Maryse Choisy
Encyclopedia
Maryse Choisy was a French
philosophical writer.
Choisy followed an atypical path in life. Fascinated by psychoanalysis
, she had the idea of introducing its concepts into her novels to better develop their characters; she then undertook to see what else could be brought to literature from other disciplines. She founded a movement which she named Suridealism to indicate the conceptual foundation on which it rested.
before writing Un mois chez les filles (A Month With the Girls) and, later, to disguise herself as a young monk
for a month for Un mois chez les hommes (A Month With the Men.) She wrote, incidentally, that she had to elude the advances of a monk from Mount Athos
.
Unexpectedly, Choisy underwent a religious conversion. She then tried to withdraw her work from publication and buy up any copies in circulation. Her reasoning was that her writing did not satisfy the criterion of three restraints, associated with Socrates
: truth, usefulness, and kindness. She instead devoted herself to psychoanalysis, which she considered to be capable of a lasting contribution to the happiness of mankind. This was when she founded the "Psyché" movement, in which a young man named Jacques Lacan
would begin his career. After her conversion, she still felt the urge to write. She produced the history of her conversion, On the way to God You Meet the Devil First, and the very moving Tales For My Little Girl (and For the Others). In the latter, the topic of death takes on a particular importance, even though a discreet humor remains present. In a final nod to her suridealistic youth, the hero of one of the stories is a nitrogen
atom
. He wonders about his own existence, experiences unhappy relationships, and ends up in a bombing.
However, the following works are known:
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
philosophical writer.
Choisy followed an atypical path in life. Fascinated by psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, she had the idea of introducing its concepts into her novels to better develop their characters; she then undertook to see what else could be brought to literature from other disciplines. She founded a movement which she named Suridealism to indicate the conceptual foundation on which it rested.
Life
She did not hesitate to go straight to the source to find out what she wanted to know, going so far as to spend one month in a house of prostitutionProstitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
before writing Un mois chez les filles (A Month With the Girls) and, later, to disguise herself as a young monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
for a month for Un mois chez les hommes (A Month With the Men.) She wrote, incidentally, that she had to elude the advances of a monk from Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
.
Unexpectedly, Choisy underwent a religious conversion. She then tried to withdraw her work from publication and buy up any copies in circulation. Her reasoning was that her writing did not satisfy the criterion of three restraints, associated with Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
: truth, usefulness, and kindness. She instead devoted herself to psychoanalysis, which she considered to be capable of a lasting contribution to the happiness of mankind. This was when she founded the "Psyché" movement, in which a young man named Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
would begin his career. After her conversion, she still felt the urge to write. She produced the history of her conversion, On the way to God You Meet the Devil First, and the very moving Tales For My Little Girl (and For the Others). In the latter, the topic of death takes on a particular importance, even though a discreet humor remains present. In a final nod to her suridealistic youth, the hero of one of the stories is a nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
. He wonders about his own existence, experiences unhappy relationships, and ends up in a bombing.
Quotes
- « Mon héroïne s’appelle Cécile, comme tout le monde. Je ne vous dirai pas son autre nom. Cécile existe. Vous la connaissez. Il serait incorrect de la mettre à poil. D’ailleurs, quand une femme se marie, elle change de nom. Donc, le seul qui compte est son prénom ».
- My heroine is called Cecile, like everybody else. I won't tell you her other name. Cecile exists. You know her. It would be rude to strip her naked. Besides, when a woman gets married, she changes her surname. So the only thing that counts is her first name.
- « Si Cécile ne se fut jamais égarée dans les sentiers de Lesbos, son âme n’eût point été arc-en-ciel. Son âme est un arc-en-ciel ».
- If Cecile had never wandered down the paths of Lesbos, her soul would not have been a rainbow at all. Her soul is a rainbow.
- « Elle aima les femmes pour l’amour de l’homme. Toutes celles qui plurent à Jean, toutes celles qui convoitèrent Jean eurent Cécile ».
- She loved women for the love of man. All the women that John liked, all the women who coveted John, had Cecile.
- « Ami lecteur, comme vous êtes très intelligent, - puisque vous me lisez -».
- Reader, my friend, as you are an intelligent person - since you are reading me - ...
- « Maintenant, je veux être moi. Delteil est un bouffeur de « moi » Adieu, Delteil ! ».
- Now, I want to be me. Delteil is a "me"-eater. Farewell, Delteil !
Partial bibliography
It is difficult to establish a bibliography of Maryse Choisy because of:- Her frequent changes of publisher
- Her campaign to eradicate her own books
- Her prolific output (up to four works per year)
However, the following works are known:
- Presque… [Almost...], quasi-novel. Éditeurs associés, 1923.
- La Chirologie [Palm Reading]. Alcan, 1927.
- Mon cœur dans une formule [My Heart in a Formula].
- Cahiers suridéalistes [Suridealist Notebooks].
- Un mois chez les filles [A Month With the Girls]. Montaigne, 1928.
- Un mois chez les Hommes [A Month With the Guys]. Éditions de France, 1929.
- Delteil tout nu [Delteil Naked]. Montaigne, 1930.
- Le Vache à l’âme [The Soul Cow]. Éditions du Tambourinaire, 1930.
- La guerre des sexes [The War of the Sexes] (? - reissued in 1970).
- L'Amour dans les prisons [Love in the Prisons]. Montaigne, 1930.
- Problèmes sexuels de l'adolescence [Sexual Problems of Adolescence]. Montaigne, 1954.
- Le thé des Romanech [The Tea of the Romanech]. 1943.
- Quand les bêtes sont amoureuses [When Beasts are in Love]. Édition des portiques, 1931.
- Sur le chemin de Dieu on rencontre d’abord le diable [On the Way to God You Meet the Devil First]. Memoirs, 1925-1939. Émile Paul, 1977.
- Contes pour ma fille... et pour les autres [Tales for My Little Girl...And for the Others] (article in French).
- Yoga et psychanalyse [Yoga and Psychoanalysis]. Mont Blanc, 1948.
- Qu’est-ce que la psychanalyse ? [What is Psychoanalysis ?]. L’Arche, 1950.
- Sigmund Freud: A New Appraisal. The Citadel Press, 1963.
External links
- Symboles et Mythes, texte de Maryse Choisy (1947).
- a few articles in french