Plénitude du vide : dévoiement libertin des vanités classiques
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Date
2018
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Abstract
Les Vanités composeraient-elles l ’essence trop souvent oubliée de la littérature
dite « libertine » du dix-huitième siècle ? La fiction voluptueuse du siècle
des Lumières a observé et problématisé la nouvelle condition humaine à l ’aube
de la modernité : plus de Dieu capable de remplir le vide ; plus d ’éternité à espérer
au-delà de la finitude humaine ; plus rien que l ’humain, le moment présent et la vérité
de la sensation. Les personnages de cette littérature érotique mettent en scène
une sagesse de l ’homme-bulle qui serait un mécanisme d ’adaptation à cette nouvelle
réalité. Rien n ’est vain pour ces êtres légers, tant que la vanité des plaisirs tient à distance
le souvenir de la vanité de l ’existence que menace le néant. Cependant, l ’ironie
de ces narrations libertines suggère, comme dans le modèle classique, que ces jouissances
temporelles peuvent ne pas suffire à combler l ’angoisse du vide. Une question
est posée au lecteur qui surprend, dans la figure du libertin, l ’anamorphose de l ’humain
: toi, te sachant mortel, entre angoisse et insouciance, quelle voie choisis-tu ?
Could vanities be the overlooked essence of so-called ‘libertine ’ fiction? 18th century French erotic literature has observed and analysed the new human condition on the brink of modernity. There is no more God to fill up the void, no more eternity to hope for beyond human finitude; only humanity, the present moment and the truth of a sensation. The adventures of this fiction ’s characters stage the wisdom of the homo bulla that would be, tacitly, a coping mechanism to that new reality. Nothing is vanity for these frivolous beings, as long as the vanity of pleasures manages to keep away the memory of the vanity of life. However, the irony of those narrations suggests, like in the classical model of vanitas, that these temporal delectations may not be enough to avoid angst. The reader is asked a question as he or she discovers in the libertine figure an anamorphosis of all humanity: knowing that you are mortal, what will you choose between anguishes and vanities?
Could vanities be the overlooked essence of so-called ‘libertine ’ fiction? 18th century French erotic literature has observed and analysed the new human condition on the brink of modernity. There is no more God to fill up the void, no more eternity to hope for beyond human finitude; only humanity, the present moment and the truth of a sensation. The adventures of this fiction ’s characters stage the wisdom of the homo bulla that would be, tacitly, a coping mechanism to that new reality. Nothing is vanity for these frivolous beings, as long as the vanity of pleasures manages to keep away the memory of the vanity of life. However, the irony of those narrations suggests, like in the classical model of vanitas, that these temporal delectations may not be enough to avoid angst. The reader is asked a question as he or she discovers in the libertine figure an anamorphosis of all humanity: knowing that you are mortal, what will you choose between anguishes and vanities?
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Keywords
libertinage, Lumières, mort, ironie, XVIIIe siècle, Libertines, enlightenment, death, irony, eighteenth century
Citation
"Quêtes littéraires" 2018, nº 8, s. 53-63