A few words about Vilmeny's syllable

The previous article about Emperor Julian 1 belongs to those few works by Vilmain, where the noble simplicity of the style is not embellished with the curly sophistication of expressions and turns of phrase. For, generally speaking, Vilmain’s language is distinguished not so much by its correct, strict and classically calm beauty, as by its lively, whimsical grace, dapper originality and often studied carelessness. This is especially noticeable in his impromptu lectures, where the writer does not have time to be a writer and process his involuntary suggestions according to the laws of a distinct taste, and where, therefore, natural talent appears with all the peculiarities of its beauties and shortcomings, like an awakened beauty in the morning without appliances. For the same reason that Guizot says more in his lectures and less in phrases than in his writings done in his leisure time, for the same reason in Villemain’s improvisations there are more phrases and less in words than in his armchair creations. Because of this, his phrases, like a successful verse, like a happy theme, remain in the memory even when they do not express a new or unusual thought, although the general system of Villemain’s thoughts is both new and unusual for France. I say system because I cannot agree with those who do not find it in Villemain’s opinions. Yes, despite the outward disorder of his thoughts, despite the carelessness of his presentation, despite the apparent ease and randomness of his positions, Vilmaine has his own system, and a maturely thought-out system, for his statements nowhere contradict one another; the system is deep, for his thoughts are on a par with the century; a system firmly understood and strictly connected, precisely because he can express it so easily, so clearly and, apparently, so superficially: clarity is the last degree of deliberation. The style of Vilmaine, more than other French writers, resembles the style of Balzac, the author of The Last Chouan, Pictures from Private Life, etc., etc. Balzac, just like Villemaine, loves to surprise with unexpected turns of phrase, unusual expressions and an unprecedented combination of different meaning epithets; he, like Vilmaine, borrows most of his comparisons from real and present life; he also sometimes allows himself irregularity and innovation in order to paint the thought in its living color, with its most delicate shades; - but despite this similarity of manner, Balzac’s style, in my opinion, differs from Villemain’s in that the latter is always almost faithful to the sense of graceful decency, while the former, despite all his talent, often steps beyond the bounds of grace into the realm of unnaturalness. Vilmaine will sometimes say a tawdry phrase, but by the way; Balzac will repeat the same phrase and often out of place. Vilmaine is sometimes incorrect as a writer, but in his very irregularities you see a man with refined taste and educated in the midst of a select society; speaking a new thought for which there is no expression yet, he would rather choose a capriciously colloquial turn than a heavily learned one, out of the same sense of decency by which our ladies, not finding Russian words, would rather decide on Gallicism than on the Slavic expression. Balzac is no less wrong than Villemain; but its incorrectness is often not justified by anything, and its sophistication sometimes offends not only the taste of the writer, but also good taste in general, like the too high jump of a dancer not in the theater. What is especially noteworthy about Vilmen is that, without knowing German, in his basic thoughts and especially in their literary applications, he almost always agrees with the thoughts prevailing in Germany. In my opinion, this alone could prove to us that the knowledge of German literature is considerably widespread among educated Frenchmen; that the results of German thinking circulate there like a coin, more or less familiar to everyone, although still new and not accepted by everyone, like our platinum money. The same writer to whom we owe the translation of this article equally correctly, elegantly and closely translated into Russian the work of the same author on Christian Eloquence of the 4th century. This work will be published instead of the preface to the new translation of Selected Passages from St. John Chrysostom, published by Mr. Obolensky (translator of Plato and Herodian) for the benefit of widows and orphans of the clergy. See 13 N. Telescope. You might be interested in: