A History of Modern French Literature
Page 87
Pope, Alexander, 271, 296
Port-Royal group, 8, 245
Portugal, 256–57
Princesse de Clèves, La (Lafayette): anonymous publishing of, 217–18; aristocratic conversation in, 222; aristocratic families in, 214–15; and attack by critic Valincour, 213; and central character’s interiority, 217, 220; central scene of, 212, 213, 214; and characters’ emotions, 212, 216, 217, 220; and court culture, 214–15, 220, 223, 226; and drawing on romance tradition, 219–20; and eavesdropping culture, 212, 220, 222–23; fame of, 202, 212–13; form of, 215, 216–17; impersonal narrative of, 217; and newspaper Mercure Galant, 213, 226; and pessimism, 203; plot of, 213–14, 216–17, 218, 220, 223; and public consumption of private conversation, 212, 213, 218; readership of, 212–15, 216, 218; and role of gossip, 214, 218, 220; and surveillance scenes, 218–19, 220; and vraisemblance (verisimilitude), 225; and women’s conversation, 223; and women’s writing, 109, 217
printing: and authors’ wages, 25; and censorship, 26, 36–37; and chapbooks, 33–34; and clandestine printing of Candide (Voltaire), 292; and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, 37; and Estienne dynasty, 36; and Gutenberg, 35; introduction of, 21, 31, 35, 45; invention of, 9; and licenses required to print, 26; and poetic meters, plays, and novels, 36; and printing press, 59; and printing revolution of 1830s, 35; and Renaissance scholars, 35; and rise of books on moral doctrine, 234; and runs for novels, 27; in the sixteenth century, 32; and spread of Luther’s ideas, 36; and standardization of language, 35–36; state control of, 26; and technologies, 27, 35
Prisons, Les (Marguerite de Navarre), 59, 61, 64–65
Prix Goncourt, 536–37, 539–40, 551–52
prosody: details of, 5; forms of, 3, 20, 123, 126; and Pierre de Ronsard, 4, 113, 122, 123; rules of, 122. See also genre
Protestantism: and Lyons, 36; and Protestant orthodoxy, 67; and Protestant Reformation, 257; and support of England, 157; and tension between Protestants and Catholics, 160–61; and wars between Protestants and Catholics, 156–57, 215
Proust, Marcel: and Académie française, 634; and comparisons with Rousseau, Montaigne, and Saint-Simon, 518; and Contre Sainte-Beuve, 522; death of, 517, 518, 535; and distinction between voluntary and involuntary memory, 523–24; essays and collection of, 519; and exploration of consciousness, 517–18; and fictional painter Elstir, 598; and French prose, 13, 536; and historical time, 18; and indecency, 521; and A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), 13, 514–18, 520–30; and A l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleur (In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower), 536; and main character’s homosexuality, 521; and male homosexuality, 522; and metafiction, 521; as model for Beckett, 626–27; and music, 612; and narrative experiments, 600, 611; and novel’s form, 519; and “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire” (Benjamin), 524–25; and passage of time, 522–23; and pessimism, 627; and preface “Sur la lecture” (“On Reading”), 520; and the Prix Goncourt, 536; and social realities, 45; society columns of, 515–16; and translation of Ruskin’s works, 519–20
