Briçonnet, Guillaume, 54, 61, 91
Britannicus (Racine), 201–2
Budé, Guillaume, 49–50, 53
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc de, 395, 402, 426
Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to the Native Land) (Césaire), 575; and anticolonialism, 576, 581–82, 584; and Césaire, 575, 581, 590, 591, 592; as epic and political, 584; and perspective of disempowered, 582, 584; in prose and verse, 581; as work of francophone literature, 647
Calligrammes (Apollinaire), 510, 511
Calvin, Jean, 59, 67
Campanella, Tommaso, 253, 261
Camus, Albert: and absurdity, 545, 601; as an Algerian, 637, 647–48; and L’étranger, 13–14, 545, 596, 597, 605, 631; and foreignness, 13–14; and “The Future of Tragedy,” 597; and modernity, 627, 628, 630; and neutral style, 630; as opposed to Sartre, 596; and La Peste (The Plague), 545, 597; and philosophy at the University of Algiers, 536; plays of, 597; and review of La nausée, 611; and the story of Sisyphus, 601; and writing, 629; and zero degree style, 631
Candide (Voltaire): and Leonard Bernstein’s musical Candide, 291; and Candide, 294, 295, 297, 299–300, 303–9; and censorship, 292; characters of, 294–95, 298–308; comic world of, 302; and cover of book, 309, 310 fig. 2; and Cunégonde, 294, 302, 307, 308; and Eldorado, 301–2, 307; and embrace of the concrete, 298; and English culture, 291, 300; and evil, 291, 296–98, 299, 305–6; and existence of God, 308; Aldous Huxley’s opinion of, 294–95, 302; and intelligent design of God, 304–5; and irony, 305; and learning from experience, 295, 296, 303; and Lisbon earthquake, 297; and Locke’s tabula rasa, 303; and metaphor of the garden, 305, 306–7; and Muslims, 302, 305; and optimism, 292, 293 fig. 1, 297–98, 301, 304, 305, 309; and order found in fiction, 309; and Pangloss, 291, 297, 301, 303–5, 306; and philosophy of Leibniz, 297–98, 304, 305, 308, 309; political context of, 300–301, 306; printings of, 291, 292; and problem of luxury, 301–2; and Providence, 298, 306; and Mark Ravenhill’s Candide, 291; readership of, 292, 297, 302, 303, 307, 308; and references to contemporary novels and the Bible, 307–8; and search for truth, 296; and the Seven Years’ War, 299–300; and similarity to Johnson’s Rasselas, 298; and slavery, 300–301, 302; translations of, 291, 292; and travel writing, 7, 295; and treatment of Jews, 302, 305; and treatment of women, 302–3; Turkish philosopher in, 305–6; versions of, 291, 292, 309; and Voltaire, 294, 300, 303, 305, 308–9; and war with England in North America, 300; and world’s randomness, 308
cannibalism: Bellay’s metaphor using, 143–44, 147; and Diderot’s Encyclopédie, 374; and essay “Of Cannibals” (Montaigne), 158, 164, 257; and giant Loup Garou (Werewolf), 56; and Tupi customs, 164; and work of Cyrano de Bergerac, 263
Caractères (La Bruyere), 230, 248
Caribbean writers: and Suzanne Césaire, 579; and Raphael Confiant, 579; in English, 592; and Frantz Fanon, 577, 581, 591; and Edouard Glissant, 578, 581, 589; and language, 590; and novel as chosen genre, 589; and Saint-John Perse, 582, 587; and Derek Walcott, 586, 592. See also Césaire, Aimé
Catholicism: and Antoine de Bourbon, 121; and Catholic Church, 74, 421, 423; and Catholic missionaries, 257; and La Colombiade ou la foi portée au Nouveau Monde (Du Bocage), 341; and Counter-Reformation, 230; and dispute between Calvinists and Catholics, 51; and the French psyche, 22; and Jesuits’ attacks on Diderot, 374; and Latin, 73; left-wing and humanist type of, 630; and Marie Leprince de Beaumont as educator, 336–37; and monarchical order, 419; and Montaigne, 165; and pious culture, 225; and support of Spain, 157; and tension between Protestants and Catholics, 160–61; and values, 379; Verlaine’s conversion to, 484, 485; and wars between Protestants and Catholics, 156–57, 215. See also Church
