The tragedy is fatherhood
When France was liberated from Nazism, Emmanuel Mounier, the father of Christian personalism, called four contributors to the magazine Esprit and their families to experience an intellectual adventure on a large estate with century-old trees located in Châtenay-Malabry, near Paris, christened The White Walls.
The initial core group consisted of the Mounier, Marrou, Fraisse, Domenach, and Baboulène families. In 1957, upon Mounier's death, the family of Paul Ricoeur joined the group. The goal was to create an atmosphere of teamwork, friendly receptions, and social gatherings. EspritEveryone wanted to change society, break away from urban anonymity, lead a community life, critique capitalism, and imagine a new left. Mounier aspired to a communal life, but one that preserved the complete freedom of each member of the community. No one wanted a utopia of free love or the dissolution of the boundaries of the family unit.
This spirit of freedom became a reality in the children's lives. Twenty or so children enjoyed open spaces, gardens, a vegetable garden, tree houses... and the assurance that no adult would curb their adventurous spirit. If someone got lost in the park, the parents considered it good news. Those children were free. But none of them wanted to raise their own children with such freedom. They had catechism classes, which took place in a somewhat chaotic atmosphere, because the adults enjoyed asking impertinent questions. Religion was omnipresent, but the parents never justified their faith to their children, so as not to condition their freedom. Faith was part of each individual's freedom. Fraisse accepted her children's atheism as both a great disappointment and a source of great pride, because they had freely chosen it.
The sons independently published a magazine, The White Walls of Cancanos, and even one Esprit in miniature. Of course, their parents encouraged them to write freely, without any restrictions, and were proud of their creativity. They were great thinkers, but they didn't know how to be parents. Domenach's son sums up his memories this way: "No one cared about their children or anyone else's children. They were too busy saving the world."
When he arrived in 1968, while Domenach was coining the phrase "consumer society," every family had one or two cars, a washing machine, a television, and a summer residence. The apartments at Els Murs Blancs had tripled in price.
In 1968, the children found the opportunity to go beyond being mere spectators of their parents' battles. The time for their commitment had arrived. One day, a banner for the Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action appeared in Els Murs Blancs. It had been hung by Nicolas, Domenah's son, and Olivier, Ricoeur's son. The latter was the champion of transgression. He grew marijuana plants and was addicted to alcohol and ether. His parents let him live his life, but maintained a relationship with him more suited to a student than a son. One day, he brought home a couple of homosexual friends. With one of them, Christophe Donner, Paul Ricoeur was able to build the intellectual and emotional closeness he never had with his son.
Olivier was expelled from Els Murs Blancs and moved to Paris. His father refused to intervene on his behalf. The gay couple continued to live in his apartment. Olivier fell into a deep depression. Finally, he threw himself out of the window of his apartment on the Rue du Temple. He was not yet 40. His only property was an audiovisual production company called Els Murs Carnívors.
Ricoeur later confessed to Domenach: "The tragedy is fatherhood." At the same time, he boasted of never having said "no" to his children.
Christophe Donner narrates in The Spirit of Vengeance the years he spent with Paul Ricœur and his wife. He did so with such crudeness that it prompted the Ricœurs to take him to court for "invasion of privacy." The verdict forced the publisher to withdraw the book, but it produced a second edition in which the Ricœurs' names were replaced by blank spaces, the color of the walls. I can't help but find a connection between this fact and the title of a great book by Ricœur: Himself as another.
There was no second generation of Els Murs Blancs. But there is one notable French figure who is considered its heir. This is Emmanuel Macron, who for a time was Paul Ricoeur's assistant.