Willy Friedman

Birth of Modern Europe

Mr. Meyers

D-Band

Monday, March 11, 2002

How French Literature got its Groove!!!

Perhaps it is a foreshadowing reflection of Revolution era France in pre-modern French literature, or life acting out art, but French Literature much like French politics seems to have a bipolar nature in which the styles (or regimes) swing back and forth, undulating like a sine wave. Unlike Britain, the traditionally progressive society, and Austria, the traditionally conservative society, politically, France seems to waver from one side to the other, just as French literature does not have singular defining movements to classify exact periods in time. Unlike the larger part of British literature, which can rather easily fall into well-defined movements and periods, i.e. Victorian, Elizabethan and classical literature, French literature before the Modernist period (pre-1830) is diverse in its style, content and messages— whether they be political, religious or social.

In its earliest stages, during medieval times, European literature was rather uniform due to the influence of the Catholic Church and Latin, which was ubiquitous as the intellectual written language. Around 850 AD, the first work of distinctly French Literature appears written in Old French. It was the Oath of Strasbourg (842 AD), which was a detailed account of Louis the German and Charles the Bald’s oath to overthrow their brother Lothair, who was partitioning the empire that Charlemagne, (their grandfather) had given them. However, it wasn’t until around 1200 AD that France’s unique position on the mainland of Europe, the evolution and creation of the modern language and the rise of nation states throughout Europe all lent a hand in creating a uniquely French tradition in literature. This manifested itself in its earliest stages just up until the renaissance, as religious tales, histories and orations performed by minstrels and "jongleurs," (jugglers in modern French) who recited works (which were predominantly in verse) often using instruments and mimed acting to aid the stories. Romances in the middle of this period emerged as popular work.

Even during the early 16^th century, European literature was still a better label for the works written in France, or in French, because Renaissance authors, like Erasmus, Rabelais, Montaigne, Joachim de Bellay or Jean Lemaire de Belges were writing in many languages from many different locations. Because of the fluidity of Europe and its permeable borders during the Renaissance —which allowed for such free transfer of ideas in the first place— French literature was hard to pin down.

Nonetheless, Alcofribas Nasier (c.1494 — 1553), better known to the world as Rabelais, emerged as one of the earliest French authors during the beginning of the Renaissance. He was (not to be cliched or punny) a true Renaissance man, renown in his time for being a prominent doctor and humanist, not to mention penning two archetypal French comedies Gargantua (1532) and Pantagruel (1534). His work was without categorization. Yes, it was comedy, and Rabelais had stated that his intention in writing, nay, one’s intention in life should be to laugh, and that laughter was inescapable, but his writing was rife with poignant cultural, political and religious criticism. In fact, it was not his wit, but his grievances with and analysis of the educational system (which would later be questioned by Rousseau), true religion and the nature of man (especially his rampant pugnacity) which gained him fame and respect in posterity.

However, it was Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) who helped to define a French style of literature, or at least a precedent, a yardstick if you will, against which all other French literature could be measured. His early works consisted of adventure tales, based on his readings and his encounters. However, it was his introspective period towards the end of his life when Montaigne turned inwards for a subject and created the personal essay. His groundbreaking form allowed the author to express opinion and belief as he flits from subject to subject. His desertion of the traditional style of prose for an impulsive personalized form practically allowed for the ideas of such movements as the Enlightenment, the transcendentalist and beatnik movements in America, and the omnipresent college essay too, by helping struggling philosophers and authors to express themselves. But, as is characteristic of French Literature, there was an opposing style, represented most clearly by the French poet Aubigné (1552-1630). Aubigné’s poetry expressed more religious messages, even though his work seemed draw some of its originality and power from hedonism. This religious streak in literature would persist in the 17^th century, just as the personal essay would persevere for years to come.

Classicism was still faint at the beginning of the 17^th century, but a propensity towards more ordered, stable and refined works, employing linear storytelling methods was sweeping over the spontaneous writing style that Montaigne had started. Popular works in the 1630s were often books of etiquette or politesse, which signified a general will towards self-awareness and a psychological probing of the self (both key topics in Montaigne despite the difference in style), and a general volition to improve society. This, while light-hearted comedy switched traditional rural-set comedies into an urban Paris. These came in the form of plays written by vibrant young playwrights, who were vying for respect and acceptance in the public eye with pre-classicist authors as well as their counterparts (Jean Mairet, Corneille and Tristan), who were busy pouring sand on their drafts of tragedies which were becoming popular in opposition to the comedies. As well as the two prominent theater companies, Hôtel de Bourgogne and the Marais, the French government had recently established the Academie Francaise to be a patron of the arts. Having the government commissioning and funding these literary works allowed the deeply despotic government to control speech and ideas more closely.

