Julia or New Eloise
The material was "taken away" from the site http: // site /
The novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau "Julia or the new Eloise" is written in the epistolary genre, is a sentimental prose. It took the author 3 years to write it (from 1757 to 1760). The novel first appeared in publication in Amsterdam, leaving Rey's printing house in the winter of 1761.
Title page of the first edition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Julia or the New Eloise
The fate of the main characters of the work, Saint Preux and Julia d'Etange, in many respects has something in common with the love story of Abelard and Eloise, who lived in the Middle Ages. Rousseau's contemporaries were so delighted with this work that in the first 40 years after its first publication, the novel was reprinted 70 times. None of the works of French authors of the 18th century knew such success.
Characters of the novel "Julia or the new Eloise"
Julia - Main character. Blond hair, soft gentle features. From the outside it seems the most modesty and charm. It traces the natural charm and the absence of the slightest affectation. Graceful simplicity shines through in her clothes, sometimes even some negligence, which, however, suits her more than the most magnificent outfit. Prefers to wear little jewelry, but picks them up with great taste. The chest is covered, but as befits a modest girl, not a hypocrite.
Falls in love with his teacher Saint Preux. They start dating secretly. However, after her father's categorical refusal to marry a penniless man, she has no choice but to marry a more suitable man - the nobleman de Volmar. However, she continues to love Saint Preux.
Clara- Julia's cousin. Perky brunette. The look is more sly, more energetic and cheerful than that of Yulia. He dresses smarter and almost coquettishly. However, modesty and good-nature can be traced in her appearance.
Saint Preux Julia's friend and teacher. A young man of ordinary appearance. There is nothing fancy about it. The face, however, is interesting and speaks of sensuality. He dresses very simply, is rather shy and usually embarrassed in the presence of people, does not know how to behave. In moments of passionate excitement, everything boils.
Saint Preux is a pseudonym given to him by Julia herself. Literally means "Holy Knight". His real name is never revealed, only the initials S.G.
Baron D'Etange Julia's father. Appears only once in the novel.
Upon learning of the daughter's secret relationship, he will be terribly angry. Will speak sharply against the unequal marriage with Saint-Preux. That will have to leave. The title for Julia's father will be more precious than the true feelings and true happiness of his daughter.
My Lord Edward Bomston- An Englishman and nobleman. It is distinguished by a majestic appearance, which comes more from the mental warehouse than from the consciousness of its high rank. The features of the face are marked by the stamp of courage and nobility, but at the same time they are interspersed with some sharpness and severity. He has a stern and stoic look, behind which Edward can hardly restrain his sensitivity. He is dressed in English fashion. He wears clothes befitting a noble person, but far from luxurious.
First, Saint-Preux, because of Julia, will challenge him to a duel, which in the end will be averted. Subsequently, Edward will become a close friend to his lover and teacher Julia Saint-Preux.
Mister de Volmar Julia's husband. Differs in a cold and sublime posture. There is nothing fake or fake about it. Makes few gestures. He has a sharp mind and a rather penetrating look. He studies people without any pretentiousness.
De Volmar is a close friend of Julia's father. In gratitude for the service rendered to him, Baron D'Etange promises him the hand of his daughter. He is aware of Julia's love for Saint-Preux and their relationship, but he is inclined to believe their nobility and sense of duty, which will save them from further secret meetings.
So, Julia will become the wife of an unloved person and give birth to two boys and a girl.
The philosophical and lyrical novel Julius, or the New Eloise by Jean Jacques Rousseau tells about the events that unfold in France in the eighteenth century.
Characters of the novel: raznochinets Saint-Preux, daughter of Baron d\"Emange Julia, her cousin Clara, Mr. d\"Orb, Mr. de Volmar - friend of the Baron d\"Etange, Sir Edward Bomston.
In a small Swiss town, an educated peddler Saint-Preux falls in love with his student Julia, the daughter of the Baron d \ "Etange. He is well aware that the baron does not agree to give his daughter to an unborn person. Julia also falls in love with Saint-Prex, but does not want to receive love at the cost of your dishonor.
Clara, Julia's cousin, patronizes lovers. And soon Julia finds out that her father has already chosen a spouse for her - his old friend, Mr. de Volmar. The girl calls Saint Preux and in a fit of passion becomes his mistress. After a while, the girl bitterly regrets her rash act.
