French Cultural Studies FCS292H1S

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French Cultural StudiesFCS292H1SLove, Sex
and Desire in French Literature and
CinemaInstructor Marie-Anne VisoiUniversity
of Toronto
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Pierre Choderlos de LaclosDangerous Liaisons
1782
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Ancien Régime (former regime,old order)

• term coined by the French Revolutionaries to
  promote a new cause and discredit the existing
  order
• refers primarily to the aristocratic social and
  political system established in France under the
  Valois and Bourbon dynasties (14th century to
  18th century)
• power in the Ancien Régime relied on three
  pillars the monarchy, the clergy and the
  aristocracy

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18th Century France

• Enlightenment
• French thinkers proposed a series of social,
  economic, political, religious, and educational
  reforms.

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• Montesquieu, Lettres persanes, 1721
• criticized the lifestyle and the liberties of the
  aristocracy
• Voltaire, Candide, 1759 Lettres
  philosophiques sur les Anglais, 1733
• denounced the hypocrisy of the ancien régime
• believed in the idea of an enlightened monarch
  who can bring about needed changes

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• Diderot, editor of L'Encyclopédie1751-1772
• Pensées sur l'interprétation de la nature,1754
• Jacques le fataliste, 1770
• reflected on the relationship between the
  individual and society
• believed that right reason, or rationalism, could
  find true knowledge and lead mankind to progress
  and happiness

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• Rousseau, Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse, 1761
  (epistolary novel)
• Du contrat social, 1762
• the central concept is liberty the mutual
  contract between the authorities and the governed
  implies that the governed agree to be ruled only
  so that their rights, property and happiness be
  protected by their rulers. Once rulers cease to
  protect the ruled, the social contract is broken
• "Man is born free but everywhere is in chains."

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The European Novel

• Cervantes, Don Quixote, 1605
• Madame de La Fayette, La Princesse de Clèves,
  1678
• Richardson, Pamela, 1740 Clarissa,1749
• Sterne, Tristam Shandy, 1760-67
• Goethe , The Sorrows of Young Werther,1774
• new and sensational stories
• invited heightened emotional response to events
  recounted

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Epistolary Novels

• popular genre in the 18th century the narrative
  is told in letters by one or more characters
• the claim of authenticity adds verisimilitude
  to the story
• allows multiple points of view presents feelings
  and reactions of characters
• characters reveal their personalities through
  what they write

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Dangerous Liaisons

• Epistolary novel 175 letters
• Date of publication 1782
• Setting (time and place)
• the letters are written between the months of
  August and January 17
• a novel of interiors aristocratic chateaux

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Foreshadowing

• (Publishers note The Editors Preface)
• De Laclos manipulates the reader through the use
  of two metatexts
• provides a sense of foreboding, anticipates
  events

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The Editors Preface

• De Laclos presents the view that only a small
  portion of the correspondence was arranged
  chronologically
• claims that the letters are authentic and that
  the language of the letters has not been edited
  because the intention was to publish the letters
  themselves and not a literary work
• the editor points out the didactic nature of
  the work

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Narration

• novel starts in media res (in the middle of
  things) flashbacks to what happened in the past
• absence of an omniscient narrator
• multiple narrators main correspondence is
  between Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de
  Valmont
• De Laclos offers different points of view on
  identical events through sequencing of letters
• complex plot

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Love, sex and desire in the novel

• negotiation of desire through letter writing
• conception of love aristocratic model of
  military conquest versus naïve, romantic love
• aristocratic values versus bourgeois values
• models of sexual conquests
• sexual corruption
• portraits of the male and female libertine

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• Merteuil-Valmont relationship remains spiritual
  (courtship through letter-writing)
• Merteuils constant struggle to control desire
  and seduce through writing describes intimate
  scenes, provokes Valmont by promising sexual
  rewards

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Art of seduction in the ancien régime

• the art of seduction was held in high esteem
  courtly love, erotic games
• perversion many lovers, loose morals
• erotic games were played in order to intensify
  desire
• sex was not considered as important once the
  sexual intercourse took place, women knew that
  men might lose their interest

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How to analyze a literary passage?

• Read or re-read the text with specific questions
  in mind.
• Identify basic ideas, events and names. Depending
  on the complexity of the book, this requires
  additional review of the text.

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• Think through your personal reaction to the book
  identification, enjoyment, significance,
  application.
• Identify and consider the most important ideas.

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• Return to the text to locate specific evidence
  and passages related to the major ideas discussed
  in class.

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• Discuss what happens in the passage and why it is
  significant to the work as a whole.
• Consider what is said, particularly subtleties of
  the imagery and the ideas expressed.

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• Assess how it is said, considering how the word
  choice, the ordering of ideas, sentence
  structure, etc., contribute to the meaning of the
  passage.

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• Explain what it means, tying your analysis of the
  passage back to the significance of the text as a
  whole.
• Repeat the process of context, quotation and
  analysis with additional support for your
  arguments.

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Dangerous LiaisonsPassage Analysis

• Read Letter 1, page 11
• Discuss
• characters
• what happens in the passage
• why is the letter significant to the work as a
  whole
• word-choice, style, content of letter
• your own reaction to the passage

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The UVic Writer's Guide

• Literary Terminology
• Writing a Literary Essay
• http//web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/MasterToc.htmlLi
  terary Terms Alpha