'La Voyage'
by Charles Morgan
Common compassion, love, peace and wisdom taken on a voyage of the imagination.
Charles Morgan, author. Born January 22nd 1894 in Bromley, Kent. Died London February 1958.
'La Voyage'
Published by Macmillian & Co. Ltd 1940
It is not the wisdom to be only wise,
And on the inward vision close the eyes.
But it is wisdom to believe the Heart.
George Santayana
'Romanticism is not itself a religion but, like life, one of the ways in which religion may be expressed, an instrument of the spirit. Penetrating to a reality more profound than its critics dream of, it justifies the designation 'romantic-realist', and the romantic-realist seeks harmonizing beauty which is the essence of all things.'
The Novels and Plays of Charles Morgan by Henry Charles Duffin, Pub: Bowes & Bowes 1959
A personal review/opinion of 'La Voyage' by Philip C. Hills.
In the 1990s, while I was ill in bed, I decided to read a novel I had found in a local charity shop. The title 'La Voyage' intrigued me. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful reads I have ever had, prehaps only matched for me at the time by 'Vision Of Glory, the Extraordinary Nature of the Ordinary' by S. Collis (Penguin 1975).
Confined to a bed, a voyage seemed very enticing. Even more so when I understood Charles Morgan was describing a voyage of the imagination, the release of the spirit.
Since childhood I had been in love with the image I had formed of Albert Schweitzer, especially when I read his childhood memoirs which were based on his family upbringing in the countryside of Germany. Whatever the wonderful things Schweitzer has become known for, his music, as a Doctor, his religous work or as an intellectual and philosopher (Reverence for Life), for me, when I was young, it was this big bushy man with a large moustache and a presence that was filled with compassion and humanity. Maybe I had only seen photographs of him but the feeling was there unmistakably.
In reading 'La Voyage' I fell for the central character Barbet in the same way I had fallen for Albert Schweitzer. But more than that, whereas Albert Schweitzer had described his home background with deep affection, Barbet comes across as the soul of a life lived deeply, knowing within his bones the depth of human cruelty and deception, yet speaking kindness and deep humility. In deepest Germany there is still to be found a Catholic past, however, in France the Gallic, true Catholic (Universal) kindness which seems to 'shine' from a sense of place and perspective has always been kept alive.
Even in parts of deepest Cornwall, where I live, this sense of a tangiable richness of spirit between human spirit and place can still be found beyond the boundries of the awful 'philistine' new developments taking place. Its tenderness is almost unfathomable.
Barbet is a Protestant. But as Cyril Ray notes in his book on 'Cognac' the faith of the Protestant Families and Churches of Jarnac (Morgan stayed with the Delamain family) were very similar to the Quakers or Friends. The Quakers were persecuted for their belief in a personal revelation of God and the Holy spirit rather than a faith based purely in a literal interpretation of the Bible. Catholics were persecuted in much the same way for the mystical elements of the Church.
To some extant I will never be able to seperate the two personalities of Albert Schweitzer and Charles Morgan completely even though one is a work of the imagination. But then Barbet is found in all of us. Perhaps I am just a naive romantic yet I needed to know there really is such a thing as a soul. In this novel, I found it.
I am not always comfortable with the insights of Charles Morgan. I feel there are some puritan elements to his descriptions that I found myself at odds with, especially with the knowledge of how the English are confused as to their Saxon and Norman ethnic origins, Catholic and Protestant identity (however, the latest research shows that the English are mostly derived from Celtic genes.) But I feel he is on the right path in this voyage and the contridictions in his own personal vision come out in his reference to a theme - who is really imprisoned: the prisoner or the jailor.
Such a paradoxe is strongly described in Charles Morgan's novel 'The Fountain' which some have described as his best work. Both novels have a sense of redemption but it is the sunny warmth of the human spirit which is so beautiful in the character of Barbet. In a sense the novel 'La Voyage' is not even European in culture but belongs to the warm lands of the imagination rather than any rational thought based on cold, judgemental European constructs of 'social reality.'
