French Literature Reviews - 2026

V. Kocay, La Pensée de Schopenhauer dans l'oeuvre de Paul Valéry
Comparative and World Literature

Vincent Kocay, La Pensée de Schopenhauer dans l'oeuvre de Paul Valéry

Paris: L'Harmattan, coll. "Approches littéraires", 2018.

270 p.

EAN 9782343145112

27.00 EUR

Publisher's overview:

Paul Valéry had a keen interest in mathematics, science, and philosophy. While he occasionally references Schopenhauer, he tends to downplay the philosopher's significance for his own thought. Yet, both explore representation, the will, human freedom, genius, and the theory of beauty. In composing "La Jeune Parque" and "Le Cimetière marin", Valéry also drew upon Schopenhauer's work.

Vincent Kocay is a professor of French at St. Francis Xavier University in Canada. For many years, his research has focused on twentieth-century French poetry.

The intellectual relationship between French poetry and German philosophy has long offered fertile ground for comparative literary study, particularly regarding how nineteenth-century metaphysical systems shaped twentieth-century aesthetic production. Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy of the will and representation exerted a considerable pull on numerous European writers and artists who sought new frameworks for understanding human consciousness and artistic creation. Vincent Kocay examines the intersections between Schopenhauer's thought and the poetic output of Paul Valéry. As the page indicates, Valéry frequently downplayed the German philosopher's direct significance despite harboring a sustained interest in philosophy, science, and mathematics, while both explore representation, the will, human freedom, genius, and the theory of beauty, and Valéry drew upon Schopenhauer's work in composing La Jeune Parque and Le Cimetière marin. Readers interested in the intersections of modern French poetry and nineteenth-century German metaphysics may find this volume relevant.