Defeat of France

Simone de Beauvoir invokes France’s defeat to show how Henry de Montherlant turned national catastrophe into an occasion for self-exemption. At the beginning of the Occupation, he condemned his defeated compatriots as though he stood outside their country and its defeat; yet he had done no more than they had to prevent it, and had not even agreed to serve as an officer. His accusations therefore reveal not independence from the failure but a refusal to recognize his own place within it.

Defeat as a Setting for Scorn

The defeat supplies the historical setting for Montherlant’s display of contempt. De Beauvoir describes him as indulging in an “orgy of scorn” for his fellow countrymen at the beginning of the Occupation, positioning himself as neither French nor defeated—as if he could rise above both national identity and the consequences of national disaster. The posture converts a shared crisis into a stage on which he can present himself as uniquely untouched.

Accusation and Self-Exemption

De Beauvoir sets Montherlant’s denunciations against his own conduct. He did not prevent the defeat any more than other people did, and he did not even consent to being an officer. That contrast undermines the authority of his accusations: he casts himself as judge of the defeated while evading the ordinary measure he applies to them. His scorn becomes a means of claiming superiority without evidence of greater responsibility or action.

Significance in the Critique of Contempt

The episode extends De Beauvoir’s broader criticism of contempt as an alibi. Montherlant’s condemnations let him imagine himself intelligent in contrast to others’ foolishness and brave in contrast to their cowardice; in the case of France’s defeat, the same logic makes him appear exempt from the fate he reproaches. The episode thus connects his treatment of women and his denunciation of his countrymen: in each case, De Beauvoir argues, he magnifies his own imagined elevation by placing others beneath him, while refusing to face the limits of his own conduct.