STENDHAL
17
by Fichte.) This famous Will was destined to take two directions
in the later course of the century-according to whether emphasis
was placed on the individual or the race. From Fichte, Gobineau,
and Nietzsche was to come the cult of racism that has been trans–
lated into action in our own time. The cult of egoism, reaching its
peak in the 'eighties, found its spokesman in Germany in the now
forgotten Max Stirner and in France and elsewhere in Stendhal.
Of a common philosophical origin, however, both are subject to
the identical philosophical objections.
Beylism is indeed as good as any other label to cover the
moral and intellectual anarchy of the undefined individualism of
the modern world. . For actually the romantic will, as we have seen
it at work, is nothing but instinct parading as Machiavellian rea–
son. The cult of the
Moi
becomes a cult of self-destruction the
moment that the individual realizes the interdependence between
the sense of his own being and society. The notion of an altogether
free
~nd
irresponsible individuality becomes a metaphysical conun–
drum if one inquires how a human individual could exist without
a social environment to which he may offer the resistance by which
he can be measured and defined. And it may be shown that when
the individual makes his instinct the sole measure not only of him–
self but also of the universe, like Stendhal and many other writers
of his century, he runs the risk of becoming indistinguishable
from the universe-which may provide certain satisfactions but
certainly destroys the possibility of individuality. In fact, he
achieves a state that is indistinguishable from the state of death.
The same objection is to be made to the implied ethics of the
passage on Julien's "ideal plan" quoted earlier. According to this
plan the individu;l would seem to project a sort of ideal version
of himself-once again the Super-ego at work-by which he must
be governed in all his judgments and actions. But we have seen
that what creation of this ideal self involves is a drastic separa–
tion of will and feeling that results in a total disruption of the
personality. What it amounts to is a particularly hazardous mode
of self-hallucination. "I am isolated here in this cell," Julien tells
himself, "but I have not
lived in isolation
on this earth; I had
always the compelling idea of
duty.
The duty that I had laid down
for myself, rightly or wrongly, was like the trunk of a strong tree
against which lleaned during the storm; I tottered, I was shaken.
