A History of Modern French Literature

by Christopher Prendergast

  painting: and aesthetics, 278–79; and Leon Bonnat, 441; and Bosch and Brueghel paintings, 548–49; and Boucher, 321; and Burial at Ornans (Courbet), 466, 467 fig. 1; and celebrated painting Le verrou (Fragonard), 319; and Corinne au Cap Misène (Corinne at Cape Misenum) by Gérard, 330, 331–32; and Gustave Courbet’s realism, 466; and Jacques-Louis David, 331; of Eugène Delacroix, 439, 471, 477, 648–49; and English painting, 255; and Histoire de la peinture en Italie (The History of Painting in Italy), 445; and liberty, 439; and the nineteenth century, 7; and La peinture (Perrault), 277; by Picasso, 649; and portrait by La Tour, 374; and portraits in Le noble (Charrière), 344; and portraits of great men, 166; and “Manon” Roland, 341; and Van Gogh, 571

  Palissot, Charles: and accusations of plagiarism by Diderot, 374; and patrons of philosophes, 378–79; and play Les philosophes, 380, 387; and revenge on by Diderot, 384; work of, 381, 397

  Pantagruel (Rabelais): and abolishing of human institutions of the Church, 57; and the Bible, 56, 57–58; characters of, 56, 71, 72, 75–77, 83, 86–87; and education, 159; and Erasmus, 52, 56, 57, 58; and fabulous events, 84; and faith, 57; and fear of being cuckolded, 76–77; genre of, 56; and humanistic education, 56, 79; and ideal Christian prince, 56; and language, 71, 72, 73, 87; and marriage advice for Panurge, 75–77; as medieval and popular, 56; and mockery, 82; and the moral life, 56, 58; and Pantagruel, 71, 72, 76, 83, 84; and pantagruelism, 85–86; prequel and sequels to, 58, 71; and the Quart Livre Pantagruel, 67–68, 71, 86; and silent debate, 75; themes of, 56, 71, 83; and the Tiers livre, 75–77, 83, 85; and toleration of ambiguity, 87–88; and Utopia, 56, 57, 58, 83; in vernacular language, 53, 56; and vulgar style, 53; and war, 56–57, 67, 71

  Paris, France: academies in, 22, 117, 120, 577; in Alcools (Alcohols) (Apollinaire), 510; and Apollinaire’s series of conversations in poem, 548; archdiocese of, 176; and author Césaire, 577, 581; and Balzac’s hero Rastignac, 414–17; and Beaumarchais, 361; and Samuel Beckett, 14, 618, 619, 620; and the bildungsroman, 416–17, 420, 421; Emma Bovary’s interest in, 458; and André Breton, 554–56, 561; and Canal Saint-Martin, 538; as center of French culture, 22, 25, 42, 270; and centralizing tendency, 45; and the Collège de France, 50; and court in Sceaux, 340; and Cyrano de Bergerac, 230; and Delille’s funeral, 503; and the eighteenth century, 301–2, 353, 389; and Erasmus, 47, 55; and fashion, 266n2, 439–40; and figure of the philosophe, 375, 389; and francophone literature, 644, 645; and French language, 23; and Gassendi, 251; and Françoise de Graffigny, 346; Haussmann’s changes to, 470, 476; high society of, 185, 414–15, 431; and Hugo’s Hernani, 437; and humanism, 49, 50; and Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions) (Balzac), 428; and introduction of printing, 45; and Jolas’s Transition group, 619; and journal L’Etudiant Noir (The Black Student), 576; and jurisdiction over Marguerite’s court, 100; and La Bruyère, 230; and La Fontaine, 231, 254–55; and life of Mme de Staël, 332; major theaters of, 351, 441–42; and Marche aux Puces (flea market), 557; and Napoleon Bonaparte, 425; and nation’s affairs, 22; and Le neveu de Rameau (Rameau’s Nephew) (Diderot), 373, 382–83, 389; and opening of Phèdre, 191; and Pantagruel (Rabelais), 56, 72; and Paris Parlement, 372, 374; and Le paysan parvenu (Marivaux), 314; and philosophes, 339; power transfer from Versailles to, 33; and printing, 36; and public opinion, 288, 335; and public transportation system, 230; and publishing of Candide (Voltaire), 291; and publishing of Le neveu de Rameau (Diderot), 382; and realism, 416, 417; and review Cosmopolis, 496; and Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni, 343; and Romanticism, 437, 441–42, 446; and Rousseau’s books, 399, 403; and the sixteenth century, 3; size of cultured public of, 32; social scene of, 415–16, 420; and spleen, 470; and St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, 157; and subscription libraries, 34; and tale in newspaper Mercure Galant, 226; and theater, 351, 380; and La tragédie du roi Christophe (Césaire), 586; and Le spleen de Paris (Baudelaire), 476; unrest in, 372; and Voltaire, 292; and Voyage au bout de la nuit (Céline), 541, 542–43. See also Bastille; Sorbonne

