La vie littéraire. Troisième série

In this spirited essay the author finds himself at the centre of a sharp dispute with the eminent critic Ferdinand Brunetière. Accused of abandoning the established laws of criticism and of letting personal taste dominate his judgments, he responds with a blend of wit and earnest self‑examination. The text quickly introduces two of his contemporaries—Jules Lemaître, whose agile intellect and poetic flair the writer admires, and Paul Desjardins, a solemn figure who treats literature as a moral battleground. Their divergent philosophies serve as a backdrop for a broader meditation on the role of subjectivity in literary judgment.

Through lively prose the author defends his own method, arguing that a critic can be both honest and humane without surrendering to rigid criteria. He praises the courage of his opponents while probing the limits of objectivity, inviting listeners to consider how personal conviction shapes the evaluation of art. The result is a vivid portrait of French intellectual life at the turn of the century, where ideas clash as passionately as swords.