Henri Frederic Amiel
1) About Henri’s life:
Amiel was born in Geneva in 1821, the son of a Huguenot family driven to Switzerland by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After losing his parents at a young age, Amiel travelled extensively, became acquainted with Europe’s intellectual leaders, and pursued a special study of German philosophy in Berlin. In 1849, he was appointed professor of aesthetics at the Geneva Academy, and in 1854, he was promoted to professor of moral philosophy.
These appointments, bestowed by the democratic party, deprived him of the aristocratic party’s patronage, which dominated the city’s culture. This isolation inspired Amiel’s only book, the Journal “Intime”, which was published after his death and gained a European reputation. He died in Geneva on 11 May 1881, at the age of 59.
Despite its modest output volume, Amiel’s Journal garnered sympathy for the author that he had not received in his life. Aside from the Journal, he wrote several volumes of poetry and studies on Erasmus, Madame de Stael, and other writers. In 2004, his extensive correspondence with Égérie, his muse, was preserved and published.
2) His Journal Intime:
This Swiss author was best known for his masterpiece of self-analysis, Journal in Time. Despite apparent success (as a professor of aesthetics and then philosophy at Geneva), he considered himself a failure. Driven inward, he lived in his Journal, which he kept from 1847 until his death. It reveals a sensitive man of great intellectual ability battling for values against the skepticism of the time. It was widely translated, and Amiel became well-known as a result.
3) Main Themes in His Work:
Depersonalization:
Above all, his journal expresses the experience of chronic, lifelong depersonalization very eloquently. “I can find no words for what I feel…,” he writes in his journal. My consciousness has withdrawn into itself; I can hear my heartbeat and the passage of time… I’ve turned into a statue on the banks of the River of Time.” This sentiment reflected the behavior of chronically depersonalized people whose robotic actions are motivated by inhibition – a desire to appear normal in order to avoid bursts of creativity and eccentricity that could be linked to insanity. For Amiel, robotic behavior is just part of his job of living day to day life, and his private literary exercises would never blossom into a literary statement outside the confines of his journal. Amiel embodies the existential essence of the depersonalization experience. The tragedy is that depersonalization manifests itself in a negative form as absence, which still reminds us of something we once had but no longer have. Amiel lost something he didn’t even know he had when he experienced depersonalization. That’s why it felt so hopeless and groundless to him. There are literally no words in language to express this feeling, but Amiel came as close as language allows to describing it, striving to put his own perplexing sensations into words and providing comfort to others in the process.
Perfectionism:
Amiel developed into a picky perfectionist, and because he couldn’t write the perfect novel, he didn’t write one at all. He never married because he couldn’t find the perfect wife. Throughout it all, he was obsessed with existence itself, convinced of how little his life in the world mattered because he never truly felt a part of it. Certain characteristics in Amiel neutralized his powers, knowledge, and intelligence, and condemned him to barrenness and failure in terms of his public appearance. Amiel only discovered the wilderness of abstract speculation in all his efforts to obtain Knowledge, in which so many of us find life-long shelter and means of happiness.
Self-Awareness and Unrealness of The World:
His writing revealed a high level of self-awareness. In 1880, he wrote, “The misfortune….the characteristic of my life is inadaptability due to either mysticism or stiffness, delicacy or disdain.” I haven’t been able to fit myself into anything, to satisfy myself with anything… So, having found no satisfaction in things, I attempted to free myself from desire, by which things enslave us… I’ve lived an impersonal life – in the world but not of it, thinking a lot but desiring nothing.” Amiel is virtually immune to the self-deceptions that “normal” people use to survive in their pursuit of worldly goals set by their individual egos. It had been impossible for him to act on a daily basis in a world that seemed pointless and unreal to him.
4) Theme of Banality:
In the 1880s, Amiel began to express dissatisfaction with his lack of accomplishment as a result of his obsessive self-examination. “I am afraid of my greatness,” he writes in his journal. As a result, all of my published literary essays are little more than studies, games, and exercises to put myself to the test… My effort wears out, and while I am satisfied with the ability to act, I never arrive at the will to act; I am always preparing but never completing… I recognize myself, but I do not approve of myself.” Unfortunately for this sweet and gentle man, instead of being instilled with confidence and faith in his originality and genius by his intelligence and insight, his chronic introspection and sense of banality only brought loneliness, regret, and self-contradiction. He fills the journal with some entries that praise the value of letting go of one’s ego, while other entities depict his lack of ambition and motivation, as well as the mediocrity of his academic and literary accomplishments.
5) A Few Quotations:
“Destiny has two ways of crushing us – by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.”
― Henri F. Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“Life is short and we never have enough time for the hearts of those who travel the way with us. O, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.”
― Henri-Frederic Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“Learn to… be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not. ”
― Henri Frederic Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“Women wish to be loved not because they are pretty, or good, or well bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.”
― Henri Frédéric Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“The man who has no inner life is the slave of his surroundings.”
― Henri Frédéric Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“Time is but the space between our memories; as soon as we cease to perceive this space, time has disappeared.”
― Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“In these moments of tête-à-tête with the infinite, how different life looks! How all that usually occupies and excites us becomes suddenly puerile, frivolous, and vain. We seem to ourselves mere puppets, marionettes, strutting seriously through a fantastic show, and mistaking gewgaws for things of great price.”
― Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“Uniformity…creates a void, and Nature abhors a vacuum.”
― Henri-Frédéric Amiel, The Private Journal of Henri Frederic Amiel
6) Boredom in Our Times:
At first glance, boredom may appear to be a minor issue during a Pandemic. When compared to rampant infection, job losses, and death, griping about a few unfilled hours may appear petty. However, boredom can lead to some serious issues. Boredom is a distinctive emotional state. It’s a sense of dissatisfaction with the world around you, as well as a lack of interest in the activity at hand, whether it’s work, a book, or a video game. And it’s unsettling. Boredom as a result of isolation in this pandemic has resulted in a lack of passion: “Without passion, man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint that awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.” (From Amiel’s Journal.)
During the pandemic, the term “boredom” has come to refer to any experience in which people feel disconnected, when life appears meaningless or uninteresting. People are bored with being bored in many ways, which is why we label it depression. We must recognize that simply being bored is a luxury in these times. It is an opportunity to discover ourselves in new light, rather than to break rules or lose ourselves. It’s time to take up new hobbies, shift our priorities, perhaps become one with nature, and really introspect and self-reflect, taking inspiration from Henri Miel, albeit perhaps not as obsessively.
We must resist our obsessive thoughts. “Feebleness of will leads to weakness of head, and the abyss, despite its horror, comes to fascinate us, as if it were a place of refuge.” Terrible peril! For this abyss is within us; this chasm, open like the vast jaws of an infernal serpent bent on devouring us, is within the depths of our own being, and our liberty floats above this void, which is always seeking to swallow it up.” (From Amyl’s Journal.) Let us not allow the serpent of boredom to devour our happiness and instead look for ways to learn to be comfortable with ourselves.
