitantsofthecitytherealreadyhungafatalitysuccessandfailure,discouragementandinitialadvantagederivedautomaticallyfromtheaccidentsofthegrid.Andmore:therewouldbetwomaintypesofinhabitantthosewhocravedhumancompanyandwouldgravitatenaturallytothesectorswhichweremoreheavilyurbanized,andthosewhopreferredisolationandliberty.Thuswouldcomeintobeingafurthercontrapuntalelement.

Hiewinterrainswouldsoonturntheseremainsintoafertilehumus,whichwouldbesweptanddrivenalongtheslopes,incompanywiththatotherhumusthathadforsolongnourishedtheiM>WKestroyedforest.Itwouldnottakelong,wethoughtperhapsten,twenty,thirtyyearsforthislandofCanaantoturnintoanaridanddevastatedwaste

ABritishcompanyhadsecuredfromdiegovernmentaconcessionofnearlyfourmillionacresinreturnforanundertakingtobuildroadsandarailway.HieBritishintendedtore-selltheland,plotbyplot,toemigrants,mosdyfromcentralandeasternEurope,andtokeeptherailwayforthemselves.By1935theexperimentwaswellunderway:therailwaywasbitingdeeperanddeeperintotheforestdiirty-oddmilesatthebeginningof1930,eightyandmorebytheendofthatyear,onehundredandthirtyin1932,onehundredandseventy-fivein1936

Adayortwolater,notasoulremained.Thecompanyhadvanishedonceagainintothebush.Tiepousodrowsedinthesun,excitementsoverfortherestoftheyear;saveonlytheweeklyopeningoftheviliasdaDomingo,dieSundayrendezvouswherehorsemenwouldfind,atthecrossroads,adrink-shopandahandfulofhuts.

Animals,carts,andlorrieshadforcedtheirwayalongthesetracks,moreorlessinthesamedirection,accordingtotheprevailingcdrcum-stancesofweatherandvegetation.Suchlevellingashadtakenplacewaslargelyaccidental,andthetravellerhadtodoasbesthecouldwithdieravinesandthesteepslopesstrippedofalllivingmatterthatwouldsuddenlypresentthemselves.Sometimesthetrackwouldwidenuntilitwaslieaboulevard,ahundredyardsacross,intheverymiddleofthebosh;sometimesitwoulddivideitselfintoascoreof^distinguishablepaths,leadingineverydirectionatonce,withnothingtoshowwhichwasthetruefilfArianethatwouldleadonebutofthelabyrinth.

Buttherewerealsocasesinwhichtheoppositeoccurredandtheplantersdecided,frompiousmotives,tomakeoverapieceoflandtotheChurch.Therethencameintobeingzpatrimonio,oragglomerationplacedunderthepatronageofoneofthesaints.Otherpatrimonioshadanon-religiousorigin:alandownermayforinstancehavedecidedtomakehimselfapovoador,or*populator5,orevenaplantadordecidade:

Tothenorthandeastweretobefoundafewdesertedmining-towns,nowinthelaststagesofdecay,whereflamboyantbaroquechurchesoftheeighteenthcenturycontrastedwiththedesolationaromnlthem.Oncetheyhummedwithactivity:andintheirfantasticarchitecturetheyseemtohavestriventopreservesomeparticleofthatwealthwhichwastobetheirundoing.Fortikeminesbroughtdevastationtodiecountryaroundthem-totieforests,aboveall,whosetimberkeptthefoundriesgoiHg-nandtheinining-townsdiedout,likesomanyfires,assoonastheyhadconsumedtheirownsubstance.

Wetoooftenforgetthatparadoxofhistorybywhichitisthepoorestwhostandtoprofitbyanygeneralinsufficiencyofcommunications.Whenridingistheonlymeansoftransport,ajourneymeasuredinmonths,ratherthaninweeksordays,issomehowlessdistastefulandamule-tracklessforbidding.TheBrazilianhinterlandhadanexistencewhich,thoughslow,wasunbroken

OnceawayfromthecoastitwasessentialtorememberthatintheprevioushundredyearsBrazilhadchangedmuchmore$wnithaddeveloped.

ButintheinteriortownsofasortwouldCOIBCintobeing,onlytofindthesurroundingcountrysidesuddenlydeserted.Thepopulationmovedfromoneregiontoanother,didnotincreaseinnumbers,andchangedconstantlyinsocialtype,withtheresultthatfossil-townscouldbeobservedsidebysidewithtownsinembryo

Asearlyas1854,thatistosay,theexhaustedplantationsbegantofallintodisuse,butitwasnotuntil1920thatanysharpfallinpopulationwasnoted.

Thenearestethnologicalcuriositywastobefoundsometenmilesaway,inaprimitivevillagewhosetatterdemalioninhabitantsbore,intheirfairhairandblueeyes*themarksofarecentGermanicancestry.Itwas,infact,aroundtheyear1820thatgroupsofGermancolonistshadcomeovertosettleintieleast-tropicalpartsofthecountry.AroundSaoPaulotheyweretoalargedegpneedispersedamongthenear-destitutelocalpeasantry;betfarthersooth,intheStateofSantaCatarina,thelittletownsofJoinvilkandBlumenauhadkeptintact,beneaththearaucarias,anmetemdwOTtuiydcor.Hiestreets,linedbysteep-roofsedhouses,hadGermannames;Germanwastieonlylanguagespoken

TherewerealsomanyJapaneseindieregionroundSaoPaolo,Thesewerelesseasilyapproached.TJ^iminigi^liotheytravelledfree,theywereguaranteedatmpocarylodgingonarrival,andeventuallytheyweredistributedamongfarms,intheinterior,whichworehalfvillagehalfmilitary-cainpincharacter.Everyaspectoflifewascateredfor;schools,workshops,infirmary,shops,entertairanent~-alwereavailableondiespot.Theemigrantsremainedthereforlongperiodsinvirtualisolation.Theorganizingcompanynaturallydidallitcouldtoencouragethis,andtheemigrantsmeanwhilepaidoffthemoneyowedtodiecompanyandsaltedawaytheirearningsinitscoffers.Tliecompanyundertooktoshipdiemhomeinduetime,sothattheycoulddieinthecountryoftheirancestors

Why not the quite simple attempt to touch the other, to feel the other, to explain the other to myself?Was my freedom not given to me then in order to build the world of the You?

And even today they subsist, to organize this dehumanization rationally. But I as a man of color, to the extent that it becomes possible for me to exist absolutely, do not have the right to lock myself into a world of retroactive reparations.I, the man of color, want only this:That the tool never possess the man. That the enslavement of man by man cease forever. That is, of one by another. That it be possible for me to discover and to love man, wherever he may be.The Negro is not. Any more than the white man.Both must turn their backs on the inhuman voices which were those of their respective ancestors in order that authentic communication be possible.

the part of a poor relative, of an adopted son, of a bastard child, shall he feverishly seek to discover a Negro civilization?Let us be clearly understood. I am convinced that it would be of the greatest interest to be able to have contact with a Negro literature or architecture of the third century before Christ. I should be very happy to know that a correspondence had fl ourished between some Negro philosopher and Plato. But I can absolutely not see how this fact would change anything in the lives of the eight-year-old children who labor in the cane fi elds of Martinique or Guadeloupe.

The white man has never understood this magic substitution. The white man wants the world; he wants it for himself alone. He fi nds himself predestined master of this world. He enslaves it. An acquisitive relation is established between the world and him. But there exist other values that fi t only my forms. Like a magician, I robbed the white man of “a certain world,” forever after lost to him and his. When that happened, the white man must have been rocked backward by a force that he could not identify, so little used as he is to such reactions. Somewhere beyond the objective world of farms and banana trees and rubber trees, I had subtly brought the real world into being. The essence of the world was my fortune. Between the world and me a relation of coexistence was established. I had discovered the primeval One.

Now, the Antillean family has for all practical purposes no connection with the national—that is, the French, or European—structure. The Antillean has therefore to choose between his family and European society; in other words, the individual who climbs up into society—white and civilized—tends to reject his family—black and savage—on the plane of imagination, in accord with the childhood Erlebnisse that we discussed earlier. In this case the schema of Marcus becomesFamily ← Individual → Society and the family structure is cast back into the id.

