Savages, Noble and Otherwise, and the French Enlightenment
1986; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/sec.1986.0007
ISSN1938-6133
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Literary Analyses
ResumoSavages, Noble and Otherwise, and the French Enlightenment MICHELLE BUCHANAN The notion of the French philosophes' humanistic view of the sav age continues to find wide acceptance, along with the belief in the capital role played by Montaigne and Rousseau in the development and concretization of the concept of the Noble Savage. Both common places, having too long served as a springboard for studies of philo sophical, aesthetic, political, and economic issues, should now take their place among the myths which underpin the thesis of the nobil ity of Man in Nature. The belief in the importance of the Noble Savage in the thought of the Enlightenment gave rise to the corollary belief in its conversion into a notable element of fiction and drama in the literature of eigh teenth-century France. Setting aside the possible relationship be tween life in nature and utopistic or socialistic societies, which is the chief premise of Rene Gonnard's La Legende du bon sauvage (1946), and accepting the reality of a continuing interest in exoticism which Gil bert Chinard endeavors to prove in L'Amerique et le reve exotique dans la litterature frangaise au XVIIe et au XVIIe siecle (1913), an attempt must be made to determine whether "le bon sauvage" is indeed an impor tant link in the chain of philosophical and psychological elements which so decisively change the substance of French literature during the eighteenth century, or whether he is one of many stock characters used by writers much as they did "le bon mari," "la bonne mere," "le bon pere" (Marmontel), "le pere de famille" (Diderot), among others. 97 98 / BUCHANAN From de Lisle's Arlequin sauvage (1721) through Marmontel's Les In cas (1777) to the end of the century when Chateaubriand's Atala (1801) heralds the dawn of Romanticism, who are those savages and what role are they given in the literature of eighteenth-century France? In Voltaire's Candide (1759) Cacambo is of mixed-blood, from Mex ico, but hardly a savage. At one point in the story, master and servant find themselves prisoners of fifty Oreillons, a savage tribe in Para guay. The naked savages are getting their cooking pots and spits ready to roast the two men whom they have mistaken for Jesuits. Fortu nately Cacambo speaks some Oreillon and persuades the savages that Candide is not a Jesuit and has in fact just killed one. Adds Cacambo "I am persuaded you are too well acquainted with the principles of the laws of society, humanity, and justice, not to use us courteously, and suffer us to depart unhurt."1 The scene is farcical: Cacambo ex tolling the Oreillons' civic virtues while they are all standing before boiling cauldrons. Indeed the Oreillons release the two prisoners and show them "all sorts of civilities: offer them girls, give them refresh ments, and reconduct them to the confines of their country, crying before them all the way, in token of joy, 'He is no Jesuit, he is no Jesuit!'"2 L'lngenu of Voltaire, first published in 1767, becomes in one English translation The Child of Nature, in another The Simple Soul, again in another The Huron. The hero is a Huron and a fine lad he is: "His head was uncovered, and his legs bare; instead of shoes, he wore a kind of sandals. From his head his long hair flowed in tresses, while a small, close doublet displayed the beauty of his shape. He had a sweet and martial air."3 He speaks excellent French, and the first thing his French hostess notices is his complexion of lilies and roses. The Huron delights everyone with his pleasant manners taught him, along with the language, by a Frenchman. But early in the second chapter, we find out that l'lngenu is really his hosts' nephew. Voltaire has fun with his pseudo-Indian who needles his new-found family and friends about their religious practices and love problems. We are not sur prised to see that in the end l'lngenu, who now lives in Paris under a different name, becomes an excellent officer in the king's army and is "respected by all honest men, being at...
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