5 h 4 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What belongs to you when the crowd, your teachers and your habits all claim a share of your mind?
In Maurice Barrès’s A Free Man, Philippe tries to build an inner life that others cannot take from him. He watches his moods, tests his desires and asks what he should keep for himself. The struggle is quiet but demanding: how can he protect his independence without letting other people decide who he is?
Published in 1889, this French novel is the second book in the Cult of the Self trilogy. It offers less a plot than a method of self-examination. Barrès treats freedom as a craft that needs practice, not simply a feeling. Sensations, memories and desires become material to study, enjoy and question as Philippe searches for self-mastery.
What you’ll discover
- A mind at work Follow Philippe as he examines the moods and desires that shape his inner life.
- The pressure of others Explore the threat that crowds, teachers and familiar habits pose to independence of mind.
- Freedom as a craft Consider an approach to freedom built on discipline rather than a passing mood.
- A self in motion Meet a vision of the self as a stream of sensations, memories and desires.
- The pleasure of reflection Settle into slow self-examination, where watching a mind matters more than following fast action.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy inner journeys, French literary life of the 1880s, and the odd, funny, sincere voice of a young man who wants to master his own feelings.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two friends write down rules for happiness
- A monastery of the self in Lorraine
- Know your body and your sins first
- Borrowed souls: the intercessors
- A journey through Lorraine, the land of the dead
- Illness, separation and a vigil in Italy
- What the book is really about
Who’s who
- The narratorA restless young Parisian who wants to master his own feelings and build a self worth worshipping.
- SimonHis nervous, practical friend, fond of land, comfort and manners, who shares the experiment and then goes his own way.
- RoseA local girl whom the friends choose as a companion, hoping to keep desire from disturbing their studies.
- Benjamin ConstantA writer from the past whom the narrator treats as a saint of the divided soul.
- Sainte-BeuveA young poet and critic whom the narrator pictures in a cell, then fears becoming.
- Marie BashkirtsefA young woman whose published diary the narrator reads and imagines as a companion.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Ein freier Mann
by Maurice Barrès · 1889
Two friends rent a Lorraine manor and train themselves to feel on command, with a cloister, a rule and a method.
Challenging5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Can you train yourself to feel more deeply, the way an athlete trains a muscle? In A Free Man, Maurice Barrès follows a young narrator who tries exactly that.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two friends write down rules for happiness
The book opens in Jersey, where the narrator and his friend Simon spend a dull summer with their mistresses. Simon is nervous and methodical, fond of country life and good manners. The narrator is a restless Parisian who wants every hour to be intense.
A cup of tea on a quiet beach gives them their first good moment. They ask why it works, and they write two principles. We are happiest when exhilarated, and analyzing the feeling makes the pleasure larger. From this they draw a rule: feel as much as possible while analyzing as much as possible.
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What is A Free Man by Maurice Barrès about?
It follows a young narrator and his friend Simon who retire to a Lorraine manor to cultivate their feelings by method. He then travels through Lorraine, Italy and Venice, searching for a way to live as a free self.
What does the Cult of the Self mean?
It is the name Barrès gave to three books on individualism. They describe training the mind to feel and analyze its own emotions, using religious exercises as a model, with the self as the god.
Who is Simon in A Free Man?
Simon is the narrator's close friend, a cool, nervous, practical young man who shares the retreat in Lorraine. His comfort and manners set him apart from the narrator's wilder inner life.
More by Maurice Barrès
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