French Literature Reviews - 2026

Valéry, Cahiers 1907-1909
Writers: Biography, Letters and Memoirs

Paul Valéry, Cahiers 1894-1914. Tome IX, 1907-1909, edited by Robert Pickering and Nicole Celeyrette-Pietri, Gallimard, 317 p., 29 .

If any milestone is to be singled out in the Cahiers, it is the period 1908-1910, which marks a shift in Valéry's writing style, revealing the complex genesis of fragmented texts. Alongside the last of the large ledger-format notebooks, this ninth volume features a writer's notebook from 1909-1910 and loose sheets from the same period. Valéry returns to themes he has explored before: emotion, sleep, awakening, inner speech, language, and anticipation. There is also a growing openness to the artistic world, which was less prominent in earlier notebooks dominated by abstract research. Above all, the strong presence of the Ego is palpable here. Often, the "I" is no longer an almost empty form—an "I" that stands in for an "one" or a "he"—but rather the Paul Valéry of 1908-1909, who, as he wrote to Gide, had lived through a severe intellectual crisis. Brief notes expressing jealousy, wounded pride, and the striking of a "sensitive nerve" take on the rare tone of a personal diary, akin to Amiel's journal. Although the "hostile work" remains unnamed, it undoubtedly refers to a book by Ernst Mach. From now on, the crucial work of selection, rewriting, and synthesis takes place on parallel loose sheets, which are far from being mere "copies." Rooted in the ongoing evolution of his thought, this process responds to a desire for thematic organization, selecting fragments from previous registers that touch upon what would one day be called "My Psychology." The ideas most conducive to developing a personal philosophy are formulated here, forming a body of work whose coherence is much more evident than the chronological progression of the Cahiers. The previously unpublished 1910 notebook sheds light on another facet of Valéry: his interest in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae, which, beyond its religious implications, engages with a theory of knowledge inherited from Aristotle that rehabilitates sensory experience. This moment of intense intellectual encounters, reflected here in the diverse styles of writing, would soon lead him back to poetry.

Paul Valéry maintained his private notebooks over decades, recording daily observations, intellectual inquiries, and aesthetic reflections that document the inner workings of a major symbolist writer and thinker. Within the broader tradition of French literary journals and philosophical work-journals, these writings capture the intersection of abstract thought and personal experience. This ninth volume features a writer's notebook from 1909-1910 and loose sheets from the same period, reflecting a period marked by shifts in writing style, the emergence of fragmented texts, and a renewed engagement with the arts.

Readers interested in modern French literature, intellectual history, and the genesis of twentieth-century poetic thought may find this edition relevant for its documentation of Valéry's creative and philosophical evolution. The material illustrates the intricate relationship between private introspection and formal composition, tracing how ongoing intellectual concerns eventually redirected the author toward poetic creation. The volume presents previously unpublished materials that illuminate a specific phase of Valéry's continuous reflection on psychology, language, and knowledge.