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VAUVENARGUES, Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de (1715-1747). Autograph manuscript of three texts on literary subjects ('Fontenelles', 'Sur l'ode' and 'Sur la poésie et l'éloquence'), including cancellations and revisions, n.p., n.d., on leaves numbered 21, 22, 23 and 26, cancellation strokes through the second piece, 8 pages, 4to (slightly browned, professionally strengthened in central vertical folds, 2 tiny tears).
Literary reflections, the first praising M. de Fontanelles, (Son histoire des oracles, son petit traité de lorigine des fables, une grande partie de ses Dialogues, sa pluralité des mondes, sont des ouvrages qui ne devroient jamais perir, quoyque le stile en soit froid, et peu naturel en beaucoup d'endroits), the second taking the opportunity for some scathing remarks on Rousseau in a consideration of the ode: 'Je ne scais point si Rousseau a surpassé Horace et Pindare dans ses odes. S'il les a surpassez, je concludes que lode est un mauvais genre, ou du moins un genre qui n'a pas encore atteint a beaucoup prés sa perfection. Lidee que j'ay de lode est que cest une espece de delire, un transport de limagination.'
The third argues for the primacy of eloquence: 'Cest leloquence qui non seulement convaint les hommes mais qui les echaufe pour les choses qu'elle leur a persuadées, et qui par consequent se rend maitresse de leur conduite ... Le genie qui fait les poetes est le meme qui donne la conaissance du coeur de lhome.'
Published in H. Bonnier's edition of the Oeuvres complètes in 1968, under Fragments (the term suggested by Vauvenargues himself for his brief pieces on literary subjects), and numbered 8, 11, and 12. The second, 'Sur l'ode', differs in part from the published text. The pieces were also published in D.L. Gilbert's edition (1857, vol. I), from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque du Louvre which was destroyed in the fire of 1871. Vauvenargues, born in Provence, had served with the army of Lombardy and Bohemia, where his health was ruined during the retreat from Prague in 1742. He devoted the rest of his short life to literature, and was highly regarded by Voltaire and many of the other leading writers and intellectuals of the time for his sensitivity and honesty.
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Literary reflections, the first praising M. de Fontanelles, (Son histoire des oracles, son petit traité de lorigine des fables, une grande partie de ses Dialogues, sa pluralité des mondes, sont des ouvrages qui ne devroient jamais perir, quoyque le stile en soit froid, et peu naturel en beaucoup d'endroits), the second taking the opportunity for some scathing remarks on Rousseau in a consideration of the ode: 'Je ne scais point si Rousseau a surpassé Horace et Pindare dans ses odes. S'il les a surpassez, je concludes que lode est un mauvais genre, ou du moins un genre qui n'a pas encore atteint a beaucoup prés sa perfection. Lidee que j'ay de lode est que cest une espece de delire, un transport de limagination.'
The third argues for the primacy of eloquence: 'Cest leloquence qui non seulement convaint les hommes mais qui les echaufe pour les choses qu'elle leur a persuadées, et qui par consequent se rend maitresse de leur conduite ... Le genie qui fait les poetes est le meme qui donne la conaissance du coeur de lhome.'
Published in H. Bonnier's edition of the Oeuvres complètes in 1968, under Fragments (the term suggested by Vauvenargues himself for his brief pieces on literary subjects), and numbered 8, 11, and 12. The second, 'Sur l'ode', differs in part from the published text. The pieces were also published in D.L. Gilbert's edition (1857, vol. I), from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque du Louvre which was destroyed in the fire of 1871. Vauvenargues, born in Provence, had served with the army of Lombardy and Bohemia, where his health was ruined during the retreat from Prague in 1742. He devoted the rest of his short life to literature, and was highly regarded by Voltaire and many of the other leading writers and intellectuals of the time for his sensitivity and honesty.
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