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand: and absence of photo from Gallimard’s Marianne, 539, 540 fig.1; anti-Semitism of, 551; and assault on literary writing, 13; and beginnings as an outsider, 537; black humor of, 542; and Duthuit’s journal Transition, 630; and emotions, 541; and failure of book to win Prix Goncourt, 537; as model for Beckett, 626–27; and the 1930s, 7, 534; pen name of, 537; rejected manuscripts of, 538; and spoken French vernacular, 631; and use of spoken French in novel, 539, 541, 548, 550, 551
censorship: by the Church, 351; and the Comédie Française, 443–44; and the comte d’Argenson, 372–73; and condemnation of comedies, authors, and actors, 372–73; and Denis Diderot, 372–73; and Index librorum prohibitorum, 78; and Louis XVI, 363; The Marriage of Figaro’s attack on, 363; and Paris Parlement, 372; and problems with Diderot’s Encyclopédie, 374; by the Revue de Paris, 464; and royal permission, 373, 443–44; by the state, 26, 36–38, 351, 363, 372, 374; of theater, 351, 363, 364
century: and the counterfactual, 12, 17, 18, 19; division by, 15, 42, 43
Cervantes, Miguel de: and Don Quixote, 86–87, 167; as a transitional figure, 157
Césaire, Aimé: absence of Creole culture in work of, 592; and anticolonialist concept of négritude, 575–76, 581, 583, 589; and Caribbean islanders’ choice regarding government, 579; and Caribbean landscape and Antillean history, 583–84; and Suzanne Césaire, 579; and charges of bad faith, 579; and collection Les armes miraculeuses (Miraculous Weapons), 584, 590; and colonialism and native land, 14, 575–76, 580–81; Confiant’s critique of, 579; death of, 575; and decolonization, 576; and different genres, 588–89, 592; and direct speech, 589–90; and “Discours sur la négritude”(“Discourse on Negritude”), 575–76, 583; and Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism), 580–81, 590; and diversity of language, 590–91; and dramatic prose, 575; education of, 577; and effects of racism and colonialism, 591; and Et les chiens se taisent (And the Dogs Were Silent), 584, 590; and humanism, 583; and inner life protected by poetry, 580; interpretation of writings of, 588; and journal Tropiques, 577, 579, 580, 584; and marine imagery, 584; Martinique as birthplace of, 575; as mayor of Fort-de-France, Martinique, 578; and memory and belonging, 580, 583; parents of, 577; and perspective of disempowered, 582, 583; and pioneering nature of writings, 591–92; plays of, 576, 584, 585, 586–87, 589–90; poetry of, 575, 576, 579–80, 581, 582–84, 585, 589–90; politics of, 578–80, 583, 591; and postcolonial writing, 587–88; and Presénce Africaine, 577, 584; as a public intellectual, 577, 591; and racism, 575–76, 581–82; and reconstruction of value and voice for community, 580; and return to Martinique, 576–77, 581; and Une saison au Congo (A Season in the Congo), 587; and seat in French parliament, 578; and situation after decolonization, 580; and Une tempête, 587–88; and Toussaint Louverture: La révolution française et le problème colonial, 585–86; and writing on Toussaint Louverture, 580, 581, 585–86. See also Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to the Native Land)
Chansons spirituelles (Marguerite de Navarre), 61, 66
Char, René: and beloved painters, 572; and Billets à Francis Curel (Letters to Francis Curel), 567–68; and Duthuit’s journal Transition, 630; family home of, 562; and “Fastes” (“Annals”), 570; and French poetry, 5, 122, 554, 559, 561, 562, 563–73; and French Resistance, 554, 562, 563, 564, 571; and Fureur et mystère, 565; and importance of place names, 561, 566; moral stance of, 565, 566, 567, 568; and Nadja (Breton), 555; and native Provence, 554, 561, 563, 565, 566, 571, 572; and natural world, 554, 564, 566; and notion of breathing, 569; and other writings, 571–72; and Paris, 563, 566; “Prière rogue” (“Unbending Prayer”) of, 568–69; and rebellion in poetry, 569; and style of aphorisms, 563, 567; and surrealism, 571; and Vauclusian region, 563–65, 566; wartime journal of, 563