San Pre and himself suffers, watching the bitterness of his beloved. And Julia is unable to fight passion, so she again calls on Saint-Preux for a date. Their meetings are wonderful, but one day Saint-Preux hears how an English traveler, Edward Bomston, in a male company, praises Julia. Saint Preux challenges Edouard to a duel. Julia finds out about this, asks Saint-Preux to refuse the fight, and writes a letter to Bomston, in which she admits that Saint-Preux is her lover. The noble Bomston apologizes to Saint Preux in front of witnesses, and then they become friends.
Soon Saint-Preux goes to Paris. Yielding to temptation, he cheats on Julia. But then he writes a letter in which he confesses to Yulia about his act. Julia forgives her lover, but in the future warns against such steps.
Unexpectedly, Yulia's mother discovers her daughter's correspondence with her lover. Good Madame d \ "Etange has nothing against Saint-Pre, but knowing that her husband will be against such a marriage, she is tormented by pangs of conscience and soon dies. Julia, considering herself the culprit of her mother's death, meekly agrees to become Wolmar's wife. And Clara becomes mistress d \" Orb.
With marriage, Julia returns to the bosom of virtue. Her husband is about fifty years old, but this does not sadden Yulia, she even thanks her father for marrying her not out of love.
Meanwhile, Saint-Preux goes on a voyage around the world. There has been no news of him for several years. Returning, he writes a letter to Clara, in which he announces his desire to see both Clara herself and her cousin Julia.
One day Julia meets Saint Preux. She introduces her two sons and her husband to him. Wolmar invites Saint-Preux to stay with them, although he knows about Julia's past with this man. The longer Saint-Preux stays with the Volmars, the more he respects them. The family leads a measured way of life, which touches Saint-Preux very much. Once Mr. Wolmar offers Saint-Preux to become a mentor to his sons. Saint-Preux agrees - he feels that he will be able to justify the trust placed in him.
It would seem that nothing foreshadowed trouble. But one day, while walking, the youngest son of Yulia falls into the river. She rushes to his aid, saves him, but, having caught a cold, soon dies. Before her death, Julia writes a letter to Saint-Preux, in which she confesses that she has always loved him, and only by sheer will she lived in virtue. Now death saves her from these torments.
Thus ends the novel by Jean Jacques Rousseau Julie, or the New Eloise.
"Julia, or New Eloise"(fr. Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloise listen)) is a novel in letters, written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1757-1760. One of the central works of sentimentalist literature, which gave rise to the vogue for "country taste" and Swiss landscapes.
The second part of the title refers the reader to the medieval love story of Heloise and Abelard, which is similar to the fate of the main characters of the novel, Julia d'Etange and Saint Preux. The novel was a huge hit with contemporaries. In the first 40 years, the New Eloise was only officially reprinted 70 times, a success that no other work of French literature of the 18th century had.
Plot
Saint Preux, a gifted young man of humble origin, works in an estate on the shores of a Swiss lake as a home teacher to the daughter of Baron d'Etange and, like the medieval Abelard, falls in love with his student, Julia. She reciprocates his feelings and even gives him the first kiss. She understands that cohabitation without marriage cannot be approved by her parents, and her father will never approve of marriage with a person of lower status (after all, he has long identified her old friend de Volmar as her husband).
Giving in to her feelings, Julia is getting closer and closer to Saint Preux and agrees to a nightly date with him. When Saint-Preux, in a temper, challenges another admirer of the girl, my lord Edward, Julia reconciles the enemies, and they become best friends. The old baron, having learned about their connection, forbids his daughter to meet with Saint-Preux. Milord takes his friend to distant lands, not allowing him to say goodbye to his beloved. However, they continue to correspond. The discovery of correspondence by Yulia's mother turns into such unrest for her that she prematurely descends into the grave. In a fit of repentance, Julia accepts an offer to marry the venerable Wolmar.
A few years later, Saint Preux returns to the estate from a trip around the world. He sees Julia de Volmar surrounded by two sons. Wolmar, a respected man of high merits, invites him to take up the education of the latter. Saint-Preux expects to become just a friend for Julia, but deep down he doubts how much this is possible. Julia, saving her son who fell into the river, catches a cold. Her cold turns out to be fatal. In her last letter to Saint Preux, she admits that she has loved only him all her life, and thanks fate for saving her virtue from new trials.
