Ceri Crossley
118
fault lay with a society that was not organized in accordance with the
principles of the circulus (p. 11). In this manner Leroux’s rehabilitation of excrement absolved Providence of responsibility for human
suffering (p. 29). Waste matter underwent a metamorphosis as it transformed the soil into that which it was intended to be. Leroux epitomized the Romantic desire to redefine the relationship between
infinity and the finite, time and eternity, heaven and earth, matter and
spirit, the sacred and the profane. He believed that his contemporaries
needed a new unifying faith and he attempted to construct it, blending
humanitarianism with nationalism, the revolutionary idea with perfectibility, equality and solidarity with individual freedom and private
property. Central to this project was the attempt to invest the present
time and the material universe with a sacred dimension:
“L’intelligence divine éclate dans toute la Nature, nous vivons pour
ainsi dire en pleine Divinité. Subjectivement, objectivement, nous
trouvons Dieu. Nous le sentons en nous, nous le découvrons dans
chaque grain de poussière.”
24 The circulus was the manifestation of
life, the engine of progress. Its operation disrupted received definitions of spirit and matter, purity and impurity. It allowed the emergence of new definitions of labour, capital and consumption. The
feelings of disgust, revulsion and shame engendered by the sight of
waste did not tell the whole story. As if by magic, the circulus converted sterility into fertility, base matter into something of positive
value. By attending to the soil and to the nature of its composition
humans could learn important truths, not only about agriculture, but
also about themselves and the organization of society.
25
___________________________
24 La Grève de Samarez, II, p. 426.
25 Leroux did not emphasize the health benefits of “natural” foods though, like many
contemporaries, he was concerned by the adulteration of food. He was interested in
animal welfare insofar as he objected to cows being kept permanently in stalls (p.
104) and viewed recent developments in stock-breeding with alarm (p. 142).
118
fault lay with a society that was not organized in accordance with the
principles of the circulus (p. 11). In this manner Leroux’s rehabilitation of excrement absolved Providence of responsibility for human
suffering (p. 29). Waste matter underwent a metamorphosis as it transformed the soil into that which it was intended to be. Leroux epitomized the Romantic desire to redefine the relationship between
infinity and the finite, time and eternity, heaven and earth, matter and
spirit, the sacred and the profane. He believed that his contemporaries
needed a new unifying faith and he attempted to construct it, blending
humanitarianism with nationalism, the revolutionary idea with perfectibility, equality and solidarity with individual freedom and private
property. Central to this project was the attempt to invest the present
time and the material universe with a sacred dimension:
“L’intelligence divine éclate dans toute la Nature, nous vivons pour
ainsi dire en pleine Divinité. Subjectivement, objectivement, nous
trouvons Dieu. Nous le sentons en nous, nous le découvrons dans
chaque grain de poussière.”
24 The circulus was the manifestation of
life, the engine of progress. Its operation disrupted received definitions of spirit and matter, purity and impurity. It allowed the emergence of new definitions of labour, capital and consumption. The
feelings of disgust, revulsion and shame engendered by the sight of
waste did not tell the whole story. As if by magic, the circulus converted sterility into fertility, base matter into something of positive
value. By attending to the soil and to the nature of its composition
humans could learn important truths, not only about agriculture, but
also about themselves and the organization of society.
25
___________________________
24 La Grève de Samarez, II, p. 426.
25 Leroux did not emphasize the health benefits of “natural” foods though, like many
contemporaries, he was concerned by the adulteration of food. He was interested in
animal welfare insofar as he objected to cows being kept permanently in stalls (p.
104) and viewed recent developments in stock-breeding with alarm (p. 142).