publishing industry: and advent of Internet, 38; and alliance with writers, 35; and authors’ copyrights, 25, 27; and book trade supervised by royal officials, 36; and censorship, 26; and centralizing tendency, 36; and Césaire’s Présence Africaine, 577; and clandestine printing of Candide (Voltaire), 292; and the comte d’Argenson, 372–73; and different genres, 44; and e-forms of books, 46; and eighteenth-century book market, 292; and eighteenth-century publishers, 9; and Estienne dynasty, 36; and expansion of reading public, 9, 27, 31–35; and Pierre Gruget’s Heptameron, 93; and indecency, 514–15; Jesuits in, 373; and A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), 514–16, 518; and the libraires’ offer of editorship to Diderot, 372; and licenses to print, 26; and literary market, 44; and new careers with the rise of the middle class, 26; and Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF), 514, 515, 516, 518, 537, 538–39, 619; and obscenity, 222; and printing, 9, 21, 25, 26, 35; and the Prix Goncourt, 537; as a production line, 29; and readership, 31, 43, 44, 46; and rise of the Internet, 45; and scholar-printer-publishers, 36; and technologies, 9, 35; and Voltaire’s Candide, 291, 292; and women’s writing, 345–47; and work of Pierre Boiastuau, 92. See also Gallimard; printing
Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns: and the ancien regime, 440; and ancient literature as battleground, 286, 288, 447; and the Ancient party, 275, 282, 283, 287; and ancient values, 273, 280; and arguments of Diderot and Rousseau, 286–87; and artistic progress, 287; Nicolas Boileau as central figure of, 270–71, 272, 274–76, 281–85; and classical verse tragedy, 270–71; and didacticism, 284–85; and the eighteenth century, 272, 288; and emergence of aesthetics, 277, 288; and English debate, 271–72; and French opera, 270; and geometric principles of the Moderns, 279–80; and Greco-Roman divide, 275; and Homeric Greece as apex for Ancients, 273, 274, 275; and literary history, 275, 288; and modernity, 275; and Modern party, 273, 275, 283, 284–85, 287, 288; and Parallèle des anciens et des modernes (Perrault), 271; and Charles Perrault, 271, 272, 274, 277–81, 283, 284, 285; and poem “Le siècle de Louis le Grand,” 270; and public opinion, 288; and reading public, 287–88; and relation of literature with history, 272; and relation of literature with the philosophical good, 270; and role of literature and the arts, 277, 288; and split between humanities and sciences, 276–77; and the sublime, 283, 285, 286; and support for values of clarity, reason and moral propriety, 281, 282; and Swift’s satire The Battle of the Books, 271–72; and theory of human progress, 272–73; and the twentieth century, 610
quarrels: of the Ancients and the Moderns, 8–9, 16, 30, 40, 270–88, 440, 445; and Le Cid (Corneille), 172, 287; and De l’Allemagne (On Germany) (Mme de Staël), 12; and Diderot at center of culture war, 375; and discussion about La Princesse de Clèves (Lafayette), 213; and hierarchy of genres, 39; and literary self-consciousness, 9; and Molière’s L’école des femmes, 287; and morality of theater, 175–76, 178; and pastoral and satirical as losers, 39; and poem “Le siècle de Louis le Grand” (Perrault), 270; and the quarrel du Roman de la Rose, 8, 29; and the querelle des amyes, 29; and the querelle des bouffons, 379; and Rousseau’s problem with Hume, 399; and spread of from Paris, 22; and superiority of noble and heroic, 39; and Tartuffe (Molière), 287; and verse over prose, 39
Quatre premiers livres des odes (Ronsard): of 1550, 121, 122; First Book of, 116, 123, 126; and France’s wealth and power, 121; and lyric poetry, 113; and odes of Horace, 114–15; success of, 114; third book of, 126
Quebec, Canada: and authors, 637; Britain and France in, 299; and language choice, 24; as part of francophone world, 637, 640–41