  Parnasse contemporain, Le (The Contemporary Parnassus), 507

  Pascal, Blaise: and death, 236; death of, 245, 246; and defense of Antoine Arnauld, 241, 242–43, 245; and De l’ésprit géometrique, 232; and divine grace, 245, 247, 248; and efforts to convert libertines and skeptics, 244–45; as an engaged intellectual, 243–44; and fate of humanity, 247; and God, 239–40, 241, 244–45, 247; and humans’ desires, 244, 247; and illusions about oneself, 235; as inventor and designer, 230; and Lettres provinciales, 241–43; as a lone voice, 243–44; as a moralist, 230, 233; and origin of politics, 246–47, 248; Pensées of, 184, 244–47, 248; and power of imagination, 237, 246, 247; readership of, 243; and the seventeenth century, 168, 243; and theological and political issues, 243, 247–48; and writings on math and physics, 245. See also Pensées (Pascal)

  paysan parvenu, Le (Marivaux): and encounter between Jacob and Mme de Ferval, 314–15; and interiority, 315; and married life, 315; and the memoir-novel, 314; and the picaresque novel, 314, 315; and private spaces, 314–15, 317; and the psychological novel, 314

  peintre de la vie moderne, Le (The Painter of Modern Life) (Baudelaire), 474–75, 508

  Pensées (Pascal), 184; and apologies for Christian religion, 244; as a collection of reflections, 244, 245; as a defense of Christian faith, 545; fragmentary nature of, 245–46, 247, 248; and headings of reflections, 245, 247; and the human condition, 545; and imagination, 246, 247; and origin of politics, 246, 247; two copies of, 246, 247

  Pensées philosophiques (Diderot), 337, 372

  Pensées sur l’interpretation de la nature (Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature) (Diderot), 373

  père Goriot, le (Balzac): and hero Rastignac’s social ascent, 414–17, 429, 431; and Paris, 415–16, 420

  periodization, 15, 18

  Perrault, Charles: and aesthetics, 277, 278, 280, 281, 283; and the century, 15; and Contes de ma mere l’oye (Mother Goose’s Tales), 336; fairy tales of, 224, 225, 270, 281, 336; and geometric principles, 279; and immorality of classical tragedy, 287; and importance of intellectual design, 278–79; and literary and artistic criticism, 277; and literary criticism, 277, 278; and Louis XIV, 275; as a Modern, 8, 271, 272, 273, 274, 277–81, 283–84; and modern “method,” 279; and moral point of literature, 280, 281; and music, 279; and neoclassicism, 281; and Parallèle des anciens et des modernes (Parallel of the ancients and the moderns), 271, 273, 277, 278, 280; and poem “Le siècle de Louis Le Grand,” 270; and reason on top, 277, 278; religious epic of, 280–81; and Le siècle de Louis le Grand, 8; and theory of human progress, 273; and translation, 284

