Two French Moralists
La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyère

Professor de Mourgues' study examines the works of La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyère in regards to the term 'moralist'.

Odette de Mourgues (Author)

9780521142441, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 June 2010

192 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.44 kg

Among seventeenth-century classical French writers La Rochefoucauld owes his renown to his maxims and La Bruyère to his stylised portraits, or caractères. This book starts from the basic assumption that both writers were 'moralists', and as such were concerned with a universal picture of man and society within the limitations of nature and reason. The two moralists are studied separately. Professor de Mourgues stresses their individual characteristics, and the complexity of their views. She draws attention to the problems of literary diction they had to face, and comments on the artistic achievement to be found in the Maximes and the Caractères. This study shows that the position of La Rochefoucauld and la Bruyère as 'moralists' is more ambiguous than the usual neat definitions of the term would allow. This study raises delicate questions of interpretation, and adds equally to the fascination of the two writers' work.

Foreword
A note on sources
Part I. La Rochefoucauld: 1. Tentative approaches
2. Psychological investigations
3. Ethics
4. Art
Part II. La Bruyère: 5. The eccentric moralist
6. Sensibility
7. Themes and patterns
8. The civilised man
Postscript: 'the proper study of mankind
Select bibliography
Index of names.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK]