Saito Junichi

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Saito, Junichi

KANAGAWA University Repository

Reconsideration of the argument of  culture between Eliot and SteinerJunichi Saito  Whose argument concerning European culture has been more fascinating from a global point of view, Eliot's or Steiner's ? It is regrettable to say that Eliot's Notes on the Definition of Culture does not seem to be interesting to the students of English literature these days. One might argue that the atmosphere of the global community has been chaotic since the September 11th attacks. It might be true to say that men of this century are searching for solutions to chaotic situations in Eliot's Notes. Eliot's sincere efforts to unify the European culture seem to make much sense even today from the viewpoint of lettered men. Few people refer to Eliot's views of culture, although Eliot's Notes was once a criterion when discussing culture in general.   The odds seem to be in favor of George Steiner's strong argument in The  Bluebeard's Castle. Steiner discusses the title's true definition in the book, Barbarie de l'ignorance. . . . le mythe fondamentale de ce livre de cette etude, c'est la      question suivante: on peut ouvrir une porte apres l'autre dans les     sciences, dans les sciences humaines, pour essayer d'avancer. Y a-     t-il une porte qu'il ne faut pas ouvrir? Est-ce qu'il y a au libido sdiendi (autrement dit: cette soif de la connaissance humaine) a            Reconsideration of the argument of culture between Eliot and Steiner 149     cette chasse vers la  nouveaute intellectuelle, spirituelle, des      limites on le danger serait trop grand? C'est le mythe de Barbe-     Bleue. Ses femmes ouvrent les portes l'une apres l'autre, meme      la derniere qu'il leur avait dit de ne pas ouvrir (les femmesont      une curiosite merveilleuse!). Elles l'ouvrent et c'est la mort.      Chaque fois c'est une nouvelle femme qui disparait dans les bas-     fonds du château. Je voulais faire appel a ce tres beau mythe (qui, si vous le voulez, est lui-meme une reflexion sur le jardin d'      Eden, du fruit defendu), c'est une version de l'archetype d'une     chose defendue: la ou it ne faut pas aller. 11 y a des millier de      contes d'enfants, de legends qui braquent sur ce probleme. Depuis     que j'ai ecrit ce livre, cette porte est encore plus proche, plus      fascinante et plus menacante . . . 1 Steiner talks about the myth of the Bluebeard's Castle, with which his contemporaries are fascinated. The maids in the castle open the gates one by one, but are told not to open the last gate; opening the last gates means death. Steiner only suggests that humans should not go beyond the last gate, because it would lead to their ultimate destruction. Steiner's interlocutor, Antoine Spire sums the matter up succinctly:      ca signifie qu'au fond if y a un mystere a preserver. Pour      toujours, a votre avis. Mystere de la vie, de la mort. Nous      sommes donc un monde d'une extreme confusion. Parce que nous      sommes ceux qui viennent "apres": nous savons desormais que      lire Goethe, ou Rilke, jouir d'un passage de Bach, de Schubert,      c'est possible en meme temps que l'on fait passer les hommes de      la vie au trepas. Que cette transgression du principe de vie par     le passage par la mort est quelque chose de dramatique et vous      laisse penser, qu'un Jour cette septieme porte sera peut-etre      ouverte, que l'homme se croira tellement fort qu'il pourrait      remplacer Dieu? 2 Spire keeps in mind the following- passage of Steiner in Language and Silence in which he denounces the madness that has lain hidden in European culture. 150 Miiig*IitiA No.29 2005We come after. We know now that a man can read Goethe or Rilke in the evening, that he can play Bach and Schubert, and go to his day's work at Auschwitz in the morning. To say that he has read them without understanding or that his ear is gross, is cant. In what way does this knowledge bear on literature and society, on the hope, grown almost axiomatic from the time of Plato to that of Matthew Arnold, that culture is a humanizing force, that the energies of spirit are transferable to those of  conduct? 3 More than thirty years have passed since Steiner's Language and Silence was published. However, Steiner's harsh opinions toward the barbarism in European culture has never weakened. In other words, time has never healed his wounds. Steiner responds to Spire in the dialog with a harsh tone:. . Et lorsque surgit l'horreur ultime: les camps de la mort, les goulags, les grands massacres, deux guerres mondiales entre aout 1914 et avril 1945: soixante-dix millions d'hommes, de femmes et d'enfants perissent en Europe. Soit dans les batailles, soit de faim, de deportation de tortures, dans les camps de la mort et les fours a gaz ! Inconcevable chiffre: un demi-million devant Verdun. Et ceci, au milieu de la plus haute culture! . . . Alors la premiere question, celle avec laquelle je lutte dans tous mes livres et dans tout mon enseignement, est tres simple, c'est: pourquoi les humanites au sens le plus large du mot, pourquoi la raison dans les sciences ne nous ont-elles donne aucune protection devant l'inhumain? Pourquoi effectivement { vous venez de le dire) est-ce qu'on peut jouer du Schubert le soir et aller faire son devoir au camp de concentration le matin ? Ni la grande lecture, ni la musique, ni l'art n'ont pu empecher la barbarie totale. Et-il faut aller un pas plus loin: ils ont souvent ete l'ornement de cette barbarie. 4Steiner always revives memories of the summoned to appear as a witness at court. how Eliot might have responded to Steiner's Eliot's Notes might remember the followingHolocaust as if he were The intellects may wonder argument. The readers of passage:Reconsideration of the argument of culture between Eliot and Steiner 151   all we can do is to try to keep in mind that whatever we do will affect our own culture or that of some other people. We can also learn to respect every other culture as a whole, however inferior to our own it may appear, or however, justly we may disapprove of some features of it: the deliberate destruction of another culture as a whole is an irreparable wrong, almost as evil as to treat human beings like animals. 