At the age of twenty—at the time, that is, when the collective unconscious has been more or less lost, or is resistant at least to being raised to the conscious level—the Antillean recognizes that he is living an error. Why is that? Quite simply because—and this is very important—the Antillean has recognized himself as a Negro, but, by virtue of an ethical transit, he also feels (collective unconscious) that one is a Negro to the degree to which one is wicked, sloppy, malicious

If a man who speaks pidgin to a man of color or an Arab does not see anything wrong or evil in such behavior, it is because he has never stopped to think. I myself have been aware, in talking to certain patients, of the exact instant at which I began to slip. . . .

I fi nd myself suddenly in the world and I recognize that I have one right alone: That of demanding human behavior from the other.One duty alone: That of not renouncing my freedom through my choices.I have no wish to be the victim of the Fraud of a black world.My life should not be devoted to drawing up the balance sheet of Negro values.There is no white world, there is no white ethic, any more than there is a white intelligence. There are in every part of the world men who search. I am not a prisoner of history. I should not seek there for the meaning of my destiny.I should constantly remind myself that the real leap consists in introducing invention into existence.In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.I am a part of Being to the degree that I go beyond it. And, through a private problem, we see the outline of the problem of Action. Placed in this world, in a situation, “embarked,” as Pascal would have it, am I going to gather weapons

In no way should I derive my basic purpose from the past of the peoples of color.In no way should I dedicate myself to the revival of an unjustly unrecognized Negro civilization. I will not make myself the man of any past. I do not want to exalt the past at the expense of my present and of my future.

The problem considered here is one of time. Those Negroes and white men will be disalienated who refuse to let themselves be sealed away in the materialized Tower of the Past. For many other Negroes, in other ways, disalienation will come into being through their refusal to accept the present as defi nitive.I am a man, and what I have to recapture is the whole past of the world. I am not responsible solely for the revolt in Santo Domingo.

In the circumstances, I did not have to take up a position on behalf of Negro music against white music, but rather to help my brother to rid himself of an attitude in which there was nothing healthful.

Scientifi c objectivity was barred to me, for the alienated, the neurotic, was my brother, my sister, my father. I have ceaselessly striven to show the Negro that in a sense he makes himself abnormal; to show the white man that he is at once the perpetrator and the victim of a delusion

In this connection, I should like to say something that I have found in many other writers: Intellectual alienation is a creation of middle-class society. What I call middle-class society isany society that becomes rigidifi ed in predetermined forms, forbidding all evolution, all gains, all progress, all discovery. I call middle-class a closed society in which life has no taste, in which the air is tainted, in which ideas and men are corrupt. And I think that a man who takes a stand against this death is in a sense a

The few working-class people whom I had the chance to know in Paris never took it on themselves to pose the problem of the discovery of a Negro past. They knew they were black, but, they told me, that made no difference in anything. In which they were absolutely right

I do not carry innocence to the point of believing that appeals to reason or to respect for human dignity can alter reality. For the Negro who works on a sugar plantation in Le Robert, there is only one solution: to fi ght. He will embark on this struggle, and he will pursue it, not as the result of a Marxist or idealistic analysis but quite simply because he cannot conceive of life otherwise than in the form of a battle against exploitation, misery, and hunger

You’d better keep your place.”

The middle class in the Antilles never speak Creole except to their servants. In school the children of Martinique are taught to scorn the dialect. One avoids Creolisms. Some families completely forbid the use of Creole, and mothers ridicule their children for speaking it.

Every colonized people—in other words, every people in whose soul an inferiority complex has been created by the death and burial of its local cultural originality—fi nds itself face to face with the language of the civilizing nation; that is, with the culture of the mother country.

The black man has two dimensions. One with his fellows, the other with the white man. A Negro behaves differently with a white man and with another Negro. That this self-division is a direct result of colonialist subjugation is beyond question.

r it is implicit that to speak is to exist absolutely for the other

And, at the top of this monument, I can already see a white man and a black man hand in hand.For the French Negro the situation is unbearable. Unable ever to be sure whether the white man considers him consciousness in-itself-for-itself, he must forever absorb himself in uncovering resistance, opposition, challenge

When it does happen that the Negro looks fi ercely at the white man, the white man tells him: “Brother, there is no difference between us.” And yet the Negro knows that there is a difference. He wants it. He wants the white man to turn on him and shout: “Damn nigger.” Then he would have that unique chance—to “show them. . . .

