|
''La Légende des siècles'' (''The Legend of the Ages'') is a collection of poems by Victor Hugo, conceived as an immense depiction of the history and evolution of humanity. Written intermittently between 1855 and 1876 while Hugo worked in exile on numerous other projects, the poems were published in three series in 1859, 1877, and 1883. Bearing witness to the unparalleled poetic talent evident in all Hugo's art, the ''Légende des Siècles'' is often considered the only true French epic and, according to Baudelaire's formulation, the only modern epic possible. The dreaming poet contemplates the "wall of the centuries," indistinct and terrible, on which scenes of the past, present and future are drawn, and along which the whole long procession of humanity can be seen. The poems are depictions of these scenes, fleetingly perceived and interspersed with terrifying visions. Hugo sought neither historical accuracy nor exhaustiveness; rather, he concentrated on obscure figures, usually his own inventions, who incarnated and symbolized their eras. As he proclaims in the preface to the first series, "this is history, eavesdropped upon at the door of legend." The poems, by turns lyrical, epic and satirical, form a view of the human experience, seeking less to summarize than to illustrate the history of humanity, and to bear witness to its long journey from the darkness into the light. == Origin == ''La Légende des Siècles'' was not originally conceived as the vast work it was to become. Its beginning, the original seed, was in a vague project entitled ''Petites Epopées'' ("Little Epics"), which features in the notes and jottings of Hugo from 1848, and which gives no indication of so vast an ambition. After ''Les Châtiments'' and ''Les Contemplations'', his editor, Hetzel, was perturbed by the submission of ''La Fin de Satan'' and ''Dieu'', both of which were nearly complete. Seeing that Hugo was ready to proceed yet further down the metaphysical (or even eschatological) road mapped out by the final ''Contemplations'', Hetzel became anxious at the probability of their failure with the public, and preferred the sound of the ''Petites Epopées'' which Hugo had mentioned, feeling they would be more in harmony with the spirit of the times. Even though these "epics" were still no more than sketches, in March 1857 Hetzel wrote to Hugo, rejecting ''Fin de Satan'' and ''Dieu'', but accepting with enthusiasm the ''Petites Epopées''. This new commission was nevertheless transformed by the influence of Hugo's latest ideas and most recent works, created with the same dash and fire and in a sort of magma of inspiration: a mixture of poesy, mysticism and philosophy which is characteristic of Hugo's first decade of exile. This inspiration normally led him to write a large number of poems, more or less brief, which would finally be published as components in projects which were constantly shifting and evolving. In this case Hugo integrated the little epics into his poetical system by casting them as the "human" panel in a triptych of which "God" and "Satan" were the wings, with the implication that they were merely sparse fragments stolen from a greater epic: the whole of human experience itself. On 11 September 1857 Hugo signed a contract with Hetzel, reserving the right to alter the project's title. Later, Hetzel pronounced himself willing to publish ''La Fin de Satan'' and ''Dieu''; but Hugo, perhaps conscious of the difficulties of completing either to his satisfaction, had by that time thrown himself entirely into the new project. He began by taking the French Revolution as the turning point in human history, intending to use a poem entitled ''La Révolution'' as a pivot around which ''La Pitié Suprême'' or ''Le Verso de la page'' would revolve. More titles were written down, but some were discarded or greatly altered, and the section dealing with the 19th century coalesced as ''L'Océan — La Révolution — le Verso de la page — la Pitié Suprême — Les Pauvres Gens — L'épopée de l'Âne''. Hetzel followed this evolution with alarm, and, fearing that the great philosophical questions would turn these little epics into towering giants, endeavoured to temper Hugo's ardour. After a serious illness in the summer of 1858, Hugo tried to reassure Hetzel by writing in a more straightforwardly narrative vein (e.g. ''Le Petit Roi de Galice'' and ''Zim-Zizimi''), and modified his plans—but retained the general ambition, which he declared in a preface. He had hit on the idea of publishing in several instalments, to give himself more time and space within which to work. The title was not decided on until a month after the manuscript's submission. With his gift for phrases, Hugo came up with ''La Légende des Siècles''. ''Petites Épopées'' was kept as a subtitle. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「La Légende des siècles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|