Legacy of Alfred-Victor, count de Vigny

Vigny’s literary art is uneven. He does not possess great technical facility, and when not profoundly inspired, he is prosaic; there are long passages in Les Destinées that are laborious and dull. His austere imagination soberly developed a few symbols of the human condition and condensed them to achieve what he called a “hard, brilliant diamond.”

It is Les Destinées above all that has earned Vigny his reputation as a philosopher-poet. His work is a poignant plea against all that is inhumane in the forces that rule the world: expedience (Cinq-Mars), governments and the mob (Stello and Daphné), and the treacherous love of women (“La Colère de Samson”). Vigny is particularly critical of the equivocality of Providence, which is silent in the face of suffering (“Le Mont des Oliviers”) and as coldly insensitive as nature (“La Maison du Berger”). Vigny’s belief in God is just strong enough for Vigny to reproach him. As a tormented skeptic, he proposes that strictly human values—honour, pity, and the love of beauty—should be adopted. His last poem celebrates the apotheosis of a Holy Spirit (“L’Esprit pur”) that is essentially human and takes over the place of God.

It would be unjust, however, to regard Vigny solely as a philosopher. His literary creations spring less from a system of thought than from a spontaneously tragic conception of existence. Thwarted love, unrecognized goodwill, humiliated greatness, the tormented conscience of the soldier who detests war but fights on energetically—these are more than just general ideas: they express a wounded sensitivity and a soul torn by moral scruples. Under the anonymous cloak of symbols, Vigny extends to the whole of humanity his own conflicts and agonies, and his work is an effort to resolve them. Therein lies the poignancy of his work.

Editions.

Oeuvres complètes, ed. by F. Baldensperger (with Le Journal d’un poète), 2 vol. (1948); Oeuvres complétes, ed. by P. Viallaneix (1965), with all of the articles published by Vigny; Correspondance (1822–1863), ed. by L. Seché (1913); Correspondance (1816–1835), ed. by F. Baldensperger (1933); Mémoires inédits, ed. by J. Sangnier, 2nd ed. (1958); Poèmes antiques et modernes, ed. by E. Estève (1931); Les Destinées, ed. by V.L. Saulnier (1947); Stello and Daphné, ed. by F. Germain (1970); Servitude et grandeur militaires, ed. by F. Germain (1965).