To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. While he surely discerns the vices of commercial peoples, he also points out the positive transformative power of commerce in bringing peace and understanding among peoples; see Spirit, 20.1, 338. 177. At points in his Letter to d'Alembert Rousseau borrows Montesquieu's images and sometimes his very language, adapting them to his purpose in condemning the establishment of a theatre in small and virtuous Geneva.Footnote45 Thus, Rousseau accepts many of Montesquieu's claims regarding French society and its form of sociability. Whereas Montesquieu sees the theatre as a salutary way of teaching morality and sympathy, Rousseau condemns it as a corrupting influence. The place seems to breed affection.Footnote20, Nevertheless, Montesquieu's description of these theatrical relations of the French in the Persian Letters, while in part satirical, bears an important resemblance to his description and praise of a people who possess a sociable humour in Book 19 of The Spirit of the Laws. 10 See John N. Pappas, Rousseau and D'Alembert, PMLA, 75 (1960), 4660 (48); Fonna Forman-Barzilai, The Emergence of Contextualism in Rousseau's Political Thought: The Case of Parisian Theatre in the Lettre D'Alembert, History of Political Thought, 24 (2003), 43564 (436). But despite such an endorsement of the social order, the novel was revolutionary; its very free expression of emotions and its extreme sensibility deeply moved its large readership and profoundly influenced literary developments. [3], D'Alembert himself was moved by the response, even intimidated. Scholars have pointed to Montesquieu's influence on Rousseau's work generally. First, Montesquieu describes them as timide, a term which Rousseau adopts. Il ne veut pas ressembler aux . At the end of The New Eloise, when Julie has made herself ill in an attempt to rescue one of her children from drowning, she comes face-to-face with a truth about herself: that her love for Saint-Preux has never died. He reasons that even if comedy writers write a play that is morally acceptable, the audience will not find it funny. Rousseau and D'Alembert managed to maintain their friendship after the response, though somewhat at a distance. 66 For example: The English people think it is free. Women of Geneva (from the Letter to D'Alembert). Montesquieu's own partiality to the gaiety of French society in particular becomes manifest when he defends it against anyone who would propose that it be restricted and reformed: One could constrain its women, make laws to correct their mores, and limit their luxury, but who knows whether one would not lose a certain taste that would be the source of the nation's wealth and a politeness that attracts foreigners to it?Footnote27. Therefore, the substantial difference in their perspectives on theatre in France is that whereas Montesquieu identifies theatre as improving French morals and manners, Rousseau simply maintains that it can slow the rate of further debauchery. He also responds to some comments D'Alembert makes praising the tolerance of the Geneva clergy while criticizing the intolerance of French Roman Catholicism. 1 . Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! Rather, he offers reasons to esteem a society in which individuals become spectacles for each other. SparkNotes PLUS At this time, Rousseau wants to serve that truth that contributes to the "public good," that is to say, to all individuals. $24.99 Here, he began to write his famous autobiography, Confessions, and formally renounced his Genevan citizenship. Rousseau writes that the theatre, at first glance, is a form of amusement. Isaac left Geneva after an argument in 1722; Rousseau nevertheless had a high opinion of his father, referring to him in the dedication to Discourse on Inequality as "the virtuous Citizen to whom I owe my life." Recommended translation: Politics and the Arts:Letter to M. D'Alembert on the Theatre(Agora Paperback Edition);trans. Despite drawing very different conclusions regarding the choice worthiness of sociability, commerce, and gentleness that theatre fosters than does Montesquieu, Rousseau makes essentially identical assessments and observations regarding its influence in shaping public opinion and the way in which spectacle in general contributes to the mores and manners of a given society. Even if the play happens to portray moral ideals well, the awareness of the audience that it is a fiction does not do the ideas justice. Free trial is available to new customers only. [] Look at most of the plays in the French theater; in practically all of them you will find abominable monsters and atrocious actions, useful, if you please, in making the plays interesting and in giving exercise