Journal d'un intellectuel en chômage

by Denis de Rougemont

De 1930 à 1933, à peine arrivé à Paris, Denis de Rougemont assure la direction littéraire des éditions Je sers (qui publiaient entre autres Søren Kierkegaard et Nicolas Berdiaeff). La faillite de ces éditions fin 1933 le contraint à deux ans de chômage, de 27 à 29 ans, qu'il passera en grande partie à l'île de Ré. Il y rédige un journal non-intime où il réfléchit en profondeur sur la société et sur lui-même. Si il appartenait à la mouvance des non-conformistes des années 30 qui souhaitait une révolution différente de celle soviétique, il n'y a rien de proprement politique dans ce journal. Il y questionne le rôle de l'intellectuel et ses connaissances concrètes. Il apporte des réponses neuves à ce qu'est « le peuple », ce qu'est le chômage et comment vivre dans la précarité. Ses questionnements portent aussi sur l'anti-intellectualisme, l'apathie face à la culture, la vie des ouvriers, des paysans et des commerçants. Plus personnellement il s'attarde sur le paradoxe de sa situation : il est au chômage mais il travaille et il écrit sur des gens qui risquent de ne pas pouvoir ou vouloir le lire.

219 pages, Hardcover

First published July 20, 1937

About the author

Denys Louis de Rougemont (September 8, 1906 – December 6, 1985), known as Denis de Rougemont (French: [dəni də ʁuʒmɔ̃]), was a Swiss writer and cultural theorist who wrote in French. One of the non-conformists of the 1930s, he addressed the perils of totalitarianism from a Christian point of view. After the Second World War, he promoted European federalism.

He studied at the University of Neuchâtel and in Vienna, and then moved to Paris in 1930. There he wrote for and edited various publications, associating with the personalist groupings and the non-conformists of the 1930s: with Emmanuel Mounier and Arnaud Dandieu, he founded the magazines Esprit and L'Ordre Nouveau, and he also founded a magazine on existential theology, Hic et Nunc.

In June 1940, fearing that defeatism and the pressure of Nazi propaganda (and armies) would lead the federal government to submit to the Germans and give up the traditional democratic values of Switzerland, he led with Zurich University Professor Theophil Spoerri a group of young people which created a civil society organisation called the Gotthard League in order to defend both Christian values and the independence of Switzerland. De Rougemont wrote the movement's manifesto and on 22 July an "Appeal to the Swiss People" which was widely published in the Swiss press to rally support for the movement.

Later in 1940, after having authored a sharp column in a Swiss newspaper which infuriated the German government, he was sent to the United States and administered French broadcasting for the Voice of America. He likewise taught at the École Libre des Hautes Études in New York before returning to Europe in 1946.

He founded in Geneva the "Centre Européen de la Culture" in 1950 and in 1963 the "Institut Universitaire d'Etudes Européennes" (IUEE, "Graduate Institute of European Studies", attached to the University of Geneva). He was president of the Paris-based Congrès pour la Liberté de la Culture. Probably his most influential work is Love in the Western World (1939, 1956, 1972; English translations 1940, 1956, 1982).

The 1989–1990 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour.

Reviews

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ecco forse il grande rovesciamento che segna la soglia della maturità: è il momento in cui si scopre che il mondo non riserva altre risposte se non quelle che si ha il coraggio di fornirgli. Che non bisogna attendersi nulla se non ci￲ che gli si può￲ arrecare. Che infine le sole domande reali sono quelle che l'esistenza ci pone, e in nessun modo quelle che noi ponevamo per evitare di rispondere al presente." (p. 114)

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Tagebuch eines arbeitslosen Intellektuellen