Editing Maurice Barrès (section)

== Biography ==
Barrès was associated in his literary works with [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]], a movement which had equivalence with British [[Aestheticism]] and Italian [[Decadent movement|Decadentism]]; indeed he was a close associate of [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]] representing the latter. As the name of his trilogy suggests, his works glorified a humanistic love of the self and he also flirted with [[occult]] mysticisms in his youth. The [[Dreyfus affair]] saw an ideological shift from a liberal individualism rooted in the French Revolution to a more organic and traditional concept of the nation. He also became a leading anti-Dreyfusard<ref>"Maurice Barres and His Books," ''The Living Age,'' 25 November 1922.</ref> popularising the term ''[[French nationalism|nationalisme]]'' to describe his views. He stood on a platform of "Nationalism and Protectionism.".<ref name=Weber/>

Politically, he became involved with various groups such as the ''[[Ligue des Patriotes]]'' of [[Paul Déroulède]], of which he became the leader in 1914. Barrès was close to [[Charles Maurras]], founder of the monarchist party ''[[Action Française]]''. Though he remained a [[republicanism|republican]], Barrès developed a strong influence on various French monarchists of his day, as well as various other figures. During the [[First World War]], he championed the [[Union Sacrée]] political truce. In later life, Barrès returned to the [[Catholic]] faith: he was involved in a campaign to restore French church buildings and helped establish 24 June as a national day of remembrance for St. [[Joan of Arc]].

===Early years===
[[File:Maurice Barrès' Picture.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|Portrait of a young Maurice Barrès]]
[[File:Page de titre - Barrès - Les Déracinés.jpeg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|''[[Les Déracinés]]'', published in 1897]]
Born at [[Charmes, Vosges]], he received his secondary education at the ''[[lycée]]'' of [[Nancy, France|Nancy]], attending there the lessons of [[Auguste Burdeau]], later pictured as social climber Paul Bouteiller in ''[[Les Déracinés]]''. In 1883 continued his legal studies in Paris. Establishing himself at first in the {{Lang|fr|[[Quartier Latin]]|italic=no}}, he became acquainted with [[Leconte de Lisle]]'s [[cenacle]] and with the [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolist]]s in the 1880s, even meeting [[Victor Hugo]] once.<ref name=Academie/><ref name=Nancy/> He had already started contributing to the monthly periodical, ''Jeune France'' (''Young France''), and he now issued a periodical of his own, ''Les Taches d'encre'', which survived for only a few months. After four years of journalism he settled in Italy, where he wrote ''Sous l'œil des barbares'' (1888), the first volume of a ''trilogie du moi'' (also called ''Le Culte du moi'' or ''[[The Cult of the Self]]''), completed by ''Un Homme libre'' (1889), and ''Le Jardin de Bérénice'' (1891). ''The Cult of the Self'' trilogy was influenced by [[Romanticism]], and also made an apology of the pleasure of the senses.

He supplemented these apologies for his narcissism with ''L'Ennemi des lois'' (1892), and with an admirable volume of impressions of travel, ''Du sang, de la volupté, de la mort'' (1893). Barrès wrote his early books in an elaborate and often very obscure style.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The [[Comédie Française]] produced his play ''Une Journée parlementaire'' in 1894. A year after establishing himself in [[Neuilly-sur-Seine|Neuilly]], he began his trilogy in 1897, ''Le Roman de l'énergie nationale'' (''Novel of the National Energy''), with the publication of ''Les Déracinés''.<ref name=Nancy>[http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/ia54//SaulxuresBarres/Maurice_Barres.htm Biographical notice] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930023532/http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/ia54//SaulxuresBarres/Maurice_Barres.htm |date=30 September 2007 }} French National Education website (Nancy) {{in lang|fr}}</ref> In this second major trilogy, he superated his early individualism with a patriotic fidelity to the fatherland and an [[organicist]] conception of the [[nationalism|nation]].<ref name=Academie/> Affected by the [[Dreyfus Affair]], and finding himself on the side of the Anti-Dreyfusards, Barrès played a leading role alongside [[Charles Maurras]], which initiated his shift to the political right; Barrès oriented himself towards a lyrical form of nationalism, founded on the cult of the earth and the dead ("''la terre et les morts''", "earth and the dead"—''[[#Political activism|see below for details]]'').<ref name=Academie/>

