Little by little, in the recent decades, the number of people reading Boileau's books steadily declined: I thought "L'Art Poétique" ("The Poetic Art") was an immortal masterpiece in our literary heritage. In fact, his biggest French editor recently decided not to renew the publication, acting a kind of death. Who still reads Boileau anymore ? 

Moreover, what happened with important figures of the French literature well known at the end of the 19th century, or at the beginning of the 20th: Roger Martin du Gard, Anatole France (most admired by Proust), Romain Rolland, the "best writer of his time" for Stefan Zweig ? And for some less known writers of the same period, as the comtesse de Noailles, "brilliant poet" according to Proust ?

The disappearance in our memory of brilliant writers is a constant phenomena, in the literature as in the artistic world in general: many brilliant composers considered as genius in the 19th century are now almost forgotten: as an example, one of the most interesting organ composers of the end of the 19th, Joseph Rheinberger, is no longer in our memory, at least in France: He was, during his time, for his piano and orchestral works, and for his teaching, as admired as Brahms. So what happened ?

Even huge figures still solid are at risk of becoming out of fashion. I may think (maybe I'm wrong) that Jean-Jacques Rousseau is among them. Less and less read are his masterworks, even if his name is preserved thanks to law and philosophy studies at the University, especially for the "Social Pact". If my assumption is true, it is a great loss: the poetic inspiration in the "Rêveries du promeneur solitaire" ("The dreams of the lonely walker") is so deep, that it is important to keep this book in our memory, and to come back to it from time to time, as a breath of fresh air.


Should we accept seeing important texts being forgotten ? Genial authors sorting out of the literature to fall in the history ? Should we on the contrary try to keep their memory alive ? Our discussions on ThinQon are a way to remember important writers, by giving some citations which may revitalize our memory. I came back to the "rêveries du promeneur solitaire" last summer, reopening the book for the first time in 10 years, thanks to a beautiful post  with some well chosen extracts. 

 When we read books, or when we play piano, we could choose from time to time one of the forgotten authors, in order to keep them in our memory. They may be as interesting as those remaining the most famous. 

I would love to hear some views about that question.