Slavery shall no longer exist on French soil.The upheaval reached the Negroes from without. The black man was acted upon.

When it encounters resistance from the other, self-consciousness undergoes the experience of desire

The only means of breaking this vicious circle that throws me back on myself is to restore to the other, through mediation and recognition, his human reality, which is different from natural reality. The other has to perform the same operation. “Action from one side only would be useless, because what is to happen can only be brought about by means of both. . . .”; “they recognize themselves as mutually recognizing each other.”

At the foundation of Hegelian dialectic there is an absolute reciprocity which must be emphasized. It is in the degree to which I go beyond my own immediate being that I apprehend the existence of the other as a natural and more than natural reality. If I close the circuit, if I prevent the accomplishment of movement in two directions, I keep the other within himself. Ultimately, I deprive him even of this being-for-itself.

Everything that an Antillean does is done for The Other. Not because The Other is the ultimate objective of his action in the sense of communication between people that Adler describes,2 but, more primitively, because it is The Other who corroborates him in his search for self-validation.

he compares himself with his fellow against the pattern of the white man. An Adlerian comparison would be schematized in this fashion:Ego greater than The OtherBut the Antillean comparison, in contrast, would look like this:WhiteEgo different from The Othe

The Other comes on to the stage only in order to furnish it. I am the Hero. Applaud or condemn, it makes no difference to me, I am the center of attention. If the other seeks to make me uneasy with his wish to have value (his fi ction), I simply banish him without a trial.

It is always a question of the subject; one never even thinks of the object.

The Negro is comparison. There is the first truth. He is comparison: that is, he is constantly preoccupied with self-evaluation and with the ego-ideal. Whenever he comes into contact with someone else, the question of value, of merit, arises. The Antilleans have no inherent values of their own, they are always contingent on the presence of The Other

I have only one solution: to rise above this absurd drama that others have staged round me, to reject the two terms that are equally unacceptable, and, through one human being, to reach out for the universal.

The collective unconscious is not dependent on cerebral heredity; it is the result of what I shall call the unrefl ected imposition of a culture. Hence there is no reason to be surprised when an Antillean exposed to waking-dream therapy relives the same fantasies as a European. It is because the Antillean partakes of the same collective unconscious as the European.

European he has no further respite, and “is it not understand-able that thenceforward he will try to elevate himself to the white man’s level?

Since his ideal is an infi nite virility, is there not a phenomenon of diminution in relation to the Negro, who is viewed as a penis symbol? Is the lynching of the Negro not a sexual revenge? We know how much of sexuality there is in all cruelties, tortures, beatings.

As for the Negroes, they have tremendous sexual powers. What do you expect, with all the freedom they have in their jungles! They copulate at all times and in all places. They are really genital. They have so many children that they cannot even count them. Be careful, or they will fl ood us with

I should like nothing more nor less than the establishment of children’s magazines especially for Negroes, the creation of songs for Negro children, and, ultimately, the publication of history texts especially for them, at least through the grammar-school grades. For, until there is evidence to the contrary, I believe that if there is a traumatism it occurs during those years. The young Antillean is a Frenchman called on at all times to live with white compatriots. One forgets this rather too often

Nevertheless with all my strength I refuse to accept that amputation. I feel in myself a soul as immense as the world, truly a soul as deep as the deepest of rivers, my chest has the power to expand without limit. I am a master and I am advised to adopt the humility of the cripple. Yesterday, awakening to the world, I saw the sky turn upon itself utterly and wholly. I wanted to rise, but the disemboweled silence fell back upon me, its wings paralyzed. Without responsibility, straddling Nothingness and Infi nity, I began to weep.

Orphée Noir is a date in the intellectualization of the experience of being black. And Sartre’s mistake was not only to seek the source of the source but in a certain sense to block that source:Will the source of Poetry be dried up? Or will the great black fl ood, in spite of everything, color the sea into which it pours itself? It does not matter: Every age has its own poetry; in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation, a race, a class to take up the torch by creating situations that can be expressed or transcended only through Poetry; sometimes the poetic impulse coincides with the revolutionary impulse, and sometimes they take different courses. Today let us hail the turn of history that will make it possible for the black men to utter “the great Negro cry with a force that will shake the pillars of the world” (Césaire).20And so it is not I who make a meaning for myself, but it is the meaning that was already there, pre-existing, waiting for me.