to the virtues; but they are certainly dangerous in that they accustom the eyes of the People to horrors that they ought not even to know and to crimes they ought not to suppose possible []. The essay reconstructs the socioeconomic and political context of eighteenth-century Geneva in order to explain the intended meaning of Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert. 3 Rousseau, Correspondance gnrale, ed. He propelled political and ethical thinking into new channels. His First Discourse, on the Arts and Sciences, won first prize in a competition run by the Dijon Academy, and he had an opera and a play performed to great acclaim. In addition, Montesquieu's treatment of the theatre seems to have been a fitting topic for Rousseau's engagement. Other scholars, who focus more intently on the Letter to d'Alembert, discern a crucial but limited influence of Montesquieu in two of Rousseau's teachings there: first, that some practices, including the theatre, can be appropriate and even wholesome for some societies, while noxious for others; and second, that mores are important in determining what types of laws and institutions a given people can tolerate and maintain. In other words, it is easier to not have to deal with corrupted morality and have to change the laws accordingly. Charting Rousseau's influence is hard, simply because it was so vast. The most immediate result of Rousseau's vision that day in 1749 was the Discourse on the Sciences and Arts. 17 In his consideration of this aspect of Rousseau's argument, Coleman poses the question: Why England? Neither of Coleman's proposed responses include Rousseau's specific response to Montesquieu's Book 19; see Coleman, Rousseau's Political Imagination, 110. He continues that this French vivacity is corrected by the politeness it brings us, by inspiring us with a taste for the world and above all for commerce with women [commerce des femmes].Footnote24 He accepts the fact, apparently without regret, that the society of women spoils mores and forms taste [socit des femmes gte les murs, et forme le got]. Montesquieu on the French Theatre and Sociability in the, 3. It is about people finding happiness in domestic as distinct from public life, in the family as opposed to the state. GREAT In Paris, as in Geneva, they ordered the book to be burned and the author arrested; all the Marchal de Luxembourg could do was to provide a carriage for Rousseau to escape from France. By placing this particular discussion of Phaedra and what occurs in our theaters in the second of two successive chapters devoted to the topic of civil laws that are contrary to natural law, Montesquieu underscores the moral importance of the theatre for a society. A theatre in Geneva would cause the hardworking people to be distracted and pre-occupied if they were to develop a taste for it. From 1742 to 1749, Rousseau lived in Paris, barely earning a living by teaching and by copying music. See also Radica, Rousseau, in Dictionnaire lectronique Montesquieu, September 2013 edition, 7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau & Background on Discourse on Inequality, Philosophical Context: Influences on Discourse of Inequality. His Government of Poland and Constitutional Project for Corsica offer practical proposals for political reform in his time. For example, he writes: les Hommes donnent trop dans la Bagatelle & ne sont pas asss Hommes, les femmes ont trop de Hardiesse & ne sont pas asss Femmes. He also wrote Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques (1780; Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques) to reply to specific charges by his enemies and Les Rveries du promeneur solitaire (1782; Reveries of the Solitary Walker), one of the most moving of his books, in which the intense passion of his earlier writings gives way to a gentle lyricism and serenity. It offered a critique of d'Alembert's article on Geneva in the Encyclopdie. In October of 1758, Rousseau published the Letter to d'Alembert to refute Jean d'Alembert's suggestion that Geneva establish a public theater. For me, in the 'Letter to d'Alembert' Rousseau is on the side of prejudice, with his vehement moralising, and also a type of violence, always bordering on an exaggerated aggressiveness that is almost useless. Christopher Kelly elaborates on a different aspect of Rousseau's critique of the theatre's moral obscurity, noting that whatever theatre does teach us about sympathy or morality towards one another, this emotional identification or fellow feeling is less pleasant once outside the performance hall because it demands that one take the trouble to help. Rousseau was the eighteenth-century's greateast admirer, even idolator, of Sparta. