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PARTISAN REVIEW
The obligation to persevere as oneself is as important as the obligation
to openness. One is thus most susceptible to a cosmopolitanism that is
embedded in one particular land and one particular language to serve as
spring-boards towards others. Without a mother-tongue, a familiar land–
scape, or a tradition that "intertwines all that is transient" (Hegel) and that
ties one to others, one can easily embrace any religion or custom in order
to free oneself from all others, simply because no single one is essential
(reducing oneself to a chameleon). A critical attachment to one's own na–
tion must be celebrated, but it must not lack either an ability to examine
or to love. One without the other would relegate us to exclusive prefer–
ence or to useless blame. "If a Christian told me he wanted to convert to
Hinduism because of his enthusiasm for the
Bhagavad Gila,
I would re–
spond, 'The Bible has as much to offer as the Gita. But you have not
really tried to discover it. Make this effort and be fully Christian.' "
(Gandhi) Fitting oneself in the mould of another world, seeing oneself
with the eyes of others, can also prove a detour in the return to the self
How many men, like Massignon, have been reconverted to Europe and
the Christian faith after passing through Islamic lands? How many inter–
mediaries between East and West have paid with a lifetime of work for
immersing themselves into a foreign culture to the point of becoming
sons of a double culture with all the accompanying risks and marvels? Ig–
norance of one's own history is the best way to remain ignorant of other
histories. (In our time of amnesia and illiteracy, possessing even one cul–
tural tradition seems an immense achievement to the majority.) How
could a Frenchman, a German, an Englishman even begin to understand
the currents within Islam or the metaphysical constructs of Asia if they are
not familiar with their own religious heritage, whether or not they be–
lieve?
There is no need to be ashamed of one's rootedness, which is a means
ofliberation as well as a singularity, and a return to one's roots need not
imply timidity, but could instead arise from reflection or a search for
greater depth. Every border is not obsolete if it ensures the preservation
of a people's integrity and cultural or linguistic treasures. Contrary to the
widespread cliche, it was not a religious veneration of borders, but their
very mutability that was the true tragedy for many populations, especially
those of Eastern Europe, overrun and redrawn with each war and inva–
sion. The great appeal of borders, once they are recognized and
maintained, is that they can be crossed. Playing on their margins is more
exciting than doing away with them altogether. Only conquerors dream
of erasing borders, especially those of other countries! Against every
Nabokov who chooses to write in English and in Russian, why not op–
pose a Roland Barthes who refused to learn any foreign language for fear