5One might say that there is no denying the fact that Eliot discusses the issue of barbarism in European culture as no concerns of his; is this the best Eliot can do from the viewpoint of the High Church? It is an undeniable fact that Eliot's ambiguous stance about culture made Steiner articulate his pent-up feeling. Steiner argues:The failure of Eliot's Notes towards a Definition of Culture to face the issue, indeed to allude to it in anything but an oddly condescending footnote, is acutely disturbing. How, only three years after the event, after the publication to the world of facts and pictures that have, surely, altered our sense of the limits of human behavior, was it possible to detail and plead for a Christian order when the Holocaust had put in question the very nature of Christianity and of its role in European history? 6Steiner denounces Eliot's Notes, because Eliot does not seriously discuss the insanity of European culture. Steiner's testimony from the viewpoint of a Holocaust survivor sounds very convincing.Monsieur Gieseking a  joue du Debussy— it parait incomparable — on entendait les cris de ceux qui passaient dans les gares de Munich pour aller a Dachau. Au milieu du camp de Buchenwald et la, la fameuse Buche: l'arbre aime de Goethe. C'est d'un symbolisme exemples se multiplient et se multiplient . . . 7No one can respond to Steiner'sto argue comes to a sudden stoptestimonial argument: the momentum after facing Steiner's lively words. In152 Eln No.29 2005other words, our sense of critical thinking becomes numbed facing Steiner's harsh remark. However, lettered men must seriously consider the focal point proposed by Steiner in referring to Heidegger's manner of expression. The following passage illustrates how outstanding Heidegger's presence has been in French philosophy:La philosophie francaise vit de cet homme (celle d'un Foucault, par exemple). C'est une question  tres interessante que vous soulevez. Je veux essayer de vous repondre tres precisement. J'ai un talisman dans ma vie, c'est la poesie de Paul Celan, ce talisman, pour moi, c'est la possibilite de la survie de la poesie apres Auschwitz,etc. Celan — nous avons un exemplaire a Marburg, dans les archives (mainten.nt accessibles) met des notes en marge a chaque paragraphe de "Etre et Temps" (qui etait le plus grand livre). Il n'y aurait pas ,Celan sans le langage de Heidegger... . . Le livredeDerrida n'est qu'une notliminaire a Heidegger, comme "L'Etre et le Nvant" de Sartre est une note liminaire a Heidegger. Ou en serait la culture philosophique francaise sans ce geant? . . . le danger terrible etait la: it n'y a aucune apologie du possible pour son silence, ce silence devant Celan meme qui vient lui poser la question [d'Auschwitz]. Ma's tout cela se passe a un niveau d'intensite de pensee, ... de croyance a l'acte de la pensee sans quoi je ne concois pas un progres dans la philosophie. 8Steiner's argument often focuses on the great writers' silence respecting the Holocaust. If we humans stop thinking critically of the unforgettable past, we fall into the abyss of chaos. Steiner's assertion sounds very persuasive in such an unstable society following the September 11th attacks. Is it true that it is impossible to respond to Steiner's harsh argument in such a chaotic society? Does not Eliot's Notes encourage the restoration of the lost backbone of European culture? One might say that Eliot's Notes still has some meaning for men of today who desire to integrate the diverse human culture of this 21st century. Eliot statesReconsideration of the argument of culture between Eliot and Steiner 153his views concerning the European culture:It is only when we imagine our culture as it ought to be, if our society were a really Christian society, that we can dare to speak of Christian culture as the highest culture; it is only by referring to all the phrases of this culture, which has been the culture of Europe, that we can affirm that it is the highest culture that the world has ever known. In comparing non-Christian peoples, we must be prepared to find that ours is in one respect or another inferior. 9Eliot does not directly refer to the Holocaust, however, he reiterates that laymen as well as men of letters must put forth great efforts to make the Christian culture meaningful. It is humanity's obligation to scrutinize  . the European culture as well as the Christian culture, and examine how each one influences every aspect of their lives.  Eliot eventually goes into a detailed criticism of the prevalent European culture, although his Notes has suffered harsh criticism from Steiner's. One might say that both Eliot and Steiner have put forth great efforts in coming to grips with the European culture by fomenting a common ground of critical thinking. Men of today can lead a more meaningful way of life, if they enlighten the mind to critical thinking meditating on how vents of the past relate to this 21st century.Notes 1 . George Steiner Antoine Spire,    Le Bord de L'Eau, 1998),p.36. 2. Ibid., p.37.Barbarie de F gnorance (Latresne:154 EiRataitiA No.29 20053 4 5 6 7 8 9George Steiner, Language and  Silence (New York:Atheneum,1967), pp. ix-x. Steiner Spire, op. cit., pp. 37-38. Steiner, op. cit., p.65. George Steiner, In Bluebeard's Castle (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971), pp.33-34. Steiner Spire, op. cit., 38. Ibid., pp56-57. T. S. Eliot, Christianity and Culture (London: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1977), p.106.Reconsideration of the argument of culture between Eliot and Steiner 155

Reconsideration of the argument of culture between Eliot and Steiner

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Reconsideration of the argument of culture between Eliot and Steiner

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