Octave Mirbeau

He is not concerned about the quality of any great work, but in the quantity of dollars his purchase implies.

Thus the financier in Mirbeau's Les Affaires sont les Affaires points to some blurred arrangement in color, saying, See how great it is? It cost fifty thousand francs.

Just like our own parvenus, the fabulous figures paid for their great art discoveries must make up for the poverty of their taste.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

For be sure of it, in vain will they pass laws.

The ideas of the thinkers will not halt.

Just as in the last century all the governmental forces could not prevent the Diderots and the Voltaires from spreading emancipating ideas among the people, so all the existing governmental forces will not prevent the recluses, the Darwins, the Spencers, the Ibsens, the Mirbeaus from spreading the ideas of justice and liberty which will annihilate the prejudices that hold the mass in ignorance.

And these ideas, welcomed by the unfortunate, will flower in acts of revolt as they have done in me, until the day when the disappearance of authority shall permit all men to organize freely according to their choice, when we shall each be able to enjoy the product of his labor, and when those moral maladies called prejudices shall vanish, permitting human beings to live in harmony, having no other desire than to study the sciences and love their fellows.

Baron Macaulay, read by Apnea.

Octave Mirbeau, read by Herman Roskamp.

Newspaper Reporter, read by Jesse Yu.

John Milton, read by Honoria.

He is cut by the higher orders, and hissed by the lower.

He is, in truth, a sort of whipping-boy, by whose vicarious agonies all the other transgressors of the same class are, it is supposed, sufficiently chastised.

this bitter denunciation of english mock modesty by the brilliant essayist rests upon thoroughly justifiable grounds once again in the dolorous history of humanity the grotesque farce was enacted of chasing forth the scapegoat into the wilderness to bear away the sins of the people but in this instance the unhappy creature was not only laden with the sins of the tribe a heavier burden still had been added to all the others the fearful burden of the mad unreasoned hatred of the sinners indeed he whose share in the general load of sin was the greatest sought to add more hatred than all the others to the great fardel under which the victim staggered and believing himself so much the more innocent that the abjection of the unfortunate wretch was complete would have been glad had it been in his power to help even the public hangman in the execution of his nefarious task we have observed that through some diabolical strain in human nature the evil joy which creates scandal and gives rise to a man's downfall increases in intensity if the victim happens to be a man of superior rank and talent au fond des prunelles ranussees les hoguels mysterieux dessoulaient la beaut how great must have been the delighted intoxication of numberless weak minds when they were impelled in the midst of a silence that braver and clearer spirits dared not break to screech out vociferations against art and thought denouncing these as the accomplices of the momentary aberrations of him who erstwhile worshipped at their shrine here in france at least men knew better how to restrain themselves and there were even a few courageous wielders of talented pens who did not hesitate to use their abilities in favour of their anglo-saxon colleague hugues rebelle published in the mercure de france that defenced oscar wilde the calm and tempered logic of which is still fresh to many minds a number of writers and artists even held a meeting of protestation but of course all this had not the slightest effect on the judicial position of wilde it was generally felt that the ferocious outcry raised against the unhappy man who had been found out was because that man was a poet and not so much because he had gone counter to the manners of his time amongst all the mingled shouting and laughter the arguments for and the arguments against the voice of one man was heard stentorian and clear above all the rest that voice belonged to octave mirbeau a puissant master of the french tongue and a brilliant writer and dramatist the following lines of suppressed anger and large-minded charity emanated from his pen

A great deal has been heard about the paradoxes of Oscar Wilde, upon art, beauty, conscience and life.

He is not concerned about the quality of any great work, but in the quantity of dollars his purchase implies.

Thus the financier in Mirbeau's Les Affaires sont les Affaires points to some blurred arrangement in color, saying, See how great it is? It cost fifty thousand francs.

Just like our own parvenus, the fabulous figures paid for their great art discoveries must make up for the poverty of their taste.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

For be sure of it, in vain will they pass laws.

The ideas of the thinkers will not halt.

Just as in the last century all the governmental forces could not prevent the Diderots and the Voltaires from spreading emancipating ideas among the people, so all the existing governmental forces will not prevent the recluses, the Darwins, the Spencers, the Ibsens, the Mirbeaus from spreading the ideas of justice and liberty which will annihilate the prejudices that hold the mass in ignorance.

And these ideas, welcomed by the unfortunate, will flower in acts of revolt, as they have done in me, until the day when the disappearance of authority shall permit all men to organize freely according to their choice, when we shall each be able to enjoy the product of his labor, and when those moral maladies called prejudices shall vanish, permitting human beings to live in harmony, having no other desire than to study the sciences and love their fellows.

He is not concerned about the quality of any great work, but in the quantity of dollars his purchase implies.

Thus the financier in Mirbeau's Les Affaires sont les Affaires points to some blurred arrangement in color, saying, See how great it is? It cost fifty thousand francs.

Just like our own parvenus, the fabulous figures paid for their great art discoveries must make up for the poverty of their taste.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

For be sure of it, in vain will they pass laws.

The ideas of the thinkers will not halt.

Just as in the last century all the governmental forces could not prevent the Diderots and the Voltaires from spreading emancipating ideas among the people, so all the existing governmental forces will not prevent the Recluses, the Darwins, the Spencers, the Ibsens, the Mirbeaus from spreading the ideas of justice and liberty which will annihilate the prejudices that hold the mass in ignorance.

