Theresa the philosopher ( fr. Thérèse philosophe ) - French erotic novel, first published anonymously in 1748 . He enjoyed great popularity in the XVIII - XIX centuries . Most modern scholars attribute the novel to the Marquis d'Arzhan [1] [2] . The novel was translated into Russian in 1991 and attributed to the Marquis de Sade [3] . Meanwhile, de Sade himself (he was born in 1740 and at least therefore could not be the author of the book) in the History of Juliet, quite definitely called the author of Theresa d'Arzhan.
| Teresa the philosopher | |
|---|---|
| Thérèse philosophe ou mémoires pour servir a l'histoire du Père Dirrag et de Mademoiselle Eradice | |
| Genre | novel |
| Author | Jean-Baptiste Buyer d'Arzhan |
| Original language | French |
| Date of writing | not earlier than 1747 |
| Date of first publication | 1748 |
Story
The novel is built in the form of the confession of Theresa, already at the age of seven experienced the "call of the flesh" ( masturbation , children's voyeurism ). At eleven, she was placed in a Capuchin monastery, she was filled with piety - “you will become a saint,” the confessor tells her. Teresa begins to philosophize, she is tormented by two passions - sincere love for the Lord and pleasures of the flesh. Her health is undermined, her mother takes her from the monastery and puts her under the care of the priest Dyrrag. Teresa witnesses a love scene between the satyr Dirrag and the repentant sinner Eradika; the scene begins with the scourging of the sinner by the “ version of St. Francis ” and ends with intercourse. Teresa once again experiences solitary carnal pleasures. The next part of the novel is devoted mainly to philosophical conversations (about religion, honor and sex) of Abbot T. and his beloved Madame S. Teresa listens to the history of the courtesan Boalorie; he meets Count H. at the Opera, who inflames her sensuality with relevant images and books and becomes her sensitive and attentive (pregnancy protection) lover.
The Real Foundation
The novel uses the stirring Provence , and then the whole of France, the story that happened in 1731 . In Toulon, the Jesuit Jean-Baptiste Girard seduces a twenty-year-old pious (until fanaticism) girl Marie-Catherine Cadier . The trial of Girard, who risked his own head, which took place under the violent accompaniment of pamphlets and satirical sheets, ends with the justification of the Jesuit; he returns to his hometown of Dol and a couple of years later he gives his soul to God. The author of the novel resorts to anagrams : Dyrrag = Girard, Eradika = Kadier.
The fate of the book
The first print run of Theresa was arrested by the police on February 1, 1749 (it is possible that the book had already circulated in the manuscript). Already in 1750, a replica appeared in The Hague - “Anti-Teresa, or Juliette the philosopher”, which criticized the excessive “unbridledness” of “Teresa”. Until the end of the century, about twenty more publications of Theresa were published; the 1822 edition was banned; the publisher received two months in prison. In 2008, the book was published in a pocket edition [4] .
Genre
The book is sustained in the tradition of the “ novel of education ”, and the false novel about Boalorie is in the spirit of a rogue novel . Theresa the Philosopher undoubtedly anticipates the prose of the Marquis de Sade , in particular Philosophy in the Boudoir, and echoes the Indiscreet Treasures and Philosophical Letters of Didro (who was sometimes credited with the book).
Ideological background
The author of "Theresa" stands on the positions of materialism and total determinism and affirms the paramount role of passions, which man cannot fight against. The ideas of good and evil are relative, not related to the Christian absolute, and developed by people to preserve the existing social order. Interpreting the problem of violation of social norms in the secular plan, D'Arzhan anticipates the ideas of Cesare Beccaria and Holbach .
Interesting Facts
- Among the connoisseurs of the novel were Pushkin and Dostoevsky , who mentions the book in The Player :
Moreover, she introduced me to Hortense, who was too wonderful a woman of her kind and was called Thérèse-philosophe in our circle ...
[five]
- In 2007, at the Paris Theater of Europe ( Odeon ), director Anatoly Vasiliev staged his (indisputable) version of Theresa the Philosopher. [6] [7] [8] One of the features of the production is the extremely strange sound of French speech.
Notes
- ↑ Jean-Pierre Cavaillé. Thérèse et Louise, ou le plaisir sous la contrainte
- ↑ Pigeard de Gurbert, Guillaume: Où l'on reparle de l'attribution de Thérèse philosophe au marquis d'Argens.// La Lettre clandestine, No. 9 (2000), p. 195-200.
- ↑ Marquis de Sade. Philosophy in the boudoir. Teresa the philosopher. - RIA "IST-WEST", Moscow Worker, 1991. - 288 p. - ISBN 5-239-01386-1 .
- ↑ Thérèse philosophe, Jean-Baptiste De Boyer Argens tous les livres à la Fnac
- ↑ F. M. Dostoevsky. Player
- ↑ School of Dramatic Art :: Press »Anatoly Vasiliev did not agree with Paris (inaccessible link)
- ↑ Thérèse philosophe: L'esprit de l'escalier
- ↑ Archived copy (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment June 4, 2010. Archived October 16, 2007.
Literature
- Broomfield W. K. “Teresa the Philosopher” and criticism of rational egoism in the late works of F. M. Dostoevsky // Humanitarian information portal “ Knowledge. Understanding. Skill . " - 2016. - No. 2 (March - April) (archived in WebCite ) .
- Brumfield, William C. Thérèse philosophe and Dostoevsky's Great Sinner // Comparative Literature . 1980. Vol. 32. No. 3. P. 238-252.
- Brumfield, William C. Teresa's Philosophy and Critique of Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's Work = Thérèse philosophe and Dostoevsky's Critique of Rational Egotism // Knowledge. Understanding. Skill . - 2016. - No. 1 . - S. 304–317 (archived in WebCite ) . - DOI : 10.17805 / zpu.2016.1.28 .
- Trousson R. Introduction // D'Argens Boyer (?). Thérèse philosophe. - Romans libertins du XVIII siècle. P., Laffond, 1993. P. 559-573.