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva on June 28, 1712; his mother died on July 7. This extension of the empire of women is against natural order. More generally, it is a critical analysis of the effects of culture on morals, that clarifies the links between politics and social life. [3], Rousseau generally opposed the Enlightenment thrust that was occurring during his lifetime. -36:18. [4], Even if the theatre is morally innocuous, Rousseau argues, its presence is disruptive to potentially productive use of time. Omissions? For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! In his Reveries of a Solitary Walker, he condemns Montesquieu's Le Temple de Gnide as an affront to modesty, perpetuated by an ignoble lie; see Mary L. Bellhouse, Femininity & Commerce in the Eighteenth Century: Rousseau's Criticism of a Literary Ruse by Montesquieu, Polity, 13 (1980), 28599. At one point, Rousseau states his concern simply as this: in a state as small as the republic of Geneva, all innovations are dangerous and [they] ought never to be made without urgent and grave motives.Footnote79 This passage mirrors Montesquieu's teaching throughout The Spirit of the Laws, which he encapsulates in its preface: changes can be proposed only by those who are born fortunate enough to fathom by a stroke of genius the whole of a state's constitution.Footnote80 Thus, with an inflection borrowed from Montesquieu, Rousseau warns any would-be proposer of improvements to Geneva that even seemingly small and well-intentioned, but ill-considered, changes can have significant deleterious consequences. Ourida Mostefai offers the most current and exhaustive treatment of the letter and its context that we know, while Patrick Coleman presents a highly instructive and provocative textual analysis that explores among other themes the manner in which Rousseau offers himself as an actor and his text as his own public stage; see Ourida Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve et la Rpublique des Lettres: tude de la controverse autour de La Lettre d'Alembert de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (New York, NY, 2003); Patrick Coleman, Rousseau's Political Imagination: Rule and Representation in the Lettre d'Alembert (Geneva, 1984). April 18, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Elizabeth Fallaize - 1999 - Sartre . Rousseau also describes the weather and geography of Geneva, and argues that it is not particularly conducive to supporting a theatre. For example, he condemns a law of the Visigoths that permitted the children of an adulterous wife to accuse her of that crime and to torture the family's slaves in order to extract evidence: This was an iniquitous law that, in order to preserve the mores, overturned nature, in which the mores have their origin.Footnote40 At this point, Montesquieu turns to Racine's play and presents it as an appealing contrast to such civil laws that are contrary to natural law.Footnote41 Indeed, Montesquieu concludes his discussion of Phaedra with a reflection on the relation of pleasure and nature: The accents of nature cause this pleasure; it is the sweetest of all voices.Footnote42 Racine's tragedy displays for its audience Hippolytus's admirable decisions rooted in his unconditional respect for his kin, even in light of his father's failure to distinguish between guilt and innocence. Montesquieu's particular treatment of English women differs from Muralt's in several ways. What d'Alembert intended as an encomium, Jean-Jacques Rousseau regarded as an outrage.6 In 1758 Rousseau penned an open letter to d'Alembert expressing his indignation at the essay's claims regarding his beloved birthplace. In the Social Contract he credits Montesquieu by name in his discussions of the power of the legislator, the effect of climate, and his characterisation of democracy; see Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, in Collected Writings, IV, 2.7, 3.8, 4.3. The most important was his Confessions, modeled on the work of the same title by St. Augustine and achieving something of the same classic status. One of Rousseau's pivotal points in the Letter is that customs, opinions and priorities which are common and well-accepted among all citizens should be those that make accepting laws in favour of respect, equality and harmony a pleasurable and natural experience. In 1758, Jean Le Rond d'Alembert proposed the public establishment of a theatre in Geneva - and Jean-Jacques Rousseau vigorously objected. 5 D'Alembert, Geneva, in Letter, 243. Summary It is difficult to overstate the influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the works of Mary Wollstonecraft. Further, he praises the type of morality that can be conveyed through theatrical spectacle, claiming that moral lessons are more effective in this form because they speak directly to the passions. 