Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »

The epistemological pessimism of the ‘Apologie de Raimond Sebond’ is often held to be a key presence in Flaubert’s early work, where the young novelist transmutes Montaigne’s doubt into an impassioned, anguished mode. Following the discovery of Flaubert’s reading notes on the Essais, we now have the...

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Main Author: Timothy Chesters
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Institut des Textes & Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM) 2011-07-01
Series:Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/1325
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author Timothy Chesters
author_facet Timothy Chesters
author_sort Timothy Chesters
collection DOAJ
description The epistemological pessimism of the ‘Apologie de Raimond Sebond’ is often held to be a key presence in Flaubert’s early work, where the young novelist transmutes Montaigne’s doubt into an impassioned, anguished mode. Following the discovery of Flaubert’s reading notes on the Essais, we now have the chance to revisit this thesis. This article argues that the reading notes certainly reveal admiration for the ‘Apologie’: for its anti-rationalism, its denunciation of ‘bestise’, and what we might call its anti-modernity avant la lettre. But they also register a desire, widespread since the Enlightenment, to set a kind of limit on the essayist’s ‘que sçay-je?’. For Flaubert that limit was to be drawn on the geometrician’s ruler: as ‘la ligne droite géométrique’ that might lead to truth through fiction.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1969-6191
language fra
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publisher Institut des Textes & Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM)
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series Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
spelling doaj-art-8b29f669bb7a4ae49343c71cdcf631982025-02-05T16:29:33ZfraInstitut des Textes & Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM)Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique1969-61912011-07-01510.4000/flaubert.1325Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »Timothy ChestersThe epistemological pessimism of the ‘Apologie de Raimond Sebond’ is often held to be a key presence in Flaubert’s early work, where the young novelist transmutes Montaigne’s doubt into an impassioned, anguished mode. Following the discovery of Flaubert’s reading notes on the Essais, we now have the chance to revisit this thesis. This article argues that the reading notes certainly reveal admiration for the ‘Apologie’: for its anti-rationalism, its denunciation of ‘bestise’, and what we might call its anti-modernity avant la lettre. But they also register a desire, widespread since the Enlightenment, to set a kind of limit on the essayist’s ‘que sçay-je?’. For Flaubert that limit was to be drawn on the geometrician’s ruler: as ‘la ligne droite géométrique’ that might lead to truth through fiction.https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/1325Flaubert Gustavereading notesMontaigneknowledgeApologie de Raimond Sebonddoubt
spellingShingle Timothy Chesters
Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »
Flaubert: Revue Critique et Génétique
Flaubert Gustave
reading notes
Montaigne
knowledge
Apologie de Raimond Sebond
doubt
title Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »
title_full Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »
title_fullStr Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »
title_full_unstemmed Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »
title_short Flaubert lecteur de l’« Apologie de Raimond Sebond »
title_sort flaubert lecteur de l apologie de raimond sebond
topic Flaubert Gustave
reading notes
Montaigne
knowledge
Apologie de Raimond Sebond
doubt
url https://journals.openedition.org/flaubert/1325
work_keys_str_mv AT timothychesters flaubertlecteurdelapologiederaimondsebond