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Irrationalism and Myth in Georges Sorel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

S. P. Rouanet
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Extract

The First World War is sometimes credited with the dissolution of the well-ordered universe of the nineteenth century. In fact, by 1914 there was very little left to destroy, for most of the essential work had already been accomplished. The aftermath of the war merely helped to make the collapse of order and stability more visible. But the post-1918 atmosphere of gloom, later crystallized in the “Lost Generation” and in the escapist movements of the twenties, gave the impression that the war had been responsible for the moral and intellectual Zusammenbruch of the period. The feeling of decay was everywhere; the old values, the former certainties and criteria had vanished, leaving an impression of emptiness behind. The old order had crumbled, without dignity, “not with a bang but with a whimper,” as T. S. Eliot put it.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 1964 , pp. 45 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1964

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References

1 Bergson, Henri, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, translated by Audra, R. Ashley and Brereton, Cloudesley (Garden City, n.d.), pp. 220–221Google Scholar.

2 Gide, André, L'Immoraliste (Paris, 1939), p. 61Google Scholar.

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6 Sorel, Georges, Réflexions sur la Violence (Paris, 1946), p. 65Google Scholar. The English translation, used for subsequent passages, has for this passage “overturn … by the breath of the professors.” See Sorel, , Reflections on Violence, trans. Hulme, and Roth, , int. by Shils (Glencoe, 1950), p. 70Google Scholar. Later references will cite the French edition as Sorel and the English edition as Reflections.

7 Sorel, pp. 110–111; Reflections, p. 100.

8 Sorel, p. 130; Reflections, p. 113.

9 Sorel, p. 161; Reflections, p. 132.

10 Sorel, p. 200; Reflections, p. 157.

11 Sorel, p. 434; Reflections, p. 301.

12 Sorel, pp. 112–113; Reflections, p. 102.

13 Sorel, p. 122; Reflections, p. 108.

14 Sorel, p. 126; Reflections, p. 110.

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19 Sorel, p. 217; Reflections, p. 167.

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31 For a complete account of these theories, see, among other works, Myth and Mythmaking, edited by Murray, Henry A. (New York, 1960)Google Scholar; Gusdorf, Georges, Mythe et Métaphysique (Paris, 1953)Google Scholar; Chase, Richard, Quest for Myth (Baton Rouge, 1949)Google Scholar.

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34 Georges Sorel, Introduction a l'Economie Moderne, quoted by Kahn, Paul, op. cit., p. 133Google Scholar.

35 Ibid., p. 137.

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37 Sorel, p. 44; Reflections, p. 56.

38 Sorel, p. 46; Reflections, p. 57.

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44 Sorel, p. 39; Reflections, p. 53.

45 Sorel, p. 219; Reflections, p. 169.