  Petrarch: and Canzone delle visioni (Song of Visions), 150–51; creation and destruction in work of, 151; cultural role of, 144; diversity of, 131; and Joachim du Bellay, 121–22, 148, 149, 150; and emptiness of earthly beauty, 150; imitations of, 69, 117, 121, 148, 149; and love poetry, 117, 123, 149; as a modern European poet, 4, 11; and Montaigne, 158; and Petrarchan sonnet, 4, 121, 123, 139, 148–49, 152, 500; and Pierre de Ronsard, 113, 117, 121, 122; and Tuscan dialect, 148; and Vauclusian region, 564; and versification, 150

  Phèdre (Racine): and Barthes’s critique, 205–6; and characters’ uncertainty, 200; and destiny, 193–94, 202; and divine agency, 192, 194–95; and early modern period, 7, 194; and Euripides’s plot, 192–93, 195, 197; and fate of Hippolytus, 194–95, 207; and French classicism, 190–91, 197; and heroine’s desire, 190, 192–96, 207, 208; and heroine’s tragedy, 195, 207, 208; and Hippolyte (Gilbert), 197; and identification, 207; and myth of Phaedra, 194–95, 202; and name of play, 208; and opening of in Paris, 191; and pagan gods, 192–93, 194, 196, 197–98; and passions, 194–98, 207; and Phèdre’s suicide attempt, 196; popularity of, 191; and speaking, 195–99; as a tragedy, 190–98, 205

  philosophe: and d’Alembert on relationship with patron, 377–78; and anti-philosophes, 387–88, 389; and atheism, 379; and autonomy as not important, 377; and eighteenth century Parisian culture, 375; and figure of in Le neveu de Rameau (Diderot), 385–89; and Lespinasse’s letters, 339; and Nou
veaux mémoires pour servir a l’histoire des Cacouacs (Moureau), 379; and the pauvre diable (poor devil), 384; and play Le café ou l’Ecossaise (Voltaire), 380–81; and play Les philosophes (Palissot), 380, 387; and poverty, 378, 381; and protection of the court and aristocracy, 376–79, 381; and rise of the anti-philosophes, 380–81; and salons, 381; and satire, 375, 381; as a sociable figure, 376, 377–78; as speaking truth to power, 375–76

