Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 3. The Reaction in FranceBrandes, Georg
History
Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature - 3. The Reaction in France
Brandes, Georg
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Naturalism in literature; Romanticism
The third part of Bonald's _Législation primitive_, which treats
chiefly of education, is directed against Rousseau's _Émile_; he
cannot forgive this book for teaching that religion ought not to form
a part of children's education. In all seriousness he mentions, as an
example of the fatal results of Rousseau's principles of education,
that during the last five months seventy-five children have been
sentenced to punishment for various crimes. He then proceeds to
expound his own principles. Their aim, as was to be expected, is the
suppression of all individuality. "We require a continuous, universal,
uniform (_perpétuel, universel, uniforme_) course of instruction,
and consequently continuity, universality, and uniformity in our
teachers; therefore we must have a corps of teachers, for without
a corps we can ensure neither continuity nor universality nor
uniformity." He maintains that married teachers cannot be expected to
sacrifice themselves to their calling, and unmarried ones are equally
unserviceable unless they are under the restraint of religious vows;
"for secular teachers, even though they be unmarried, are incapable
of forming a real corps, because they enter it and leave it according
to their own inclination and caprice; moreover, no father of a family
would dare to entrust his children to an unmarried man whose morals
were not certified by his religious vows and discipline." By force of
these arguments he arrives at the conclusion that the whole education
of the nation should be entrusted to the clergy, should be distinctly
religious, and should early accustom children to reverence that
authority to which they are to submit throughout their lives.
Obstinate insistence on the principle of authority is, then, the
distinctive, the ruling feature of this literary group. The French
rebuilders of society champion the principle with much more ardour
than those of Germany, partly because of their racial peculiarities,
partly because of their different religion. The reactionary movement in
German literature has its origin, as we have seen, in the law-defying
self-assertion and self-will of the individual.[8] In spite of its
Catholic tendencies and its apery of Catholicism, German Romanticism
never became so entirely Catholic, so deferential to authority, as the
French reaction. Teutonic and Protestant self-will always militated
against this. The French mind yielded easily. And it must be allowed
that there is something attractive in the complete, unmitigated
reaction which is lacking in the undecided, incomplete reaction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account