The ''Roman de l'énergie nationale'' trilogy makes a plea for local patriotism, [[militarism]], the faith to one's roots and to one's family, and for the preservation of the distinctive qualities of the [[provinces of France|old French provinces]]. ''Les Déracinés'' narrates the adventures of seven young [[Lorraine (province)|Lorrainers]] who set out to conquer fortune in Paris. Six of them survive in the second novel of the trilogy, ''L'Appel au soldat'' (1900), which gives the history of Boulangism; the sequel, ''Leurs figures'' (1902), deals with the [[Panama scandal]]s. Later works include:
*''Scènes et doctrines du nationalisme ''(1902)
*''Les Amitiés françaises'' (1903), in which he urges the inculcation of patriotism by the early study of national history
*''Ce que j'ai vu à Rennes'' (1904)
*''Au service de l'Allemagne'' (1905), the experiences of an Alsatian conscript in a German regiment
*''Le Voyage de Sparte'' (1906).

He presented himself in 1905 to the [[Académie française]], but was supplanted by [[Etienne Lamy]]. He then tried again, but inclined himself before the candidacy of the former Minister [[Alexandre Ribot]]. But he was finally elected the next year, gaining 25 voices against 8 to Edmond Hauraucourt and one to Jean Aicart on 25 January 1906.<ref name=Academie/>

Barrès was also a friend since his youth of the occultist [[Stanislas de Guaita]], and was attracted by Asia, [[sufism]] and [[Shia Islam|shi'ism]]. But he returned in his later years to the Catholic faith, engaging in ''[[L'Echo de Paris]]'' a campaign in favour of the restoration of the churches of France. His son [[Philippe Barrès]] followed him in a journalism career.

===Political activism===
[[File:1918 Maurice Barrès.jpg|thumb|[[Autochrome Lumière|Autochrome]] portrait by [[The Archives of the Planet|Auguste Léon]], 1918]]
As a young man, Barrès carried his Romantic and individualist theory of the Ego into politics as an ardent partisan of [[George Ernest Jean Marie Boulanger|General Boulanger]], locating himself in the more [[Populism|populist]] side of the heterogenous Boulangist coalition.<ref name=Ory>[[Pascal Ory]], "La nouvelle droite fin de siècle" in ''Nouvelle histoire des idées politiques'' (dir. P. Ory), Hachette Pluriel, 1987, pp. 457–465. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> He directed a Boulangist paper at Nancy, and was elected deputy in 1889, at the age of 27, under a platform of "Nationalism, Protectionism, and Socialism",<ref name=Weber>{{cite journal|author=Eugen Weber|author-link=Eugen Weber|title=Nationalism, Socialism and National-Socialism in France|year=1962|journal=[[French Historical Studies]]|volume=2|issue=3|pages=273–307|doi=10.2307/285883|jstor=285883}}</ref> retaining his seat in the legislature until 1893, when he was defeated under the etiquette of "National Republican and Socialist" (''Républicain nationaliste et socialiste'').<ref name=Nancy/> From 1889, Barrès's activism overshadowed his literary activities, although he tried to maintain both.<ref name=Ory/>