2 Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert, Geneva, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Letter to d'Alembert and Writings for the Theater [hereafter Letter], in The Collected Writings of Rousseau, edited by Roger D. Masters and Christopher Kelly, 13 vols (Hanover, NH, 19902010), X, 241. Not by chance, one of his "potpourris" includes a copy of the letter, rewritten by Voltaire's Secretary J.-L. Wagnire (BV 11- 208). Rousseau engages the Swiss author, Bat Louis de Muralt, to support his claim: It is an error, said the grave Muralt, to hope that the true relations of things will be faithfully presented in the theater.Footnote48 Rousseau is known to have obtained a copy of Muralt's Lettres sur les Anglais et les Franais in 1756, and was undoubtedly influenced by his accounts of French and English society.Footnote49 Muralt's Lettres were written in the 1690s, and widely circulated before being published in Geneva in 1725,Footnote50 which suggests that the works could be a common source for Rousseau and Montesquieu, though it is uncertain whether Montesquieu had read them.Footnote51 In his Letter, Rousseau largely agrees with Muralt's description of French society in particular, including a brief discussion of the theatre. The years at Montmorency had been the most productive of his literary career; The Social Contract, mile, and Julie; ou, la nouvelle Hlose (1761; Julie; or, The New Eloise) came out within 12 months, all three works of seminal importance. As these two leading figures of the Enlightenment argue about censorship, popular versus high culture, and the proper role . In such a case, theatre is useful [] for covering the ugliness of vice with the polish of forms; in a word, for preventing bad morals from degenerating into brigandage.Footnote88 In speaking somewhat sarcastically about the positive role of theatre in such a corrupt society, Rousseau reveals that he would not recommend the proscription of the theatre in Paris and thus he is not such a one as to venture to constrain its women, make laws to correct their mores, and limit their luxury.Footnote89 Here, Rousseau acknowledges that theatre may, in fact, at least prevent what he sees as the debaucheries of Parisian society. Letter to D'Alembert on the Theatre (1758) (Lettre a M. d'Alembert sur les Spectacles) is an essay written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in opposition to an article published in the Encyclopdie by Jean d'Alembert, that proposed the establishment of a theatre in Geneva. Rousseau's letter can help to understand the distinction between lived-in culture and theoretical political order. Jean Jacques Rousseau (n. 28 iunie 1712, Geneva, Republica Geneva (d) - d. 2 iulie 1778, Ermenonville, Picardia, Frana) a fost un filozof elveian, scriitor i compozitor, unul dintre cei mai ilutri gnditori ai Iluminismului.A influenat hotrtor, alturi de Voltaire i Diderot, spiritul revoluionar, principiile de drept i contiina social a epocii; ideile lui se . Did you know you can highlight text to take a note? Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. The publication of Rousseau's sentimental novel Julie, ou la Nouvelle Heloise in 1761 gained him a huge following. Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. The main action is on a platform [estrade], called the stage [thtre]. Prof. Mostefai will present a newly completed critical edition of Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert for the new complete edition of Rousseau's work currently in preparation in France (Garnier). He was friendly with Enlightenment figures such as Diderot, and even wrote articles for the Encyclopdie, but later quarreled with them. Even though there are other forms of entertainment in Geneva that exemplify bad manners, Rousseau claims that none of these areas are more destructive to the people's good taste than the theatre. [1], Rousseau believed that public morals could be created not by laws or punishment, but simply by women, who have access to their senses and largely control the way men think. Wed love to have you back! Rousseau adhered to the belief that restrictions and censorship are often justified to maintain civil order. They say that however slightly one man knows another, he has the right to suffocate him. It made the author at least as many friends among the reading publicand especially among educated womenas The Social Contract and mile made enemies among magistrates and priests. Emphasis added. Thus, [i]n the theater we congratulate ourselves for our moral sensitivity while remaining isolated from irksome involvement with our fellows; see Christopher Kelly, Rousseau and the Case for (and Against) Censorship, in Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers, edited by John T. Scott, 4 vols (New York, NY, 2006, first published in 1997), IV, 20122 (209). This work made final Rousseau's public break with most of the philosophes. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. You are not required to obtain permission to reuse this article in part or whole. The French government ordered that Rousseau be arrested, so he fled to Neuchatel in Switzerland. If the play is a comedy, for example, the content is undermined, and if it is tragic, the heroic ideals are exaggerated and placed out of the reach of man. [5] To have a prosperous state, Rousseau believed, people needed to work together and harmoniously. Paul Rahe captures the general influence of Montesquieu on Rousseau most powerfully: the very features of classical republicanism that had occasioned such misgivings on Montesquieu's part were the features that Rousseau found most attractive.Footnote11 Other scholars, who focus more intently on the Letter, discern Montesquieu's influence in Rousseau's formulation that some practices, including the theatre, can be appropriate and even wholesome for some societies while noxious for others, as well as in his insistence that mores are crucial in determining what types of laws and institutions a given people can tolerate and maintain.Footnote12 Despite these important insights, the scholarship has neglected to document the degree to which Rousseau's Letter is an extended meditation on Montesquieu's thought generally and Book 19 of The Spirit of the Laws particularly. 10) Bookreader Item Preview He concludes that as a result of his new reflections, he embraces a conclusion directly opposed to the one I drew from the first, namely, that when the people is corrupted, the theater is good for it, and bad for it when it is itself good.Footnote81 Rousseau reaches this conclusion immediately after he transmits, without naming his source, Montesquieu's description of French society: Rousseau allows the point that in certain places [the theatre] will be useful for attracting foreigners [utiles pour attirer les trangers],Footnote82 just as Montesquieu argues that the politeness of a society attracts foreigners to it [une politesse qui attire chez elle les trangers].Footnote83 Moreover, whereas Montesquieu declares that the society of women spoils mores and forms taste [la socit des femmes gte les murs, et forme le got],Footnote84 Rousseau admits that the theatre, where women are made the preceptors of the public,Footnote85 is useful for maintaining and perfecting taste [pour maintenir et perfectionner le got] when decency is lost.Footnote86 Rousseau yet again deploys Montesquieu's ideas when he says that a theatre can be useful for increasing the circulation of money [pour augmenter la circulation des espces], just as Montesquieu says that the prominent place of women and their tastes in society constantly increases the branches of commerce [on augmente sans cesse les branches de son commerce].Footnote87 Rousseau borrows and transmits all of these points of Montesquieu. 74 Various scholars have touched upon aspects of one or both of these points: see Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve, 5, 8082; Forman-Barzilai, Emergence of Contextualism in Rousseau's Political Thought, 45556, 442; Jensen, Rousseau's French Revolution, in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Grace and Kelly, 231, 238, 245; Rahe, Soft Despotism, 97; Michael Sonenscher, Sans-Culottes: An Eighteenth-Century Emblem in the French Revolution (Princeton, NJ, 2008), 15455. Rousseau's later quarrel with Voltaire was legendary for its violence . 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG. Indeed, Montesquieu refers in The Spirit of the Laws both to those who write to proscribe the theatre because of its evoking softening emotions such as pity and tenderness and to one who might endeavour to restrain French women.Footnote90 Not so quixotic as to attempt the latter, Rousseau certainly endeavours the former by opposing most vehemently the establishment of a theatre in Geneva. 50 Kapossy, Iselin contra Rousseau, 39. At each side you can see, in little compartments called boxes, men and women acting out scenes together [des hommes et des femmes qui jouent ensemble des scnes muettes ]. Thus, consideration of Rousseau's Letter helps to establish the formative character of the elder's thought on that of the younger. Mostefai quotes this letter; see Mostefai, Le citoyen de Genve, 41. Their exchange, collected in volume ten of this. Women naturally have power over men via resistance in the area of relationships and this power can be extended to the play, where women can have the same control over the audience. Thus, despite making similar observations regarding the power of the theatre, Rousseau's and Montesquieu's ultimate valuations of it are quite different. Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert on the Theatre offers an important discussion of the relation of the arts to the health of a political community. D'Alembert here refers to a chapter, entitled A Fine Law, in Book 20 of The Spirit of the Laws, which contains Montesquieu's only mention of Geneva in the work; see Charles-Louis Secondat de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws [hereafter Spirit, in the format of book.chapter, page(s)], translated and edited by Anne M. Cohler, Basia C. Miller, and Harold S. Stone (Cambridge, 1989), 20.16, 348. 26 Michael A. Mosher, The Judgmental Gaze of European Women: Gender, Sexuality, and the Critique of Republican Rule, Political Theory, 22 (1994), 2544 (42). In 1794, the French revolutionary government ordered that his ashes be honored and moved to the Pantheon. For the Letter, the French, when cited, is given in parentheses, taken from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, crits sur la musique, la langue, et le thtre, in uvres compltes, edited by Bernard Gagnebin and others, 5 vols (Paris, 19591995), V. 3 D'Alembert, Geneva, in Letter, 246. 86 Letter, 298 (5: 59). Rousseau considers this play to be a work of genius, but it is, of course, morally backwards. Rousseau rarely acknowledges the extent to which Montesquieu's writings influenced his political and moral thought, but study of his Letter reveals the great degree to which Rousseau builds his case from and in response to Montesquieu's observations and ideas. [3], In post-modern thinking, there has been renewed interest and appreciation for Rousseau's Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles, with the acceptance since Rousseau's time of utopian and primitivist elements in political thought. Having already noted that the French nation is distinguished by its commerce with women, Montesquieu declares that in England the women should scarcely live among men and that, as a result, the English women would be modest, that is, timid [timides].Footnote60 Montesquieu proceeds to condemn the effect that this isolation of women has on English society because men there lack gallantry [galanterie] and throw themselves into a debauchery that would leave them their liberty as well as their leisure.Footnote61 The implication is that because English gentlemen do not seek to win the good regard and affection of their female counterparts in a manner that renders society polite, pleasing, and sometimes indiscreet, but instead spend the majority of their time with other men, and then also frequently visit with prostitutes.Footnote62 The interaction of the sexes in France fosters indiscretions, Montesquieu concedes, but he charges that in England their separation leads to debauchery. He argues that the presence and authority of women in public spaces corrupts the male youth, turning them effeminate and void of patriotic passion. Many scholars have identified the decisive influence of Montesquieu's treatment of the ancient city in Rousseau's thought more generally, but have not yet fully explored the role that Montesquieu's treatment of the theatre plays in Rousseau's Letter. In this different context religion plays a different role. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. The relation between art and society is . The Scottish philosopher David Hume took him there and secured the offer of a pension from King George III; but once in England, Rousseau became aware that certain British intellectuals were making fun of him, and he suspected Hume of participating in the mockery. Various symptoms of paranoia began to manifest themselves in Rousseau, and he returned to France incognito. 19 Montesquieu, Persian Letters, letter 28, 79. Amusements are acceptable in moderation, when they are necessary, but they become a burden if they consume the minds of men enough to waste their time. Whereas The Social Contract is concerned with the problems of achieving freedom, mile is concerned with achieving happiness and wisdom. We wish to acknowledge the generous support of the Faculty Research and Awards Committee, the Undergraduate Research Fund, and the Department of Political Science at Tufts for the award of grants in support of this project. See also Coleman, who discerns the same influence, but who maintains that Rousseau's view of what Montesquieu calls l'esprit general is [] much less accommodating than that of the constitutional jurist; see Coleman, Rousseau's Political Imagination, 4445, note 6. 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