Charrière, Isabelle de, 327, 331, 338, 342–45, 347
Chateaubriand, Francois René de: and Atala, 504; and First Romanticism, 440; and roman personnel, 595; and Romantic moment, 446–47
children: and abandonment of by Rousseau, 398, 400–402; and Emma Bovary’s child with Charles, 464; and education, 336–38, 399, 400, 401–2, 643; and Emile, 399, 400, 401; and foundling hospitals, 398, 402; Genlis as governess to, 338; and infant mortality, 402; and Rousseau’s childhood, 399–400; theater for, 3
37–38
China: and François Cheng, 634, 637; and Chiang Kaishek versus Comintern, 544; and Chinese Communists, 544; and La condition humaine (Malraux), 544, 546; and failed Communist Shanghai insurrection, 546, 547, 551; and masses during revolution, 534
Christianity: and abusive priests, 93; and apologies for belief, 183–84, 244; and body of Christ, 166; and the cabal of the devout (Company of the Holy Sacrament), 181, 183; and Charles IX, 132; and Christian humanists, 49, 54, 65, 68; Christo-centric vision of, 52; and Christ’s new law of love, 57, 62; and Erasmus, 48–49, 67; and existence of God, 296; and faith, 57; foundational texts and principles of, 80; and grace of God, 60, 62, 66; and human institutions of the Church, 51, 80; and humanism, 79–80; and ideal Christian prince, 56; and Judeo-Christian antiquity, 50; and Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s “Magasins,” 335–37; and liberty, 57; and love, 66–67; and monarchy, 288; and monastic life, 83; and Pascal’s defense of Christian faith, 545; and personal Christian devotion, 54, 60–61; and the philosophia Christi (philosophy of Christ), 48–49; and philosophy, 168; and poems of Marguerite de Navarre, 60–61; and problem of evil, 296; and Protestantism, 156–57; and reconciliation of Epicurean naturalism with Christian principles, 230; and savage indignation, 241; and Tertullian, 176; and theater’s immorality, 175–76; and translation into vernacular languages, 74; virtues of, 126; and war, 57; and way of life, 100; and writings of Pascal, 243. See also Bible; Church; religion
Church, 66, 68, 74, 93, 114, 156, 421, 423, 641; and the “Affair of the Placards” by Swiss radicals, 100; and canon of Le Mans cathedral, 119; and cardinal-bishop Louis de Bourbon, 119; and cardinal Jacques-Davy du Perron, 119; and Catholic missionaries, 257; and censorship, 351; and Church Fathers, 158, 241, 243; and condemnation of comedies, authors, and actors, 355; as a conservative, French power, 21–22; criticism of, 291; and the divine right of kings, 21–22; and Don Juan (Molière), 182; in Don Quixote (Cervantes), 86; of the first four centuries, 49; foundational texts and principles of, 59; and freedom of speech, 37; human institutions of, 50–51, 57, 80; and Index librorum prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books), 36, 78, 160; and intolerance of humanism, 156; and introduction of printing, 45; and Latin, 73; and medieval doctrine, 47, 49; Montaigne as faithful to, 165; and paleo-Christian church, 66; and patronage of writers, 25; and Jacques Peletier du Mans, 120;and the philosophia Christi (philosophy of Christ), 49; power of, 8, 38, 42, 55, 74; and Protestant Reformation, 21; and relationship with state, 91; rituals of, 463; and Ronsard’s poetry, 133; and scholastic, medieval fusion of Aristotelian logic and Church doctrine, 49; in the seventeenth century, 36; and social order, 28; and spread of Luther’s ideas, 36; and teachings, 109; and theology, 49, 51, 57; of the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries, 49; and writings of Erasmus, 48; and written culture in the Middle Ages, 20, 25
Cid, Le (Corneille), 172, 174–75, 287
