IN THE HOTEL DE LA MOLE
273
thought more boring, more stupid, and less attractive than the old;
the most interesting thing about it was that it too gave no promise
of enduring; new upheavals were in the air, and indeed broke out
here and there even though not with the power of the first.
Because Stendhal's interest arose out of the experiences of
his
own life,
it
was held not by the structure of a possible society but by
the changes in the society actually given. Temporal dimensions are
a factor of which he never loses sight, the concept of incessantly
changing forms and manners of life dominates his thoughts: the
more so as it is a hope for him-"In 1880 or 1930 I shall find
readers who understand me!" I will cite a few examples. When he
speaks of La Bruyere's
U
esprit" (Henri Brulard,
chapter 30), it is ap–
parent to him that this type of formative endeavor of the intellect has
lost in validity since 1789:
U
L'esprit, si delicieux pour qui Ie sent, ne
dure pas. Comme une peche' passe en quelques jours, l'esprit passe
en deux cents ans, et bien plus vite, s'il
y
a revolution dans les rap–
ports que les classes d'une societe ont entre elles."
The
Souvenirs
d'egotisme
contain an abundance of observations (for the most part
truly prophetic) mounted on a perspective in time. He foresees
(chapter 7, near the end) that "at the time when this chapter is read"
it will have become a commonplace to make the ruling class responsible
for the crimes of thieves and murderers; he fears, at the beginning of
chapter 9, that all his bold utterances, which he dares put forth only
with fear and trembling, will have become platitudes ten years after
his
death, if heaven grants him a decent allowance of life, say
eighty or ninety years; in the next chapter he speaks of one of his
friends who pays an unusually high price for the favors of an
U
honnete femme du peuple,"
and adds in explanation:
U
cinq cents
francs en
1832,
c'est comme mille en
1872" that is, forty years after
the time at which he is writing and thirty after
his
death.
It would be possible to quote many more passages of the same
import. But it is unnecessary, for the element of time-perspective is
apparent everywhere in the presentation itself. In his realistic writings
Stendhal everywhere deals with the reality which presents itself to
him:uJe prends au hasard ce qui se trouve sur ma route,"
he says
not far from the passage just quoted: in his effort to understand men,
he does not pick and choose among them; this method, as Montaigne
knew, is the best for eliminating the arbitrariness of one's own