In a way, you reconcile us with ourselves.”Thus my unreason was countered with reason, my reason with “real reason.” Every hand was a losing hand for me. I analyzed my heredity. I made a complete audit of my ailment. I wanted to be typically Negro—it was no longer possible. I wanted to be white—that was a joke. And, when I tried, on the level of ideas and intellectual activity, to reclaim my negritude, it was snatched away from me.

When I read that page, I felt that I had been robbed of my last chance. I said to my friends, “The generation of the younger black poets has just suffered a blow that can never be forgiven.” Help had been sought from a friend of the colored peoples, and that friend had found no better response than to point out the relativity of what they were doing

I put the white man back into his place;

I had rationalized the world and the world had rejected me on the basis of color prejudice. Since no agreement was possible on the level of reason, I threw myself back toward unreason. It was up to the white man to be more irrational than I.

of the effect of race-crossings we shall certainly do best to avoid crossings between widely different races.”

It was always the Negro teacher, the Negro doctor; brittle as I was becoming, I shivered at the slightest pretext. I knew, for instance, that if the physician made a mistake it would be the end of him and of all those who came after him. What could one expect, after all, from a Negro physician?

When people like me, they tell me it is in spite of my color. When they dislike me, they point out that it is not because of my color. Either way, I am locked into the infernal circle. I turn away from these inspectors of the Ark before the Flood and I attach myself to my brothers, Negroes like myself. To my horror, they too reject me. They are almost white. And besides they are about to marry white women.

In the train it was no longer a question of being aware of my body in the third person but in a triple person. In the train I was given not one but two, three places.

Then, assailed at various points, the corporeal schema crumbled, its place taken by a racial epidermal schema.

In the white world the man of color encounters diffi culties in the development of his bodily schema. Consciousness of the body is solely a negating activity. It is a third-person consciousness.

Overnight the Negro has been given two frames of reference within which he has had to place himself. His metaphysics, or, less pretentiously, his customs and the sources on which they were based, were wiped out because they were in confl ict with a civilization that he did not know and that imposed itself on him.

of what was; but tomorrow’shumankind will live the future in its flesh and in its freedom; thatfuture will be its present, and humankind will in turn prefer it; newcarnal and affective relations of which we cannot conceive will beborn between the sexes: friendships, rivalries, complicities, chaste orsexual companionships that past centuries would not have dreamed ofare already appear

s? “Women will always be women,” say the skeptics;other seers prophesy that in shedding their femininity, they will notsucceed in changing into men and will become monsters. This wouldmean that today’s woman is nature’s creation; it must be repeatedagain that within the human collectivity nothing is natural, andwoman, among others, is a product developed by civilization; theintervention of others in her destiny is originary: if this process weredriven in another way, it would produce a very

ame quality; this inequality willbe particularly noticeable because the time they spend together—andthat fallaciously seems to be the same time—does not have the samevalue for both partners; during the evening the lover spends with hismistress, he might be doing something useful for his career, seeingfriends, cultivating relations, entertaining himself; for a man normallyintegrated into his society, time is a positive asset: money, reputation,pleasure. By contrast, for the idle and bored woman time is a burdenshe aspires to get rid of; she considers it a benefit to succeed in killingtime: the man’s presence is pure profit; in many cases, what interestsman the most in a relationship is the sexual gain he draws from it: hecan, at worst, settle for spending just enough time with his mistress toperform the sex act, but what she herself wants—with rare exceptions—is to “dispose of” all this excess time she has o

r happiness. We have seenthe poetic veils used to hide the monotonous burdens she bears:housework and maternity; in exchange for her freedom she was givenfallacious treasures of “femininity” as a gift. Balzac described thismaneuver very well in advising a man to treat her as a slave whilepersuading her she is a queen. Less cynical, many men endeavor toconvince themselves she is truly privileged. There are Americansociologists seriously teaching today the theory of “low-class gain,”that is, the “advantages of the lowe

The conflict will last as long as men and women do not recognizeeach other as peers, that is, as long as femininity is perpetuated assuch; which of them is the most determined to maintain it? Thewoman who frees herself from it nevertheless wants to conserve itsprerogatives; and the man then demands that she assume itslimitations.