  philosophy: and abstraction, 166, 167; aesthetic philosophy, 208; age of, 269; and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, 371, 377–78; and antiquity, 269–70; and Aristotle, 125, 207, 224, 234; and Henri Bergson, 525; and the body, 166; and Tommaso Campanella, 253; and Cartesian method, 155–56, 163, 168, 232; and Catholic faith, 337; and Christianity, 168, 233; and classical ideals, 167, 168, 229; and condemnation of torture, 164; and Contes philosophiques (Voltaire), 40; and corporeal existence, 251; and Descartes, 250–51, 276, 279; and Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes (Rousseau), 393; and divisio, 77, 80, 81, 82; and empiricism, 22, 39, 269, 295, 395, 409; and English philosophy and literature, 300; and Enlightenment, 405; and Epicureanism, 230, 261; and Essays (Montaigne), 155, 158, 159, 161–68, 393; and ethics, 155, 165–66; and European literature, 155; and existentialism, 41, 600; and fairy tales, 224; and free will, 183; and French thought, 22, 39, 49, 96, 460; and Gassendi, 250–51, 276; and Hegel, 208; and Hobbes, 86, 182, 247, 396; and human experience, 232; and humanism, 49, 64, 183; and human nature, 29, 43, 94, 110, 186–187, 188, 229, 230, 393, 395–96, 398, 407, 411; and human rationality, 224–25; and ideal of poet as seer and intellectual, 116–17; and illusions about oneself, 235; and immanence, 171, 172–73, 247; and Italian Giorgio Agamben, 446; and Kant, 208, 378; and knowledge, 75, 155, 251, 378; and Etienne de La Boétie, 160; and learning from experience, 304; and Leibniz’s divine order, 308; and Lettres philosophiques (Voltaire), 294; and libertines, 182, 229–32, 234; and Lisbon earthquake, 297; and literature, 286–87; and John Locke, 295, 396; and love and friendship, 265; and Marguerite de Navarre, 97; and materialism, 182, 184, 261, 325, 409–10; and maxim ambulo ergo sum, 250–51, 261, 266; and metaphysics, 171, 234, 266, 373; and modern philosophy, 155–56; and modern science, 251; and modes of philosophical narrative, 93, 96; and Montaigne, 130, 155–58, 159, 161–68, 257, 393; and Montesquieu, 294, 295; and moral and religious beliefs as relative, 257; and moralists, 229–34; moral, 49, 158, 168, 229; and natural laws, 43, 327, 348, 396; and natural man, 393–94, 396, 398, 405–6; and Le neveu de Rameau (Rameau’s Nephew) (Diderot), 383; and novel Le triomphe de la verité ou histoire de M. de La Villete (Leprince de Beaumont), 337; and optimism, 292, 296, 297, 298, 301; and Pantagruel (Rabelais), 71; and Pascal, 168; and pessimism, 627; and philosopher Raymond Sebondus, 159; and philosophes, 294, 375–76; and the philosophia Christi (philosophy of Christ), 48–49; and La philosophie dans le boudoir (Philosophy in the Bedroom) (Sade), 324–26; and philosophical poetry, 113, 130; and poetry, 125, 277–78; and positivism, 6, 22, 40; and postmodernism, 156; and power, 168; and power of imagination, 235, 237; and problem of evil, 296, 297; and the “Province of the Philosophers,” 253; and Pyrrhonism of Sextus Empiricus, 157; and Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, 270, 272–73; and rational thought, 43, 168, 269, 273, 277, 373–74; and reason, 232, 237, 244, 269, 270, 273, 277, 376, 505; and revolutionary disenchantment, 172; and the sciences, 278, 396; and the seventeenth century, 8, 33, 43, 229, 234, 266; and shaping of French culture, 375; and skepticism, 157, 159, 168, 230, 304; and social and political order, 236, 351, 398; and social engagement, 167–68; and state of nature, 393, 394–98, 406, 411; and Stoics, 165; and thought of Montesquieu, Vico, and Hume, 272; and Traité des sensations (Condillac), 345; and trust in human will, 83; and truth claims, 155, 251; and truths of living, 234, 408–9; and Turkish philosopher in Candide (Voltaire), 305–6; and virtue, 159, 165, 167; and work of Cyrano de Bergerac, 260; and the world of the everyday, 167–68, 234; and writing in the Enlightenment, 351. See also Aristotle; Diderot, Denis; existentialism; Foucault, Michel; humanism; Montaigne, Michel de; nature; Rousseau, Jean-Jacques

  philosophy dans le boudoir, La (Philosophy in the Bedroom) (Sade), 324–26, 327

  Pindar: cultural role of, 144; and lyric poetry, 125; and Ronsard’s odes, 124

  Pizan, Christine de: and defense of women’s rights, 29; and representation of women, 8

  Plato: and denunciation of Homer, 277; ideas of, 171; and The Republic, 277, 280, 287, 396

  Pléiade poets: La deffence et illustration de la langue francoyse as manifesto for, 147; and Joachim du Bellay, 4, 137–52, 138; and imitation of the poets of Greco-Roman antiquity, 138; and king and nation, 68; and the Merchant Taylors’ School, 152; and mission to establish sonnet, 139; and Petrarchan sonnet, 149; poets of, 137; and the Renaissance, 68, 69, 137; and the Romantics, 43; and Pierre de Ronsard, 4, 125, 137, 138; and women writers, 29

