La Totalité de Salomé à l'épreuve des démons de Rilke

Salomé's idea of Whole against Rilke's demons

• Auteur / Autrice : Arthur Hannoun
• Direction : Carole Talon-hugon
• Type : Projet de thèse
• Discipline(s) : Philosophie
• Date : Inscription en doctorat le 31/08/2023
• Etablissement(s) : Sorbonne université
• Ecole(s) doctorale(s) : École doctorale Concepts et langages (Paris ; 2000-....)
• Partenaire(s) de recherche : Laboratoire : Métaphysique, histoires, transformations, actualité

Mots clés

Mots clés libres

Philosophie existentielle

Psychanalyse

Poésie

Thérapie

Métaphysique

Esthétique

Existential Philosophy

Psychoanalysis

Poetry

Therapy

Metaphysics

Aesthetics

Résumé

L'héritage de Lou Andreas-Salomé est celui d'une femme fatale, inspiratrice et muse, entourée d'hommes célèbres et à l'origine de quelques textes intéressants que l'on ne considère jamais que sur les plans littéraire et psychanalytique. Celui de Rilke, quoique plus conséquent, conduit souvent à recouvrir la profondeur de ces maux par la splendeur de son art. Pourtant, sa souffrance ne saurait jamais être dissociée de sa poésie, ni ses angoisses de son rapport au monde et à la création. double réflexion autour de la nature d'une souffrance tout à fait spécifique et le dialogue constant avec un interlocuteur source d'amour, de bienveillance, et de philosophie. Car le mal du poète est au moins aussi original que les moyens employés pour le traiter : Lou Andreas-Salomé utilise la quintessence des conclusions du travail d'une vie, la sienne, pour partager à Rilke les valeurs et l'horizon par lesquels il pourra se montrer capable de dépasser ses angoisses. Il ne s'agit pas seulement de guérir ; l'individu rilkéen est en quête de sublimation, de transformation quasiment alchimique de ses maux les plus profonds en une éblouissante énergie créatrice. En créant, le poète se crée lui-même. Il fait œuvre, sur la base d'une souffrance qu'il affronte pleinement, plutôt qu'il ne chercherait à s'en détourner au profit de quelque artifice littéraire ou existentiel. Rilke ne triche pas. Il est le poète de la vie quotidienne, celui qui trouve de la couleur dans ce que l'habitude et la modernité auront recouvert d'une patine gris pâle ; il est enfin celui qui se frotte au vertige de la vie pour trouver au cœur de son chaos la lumière d'une humanité qui s'ignore. Elle apporte son amour, sa philosophie (doublée de considérations psychanalytiques à partir de 1911-1912) et son attachement à la beauté de l'existence ; il apporte ses angoisses, sa poésie et la splendeur obscure du regard qu'il porte sur le monde. Ensemble, ils offriront à la postérité le récit d'une relation extraordinaire et pourtant méconnue : l'histoire d'une sublimation des démons du poète par les mots de la philosophe. Le cœur de notre questionnement se trouve ici : comment la pensée de Lou Andreas-Salomé (philosophique puis psychanalytique) aura-t-elle pu aider Rainer Maria Rilke de transformer ses angoisses existentielles en puissance créatrice ? Car elle est bien, de l'aveu du poète, la seule à le comprendre, à l'accueillir, à le porter. Elle est assurément la personne la plus importante de sa vie, et pourtant la moins connue de toutes. Nous pensons que la compréhension profonde des enjeux de la poésie rilkéenne ne saurait faire l'économie de l'étude de sa relation avec Lou Andreas-Salomé, tant elle sera devenue, au fil des voyages, des lettres et des années, la pierre de touche de l'ensemble de sa vie et de sa création. C'est ce mécanisme, mêlé de l'étude de la philosophie de Salomé et de la poésie de Rilke, que nous chercherons à mettre en lumière au travers de ce travail.

On the 12th of May 1897, in Munich, the German novelist Jakob Wassermann introduced his friend Lou Andreas-Salomé to the young René Maria Rilke. Little did he know, they would soon become a fundamental part of each other's world. He ended up being recognized as Germany's most important poet since Goethe, while she was almost completely forgotten, or only remembered as Nietzsche's could-have-been wife, Rilke's silent muse and Freud's docile student. With this research project, we would like to study their relationship and their tremendous mutual influence, both in their life and work. The fact that Lou Andreas-Salomé was never considered as a proper thinker might explain the lack of research on the subject. Many books have been written on the literary and biographic aspects of this relationship, but no one has ever considered the philosophical impact of Salomé's lessons and advice to Rilke, nor the link between her theories and his poetic and metaphysical universe. Yet, his writings are filled with references and images one can actually encounter in Salomé's work, and also in the letters she sent him. It was by sharing her thoughts and concepts that she could actually help him overcome his pain. Shedding a light on the complexity and depth of their relationship would then prove the value of Lou Andreas-Salomé's work as a thinker, help understanding Rilke's poetry and give a practical example of how philosophy could actually free oneself from his existential fears and suffering, through artistic creation. Our project here is to prove that Lou Andreas-Salomé should be recognized as a proper philosopher. Her life and work would both benefit from being studied and better known as a way to enrich and enlighten one's life. Her philosophy isn't academic; it revolves around the original Ancient Greek idea of building oneself as a strong individual with inspiring values in a world one should question and understand to reach self fulfilment and happiness. Not only did Lou Andreas-Salomé's personal quest follow that path; she also used her conclusions to help and inspire people around her. This is what makes her life and work so special. Lou Andreas-Salomé's whole life revolved around the people she met and the places she visited, and how they were both constantly fueling her thinking process. Her time with Rainer Maria Rilke represents the key with which all of her life and work can be understood; in 1897, she was already an accomplished writer with strong philosophical principles which she was constantly trying to turn into existential values. But she also had a lot more to discover, witness and understand. And most of that new phase of her life was made possible by the combination of her intuition and Rilke's presence. The originality of this research relies on both the largely unexplored material we will be using for our work (Salomé's work and their correspondence) and well-known documents (Rilke's work and studies on his work) which we will be considering from a new point of view, and mostly philosophical angle, always following the chronological order of their relationship to grasp the gradual building of their intimacy, progression of Rilke's pain and evolution of his work from its unstable first poems to the brilliant success of his latest work. All these reasons explain our interest in this subject: unveiling the origins of a major figure of modern literature, proving the value and richness of an unknown thinker's work, and by combining them both, the importance of philosophy as a practical way to tackle real life issues. Our highest and most precise hypothesis here, can be set in a word: therapeutic. To what extend can Salomé's philosophy be considered as both therapeutic and inspiring? As an actual way to alleviate life's suffering, existential fear and primordial lack of meaning, reaching a point of final sublimation where interior chaos turns into positive, life-fueled and artistic energy?