André Maurois Studies Its Principles
The homeland of love, today as ever, is France. Tradition has fastened upon the Frenchman the title of model lover, and love — and the fine art of it — has become one of that country's most prominent exports. So it was no strange thing that a man of letters, a storyteller, and a historian whose books sweep the markets — André Maurois — should come forward to broadcast weekly talks on the state radio, in the form of short plays and dialogues, in which he offers his advice to the young concerning the delights of love and the stumbling blocks that may lie across its path.
Let us listen to this expert as he speaks, and follow him as he draws pictures of present-day love and comments upon them.
The talk begins — say rather, the class opens — and behold, the lover Philippe is still a bachelor. We see him lying in his bathing suit on the seashore, his friend Maryse at his side.
Maryse: How strangely you behave, Philippe. For two weeks past you have been courting me, and yet you do not court me. You draw me to you, you try to kiss me — but you say nothing to me.
Philippe: And what would you have me say? What I need is not words...
Maryse: Then we differ. For I — I need words. What do I want you to say? Say at least that you love me. You know the signs of love, but you never utter the word itself. Why?
Philippe: Because if I tried to pronounce it, it would stop on the tip of my tongue. Because I see it as an old, worn-out convention. Because I can make no sense of it. Only, I find you beautiful, poised,
finely made.
And he goes on in that vein of his, and she in hers, for a while. A little later the show develops within the same scene:
Maryse: Hold me close; how I long to kiss you when certain phrases come from your lips.
Philippe (transported with delight): Certain phrases? Such as?
Maryse: For instance, when you speak with enthusiasm about your work and your projects. When you told me a few days ago about Africa and those vast forests, your description of them was magnificent, and you made me feel your love.
Philippe: Really? While I was telling you about them you listened in silence, and I said to myself: I am boring her!
A little later.
Philippe: The sight of your body so very near me stirs such feeling in me that I fear I may faint, as happened to me this morning while I was battling the waves.
Maryse: Ah, Philippe, my adored Philippe, how sweet these ravishing things you say.
Beware, and beware again! He stands at a dangerous crossroads, as we shall see... Maryse lets her fancy roam to the wide world she loves to wander through, and recites what she would like to see in New York and the other great cities. Philippe rushes in, saying with ardor:
Come with me, Maryse, and we shall see them together.
Wrong! And Maryse seizes the opportunity with fingers of steel:
God forbid! My family would never allow me to travel about with a young man who is not my husband.
After that dialogue the expert Maurois adds: "Silence!" Philippe has been felled: and so he proposes marriage to her...
*
There follows another scene, concerning this time the honeymoon.
Philippe (on the train, shortly after the wedding): Who was that old fool who kept repeating in my ear the whole time: Make her happy, my friend, make her happy?
Maryse (coldly): That is my uncle — my aunt's husband. A very prominent personality — have you never heard of him? He was formerly professor of constitutional law at the University of Caracas.
There follows a tedious dialogue about the hats the bridal couple's female relations wore at the reception. The dialogue ends in sobs...
Maurois comments: This is the wrong method. And he adds: the right method is that when the train pulls away, leaving the city behind, the bridegroom draws his bride to him:
Philippe: Ah, my darling! If you keep uttering such sweet talk,
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