cinema: and L’Atlante (Vigo), 543; and “Beauty and the Beast” in Beaumont’s “Magasins,” 336; as a career, 28–29; and Marcel Carne’s Les enfants du paradis (The Children of Paradise), 442; and Chaplin’s films, 43, 548; and Cocteau’s film, 336; and Assia Djebar, 643; and Sergei Eisenstein, 546, 548, 551; and film Espoir: Sierra de Teruel, 548, 551; and French literature, 45, 296, 546–48, 550–51; and hierarchy of genres, 44; and Hôtel du Nord, 538; as a male domain, 31; and moving pictures, 46; in the 1930s, 535; and postwar film noirs, 543; and Jean Renoir’s La grande illusion, 622; and Ousmane Semene, 643; and social change, 551; and use of Céline’s Bardamu in Coup de torchon (A Clean Slate), 548
class: and aristocracy, 156, 157, 191, 203, 214–15, 221, 222, 231, 312, 320, 327, 344, 417, 419, 420, 527; and aristocracy in Le rouge et le noir (Stendhal), 417, 421–22; and aristocratic blood, 363; and aristocratic spaces, 312–13, 316, 317, 322, 381, 414, 428; and aristocratic values, 418, 432; and aristocratic writers, 504; and artisanal class, 361; and Bonaparte’s creation of nobility, 419, 420, 427–28; and bourgeoisie, 178, 180, 184, 191, 222, 255, 315, 438, 439, 441, 525–26; and bourgeois values, 206; and Burial at Ornans (Courbet), 466; and class consciousness, 549, 550; and class identity, 359, 420; and commoners in Switzerland, 246; and Communist Party agenda, 578; and Corsican nobility, 421; and different sectors of society, 180; and early modern caste system, 102, 363; and L’école des filles, 222; and European aristocracy, 374; and false noble identity, 424; and family relationships, 367; and feudal system, 121, 420; and Franks, 363; and The Game of Love and Chance, 358–59; and Gauls, 363; and high society, 177, 185, 377, 379, 381, 415, 416, 428, 429, 430, 518; and hoods of Limousin women, 255; and Julien in Le rouge et le noir (Stendhal), 425; and La Fontaine, 231, 255; and Lettres trouvés dans les portefeuilles d’émigrés (Charrière), 344; and lower classes, 353, 358, 359, 366, 367, 368, 442; and The Marriage of Figaro (Beaumarchais), 365, 366, 368–69; and middle class, 341, 368, 429, 442, 527; and Le noble (Charrière), 344; and noble ancestry required for army career, 364; and nobles, 98, 159, 203, 230, 246, 263, 340, 344, 346, 347, 356, 359, 363, 366, 419, 420; and noble titles, 418, 419, 424, 428, 567, 586; and Parisian upper class, 542, 549; and Le paysan parvenu (Marivaux), 314, 315; and Peers, 441; and poverty, 425; and proletariat, 550, 627; and protection of the court and aristocracy for philosophes, 376–79; and the Restoration, 420, 427–28; and royal patent, 418, 428; and Lucien de Rubempré in Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions), 427; and self-invention, 428, 429; and servants and masters in theater, 352–60; and seventeeth-century theater, 199; and sixteenth-century aristocratic society, 94; and Slave Island (Marivaux), 359–60; and social status in Candide (Voltaire), 303; and Staal-Delaunay’s Mémoires, 340; and La statue de sel (The Pillar of Salt) (Memmi), 643; and theater, 178, 199, 354, 358; in theater presentations, 442; and upper classes, 187, 191, 199, 335, 354, 358; and working class, 34, 539, 543, 549. See also monarchy; salons
classicism: Nicolas Boileau as voice of, 26, 281–82; and the century, 42; and Cicero’s ideal of homo humanus, 78–79; and class, 191; consolidation of, 29; French, 190–99, 209; and Gide’s modern classicism, 619; and moralists, 231; and national classics, 9; and neoclassicists, 40, 190, 275, 281, 284, 437, 439, 444, 445; and the Restoration, 40; and return to ancient sources, 79; and Romanticism, 438, 448; and Ronsard’s imitation of the Ancients, 116; and standards of appropriateness for genres, 78; and theorists’ authority, 40; universal rules of, 22; and values of the seventeenth century, 9, 12, 29, 39; and Vauclusian region, 564. See also Greek culture; Phèdre (Racine); Roman culture
Clélie (Scudéry), 215–216, 221
Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle, 7, 30, 521, 522, 529, 535
