Le spectacle de la mondanité
Before today’s social influencers had TikTok and Instagram, those seeking power and fame in the Ancien Régime had la vie mondaine—a series of social events and spaces in which to display the latest fashion, discuss the newest literary scandal, entertain one’s friends, or satirize one’s enemies. Social life was a kind of spectacle, performed according to rules of bienséance and politesse, and France was famous throughout Europe for the ease with which men and women mixed together, the clustering of the aristocracy in and around Paris, and the cultural importance given to la conversation.
How should we understand this “worldliness” whose memory continues to fascinate contemporary France? Was it a femino-centric universe in which women played the key roles, or was it a site of men’s dominance and gender constraints? Did it promote tolerance, or was it a cesspool of hypocrisy? Did it allow for a mixture of different social groups, or did it “spread garlands over the iron chains” of royal absolutism and social oppression (J.-J. Rousseau)? And what is at stake today when this long-ago sociability is extolled or condemned?
In this course, we will consider these questions from a variety of perspectives, using both socio-political texts (for ex., Rousseau, De Staël, Norbert Elias, etc.) as well as different literary genres of the 17th and 18th centuries that depict, celebrate, or lampoon la vie mondaine. Among the key texts on the syllabus will be selections from Madeleine de Scudéry’s novel Clélie, Molière’s play Le Misanthrope, Jean De La Bruyère’s observational Caractères, Madame de Villedieu’s short stories, Voltaire’s triumphant (and censored) poem Le Mondain, and scandalous anecdotes written by the historian Saint-Simon. Given the orality of this culture, we will consider each text an opportunity to “perform” its words aloud for the spectacle of our own learning and enjoyment.
The class will be discussion-based, with regular presentations by students on the various readings—both analytical presentations (i.e. “what does this text mean?”) and dramatic presentations (i.e. “how should this text be read to convey its meaning to an audience?”). Each student will also complete a final project, focusing on a particular text and question related to the subject of the course.