He shifted however to the right-wing during the [[Dreyfus Affair]], becoming a leading mouthpiece, alongside [[Charles Maurras]], of the Anti-Dreyfusard side.<ref name=Academie/> The Socialist leader [[Léon Blum]] tried to convince him to join the Dreyfusards, but Barrès refused and wrote several anti-Semitic pamphlets. He wrote, "That Dreyfus is guilty, I deduce not from the facts themselves, but from his race."<ref>[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/02/bernard-henri-l-vy-lessons-of-the-dominique-strauss-kahn-affair.html 5 Lessons of the DSK Affair], Bernard-Henri Lévy, The Daily Beast, 2 July 2011</ref><ref name="Slama">[[Alain-Gérard Slama]] (professor at [[Sciences-Po]]), [http://coursenligne.sciences-po.fr/2004_2005/slama/seance_11b.pdf "Maurras (1858 (sic)-1952): ou le mythe d'une droite révolutionnaire"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926002014/http://coursenligne.sciences-po.fr/2004_2005/slama/seance_11b.pdf|date=26 September 2007}}, article first published in ''[[L'Histoire]]'' in 2002 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Barrès's anti-Jewishness found its roots both in the [[scientific racism|scientific racial]] contemporary theories and on [[Biblical exegesis]].<ref name=Slama/>

He founded the short-lived review ''[[La Cocarde]]'' (''The [[Cockade]]'') in 1894 (September 1894 – March 1895<ref>[http://www.ac-strasbourg.fr/pedago/lettres/Lecture/Barresbio.htm Biographical notice] from Chr. Biet, J.-Paul Brighelli, J.-Luc Rispail, ''Guide des auteurs, de la critique, des genres et des mouvements'', Magnard, 1984 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>) to defend his ideas, attempting to bridge the gap between the far-left and the far-right.<ref name=Ory/> The ''Cocarde'', nationalist, [[anti-parliamentarist]] and anti-foreign, included a diverse collection of contributors from a wide variety of backgrounds (monarchists, socialists, [[Anarchism in France|anarchists]], Jews, Protestants<ref name=Nancy/>), including [[Frédéric Amouretti]], [[Charles Maurras]], [[René Boylesve]] and [[Fernand Pelloutier]].<ref name="Weber"/>

He was again beaten during the 1896 elections in Neuilly, as a candidate of the Socialist leader [[Jean Jaurès]], and then again in 1897 as a nationalist anti-Semitic candidate, having broken with the left-wing during the Dreyfus Affair.<ref name=Nancy/>

Barrès then assumed the leadership of the [[Ligue de la Patrie française]] (League of the French Fatherland), before taking membership in the ''[[Ligue des Patriotes]]'' (Patriot League) of [[Paul Déroulède]]. In 1914, he became the leader of the Patriot League.<ref name=Academie/>

Close to the nationalist writer [[Charles Maurras]], founder of the monarchist [[Action française]] movement, Barrès refused however to endorse monarchist ideas, although he demonstrated sympathy throughout his life for the Action française. Most of the later monarchist theorists ([[Jacques Bainville]], [[Henri Vaugeois]], [[Léon Daudet]], [[Henri Massis]], [[Jacques Maritain]], [[Georges Bernanos]], [[Thierry Maulnier]]...) have recognised their debt toward Barrès, who also inspired several generations of writers (among which [[Henry de Montherlant|Montherlant]], [[André Malraux|Malraux]], [[François Mauriac|Mauriac]] and [[Louis Aragon|Aragon]]).

Barrès was elected deputy of the Seine in 1906, and retained his seat until his death. He sat at that time among the [[Entente républicaine démocratique]] conservative party. In 1908, he opposed in Parliament his friend and political opponent [[Jean Jaurès]], refusing the Socialist leader's will to [[Panthéon, Paris|Pantheon]]ize the writer [[Émile Zola]]. Despite his political views, he was one of the first to show his respect to Jaurès' remains after his assassination on the eve of [[World War I]].

During World War I, Barrès was one of the proponents of the [[Union Sacrée]], which earned him the nickname "nightingale of bloodshed" ("rossignol des carnages"<ref name=Ory />). The ''[[Canard enchaîné]]'' satirical newspaper called him the "chief of the tribe of brainwashers" ("chef de la tribu des bourreurs de crâne").<ref name=Academie>[http://www.academie-francaise.fr/Immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=502 Biographical notice] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607142139/http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=502 |date=7 June 2007 }} of Barrès on the [[Académie française]]'s website {{in lang|fr}}</ref> His personal notes showed however that he himself did not always believe in his purported war optimism, being at times close to defeatism. During the war Barrès also partly came back on the mistakes of his youth, by paying tribute to French Jews in ''Les familles spirituelles de la France'', where he placed them as one of the four elements of the "national genius", alongside Traditionalists, Protestants and Socialists – thus opposing himself to Maurras who saw in them the "four confederate states" of "Anti-France".

