A History of Modern French Literature

by Christopher Prendergast

  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