"The French T. S. Eliot" Paul Valery And "the Mind Of Europe"

1. "The Mind of Europe" the rapid revival of her innumerable ways of
The equally modernists T.S. Eliot and William Carlosthought (…) she sought refuge, guidance,
Williams represent two diametrically opposed butconsolation throughout the whole register of her
mutually dependent philosophies of history, inmemories, past acts, and ancestral attitudes. Such
other words, they represent two relatedare the known effects of anxiety."
definitions of the word ‘Modern'. To try andValéry described this process in 1919, at the
understand this we must go deeper. It isclose of WWI, naturally as a reaction to it. The
interesting to turn to a metaphor by Nietzsche,anxiety he refers to is the doubt about the
which served as kind of his legacy to Modernism.direction towards which the present was heading,
The metaphor is "the mind of Europe". Nietzschesince the war had shaken present unstable, there
perceived a psychological pattern in the history ofwas a clear dissatisfaction which less and less
European culture, and therefore he thoughtcould help man achieve connection with any sort
Europe had a ‘mind'. Freud, at nearly theof authentic selfhood or memory.
same time, would borrow similar pattern as aValéry calls this situation a disorder of mind,
construct while structuring psychoanalysis; analyticmuch as Freud does, and yet, he (Valéry)
therapy, in fact. In turn, Eliot formulated this verycomplements it by saying that the status quo
pattern in his poem Four Quartets (Number 3 -mandates a self analysis, which, again, Freud was
The Dry Savages), and I quote: "the way up isperforming at the time. In other words, the
the way down, the way forward is the waypost-war generation was demanding an evaluation,
back". When we think of Freud, we see instanta sort of therapy, to achieve relief through
resemblance in the way forward being the waywhatever memories that could be retrieved and
back, because psychoanalytically the way toauthenticated.
analyze forward events is to analyze what hasIf the process proved successful, Valéry called
already occurred (regression).it reintegration, or revitalization, or even - why not
2. The Case of Paul Valéry – a new Renaissance. With this reintegration,
Paul Valéry, who is often called the French T. S.the present would be made livable and tolerable
Eliot, was less paradoxical than Nietzsche, Freud orbecause of its legitimate reinterpretation of the
Eliot, and therefore more helpful for our purposes.past. That was the paleomodernist cue. That was
A lengthy quotation follows (mind you this is not awhat other critics than Kermode called it Classic
translation from French, Valéry actuallyModernism.
published the full essay in an English journal ofReferences:
London):  Eliot, T. S. Four Quartets. An accurate online text.
"An extraordinary shudder ran through theAvaiable at: < on: 15 jan 2010.
marrow of Europe. She felt in every nucleus ofNietzsche, F. On Truth and Falsity in their
her mind that she was no longer the same, thatultramoral sense. translated by Maximillian A.
she was no longer herself, that she was about toMugge. In The Complete Works of Friedrich
lose consciousness, a consciousness acquiredNietzsche, vol. 16, ed. Oscar Levy.London: T. N.
through centuries of bearable calamities (…) SoFoulis, 1911. 
-- as though in desperate defense of her ownPerl, Jeffrey. Lecture 01. Modernity and
physiological being and resources -- all herModernism. In: Literary Modernism. The struggle
memory confusedly returned. Her great men andfor modern history. The Teaching Company.
her great books came back pell-mell(…)And inValery, Paul. Crisis of the Mind. 1919. In:  The
the same disorder of mind, at the summons ofhistory guide. Lectures on twentieth century
the same anguish, all cultivated Europe underwentEurope. 2006. Available at: < on: 16 jan 2010.