Pierre Saint-Amand - The Libertines Progress: Seduction in the Eighteenth-Century French Novel
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The Libertines Progress: Seduction in the Eighteenth-Century French Novel
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The Libertine's Progress : Seduction in the Eighteenth-century French Novel
author
:
Saint-Amand, Pierre.
publisher
:
University Press of New England
isbn10 | asin
:
0874516862
print isbn13
:
9780874516869
ebook isbn13
:
9780585295619
language
:
English
subject
French fiction--18th century--History and criticism, Seduction in literature, Sex in literature.
publication date
:
1994
lcc
:
PQ637.S43S2513 1994eb
ddc
:
843/.5093538
subject
:
French fiction--18th century--History and criticism, Seduction in literature, Sex in literature.
Page iii
The Libertine's Progress
Seduction in the Eighteenth-Century French Novel
Pierre Saint-Amand
Translated by Jennifer Curtiss Gage
Page iv
Brown University Press Published by University Press of New England, Hanover, NH 03755 1994 by Pierre Saint-Amand All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 CIP data appear at the end of the book
Page v
CONTENTS
Foreword
By Ren Girard
vii
Acknowledgments
xv
Introduction: The Mirrored Bedroom
3
1. Sorceresses
Of Coquetry: Marivaux, The Virtuous Orphan, or the Life of Marianne, Countess of***
17
Poison: Prvost, Manon Lescaut
35
Forbidden Liaisons: Diderot, The Nun
50
2. Initiations
The Seductive Parasite: Marivaux, The Upstart Peasant
71
The Unquiet Seducer: Crbillon, The Wayward Head and Heart
81
3. Diabolos
The Power of Evil: Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses
97
Page vi
Gonadology: Sade, Juliette
114
Deadly Quadrille: Goethe, Elective Affinities
130
Exit: Goethe, Faust
144
Notes
149
Index of Names
165
Page vii
FOREWORD
Among the distinctive achievements of modern French culture, none is greater, I believe, than a certain type of essay.... No, I am not thinking of Montaigne. His exuberance and capriciousness are marvellous, but the works I have in mind are different.
The French often refer to them as essais classiques, with the stress on the second word, to emphasize these traits, precisely, for which the founder of the genre is not especially notedself-discipline, simplicity, and, above all, singleness of purpose.
The classical label is not intended to suggest that the essai classique is historically rooted in the so-called classical age. It really comes later. Its great period begins with the nineteenth century and is not over yet. This golden age coincides with the reign of nihilism. The authors of these essays are no nihilists, however. In a world where thinking is disdained unless it can be turned into money or political propaganda, they celebrate and cultivate apparently "useless" ideas, although in a highly selective fashion. Ideas should never be celebrated en masse, as if all of them were necessarily equal. This attitude is the benevolent side of nihilism, and it is just as bad as an open contempt for all ideas.
Many people try to escape nihilism by retreating into the past through the sheer force of nostalgia, but it cannot be done and they become bitter. The authors of classical essays successfully escape nihilism. They are not particularly nostalgic or even hostile to the world in which they live. They understand its historical raison d'tre too well.
Page viii
Unlike most people around them, they see nihilism as a particular creed that they cannot espouse. In a certain sense, therefore, they are more nihilistic than everybody else, but in another sense they are not. They believe in the power not of ideas in general but of some very specific ideas. It is not a mater of faith with them but of experience. They think that they have personally experienced the power of these ideas.
These ideas, they have discovered, generate too much coherence and significance, in too many areas, to be treated as ordinary. Exciting and even exhilarating as this discovery may be, it is not mystical in the slightest. It is an intellectual and therefore eminently communicable experience.
All real ideas, however, are somewhat complex and delicate. In order to be fully appreciated and evaluated, they demand a quality of attention that, sadly enough, books no longer command in our world, even in academic circles. There are too many of them, perhaps. Paradoxically, the devaluation of language leads to a monstrous proliferation of books.
Even if a book is lucky enough to attract some attention, it is unlikely that it will receive the serious examination that all authors inevitably crave and that very few genuinely deserve. If the ideas in a book are not shrugged off as the by-product of some banal family trauma or of sordid class interest, they will be made a part of some historical sequence, they will be regarded as mere rearrangements of earlier ideas.
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