In 'La Voyage' the essence of warm understanding and spiritual insight is found in a passage which describes an attempt by prisoners to escape the little garrison on Barbet's farm. Barbet pacifies the prisoners violence with an insight into their imagination. A beautiful moment, this for me is magical pacifism.
What a great idea! Instead of dreary urban prisons which crush the human soul of all hope of any healing or redemption, just for the collective guilt of the self-rightous and judgmental, prisoners are looked after on farms where humanity can be maintained.
The point is, that while we so crushingly judge others with a mean spirited puritanism we are also crushing ourselves. We kill our own spirit as well as the prisoners or judged.
There is not the space here to discuss the nature of innocence, guilt and man made morality, only to say that in this novel the elements of beauty, compassion and song soar to heights of integrity which reach the pinnacle of personal imagination.
The novel is not only pastoral as Barbet is in love with a woman, Therese, who escapes country life for the city to find fame as a singer. But the words and the tunes of the songs she sings are Barbets and the audience respond to there warmth. Both lovers find that their love deepens because of the experience brought to them through their yearnings.
Some critics have said that Barbet is a simple character in much the same way as historians described early Europeans as 'peasants' without the slightest understanding of the subtlety of an oral culture which does not conform to an academic literal historical intepretation and social prejudice. Yet anybody who has even began to understand the common laws and traditions of the 'common' people will began to see the beauty and wisdom of personal integration. The integrity engendered enables the personal and the spiritual part of man to develop in an environmemt of true civilised values. In contrast to most of todays social and political theories which do not seem to be able to get away from hideous forms of exploitation and control.
The common laws and traditions are our true birthright, surpressed by those in power who wish to exploit others for personal gain. The statute laws of recent centuries were usually enforced by those who claimed 'civilised values' from a position of wealth, property and power. The established Church has also neglected the 'common' people and connived with those in power. In Great Britian our common values and the wisdom they enshrine have been stolen from us. It is interesting that the word 'common' has come to be used as a term of abuse.
These values, and what I think Barbet represents, are the human capacity for love and understanding which can grow into the deepest wisdom, the insight to understand all aspects of experience without being judgemental.
In the end, language, even at the highest level of insight and integrity, cannot distill the deepest matters of the heart. To 'know' these matters is almost inexpressable in a tangible sense. Yet in the deepest moments one has only to look into someones eye's or feel the sensitivity of someones hands to'know'. When the poet W. H. Davies wrote 'a time to stop and stare' he was describing such knowledge which is timeless and boundless.
Those who seek to control through conformity have already lost the plot. The freedom of the human spirit is too precious to lose. We can only try to be with, to become part of something which represents full personal integrity and humanity. Logically there is no answer to the moral ambivalence of the Universe. Only compassion has the true ability to transform. From that point the voyage begins.
It is no accident that 'La Voyage' was written just before the Second World War.
Step into a Church and one may sense duty and conformity which feels cold. Step into another Church and one may sense mystery. Mystery fires the imagination. Barbet has to release his own tension of conformity to social and public opinion by releasing the prisioners under his care. He can no longer imprison himself.
Even academics find it difficult not to come out with hackneyed phrases. As we try to encapsulate meaningful existence the more elusive meaning becomes. To some extant we try to create and emulate meaning through human aspiration or greatness, creating our own 'Gods.' Individual property ownership and copyright, having no originality but now merely a commodity, are now so ingrained in public consciousness that real personal worth is now a secondary consideration. Even 'great art' is now a commodity.
My elder friend, who is almost an Albert Schweitzer figure himself, always likes to comment 'You cannot catch a butterfly with a net.' You destroy the very thing you are trying to capture. Barbet lets the butterfly within his own 'being' free.
Anima mea desideratissima - My most longed for soul.
Now forget my opinions, read the book!
Philip Charles Hills. [email protected] January 2008
A new edition of 'The Voyage' has been published by 'Capuchin Classics' with an interesting forward by Valentine Cunningham. Pub: 2009
Also see: www.savependarvesquoit.weebly.com
www.walkecolliercornwallpeace.weebly.com