And these ideas, welcomed by the unfortunate, will flower in acts of revolt as they have done in me, until the day when the disappearance of authority shall permit all men to organize freely according to their choice, when we shall each be able to enjoy the product of his labor, and when those moral maladies called prejudices shall vanish, permitting human beings to live in harmony, having no other desire than to study the sciences and love their fellows.

In the first months of 1891, a weekly publication called L'En-dehors, The Outsider, was founded by a band of young literary men.

They were Zodaxa, Roynard, George Darian, Felix Feneillon, Lucien Descalves, Victor Borucken, Arthur Beale, A. Tabaran, Bernard Lazare, Charles Malato, Pierre Quillard, Gill, Edmond Cousturier, Henri Febvre, Edouard Dubus, A.F. Herald, George Lecomte, Etienne Decrept, Emile Henry, St. Paul Roux, Jules Mary, Alexander Cohen, J. Lecoc, Chatel, Chaulin, Ludovic Malkin, Camille Mauclair, Octave Mirbeau, Lucien Muhlfeld, Pierre Weber, Victor Melnotte, A. Mercier, Tristan Bernard, Paul Adam, Charles Sonier, Jean Ajjalbert, Emile Verhaeren, Henri DeRegnier, and Francis Villait-Griffin.

It explained its purpose as follows, We belong neither to a party nor to a group.

We are outsiders.

The revolutionary sentiments prevalent among the intellectual elite of France have found abundant expression in the French drama, as was to be expected in a country which has a literary stage and which nearly every man of letters is something of a playwright.

Indeed, it would not be surprising if the stage, by reason of its superior capacity for giving vividness to ideas, were quite as effacious an instrument of revolutionary propaganda as the press, the chanson, or the novel.

Octave Mirbeau is the author of several plays, three of which, Les Mauvais Bergers, L'Epidémie, and L'Acquitté, teem with caustic, uncompromising anarchism.

Les Mauvais Bergers was successfully produced by Bernhardt's company in 1897.

He is not concerned about the quality of any great work, but in the quantity of dollars his purchase implies.

Thus the financier in Mirbeau's Les Affaires sont les Affaires points to some blurred arrangement in color, saying, See how great it is? It cost fifty thousand francs.

Just like our own parvenus, the fabulous figures paid for their great art discoveries must make up for the poverty of their taste.

The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

For be sure of it, in vain will they pass laws.

The ideas of the thinkers will not halt.

Just as in the last century all the governmental forces could not prevent the Diderots and the Voltaires from spreading emancipating ideas among the people, so all the existing governmental forces will not prevent the recluses, the Darwins, the Spencers, the Ibsens, the Mirbeaus from spreading the ideas of justice and liberty which will annihilate the prejudices that hold the mass in ignorance.

And these ideas, welcomed by the unfortunate, will flower in acts of revolt, as they have done in me, until the day when the disappearance of authority shall permit all men to organize freely according to their choice, when we shall each be able to enjoy the product of his labor, and when those moral maladies called prejudices shall vanish, permitting human beings to live in harmony, having no other desire than to study the sciences and love their fellows.

Baron Macaulay, read by Apnea.

Octave Mirbeau, read by Herman Roskamp.

Newspaper Reporter, read by Jesse Yu.

John Milton, read by Honoria.

He is cut by the higher orders and hissed by the lower.

He is, in truth, a sort of whipping-boy, by whose vicarious agonies all the other transgressors of the same class are, it is supposed, sufficiently chastised.

this bitter denunciation of english mock modesty by the brilliant essayist rests upon thoroughly justifiable grounds once again in the dolorous history of humanity the grotesque farce was enacted of chasing forth the scapegoat into the wilderness to bear away the sins of the people but in this instance the unhappy creature was not only laden with the sins of the tribe a heavier burden still had been added to all the others the fearful burden of the mad unreasoned hatred of the sinners indeed he whose share in the general load of sin was the greatest sought to add more hatred than all the others to the great fardel under which the victim staggered and believing himself so much the more innocent that the abjection of the unfortunate wretch was complete would have been glad had it been in his power to help even the public hangman in the execution of his nefarious task we have observed that through some diabolical strain in human nature the evil joy which creates scandal and gives rise to a man's downfall increases in intensity if the victim happens to be a man of superior rank and talent au fond des prunelles ranussees l'erreur misterieuse de souler la beaut how great must have been the delighted intoxication of numberless weak minds when they were impelled in the midst of a silence that braver and clearer spirits dared not break to screech out vociferations against art and thought denouncing these as the accomplices of the momentary aberrations of him who erstwhile worshipped at their shrine here in france at least men knew better how to restrain themselves and there were even a few courageous wielders of talented pens who did not hesitate to use their abilities in favour of their anglo-saxon colleague rebelle published in the mercure de france that defenced oscar wilde the calm and tempered logic of which is still fresh to many minds a number of writers and artists even held a meeting of protestation but of course all this had not the slightest effect on the judicial position of wilde it was generally felt that the ferocious outcry raised against the unhappy man who had been found out was because that man was a poet and not so much because he had gone counter to the manners of his time amongst all the mingled shouting and laughter the arguments for and the arguments against the voice of one man was heard stentorian and clear above all the rest that voice belonged to octave mirbeau a puissant master of the french tongue and a brilliant writer and dramatist the following lines of suppressed anger and large-minded charity emanated from his pen

A great deal has been heard about the paradoxes of Oscar Wilde, upon art, beauty, conscience and life.