  Poe, Edgar Allen, 470, 471, 477

  Poetics (Aristotle): and anagnorisis, 224; and classical rules for theater, 442–43; and comedy, 442; and compassion and horror, 195; and imitation, 144–45, 443; and three unities, 171; and tragedy, 224, 442

  poetry: and the Aeneid (Virgil), 66, 73; and aesthetics, 279–80; and Alexandrian poets, 138; and ancient poetry as flawed to Perrault, 280; and Les antiquitez de Rome (The Antiquities of Rome), 149–50, 151; and Aristotle, 125, 282; and Canzone delle visioni (Song of Visions), 150–51; and Christian verse epic, 280; and classical poetry, 68, 78, 114–17, 162; and collage and paste-up poetics, 162; and collection Les armes miraculeuses (Miraculous Weapons) (Césaire), 584; and Vittoria Colonna, 91; and Gontran Damas, 577; and decasyllabic line, 115–16, 118, 126, 128, 151; versus dialectical logic, 49; and Discours sur l’ode (Boileau), 284; and Etienne Dolet, 100; and English blank verse, 119; and free verse, 4, 484; French language as vehicle for, 23, 68; and geometric principles of the Moderns, 279–80; and Edmund Gosse, 501; and Greco-Latin epic hexameter, 127; and Homeric and Virgilian epic, 123; and Homeric world, 275, 276; and ideal of poet as seer and intellectual, 116–17; and imagination, 504; and imitation, 144–46, 285; and impressionism, 483; and indecency, 77–78; and influence of Petrarch, 4, 117; and influence of Poe on Baudelaire, 470; and intuition, 284, 288; and Italian poetry, 140, 152; and Gustave Kahn, 484; and Etienne de La Boétie, 160; and La Fontaine, 252; and Latin poets, 274; and Lettres à sa femme (Letters to Madame de La Fontaine), 260; and love and peace, 124–25; love, 117, 121, 123, 124, 126; lyric, 21, 39, 113, 117, 125, 506; as a male domain, 31; of Marguerite de Navarre, 59–61, 64–65, 92, 97, 101; of Clement Marot, 65–67, 117; and meter, 21, 126, 128, 151, 477; Montaigne’s love of, 158; and morals of the ancients, 285–286; and music, 113, 116, 121, 122, 124, 125–28, 270, 501–2; and national literary culture, 274; and Noigrandres group of Brazilian poets, 510–11; and odes, 113, 114, 115–16, 117, 121, 123, 125, 126, 284; and odes of Horace, 78, 114–15; and order, clarity and correctness, 278; and origins of poetic language, 472; and pastoral poems, 118–19; and Jacques Peletier du Mans, 120; and Petrarchan poems, 121, 158, 500; and philosophical poetry, 113, 116–17, 123, 125, 297; and Pléiade poets’ promotion of the sonnet, 139; and poetic theory, 567; and poet’s role, 503, 506–8; and political poetry, 113, 132, 139; popularity of, 27; and prosodic and rhythmic forms, 116, 476–77; and “pure” poetry, 499–500; and Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, 277; and relation with political good, 270; and Renaissance poets, 3, 21; as revolutionary, 470; and rhythmic forms, 3, 127, 501–2; and Romanticism, 438, 441, 470, 507; and Leopold Senghor, 575; and shape of alexandrine, 475; and sonnet form, 148–151, 152, 206, 500–501; and Sonnets (Shakespeare), 152; and Spanish poetry, 140, 152; and the sublime, 283–86; and surnaturalisme (supernaturalism), 471, 474; and surrealists, 536; on tombstones, 107; and translation from Latin, 139; of the twentieth century, 162; and vanity, 264; and vers impair, 478–80; and Western tradition, 122. See also Boileau, Nicolas; Césaire, Aimé; epic poems; French poetry; Marguerite de Navarre; Petrarch