Collectanea (Erasmus), 47–48
Colloquia (Conversations) (Erasmus), 48, 54–55, 67
colonialism: and Algeria, 637–39, 642–43; and anticolonial writers, 643–44; and Britain and France in Quebec and India, 299; and Caribbean injustice, 583–84; and Caribbean islands, 637; and Aimé Césaire, 14, 575–76, 578, 580–81, 583–84, 591; and colonial North Africa in L’étranger, 14; and colonial wars, 299–300, 578; and colonies’ choice regarding government, 578–79; and conquest of Algeria, 637, 638–39; and dehumanization, 581; effects of, 591; and Et les chiens se taisent (And the Dogs Were Silent) (Césaire), 584; and European imperialism, 582, 592; and former French colonies, 641; and France’s colonies, 302, 575, 578–79, 591, 637–38; and French colonialism, 631, 636–40; and French language, 640–42; and Haiti, 585–86, 587, 637; and illiterate women’s stories, 640; and Maghreb region, 643; and master/slave duo in Une tempête (Césaire), 588; and “overseas departments,” 578, 637–38; and Saint-John Perse, 583; and situation after decolonization, 580, 587; and sub-Saharan Africa, 638; sympathy for victims of, 649; and Toussaint Louverture: La révolution française et le problème colonial (Césaire), 585–86; and violence, 641, 644; and Voyage au bout de la nuit (Céline), 550. See also racism
Comédie de Mont-de-Marsan (Marguerite de Navarre): and evangelism, 61; and humanism, 63; and shepherdess as ravished by God’s love, 64, 65
comedy: and Aristo
phanes’s Clouds, 81; Athenian comedy, 80; and autonomy, 356, 357; and The Barber of Seville (Beaumarchais), 361–62; and class and gender cross-dressing, 365; and The Colony (Marivaux), 359; and comedy of character, 184–85, 188–89; and commedia dell’arte, 352, 356; and divisio, 80, 81; and Erasmianism, 68; and family relationships, 355, 361, 366–67; and farce, 191, 351, 353; and fear of being cuckolded, 76; and The Game of Love and Chance, 357–59; and happiness, 361, 362, 365, 366, 367; and heroine’s sexual bliss, 175; and identification, 204; and immorality, 352; and L’impromptu de Versailles (The Versailles Impromptu), 173–74; and improving society, 352; and jokes, 81, 383, 387; and love, 354–61, 362, 365; and Marivaux, 352–61, 365; and marriage, 357–61, 365–68; and The Marriage of Figaro (Beaumarchais), 362–69; and modern situation comedy, 188; and Molière’s comedies, 8, 76, 173–74, 202, 222, 352–53, 586; and openly comic theater, 44; and physical comedy, 351, 353, 365; and Poetics (Aristotle), 442–43; popularity of, 353; and power, 361, 389; as a public mirror, 175, 352; and Rabelais’s comic epics, 52, 80; and relationship between servants and masters, 352–61, 368; and relaxation of standards of decorum, 80–81; and Pierre de Ronsard, 123; royal permission for, 362; and Scarron’s Roman comique, 33; and sentiment, 360–61; seriousness of, 81–82; and the seventeenth century, 8, 174; and Shakespeare, 305; and the sixteenth century, 80; and Slave Island (Marivaux), 359–60; themes of, 353; theory of, 174–75; vs. tragedy, 175; and utopian comedies, 359
Condillac, Etienne Bonnot de: and desperate Rousseau, 407; and Traité des sensations, 345; and writers’ role in society, 505
condition humaine, La (Malraux): and assassination, 544; and character Tch’en Ta Erh, 543–45, 547, 550; and cinematic montage, 546–48, 551; and context’s relationship with text, 534; and existential literature, 544–45, 547–48; and failed Communist Shanghai insurrection, 546, 547, 551; and free indirect speech, 544; and isolation, 544–45, 547, 550; and Kyo Gisors, 545, 547, 550; leftist critiques of, 549–50, 552; and mortality, 545, 547; and the Prix Goncourt, 537; and problematic heros, 547; and questions raised in relation to China, 546; and revolutionary action, 544, 545, 547, 550; and revolutionary vision, 546; and suicide, 545; and tragedy, 546, 547; and violence, 544
A History of Modern French Literature Page 80