RIMBAUD IN THE SORBONNE
The oral Ph. D. examination in an American university has
little resemblance to the
((soutenance de these"
for the "state doctorate"
which is the highest degree the Sorbonne offers. The ceremony in Paris
is open to the public. It occurs quite frequently and in most cases is a
tiresome procedure. The duty of the jury, usually composed of five pro–
fessors,
is
to point out the inadequacies, weaknesses, omissions of the
theses, both the main thesis and the complementary one. On January
12, 1952, in the Salle Liard, the
((soutenance"
of M. Etiemble on the
"Myth of Rimbaud" was, on the contrary, one of the main events of
the season. The large hall was crowded with students, professors, writers
and notables from Paris society.
The jury was composed of Professors Levaillant, Carre, Bruneau
(who presided), Jasinski and Dedeyan. Each in turn complimented M.
Etiemble on the giganticism of
his
task and spoke on some aspect of
the two theses. Levaillant, first, praised the indefatigable scholar. Etiem–
ble has been working on his investigation for twenty years. His subject
was accepted by the Sorbonne in 1937. Since that time he has lived
in the United States (where he taught at the University of Chicago), in
Central America, in Egypt. He has accumulated 16,000
«fiches"
or
items on the myth of Rimbaud. A prodigious documentation, even for a
these de doctorat
at the Sorbonne. He has read in many foreign lang–
uages and has discovered practically everything published about Rim–
baud between 1869 and 1950. Between the school of symbolism and the
most recent movement of "lettrism," Etiemble has studied every at–
tempt to make of Rimbaud what he calls a myth, or a fable disproving
or controverting the truth. To his novels
(Un Enfant de Choeur
and
Peau de Couleuure)
and to his explosive critical writings in
Les Temps
M odernes
J
Etiemble has added a long work of meticulous scholarship.
The theses have been read only by the jurymen and they indicated often
during the examination that Etiemble has not altered, for the writing
of his
My
the de Rimbaud
J
his polemical style. Levaillant pleaded with
Etiemble to soften some of his attacks. When Dedeyan stated that
Etiemble risked being excommunicated from all churches, the candidate
replied under his breath that such was his hope.
Etiemble explained that at the beginning, the object of his research
was purely bibliographical. But as time went on, he became aware of a
forceful "influence" on literature, of scandalous interpretations of Rim–
baud which constitute the "myth."
