Mankind’s Last Recourse Wallace Fowlie has documented the fact that Giraudoux called himself a ‘‘journalist of the theater.’’ As Giraudoux gauged the receptivity and intelligence of his audience, so did the public evaluate his style and purpose. What they found, says Fowlie, was that ‘‘Giraudoux believed fervently in the cause of literature. He believed that literature was the last recourse of mankind.’’ Still, some critics questioned his commitment to both art and the concerns he presents in his work. These are the same detractors who criticize his characters as vague, undeveloped creations that confuse allegory, symbol, and reality instead of revealing any kind of truth.

Life’s Truths Giraudoux’s supporters, however, see his legacy as a writer as being due to his treatment of such serious themes as love, death, war, and humanity’s relationship to the universe. According to Robert Emmet Jones:

Giraudoux is the only contemporary French playwright. . . who has created a dramatic world at all comparable to those of the great dramatists of the past. His world contains people of all social classes and all educational levels, and whether they be ancient Greeks, Biblical characters, or provincial Frenchmen, they transcend their times and become as universal in significance as any characters in the modern drama.

Fowlie concurs, observing that Giraudoux’s theater ‘‘reveals to men the most surprising and the most simple truths, which they never fully realize, such as the inevitability of life, the inevitability of death, the meaning of happiness and catastrophe, the fact that life is both reality and dream.’’ Giraudoux, it would seem, remains an important writer because of his distinct and interesting vision of the world.

Responses to Literature

1. Research French theater from 1900 to 1945, noting major authors, literary movements, historical figures, and world events taking place that had an effect on drama during that time period. Create a timeline that displays the facts you have learned. Designate one side of the timeline for people and the other side for literary movements and historical events.

2. Because of the creative spirit of French literary and artistic movements at the beginning of the twentieth century, many writers were drawn to France—Paris, in particular. Using your library, the Internet, or other available resources, find at least five writers or artists who moved to France to enjoy this creative environment. Why do you think France became such a center of artistic activity at this time? Were any works produced there that could not have been produced elsewhere? If so, what were they? Why could they have been made or published only in France?

3. Compare Giraudoux’s play Tigers at the Gate with ancient legends of the Trojan War such as Homer’s Iliad. How does each work depict the prospect of war? It has been said that Giraudoux used the Trojans and Greeks to parallel the tenuous relationship between France and Germany throughout the first third of the twentieth century. Which do you think Giraudoux intended the Trojans to represent— France or Germany? Why?

4. The premise of Giraudoux’s play The Apollo of Bellac involves a sheltered woman who is told the secret to controlling men: Compliment a man’s looks, and he will do whatever you ask. Do you think this is a valid observation? Why or why not? Do you think the opposite technique would work for a man complimenting women? Why or why not?

5. Why do you think Giraudoux did not begin writing plays until he was in his forties? In your opinion, would Giraudoux have ever written plays if he had not met Louis Jouvet?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Chiari, Joseph. The Contemporary French Theatre. London: Rockliff Publishing, 1958.

Cohen, Robert. Giraudoux: Three Faces of Destiny.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. Fowlie, Wallace. Dionysus in Paris. New York: Meridian

Books, 1960. Ganz, Arthur. Realms of the Self: Variations on a Theme

In Modern Drama. New York: New York University

Press, 1980. Guicharnaud, Jacques. Modern French Theatre: From

Giraudoux to Genet. New Haven, Conn.: Yale

University Press, 1967. Jones, Robert Emmet. The Alienated Hero in Modern

French Drama. Athens: University of Georgia Press,

1962. LeSage, Laurent. Jean Giraudoux: His Life and Works.

Philadelphia: Pennsylvania State University Press,

1959. Raymond, Agnes. Jean Giraudoux: The Theatre of Victory

And Defeat. Amherst: University of Massachusetts

Press, 1966. Reilly, John H. Jean Giraudoux. Chicago: Twayne,

1979.

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