Philosophic Nights in Paris Being selections from Promenades Philosophiques — Background and Themes

A Garden of Suffering: Leopardi Corrected

Gourmont's essay on Leopardi is not a simple summary but a pointed argument. He reproduces Leopardi's claim that every plant in a garden is in a "state of suffering," then accuses the poet of committing "the error of him who wishes to prove too much." Gourmont insists that Leopardi's pessimism "abdicates reason" and becomes "somewhat ridiculous sentimentality." The key move is Gourmont's entomological correction: the mosquitoes Leopardi saw as allies of caterpillars are actually parasitic ichneumons. This detail transforms the garden from a passive hospital into an active battlefield where "every living creature is in turn prey and depredator." Gourmont's critique is not merely literary; it uses scientific observation to challenge a philosophical stance.

From Pliny to Pessimism: A Classical Lineage

Gourmont traces pessimism back to ancient sources, noting that "the Greeks, who knew everything, knew the despair of living." He cites Pliny the Elder's enumeration of human miseries, including the observation that man "cries from the moment of birth and never laughs before his fortieth day." Pliny's conclusion, approving the epigram "It is best not to be born or to die as soon as possible," is presented as a precursor to Leopardi. Yet Gourmont distinguishes between Pliny's "beautiful and philosophic" resignation and Leopardi's more emotional version. This historical framing situates the essays within a tradition of philosophical reflection on suffering, while also asserting Gourmont's own critical distance from modern pessimism.

The Translator's Voice: Isaac Goldberg's Introduction

Isaac Goldberg's introduction, though not by Gourmont, shapes how the essays are presented. Goldberg describes Gourmont as "a daring, independent, unostentatious, extremely personal neo-Epicurean" who "outgrew" the Symbolist movement. He emphasizes Gourmont's "intellectual poise" and his ability to combine "matter and manner." The introduction also notes that Gourmont "was, by heredity and by choice, an aristocratic spirit" who later recognized "the importance of true democracy." This framing may influence readers to see the essays as the work of a detached, evolving thinker. However, the excerpts themselves show a writer deeply engaged in polemic, not aloof from his subjects.

Readers should approach Philosophic Nights in Paris as a series of arguments rather than a unified treatise. Gourmont's method is to engage with other thinkers—Leopardi, Pliny, Jouffroy—by testing their ideas against his own observations of nature and literature. The catalog subjects of "philosophy" and "French essays" are accurate but incomplete; the work also demands attention to its scientific details and its combative tone. Goldberg's translation preserves the essayist's voice, but the introduction's portrait of a serene "neo-Epicurean" may mislead. The essays themselves are sharper and more specific.

Some nights, after reading Gourmont’s quiet meditations on pessimism, I kept thinking how strange it is that we return to certain sorrows—not to fix them, but to feel understood. It reminded me of Lincoln’s own words, which carry that same weary tenderness, spoken when the war was nearly over. I left Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address — Text and Context open on my desk for days, just sitting with its ache.