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have this opportunity to express my warmest congratulations to
you ," he writes to Nizan on August 28, 1924. "The results of the con–
cours have pleased me enormously . . . . At the Ecole, you will
belong to a group of new philosophers whom I will delight in follow–
ing through all the success that awaits yoU . "4 As for success, he was
absolutely certain his wishes would come true. What he could not
know was that our two brilliant
khagneux
would share their future
laurels with several other philosophers in the same class, Raymond
Aron and Daniel Lagache , both students at the Lycee Condorcet.
Their first contact with the Ecole Normale Superieure was
something of a shock: "The conditions of life at the Ecole violate the
most elementary hygienic norms. The dormitory is practically never
aired or swept. Dust grows under the beds, impregnates our clothes ,
saturates the air we breathe . Our morning ablutions take place in
the most primitive conditions: Lucky are those who manage to keep
a small wash bowl on their windowsill! Otherwise, one has to
manage with a tiny faucet dripping into a filthy sink in the same
closet where we brush our shoes and keep our brooms and garbage
cans. The food is acceptable, but the service isn't : the plates and
forks are poorly washed and caked with dark sediment - a marvelous
vehicle for germs." 5 In 1924, this exclusive nursery, the object of
years of work, is even dirtier and more dilapidated than Louis-Ie–
Grand . The students hurriedly spoon their breakfast out of soup
bowls, and drinks are available during meals only to those who have
brought their own tumblers. Behind the iron gate at 45, Rue d'Ulm,
there is a tall square building with endless hallways , ninety-degree
angles that muffle all echoes, and a glassed-in inner court that fills
up with roses every spring and in whose celebrated pool ancient
goldfish dart beneath a jet of water. Within this enclosed bowl ,
young Normaliens, these disembodied minds , pure spirits, journey
through the lengthy corridors every time they leave their living
spaces for class . In 1924, the Ecole Normale Superieure is one of the
most prestigious institutions in the country, flag-bearer of a typically
French tradition probably unique in all the world : that of the Great
Schools. Due to the puritanical snobbism of intellectuals or perhaps
the budgetary restrictions of the postwar period, all complaints of
4. Henriette Nizan's archives .
5. French National Archives .
