Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils

Conversation was highly relevant for the 17th and 18th century French aristocratic culture; a simple talk quickly grew into a “real” social ritual with its inner structure and “poetics.” Likewise, it influenced French literature that used a dialogue as a mode of narration, a way of expressing histor...

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Main Author: Veronika D. Altashina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2016-09-01
Series:Studia Litterarum
Subjects:
Online Access:http://old.studlit.ru/articles/Altashina.pdf
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author Veronika D. Altashina
author_facet Veronika D. Altashina
author_sort Veronika D. Altashina
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description Conversation was highly relevant for the 17th and 18th century French aristocratic culture; a simple talk quickly grew into a “real” social ritual with its inner structure and “poetics.” Likewise, it influenced French literature that used a dialogue as a mode of narration, a way of expressing historical and philosophical ideas. Under the influence of the parlor culture, there developed a widespread genre of a novel-dialogue which origin may be traced back to the ancient tradition including the works of Plato who maintained ontological priority of the dialogue; in the dialogue, many philosophers have seen conditions necessary for the appearance of the individual and subjective conceptualization (“I” needs “You” for the sense of self). Dialogue is the form of narration in the novels by Crébillon-fils (1707–1777) La Nuit et le moment ou les matines de Cythère: dialogue (1755) and Le Hasard du coin du feu. Dialogue moral (1763). Both novels represent high society and focus mainly on the life of “libertines” who practice the principles of freedom of body and spirit yet at the same time are constrained by dominant behavior rules including the rules of conversation. Crébillon is skillfully using a widespread conversational form for popularizing the ideas of sensualism and libertinage. Also, Crébillon is employing dialogue as a device to make his works diverse and psychologically deep (cf.: a dialogue of a character with himself as he hovers between opinions; ongoing dialogue of the author with the reader; dialogue with other authors by direct and hidden quotes from their work; references to the author’s own works).
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spelling doaj-art-680d4e1366644d29b929e492761635132025-08-20T03:33:54ZengRussian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureStudia Litterarum2500-42472541-85642016-09-0111-214015210.22455/2500-4247-2016-1-1-2-140-152Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-filsVeronika D. Altashina0St. Petersburg State UniversityConversation was highly relevant for the 17th and 18th century French aristocratic culture; a simple talk quickly grew into a “real” social ritual with its inner structure and “poetics.” Likewise, it influenced French literature that used a dialogue as a mode of narration, a way of expressing historical and philosophical ideas. Under the influence of the parlor culture, there developed a widespread genre of a novel-dialogue which origin may be traced back to the ancient tradition including the works of Plato who maintained ontological priority of the dialogue; in the dialogue, many philosophers have seen conditions necessary for the appearance of the individual and subjective conceptualization (“I” needs “You” for the sense of self). Dialogue is the form of narration in the novels by Crébillon-fils (1707–1777) La Nuit et le moment ou les matines de Cythère: dialogue (1755) and Le Hasard du coin du feu. Dialogue moral (1763). Both novels represent high society and focus mainly on the life of “libertines” who practice the principles of freedom of body and spirit yet at the same time are constrained by dominant behavior rules including the rules of conversation. Crébillon is skillfully using a widespread conversational form for popularizing the ideas of sensualism and libertinage. Also, Crébillon is employing dialogue as a device to make his works diverse and psychologically deep (cf.: a dialogue of a character with himself as he hovers between opinions; ongoing dialogue of the author with the reader; dialogue with other authors by direct and hidden quotes from their work; references to the author’s own works).http://old.studlit.ru/articles/Altashina.pdfnovel-dialogueCrébillon-filsdialogismdiegesislibertinageEnlightenment
spellingShingle Veronika D. Altashina
Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils
Studia Litterarum
novel-dialogue
Crébillon-fils
dialogism
diegesis
libertinage
Enlightenment
title Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils
title_full Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils
title_fullStr Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils
title_full_unstemmed Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils
title_short Dialogue and Dialogism in the Novels of Crébillon-fils
title_sort dialogue and dialogism in the novels of crebillon fils
topic novel-dialogue
Crébillon-fils
dialogism
diegesis
libertinage
Enlightenment
url http://old.studlit.ru/articles/Altashina.pdf
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