  politics: and absolu
tism, 36, 43, 263; and Action Française movement, 535, 549; and Algerian Communist Party, 536; and Algerian conflicts with Islamists, 641; and anticolonialist concept of négritude, 575–76; and Aristotle, 125; and attack on democracy, 592; and authors as members of society, 25, 28, 113, 165–66, 376; and battle of Hernani (Hugo), 440; and Caribbean islanders’ choice regarding government, 579; and Catholic Church, 156; and censorship, 36–38; and Aimé Césaire, 577–80; and Chiang Kai-shek versus Comintern, 544; and chief minister Richelieu, 221; and Chinese Communists, 544; and coalition of European monarchies, 425; and communism in Voyage au bout de la nuit (Céline), 538; and La condition humaine (Malraux), 546–47; and conquest via expeditions, 256–57; and Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Révolution française (Staël), 333; and crises of the 1930s, 534–35; and Cyrano de Bergerac, 263; and Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne (Gouges), 334; and democratic participation, 43; and different governmental systems, 419; and “Discours sur la négritude” (“Discourse on Negritude”) (Césaire), 575–76; and elections of 1824, 445–46; and Eluard in Communist Party, 562; and epic poetry, 132; and Essays (Montaigne), 158; and European nationalism, 640; and failed Communist Shanghai insurrection, 546, 547, 550, 551; and fascist values, 627; and French and Haitian revolutions compared, 581; and French Communist Party, 535, 549, 578, 629; and French Resistance, 562, 564, 631; and the Fronde, 178, 203, 263; and Gargantua (Rabelais), 58; and Girondin government, 340; and Hobbes’s version of man as a wolf to other men, 247; and importance of salons, 221; and issues of translation and interpretation, 74; and La Fontaine, 263–64; and Lamartine as minister of foreign affairs, 505–6; and leftist coalition Popular Front, 552; and leftist critiques of novels, 549; and The Leviathan (Hobbes), 182; and literature, 151–52, 534–35, 549–50; and Machiavelli’s thought, 158, 173; and Marie Antoinette as Queen, 333–34; and Marguerite de Navarre, 91, 96, 97; and marriage, 99; and The Marriage of Figaro (Beaumarchais), 368; and Marxism, 630; and modern conception of self, 29; and Montaigne, 165–66; and moral doctrine, 233; and Napoleon Bonaparte, 419–23; and the 1960s, 85; and novels, 549; and Pascal’s Pensées, 246–48; and persecution, 306; and pessimism of the aristocracy, 203; and philosophes, 381; and poet’s role, 28, 505, 506; and political change, 43; and political engagement, 155, 376; and political legitimacy, 419, 420; and political passions, 204; and political poetry, 113, 132, 139; and political rhetoric, 159; and political satire, 123, 586; and power, 33, 38, 423, 436, 587, 588; and Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, 270, 285; and rebirth in Renaissance, 137; and republicanism, 288, 470; and the Restoration, 426, 432–33; and revolutionary action, 597; and revolutionary disenchantment, 172; and Revolution as heroine of novel, 534; and revolution of 1848, 466, 470; and rise of Louis-Napoleon, 506; and “Manon” Roland’s Mémoires particuliers, 341; and Roman culture, 275; Rousseau’s programs for, 398; and salons as havens for men of letters, 377; and the Seven Years’ War, 299–300, 374; and sexual politics, 102; and social contract, 247; and socialist principles, 28; and Soviet communism, 596, 621–22, 631; and stable state, 122, 178; and surrealism, 560; and Tartuffe (Moliere), 178, 179; and territorial expansion, 256; and the Theologico-Political Treatise (Spinoza), 182; and theory of human progress, 272; and La tragédie du roi Christophe (Césaire), 586; and training for public service, 156; and uncertainty, 427; and universally valid laws, 351; and violence, 596; and Wars of Religion, 156–57, 166; and works of Sartre and Camus, 597; and writings of Erasmus, 48. See also Césaire, Aimé; monarchy; nation; state