Illusions

by André Maurois

I hope to be able to show you that my subject, illusions is important and that it embraces all the activities of the human mind, from perception to dreams from sentiments to intelligence from politics to science itself. We shall have to determine the part played by illusions in the life of man, to what extent they are dangerous and whether on the contrary they are not, in certain cases, alutary. In our opening lecture we shall examine the nature of illusions, taking as examples some of the illusions of the senses and of the sentiments; in the second lecture, the illusions of intelligence and at that point we shall seek to define the role that science may play in dissipating in part, these illusions; in our third and final lecture we shall study those voluntary illusions known as the fine arts, for it is obvious that when he sees a play or reads a novel the spectator or the reader seeks an illusion which he recognizes as such, in which he does not believe, but which he often finds of greater value than truth itself.- Author

118 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1968

About the author

André Maurois, born Emile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog, was a French author. André Maurois was a pseudonym that became his legal name in 1947.

During World War I he joined the French army and served as an interpreter and later a liaison officer to the British army. His first novel, Les silences du colonel Bramble, was a witty but socially realistic account of that experience. It was an immediate success in France. It was translated and also became popular in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries as The Silence of Colonel Bramble. Many of his other works have also been translated into English (mainly by Hamish Miles (1894–1937)), as they often dealt with British people or topics, such as his biographies of Disraeli, Byron, and Shelley.

During 1938 Maurois was elected to the prestigious Académie française. Maurois was encouraged and assisted in seeking this post by Marshal Philippe Pétain, and he made a point of acknowleging with thanks his debt to Pétain in his 1941 autobiography, Call no man happy - though by the time of writing, their paths had sharply diverged, Pétain having become Head of State of the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy France.

During World War II he served in the French army and the Free French Forces.

He died during 1967 after a long career as an author of novels, biographies, histories, children's books and science fiction stories. He is buried in the Neuilly-sur-Seine community cemetery near Paris.