After World War I, Barrès demanded the annexation of [[Luxembourg]] into the French Republic, and also sought to increase French influence in the [[Rhineland]].<ref>Michel Pauly: Geschichte Luxemburgs p.83 (2013)(ISBN 9783406622250)</ref> On 24 June 1920, the National Assembly adopted his draft aiming to establish a national day in remembrance of [[Joan of Arc]].

===Nationalism===
{{Conservatism in France|Intellectuals}}
Barrès is considered, alongside [[Charles Maurras]], as one of the main thinkers of [[ethnic nationalism]] at the turn of the century in France, associated with [[Revanchism]]—the desire to reconquer the [[Alsace-Lorraine]], annexed by the newly created [[German Empire]] at the end of the 1871 [[Franco-Prussian War]] (Barrès was aged 8 at that time). In fact, he himself popularised the word "nationalism" in French.<ref name=Ory/>

This has been noted by [[Zeev Sternhell]],<ref>[[Zeev Sternhell]], ''Maurice Barrès et le nationalisme français'', Bruxelles, Complexe, 1985</ref> [[Michel Winock]] (who titled the first part of his book, ''Le Siècle des intellectuels'', "Les Années Barrès" ("The Barrès Years"), followed by ''Les Années [[André Gide]]'' and ''Les Années [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]''),<ref>[[Michel Winock]], ''Le Siècle des intellectuel'', Paris, Seuil, 1997</ref> [[Pierre-André Taguieff]],<ref>[[Pierre-André Taguieff|P. A. Taguieff]], « Le nationalisme des nationalistes. Un problème pour l'histoire des idées politiques en France » in ''Théories de la nation'', sous la direction de Gil Delannoi et de Pierre André Taguieff, Paris, Kimé, 1991</ref> etc. He shared as common points with [[Paul Bourget]] his disdain for [[utilitarianism]] and liberalism.<ref name=Ory/>

Opposed to [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]'s theory of [[social contract]], Barrès considered the 'Nation' (which he used to replace the 'People') as already historically founded: it did not need a "[[general will]]" to establish itself, thus also contrasting with [[Ernest Renan]]'s definition of the Nation.<ref name=Krulic>Brigitte Krulic (professor at [[University of Paris-X]]), [http://www.sens-public.org/spip.php?article384 Le peuple français chez Maurice Barrès: une entité insaisissable entre unité et diversité], 2 February 2007 (Paper read during the conference ''« 'Peuple' et 'Volk' : réalité de fait, postulat juridique »'' organized at the University of Paris X-Nanterre on 10 December 2005 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Much closer to [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]] and [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte|Fichte]] than to Renan in his definition of the Nation, Barrès opposed French [[centralism]] (as did Maurras), as he considered the Nation to be a multiplicity of local allegiances, first to the family, the village, the region, and ultimately to the [[nation-state]].<ref name=Krulic/> Influenced by [[Edmund Burke]], [[Frédéric Le Play]] and [[Hippolyte Taine]], he developed an [[organicist]] conception of the Nation which contrasted with the universalism of the 1789 [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]].<ref name=Krulic/> According to Barrès, the People is not founded by an act of autonomy, but find its origins in the earth (le sol), history (institutions, life and material conditions) and traditions and inheritance ("the dead").<ref name=Krulic/> His early individualism was quickly superseded by an organicist theory of the social link, in which "the individual is nothing, society is everything".<ref>''Les Déracinés (Roman de l'énergie nationale I)'', in ''Romans et voyages'', [[Robert Laffont|R. Laffont]] Bouquins, 1994, p.615</ref>