Rabelais, François, 56; and (anti)monastic community in Gargantua, 83, 95; and the body, 166; and character of Panurge, 77, 86–87; and Christianity, 80, 83; as a comic author, 51–52, 71, 76, 80, 86; death of, 68, 71, 78; and divisio, 82; as a doctor, 25, 71; and education in Pantagruel and Gargantua, 159; education of, 53, 78; enemies of, 67, 100; and Erasmus’s influence, 52, 59, 62, 63, 68, 78; as evangelical, 62, 63; and the Gothic world, 83, 84; as a Hellenist, 53, 78; and the Heptameron (Marguerite de Navarre), 102; and human institutions of the Church, 66, 80; and humanism, 62, 63, 83, 156; and human will, 83, 86–87; and irony, 58; and issues of translation and interpretation, 75; and language, 83–84; and letter to Erasmus, 53; misogynist elements of, 85; and modern elements, 85, 88; and pantagruelism, 85–88; and polyglossia, 11, 84; and popular culture, 62–63; and prose style, 102, 152; and the Quart Livre Pantagruel, 58, 67–68, 71; and relationship with Marguerite de Navarre, 100; and Renaissance evangelism, 63; and ribald epics, 52; and road to modernity, 18, 19; and satire, 66; scholarly works of, 53; and seriousness of works, 81–82; and Sorbonne’s banning of books, 78; and toleration of ambiguity, 85, 87–88; and translations of works, 72, 74; and Wars of Religion, 7; writing style of, 62–63, 71–72. See also Gargantua (Rabelais); Pantagruel (Rabelais)
race: and anticolonialist concept of négritude, 575–76, 647; and Caribbean blacks, 584, 647; and journal L’Etudiant Noir (The Black St
udent), 576; and problems, 45; varieties of, 395. See also negritude; racism; slavery
Racine, Jean: and alexandrine verse form, 126, 205–6; as an Ancient, 9, 205, 209n2, 271; and aposiopesis, 200; and Aristotelian tradition, 207; and Barthes’s critique, 195, 205–6; and Britannicus, 201–2; and characters’ motivations, 205; and characters’ naturalness, 198–99, 205, 206, 208, 233; cultural role of, 505; and destiny, 205; and divine agency, 192, 194; and emotional speech, 200, 201, 202; as ennobled, 26; as France’s foremost tragedian, 191; and French classicism, 209; and French language, 619; and guilt, 196, 205; heroes of, 203, 207; and human will, 193–94; and identification, 202, 204, 207, 208; and Jansenism, 193, 203; and job of royal historiographer, 191; and mindset of his time, 191; as modern in his day, 191, 205; and myth as source, 192, 194–95, 202; and pagan gods in plays, 192–95, 205; and Phèdre, 9, 190–95, 197, 199–202, 205, 207–9; plots of, 206; and preface “Sur la lecture” (“On Reading”) (Proust), 520; and representations of passions, 191, 194, 195–96, 201–5, 206, 207–9; and Romantic manifesto Racine and Shakespeare (Stendhal), 190; and seventeeth-century Christian theatergoers, 192; and tragedy, 204, 204–9, 536; verse of, 206
Racine et Shakespeare (Stendhal), 190, 191, 444, 445
racism: and analysis of Caribbean racism, 581; and colonialism, 581–82; and dehumanization, 576, 581; effects of, 591; and imperial expansion, 575
reading public: and anglophone reader, 190; and chapbooks, 33–34; and the common reader, 1–2; composition of, 33, 34, 35, 43; and demand for emotion, 40; and demand for fiction, 229, 240; and divisions of readers, 31; expansion of, 9, 27, 34, 35, 229, 240; industrial working class as market for, 34; liberal views of, 38–39; and literacy rates, 32, 33, 34; and literary and theatrical quarrels, 271, 287; and Pascal’s letters, 243; and posterity, 516–17; and La Princesse de Clèves (Lafayette), 212–15; and readers of Candide (Voltaire), 291, 292; and reception theorists, 32; and salon speech, 222; in the seventeenth century, 33, 203–5, 229, 240, 282; in the sixteenth century, 32; and values of honnêteté, 33; and Voltaire’s Candide, 291–92, 294; and writing on practical ways of life, 229, 240
realism: and Balzac, 451, 466; and bildungsroman, 420, 429; in Don Quixote (Cervantes), 86; and expansion of reading public, 34; and French literature, 415–418; and French narrative, 102, 466; and importance of language, 466–67; and Madame Bovary (Flaubert), 451–68; and the nineteenth-century novel, 7, 465–68; and painter Courbet’s realism, 466; as a radical concept, 465–66; and Reformist theology, 110; and role of literature, 41, 465; and Scarron’s Roman comique, 33; and sensual uses of the body parts, 463; and Stendhal’s aesthetics, 426; and the Universal Exposition of 1855, 466; and women writers, 31; and work of Flaubert, 451–68; and Zola, 451
