208
NATHALIE SARRAUTE
expression approaches the thought, the more the word clings to it and
disappears, the finer it
is.
I believe that the future of art lies in this
direction."
Might not this book about nothirtg be one in which the un–
known substance could appear in a state of purity, without the sup–
port of characters or plot? A new psychological substance that could
virtually do without support?
We know that when Flaubert was considering the material for
M ad(J)me Bovary,
his first intention was to show her leading a life
devoid of action, a prisoner of her lonely, sterile old maid's daydream–
ing. And his idea was to seize this new psychic substance,
this
liber–
ated psychic substance, in motion, (because for Flaubert, there was
no greater crime for the writer than to repeat the discoveries of his
predecessors, no other obligation than to discover something new).
In fact, he wrote: "Nor does it appear impossible to give psychologi–
cal analysis the rapidity, sharpness and fervency of purely dramatic
narration. This has never been attempted and it would
be
splendid."
Books about nothing, almost devoid of subject, rid of characters,
plots and all the old accessories, reduced to pure movement, which
brings them into proximity with abstract
art;
are these not the goals
toward which the modem novel tends? And this being so, can there
be any doubt that Flaubert was its precursor?
(Translated from the French by Maria ]olas)
