378
PARTISAN REVIEW
of truth to his country. He was ironic, he jeered and scoffed. He was
skeptical, he defended reason, and struggled against myths of all kinds.
His independent judgment and critical ability made him an authority of
the intellectual left."
This left-wing syndrome and critical rationalism constituted a new
profession of faith for Kott. Previously, he had been inclined, like
Voltaire, to deride Joan of Arc's heroism, to jeer at her ignorance and
fanaticism, and at the demons and the spirits which haunted this "belli–
cose simpleton." Now, like Shaw, he was inclined to defend her great–
ness in the language of rational analysis and common sense, and to
defend her against the kind of narrow rationalism symbolized by
Flaubert's Monsieur Homais, "an enthusiast of progress and the classic
type of rationalist stupidity. A personal enemy of God, he believed
blindly in the powers of patent medicines, parliamentarianism, and the
press." He exchanged his belief in God for belief in progress.
"Personally, I don't believe in God," wrote Kott, "but I also know
that not believing in God is not enough to understand history." This is
certainly true, but it should be added that Monsieur Homais's tirades
against religion and the Church were harmless stupidities in comparison
with Kott's journalistic attacks on Turowicz, Golubiew, and
Tygodnik
Powszechny.
Our hero-narrator did not like the Church in general, and
peasant Catholicism in particular. For him it was a reservoir of fanati–
cal ignorance. Thus Joan of Arc was "first the tool, and then the victim
of clericalism and superstition...the village idiot who was used by the
court to manipulate ignorant feudal knights." One may refuse to
acknowledge her virtues-her intelligence, bravery, and greatness. But
Kott also sees her-as did Shaw-as a representative of a new popular
patriotism and awakened national consciousness. And heroism. Of all
the "decent and sensible people, Joan was the only one who wasn't an
opportunist," wrote Kott. "Only she has strength of character and
courage, only she perseveres until the very end. Sensitive and human,
she fears death and suffering, but she remains true to herself. She does
not break down during interrogation. She is sent to the stake by the
state and church apparatus."
Kott tries to understand those who condemn Joan of Arc as well.
Calmly and soberly, they condemn her-for
raison d'etat,
historical
necessity, and dogma. Essentially, she is a victim of the system. This pro–
vides the basis for "the lie of
raison d'etat
and the Great Mechanism."
Kott ends by saying, "We are on the side of Joan."
In
other words, on
the side of virtue, simplicity, and heroism. But how was one to be on the
side of heroism when the Soviets were invading Budapest? When some
