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PARTISAN REVIEW
sented in a most detailed way as they arise in the minds of extremely
sophisticated intellectuals. All of the characters are highly conscious,
understand that there are Others, and that one's nature defines itself
in terms of the way one meets the claims of these Others. When we read
of the effort of Henri Perron (possibly Camus) to break with his wife
Paula, of how he agrees to sleep with Nadine, the daughter of his
friend Dubreuilh (possibly Sartre), and of how he yields to her appeal
to him to take her to Portugal, we are witnessing the moral ineffectual–
ness of the kind of person whose whole importance lies in his lucidity
and spiritual resolution. Here is Anne Dubreuilh responding to the
proposal of Scriassine (another possibly identifiable character) that she
go to bed with him:
"In any case I bet there haven't been many men in your life."
"That's right," I said.
"Why?"
"They are not easy to find."
"If
you didn't find them that's because you didn't look too
hard.. .."
"But to everybody I am the wife of Dubreuilh, or Anne Dubreuilh:
which simply inspires respect."
He laughed: "I am not so inclined to respect you."
There was a moment of silence and I said: "Why should a liberated
woman sleep with everyone?"
He looked at me severely:
"If
a man for whom you had some
sympathy came right out with it and asked you to spend the night with
him, would you do it?"
"That would depend."
"On what?"
"On the circumstances."
"Suppose I made you that proposal now? ... I am making such
a proposal to you now; yes or no?"
"You are going too fast," I said....
Finally Anne accepts, and even better than the above dialogue is
that which ensues in bed. In such episodes lie the real wit and quality
of Simone de Beauvoir's novel: I like her ability to catch the way in–
tellectuals actually talk to each other at intimate moments, and her
sense of all that is involved spiritually in their ability to become intimate
quickly. These are the people whose attitudes will be socially decisive:
and look at them in the settling of their personal affairs. I find all this
aspect of
The Mandarins
new and interesting.
There are personal problems, but there is also politics. For under
the category of the Others must be included not only one's wife or
husband, one's mistress or lover, but the rest of humanity as well,
i.e.,