religion: and actors as subject to excommunication, 176; and the “Affair of the Placards” by Swiss radicals, 100; and Algerian conflicts with Islamists, 641; and Arabic as sacred language, 641; and atheism, 230, 241, 373; and authority of Church teaching, 182; and authors as members of society, 25, 80, 94, 230, 239–40, 373; and Marie de Beaumont as educator, 336–37; and belief in God, 44, 57, 60, 63, 64, 94, 240, 244–45; and belief in pagan gods, 194–95; and the Bible, 50, 52, 53, 55, 73–74, 498; and Emma Bovary’s readings, 455; and the cabal of the devout (Company of the Holy Sacrament), 181; and Catholic Church, 74, 114; and Catholicism, 22, 66, 67–68, 73, 230, 484; and Catholic missionaries, 257; and censorship, 36–37, 372, 373; and Christian environment in France, 229; and Christianity, 52, 54, 79–80, 233, 244, 296; and Christian sects and heresies, 466; and Christian verse epic, 280–81; and chronology in the Christian era, 18; and clash between moral philosophy and scholastic theology, 49; and Colloquia (Conversations) (Erasmus), 54–55; and Comédie de Mont-de-Marsan, 64; conflicts in, 21, 67–68, 74, 91, 93, 156, 160–61, 215; and convents, 361, 368, 373; and the Council of Trent, 156; and Counter-Reformation, 86, 230; and creationism in the U.S., 297; and creatures of God, 254; and criminal character of Vautrin, 430; and cruelty of zealots, 164; and the Crusades, 257; and debate over quietism, 30; and destiny, 193–94; and Diderot’s Encyclopédie, 374; and dispute between Calvinists and Catholics, 51; and divine Creator, 171, 297; and divine Providence, 296–97; and Don Juan, 180–84; and du Bellay’s metaphor for literature, 146–47; and Enlightenment, 337, 351; and Les Etats et Empires de la Lune (The States and Empires of the Moon), 260, 262; and Les Etats et Empires du Soleil (The States and Empires of the Sun), 253, 260; and evangelism, 57, 61, 62–63, 66, 67, 110; and execution of Lutherans, 66; and exiled papacy in Avignon, 149; and existence of God, 296, 297, 304–5, 308; and faith, 94, 108, 184, 230, 337, 341, 374, 423, 545; and the Fall, 478; and female mysticism, 61; and the French Church, 21–22; and French Renaissance, 49; and French Revolution, 43; and Gargantua (Rabelais), 58, 59, 62; and God as no longer center of universe, 231; and God in Don Juan (Molière), 182; and God in his place, 297; and God/Jupiter, 129; and the gods, 20, 129, 192–94; and grace of God, 60, 62, 63, 66, 109, 193, 241, 245, 247; and the Heptameron (Marguerite de Navarre), 95, 102, 108–9; and Victor Hugo, 506; and human institutions of the Church, 50–51, 57, 59; and human will, 193–94; and humor, 68; and ideal of poet as seer and intellectual, 116; and identification of Nature with God, 118; and immortality, 260; and inquisitions, 68; and Islam, 634–35, 641; and issues of translation and interpretation, 73–75; and Jansenism, 193, 203; and Jesuit missionaries, 257; and Jesuit priests, 241, 243; and Jesuits’ attacks on Diderot, 374; and Judaism, 51; and Judeo-Christian antiquity, 50; and Judgment Day for Rousseau, 403; and Julien in Le rouge et le noir (Stendhal), 421, 422, 423, 429; as king as God’s surrogate in defense of secular society, 179–80; and Leibniz’s divine order, 308; and Lettres à sa femme (Letters to Madame de La Fontaine) (La Fontaine), 255; and libertines, 229, 230; and Lisbon earthquake, 297; and literary history, 43, 266; and love, 57, 62, 66–67, 236; and Lutheranism, 50, 