Medios de comunicación

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argument aux pei'sécuteurs de ma race ..." (Entretiens, p. 282), Bergson in fact called for a priest to adniinster the rite of extreme unction on his deathbed, but he died before his arrival, on January 1941» aged 81^. Paul Valery delivered the news of Bergson’s death to the Académie Française (9.1.4i)j while J. Chevalier persuaded the Head of State, Maréchal Pétain, to send a telegram of sympathy to Bergson’s widow.

Bergson was buried in the village of Garohes, but a plaque in the Pantheon commemorates his death with the words: "A Henri Bergson, philosophe dont 1 ’oeuvre et la vie ont honoré la France et la pensée humaine".

What Professer Henri Gouhier wrote in his introduction to Bergson's

Oeuvres (P.U.F., 1959? P* vii) is substantially true - namely, that Bergson’s | philosophy "tient tout entière en quatre ouvrages: Essai sur les données

immédiates de la conscience. Matière et Mémoire. l'Evolution Créatrice et

Les deux sources de ïa morale et de la religion". However, Bergson did I write two _{other full-length works, a large number of articles and maintained}

a copious correspondence. All of these help to clarify some of the nis-

2

understandings that have constantly prejudiced Bergson's reputation , It is interesting uo note that, while only eighteen years ape.nned the publication of Bergson's first three works, the public had to wait 1, This was a Père Lslievre. Bergson was not baptized, either, as

evidenced by the letter from his widow to Emmannuel Mounier of 9.9*1941 (published in the Gazette de Lausanne of that date). 2. There is a detailed bibliography of Bergson’s works at the end.

The complete published works can now be read in OeuvresMelanges

(both edited by 4, Robinet and K. Gouhier) and in Henri Bergson: 4

Ecrits et Paroles (P.U.F,, 1957-1958? 5 vols.) edited by A. Béguin and A. Thevenaz. There is further unpublished material in the Bibliothèque Jacques Boucet and Bibliothèque Victor Cousin in Paris. The former houses books from Bergson's o%^JLibrar;-, bequeathed by his daughter, as well as a growing "fonds Bergson": the latter is directed by LI, Jean Mabest and houses "un fends d'archives bergsoniennes", including D. Roustan’s lecture notes from Bergson's courses on Plotinus (1897-1898, I9OI-I902).

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25 years after E,C. for Bergson’s definitive views on ethical and y;

religious questions. ^

The Americans showed more interest than the Bribish in Bergson’s f philosophy, perhaps because at first it was (wrongly) associated with |

1 5

William James's pragmatism. The two men were also good friends".

Host translations of Bergson's works into English appeared simultaneously -i

in England and the States,but l'Evolution Créatrice first emerged in New ; York (1911)* Every work Y/as translated by a different person or team.

Sometimes a considerable period elapsed between the first French publi- ) cation and the appearance of a translation: for example, the Essai was 1 not in English until I9IO - 21 years after its original publication. 4 On the other hand, betv/een I9IO and 1911, in the space of one year, 4

2 4

three of Bergson's works became obtainable in English , This reflects

I

\ V

the time of Bergson's maximum popularity in France but only the beginnings i

of his influence in England, 1

In the "legs Jeanne Bergson" of the Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet it q is possible to scrutinize the books which comprised Bergson's own. library. .4 It gives the impression of diversity but within a relatively limited field. It shows Bergson's obvious penchant for abstract thought - whether in the i field of politics, aesthetics, religion or philosophy itself, he is interested | in the principles of the matter and the theory behind the subject. He

wants to research into the ultimate problems - the nature of time and 1. In 1911 Bergson wrote a preface called "Vérité et Réalité" to

James’s book Pragmatism (19II). This appears in P.II., pp. I44O- 1450. He also wrote a preface to V/. James; Extraits de sa cor­ respondance (Trans. F. Delattre and H. Le Breton, 192477" Bergson and James wrote to each other from 1902 untiI Jamenia death in Augus' 1910, They met each other in May I905 and again in October 1903. Bergson wrote to Th. Ribot (IO.7.O5) that James v/as "un philosophe üonG je ne dirai jamais assez combien je l'aime et je l'admire"

(Mélanges, p. 657).

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%

' 4

i eternity, the existence of God and the meaning of hzunan life. But

lb is true to say that a fascination with man and his activities pre­ dominates: man as a biological entity^, man as a creative artist and inventor , man as a political animal, man as a thinker and man as a

spiritual entity. Books on the last subject range from Je lis dans les destinées, la clairvoyance et ses médiums by P. Pcrthuny to l’Inspiration de la Bible by G. Pouget,. Bergson himself states his chief preoccupations^ in the following terms: "D'où venons-nous? Qpe sommes-nous? Où allons- nous? Voilà des questions vitales ..." (Energie Spirituelle, p. 8I5).

His philosophy is not a purely academic exercise. As Jacques Chevalier • j says of Bergson: "la philosophie ne vaut que dans la mesure où elle

réfléchit notre destinée d’homme et nous aide à la réaliser. Tout le • reste est stérile et vain, à quoi peuvent s’amuser un moment les intel­

ligences, mais qui ne saurait les faire vivre ni les faire subsister" (Bergson, Lib. Pion, 1926, p. 242).

Bergson had correspondence with a number of Catholic writers. He

wrote more than once to one of his main opponents, Joseph de Tonquedec, ; : whose article, "M. Bergson, est-il moniste?" (Eijudss, Feb. 1912,

pp. 506-516), provoked a famous reply about Bergson's views on the nature of God (20.2.1912). Bergson received more support and aympathy from A.G. Sertillanges, O.P.^, to whom he wrote an appreciative letter about the article 1. A favourite author is L, Levy-Bruhl, the biologist.

2. Note .the references to, e.g., Molière in Le Hire and. to Corot and