Jules Laforgue and the Illusion of Spontaneity

This article asks whether Jules Laforgue’s poetic practice constitutes an
attempt to create the illusion of spontaneity. His aesthetic theories are
extrapolated from the philosophy of Eduard von Hartmann, who holds that
genius is inspired by the Unconscious; this is not the psychoanalytic unconscious,
but the metaphysical principle that governs all existence, including
human activity. Laforgue seems to endorse the Hartmannian notion of
creativity guided by the Unconscious, both in his writings on aesthetics and
in his apparently spontaneous poetry. ‘Complainte du Sage de Paris’, which
can be read as an aesthetic manifesto, also seems to advocate this
approach. However, Anne Holmes has demonstrated that Laforgue’s
method of composition was in fact based on a process of drafting and
redrafting. This would seem to imply an irreconcilable tension between
theory and practice, but this article argues that resolution is possible by
distinguishing between the notions of spontaneity and improvisation.