Barrès feared miscegenation of modern times, represented by Paris, claiming against [[Edmond Michelet|Michelet]] that it jeopardised the unity of the Nation.<ref>See his [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/discours_reception/barres.html discourse of reception at the Académie française] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607124151/http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/discours_reception/barres.html |date=7 June 2007 }} on 17 January 1907 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> The Nation was to be balanced between various local nationalities (he spoke of the "Lorraine nationality" as much as of the "French nationality"<ref name=Krulic/>) through decentralisation and the call for a leader, giving a [[Bonapartist]] aspect to his thought which explained his attraction for the General Boulanger and his opposition to [[liberal democracy]].<ref name=Krulic/> He pleaded for a [[direct democracy]] and personalisation of power, as well as for the implementation of [[popular referendum]]s as done in [[Swiss Federal Constitution|Switzerland]].<ref name=Krulic/> In this nationalist frame, anti-Semitism was to be the cohesive factor for a right-wing [[mass movement (politics)|mass movement]].<ref name=Krulic/>

Contrary to popular belief, Maurice Barrès never used the term “le grand remplacement” [great replacement], either in his novel "L'appel au soldat" or anywhere else. However he did make use of the underlying concept, namely that the French national character was being harmed by immigration of certain ethnic groups.<ref>Le « grand remplacement » de Maurice Barrès, Désintox, ARTE https://es-es.facebook.com/28minutes/videos/601716683701994/</ref>

=== Hispanophilia ===
Barrès was a noted hispanophile.<ref name=gcuevas /> Influenced by the [[Romanticism|romantic]] mythification of Spain, he described the country as "an Africa leaving your soul with a sort of furor so fast as chilli does in your mouth".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Archilés Cardona|year=2018|title=¿Materia de España? Imaginarios nacionales y persistencia del estereotipo español en la cultura francesa (1898-1936)|journal=Amnis|url=https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/3265#ftn16|doi=10.4000/amnis.3265|issn=1764-7193|first=Ferran|volume=2 |issue=2 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Always passionate about the "South" and "[[Orientalism|Orient]]", he emphasized in his work the period of Moorish domination.{{Sfn|Archilés Cardona|2018}} He interpreted the Spain of the time as a nation refractory  to the attempts of economic and bureaucratic rationalization threatening his own country.<ref name=gcuevas>{{Cite journal|last=González Cuevas|first=Pedro Carlos|issn=1130-2402|journal=Historia Contemporánea|issue=34|year=2007|location=Bilbao|publisher=[[Universidad del País Vasco]]|title=Maurice Barrès y España|page=202|url=https://www.ehu.eus/ojs/index.php/HC/article/view/4149/3699}}</ref> He visited Spain in 1892, 1893 and 1902, capturing his vision of the country in his writings, taking a particular interest in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]].<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Adelaida|last=Porras Medrano|location=Madrid|publisher=[[Universidad Complutense de Madrid]]|journal=Thélème. Revista Complutense de Estudios Franceses|issn=1139-9368|year=1999|pages=14–15|url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/THEL/article/view/THEL9999110011A/0|issue=14|title=Toledo o el secreto de Maurice Barrés}}</ref>

===Dada and Barrès===
The [[Dada]]ists organised in spring 1921 the trial of Barrès, charged with an "attack on the safety of the mind" ("attentat à la sûreté de l'esprit") and sentenced him to 20 years of forced labour. This fictitious trial also marked the dissolution of Dada - its founders, among whom was [[Tristan Tzara]], refusing any form of justice even if organised by Dada.

===Final years and death===

An Orientalist romance, ''[[Un jardin sur l'Oronte]]'' (A Garden on the Orontes)—which would be the basis of [[Un jardin sur l'Oronte (opera)|an opera of the same name]]—was published in 1922, triggering what would be called {{lang|fr|la querelle de l'Oronte}} (the Orontes Quarrel).
{{quote|Devout and sincere Catholics were shocked by the complacent, skilful, sometimes enchanting ways of Barrès in mixing the sacred and the profane. His heroine [Oriante] was both pagan and irresistible—and this provoked revolt.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bookman|year=1923|volume=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqQSAAAAMAAJ|page=655}}</ref>}}

Barrès died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 4 December 1923.