However it would not be these plays that would last the test of time. Les Discours (1637) of René Descartes (1596-1650) became one of the predominant works of 17^th century French Literature. A well-known mathematician, scientist and philosopher, he was a precursor for the enlightenment philosophes. His rejection of traditional Aristotelian education methods led him to be thought of as one of the original and preeminent modern French philosophers. Like John Locke, he believed in the essential good of human beings and their equality in their potential to be great. Perhaps his greatest gift to all literature— and philosophy— was "Cogito Ergo Sum," which comes from The Discourses, and shows Descartes’ faith in man, his post renaissance humanist beliefs, and a distinct path which is being traced through French literature to the Enlightenment. But Descartes’ prose were still stifled and stilted with Latin such as "Cogito Ergo Sum." His writing was extremely intelligent but it was difficult to read, and thus not meant for everyone. However, a contemporary, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who was also a noted mathematician and a physicist, wrote for the masses. He used a more terse style of prose, which used less if any Latin, and short declarative sentences. And, despite his biting irony and wit, and the popular style of Descartes to question everything, Pascal in his Pensees, his exploration into human thought, maintains very traditional religious values.

The introduction of the novel as a popular form of French Literature by Mme de La Fayette (1634-1693) with La Princesse de Clèves, an essentially classical work of literature added yet another facet to the already budding 17^th century literary scene. Towards the end of the 17^th century, the same tumult was still live. Authors like Boileau, Charles Perrault and Bernard Le Bovier were disputing the true nature of what each thought the pith of French Literature ought to be. Perrault argued that new brash thought was key to the discovery and pursuit of truth, while Le Bovier said that classic works were clearly superior due to the sagacity of the ancient thinking and the elegiac nature of classicism. The line of thought promulgated by Perrault would turn into the Enlightenment ideals, which would eventually bring an end to Neoclassicism in France.

With the end of Louis XIV's reign in France, the French absolutist Monarchy began to crumble. It was a slow process and it would be another eighty years until the ideals of the enlightenment would translate into action and the French Revolution would change the basic premises of French society. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was one of the first great Enlightenment authors. His writing was roiling with biting cultural commentary and rife with dangerous criticism and analysis of French culture, Paris in particular. His portrayal of Paris in Les Lettres Persanes (1721), as a city on the verge of greatness, teetering on the edge of becoming overrun by the autocratic Bourbon dynasty was sharp, relevant and indicative of the Enlightenment ideal of questioning the status quo and the viability of current social and political situations. His later work, while crafted with the skill and thought that went into French Renaissance literature, was more focused on the content than the style, was more focused on the preservation of liberty, than whether it was in verse. His intrepid foray into politics through his writing brought important Enlightenment issues to the forefront of French society without being labeled as revolutionary and being banned.

Taking the work of Montesquieu even further, François Marie Arouet (1694-1778), known to the literary world as Voltaire, created excited, incisive and derisive commentaries and tirades against the Roman Catholic Church, the corrupt French government and the expansion of French culture, or globalization if you will (meaning xenophobia and how France was dealing with the influx of immigrants and new cultural traditions which came to the country through imperialism). His status as the preeminent French philosopher has not abated since he was crowned the king of the Enlightenment. His highest achievement is regarded as Candide (1759), a story of optimism shattered and of the ridiculous and feeble resolve of institutions, most notably the church and the government. His direct criticism was taken lightly due to his delicate touch with language and wit, but his messages were rooted in French culture and his reproach of organized religion and autocratic absolutists ran deep.

The only name in Enlightenment French Literature that can stand up to Volatire's is that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). While Voltaire was an author/advocate whose vehement writings concentrated on the corrupt government and religion, Rousseau followed more in the footsteps of Montaigne, writing calm personal essays about nature, lakes mountains and gardens, himself (which ultimately led to the creation of the current standard in autobiographies) and critiquing the flat materialist social life that had become predominant in Paris. His influence can be seen in transcendentalism quite clearly through his essays on the inner nature of man, and his belief in the good nature of man (see Descartes and John Locke). However, Rousseau was not a complacent bystander in the Enlightenment. He wrote L'Emile (1762) which was a modern handbook to the ideal education. In it he forsook traditional values and prized spontaneity and "le joi de vivre" over traditional stiff upper-lip bourgeois values.

All these Enlightenment ideals were leading up to the French Revolution. A path can clearly be traced from the first markedly French style of writing in the works of Michel de Montaigne through Descartes and Voltaire, and even Rousseau, all the way up through 1789 when the emotions of the Parisian public boiled over and sparked the French Revolution which showcased the ideas of equality that had been propounded throughout French literary history. However, during the Counter Revolution and the reign of Napolean, there was a return to classical literature and classical values. Style and the form of more serious literature on more traditional topics combined to solidify the Neoclassical movement in France. This combined with an expanding force new intelligence sparked by equal education under Napolean and new styles of writing were the driving forces behind French Romanticism. The ping pong between conservative and progressive, classical and pre-romantic, passionate, overflowing and stylistically controlled are clear throughout French history whether it be literary, political arts, social or cultural.

The Politics of Vision, Linda Nochlin; Westview Publishing, 1989

The Columbia History of the World, John A. Garraty and Peter Gay; Harper & Row, 1972

World Book, Volume #7; World Book Inc., 1992

The Timetables of History, Bernard Grun; Simon and Schuster, 1946

The Western Heritage, (5^th Edition), Kagan, Ozment et al., Prentice Hall Inc., 1995

http://www.britannica.com (registered user)

http://www.galenet.com (registered user)

Questions, Comments Problems? Don't Hesitate to contact us: webmaster@kirschnet.com