Working Translations
Le Rétif (Victor Serge), “To Be and to Appear” (1909)
We do not live for ourselves—we live for others. We suffer, we struggle and we die for the gallery, to astonish others, to wrest from them a cry of admiration or praise. To appear is the great, the unique concern for the men of this century.
For the vain glory of appearing, they renounce really living. And this is true in all the domains of their activity. […]