61, 62, 66, 68; and monastic life, 83; and Montaigne, 165–66; and Moses, 505, 507; and original sin, 231, 236, 340; and paganism in poetry and the arts, 288; and Pantagruel (Rabelais), 56, 67–68; and philosophes, 375, 381; and the philosophia Christi (philosophy of Christ), 48–49; and poems of Marguerite de Navarre, 60–61; and poetry, 60–61, 506, 508; and Port-Royal group, 8; and power, 94; and printing of works, 32, 35, 35–36; and Les Prisons (Marguerite de Navarre), 65; and problem of evil, 296, 297; and proposals for Reform, 100; and prosecution for possession of condemned works, 100; and Protestantism, 156–157; and Protestant orthodoxy, 67; and Protestant Reformation, 21, 32, 35, 36, 74, 97, 100, 257; and Providence, 297, 298; and Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, 285–86, 287; and the Quart Livre Pantagruel (Rabelais), 67–68; and reason, 245; and reformers, 191; and the representation of the “Other,” 257; and Ronsard’s poetry, 132–34; and rule of St. Benedict, 83; and salvation, 51, 64, 193, 241; and scholastic theology, 47, 49; and secularism, 173; and seventeenth-century Christian theatergoers, 192; and Spinoza’s critique of holy writ, 173; and spread of Luther’s ideas, 36; and tension between Protestants and Catholics, 160–61; and territorial expansion, 257; and theological disagreement, 157; and theological power, 233; and the Theologico-Political Treatise (Spinoza), 182; and theology, 16, 35, 39, 47, 48–52, 56, 59, 61, 64, 97, 110, 230, 234, 241, 242, 297; and the Torah, 498; and translation into vernacular languages, 73–74; and translation of Le miroir de l’âme pécheresse, 101; and violence, 74, 79; and Voltaire’s skepticism about religious belief, 294; and war, 57; and writings of Erasmus, 48–49. See also Augustine, Saint; Bible; Church; Erasmus; Pensées (Pascal); Sorbonne; Wars of Religion
Renaissance: and antiquity as writers’ model, 151–52, 195, 269, 272; and beginnings of in Italy, 20, 93; and Boccaccio’s Decameron, 93; and the century, 42; and clash between moral philosophy and scholastic theology, 49; and classical antiquity, 20, 49, 56, 68, 78–79, 138–39, 157; and classical ideals, 167; and conquest, 250; and criticism, 39; and cultural encounter, 250; and deference to divine creator, 43; and depictions of emotion, 206; and Joachim du Bellay,
7, 137–52; and duties to God and king, 21; and English Renaissance, 152, 167; and Erasmus, 49, 51, 53, 54, 59, 66, 67, 68, 78; and Essays (Montaigne), 156; and evangelism, 54, 61–63, 66, 67, 110; and the “first Renaissance,” 51, 54; and French Renaissance, 49, 51, 91, 141, 148, 149, 151, 152; and fusion of classical learning with Christian texts, 49; and the Heptameron (Marguerite de Navarre), 97; and history of French literature, 11, 14, 18, 62; and humanism, 78–80, 158, 159, 167, 282; and ideals of courtly love and honor, 21; and imitations of Petrarch, 148–49; Italian foundation of, 148–49; and Italian Renaissance, 152, 199; and languages of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, 56; and Marguerite de Navarre, 101, 110; and modernity, 15–16, 56; and Montaigne, 102, 156, 160; and morality, 233; poets of, 3, 68–69, 101; and prose writers, 102; and Rabelais, 84, 102; and religious and philosophical oppositions, 49; and the Renaissance man, 116; and role of the face, 166, 167; and Romanticism, 438; and scientific exploration, 250; and second Renaissance, 68–69; and separation of Christian and secular influences, 68; and sixteenth century France, 11, 49; and “the age of discovery,” 250; and Theatre for Worldlings (van der Noot), 152; and travel writing, 3, 250; in the twelfth century, 21; and unfinished narratives, 102; and usage of term by Jules Michelet, 137; and the word “Gaul,” 153n2