Main heroes
History of creation
Sophie d'Udeto, the prototype of Julia in the novel "The New Eloise"
Composition of the novel
The novel consists of 6 parts. The title page contains an epigraph in Italian, taken from Petrarch's sonnet on the death of Laura:
"There are not many writers about whom one could say:" Without them, all French literature would have gone in a different direction. " Rousseau is one of them. At a time when the life of society shaped writers in its own way, leading them from one stage literary quirks to another - from the nobility draped in frilly clothes of the 17th century to the undisguised cynicism of the 18th - a citizen of Geneva who was neither a born Frenchman, nor a nobleman, nor a hanger-on to the nobility, more sensitive than gallant, preferring the pleasures of a rural solitary life to salon entertainment , opened the window wide to the Swiss and Savoyard landscapes and let in a stream of fresh air into the musty living rooms. [cm. 6]The title of the novel is followed by the subtitle: “Letters from two lovers living in a small town at the foot of the Alps. Collected and published by J.-J. Rousseau." In this way, Rousseau gave greater credibility to the story told, acting not as a writer, but as a friend of the heroes who collected and published their letters.
A few days after the novel's first release, on February 18, 1761, Rousseau separately published a "Second Preface" to the novel, written in the form of a dialogue between author and publisher.
The Paris edition of 1764 added a "List of Letters" with a summary of each. Rousseau himself did not take part in this, but later approved the idea, and it is usually included in complete editions of the novel.
The “Plots of Engravings” became a standard part of the editions, in which Rousseau describes in detail the plots and requirements for the execution of all 12 engravings for the first edition.
On the contrary, Rousseau excluded the inserted novella The Love Story of My Lord Edward Bomston from his lifetime publications, as he considered that in its tone it contradicted the general style of the novel and the “touching simplicity” of its plot. The novella was first published after Rousseau's death in the Geneva edition of 1780.
Success
Marie Antoinette's Versailles Farm
The "New Eloise" contributed to the spread of the Rousseauist cult of rural life. Yes, the French Queen
Rousseau's artistic work is closely connected with his philosophy, with his "religion of the heart", with his theory of conscience as an infallible judge of good and evil.
II. Sentimentalism.
Sentimentalism (French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental - sensitive, French sentiment - feeling) - a literary movement of the 18th - early 19th centuries. in Western Europe and Russia, is characterized by an appeal to feeling, raising it to the measure of good and evil, to the main criterion of human value."The social origins of European Sentimentalism is the growth of a third-class ideology within the Enlightenment. As a new form of self-affirmation of the individual, based on the predominance of feeling over rationality, sentimentalism was a reaction to enlightenment rationalism, at the same time deepening and cultivating another facet of enlightenment humanism - the value of feeling. The principle of human evaluation acquired in sentimentalism, a democratic orientation. The cult of feeling led to a more adequate disclosure of the inner world of a person, to a deepening of psychological analysis, to the individualization of the image. It also gave rise to a new attitude to nature; the landscape turns out to be consonant with personal experience. Emotional impact required a different vocabulary - a sensitively colored figurative word. " [cm. 5]
Sentimentalism originated in the late 1920s. 18th century in England, remaining in the 20-50s. closely associated with Enlightenment classicism and with the Enlightenment novel of Richardson's sentimentalism.
French sentimentalism reaches its full development in the epistolary novel by J.J. Rousseau "The New Eloise". The subjective-emotional nature of the letters was an innovation in French literature.
III. The novel "Julia, or New Eloise":
1) The bias of the work.
Published for the first time in Holland in 1761, the novel "Julia, or New Eloise" has the subtitle: "Letters of two lovers living in a small town at the foot of the Alps." And something else is said on the title page: "Collected and published by Jean-Jacques Rousseau." The purpose of this simple hoax is to create the illusion of complete authenticity of the story. Posing as a publisher, and not as a writer, Rousseau provides some pages with footnotes (there are 164 in total), with which he argues with his heroes, fixing their delusions due to violent experiences of love, corrects their views on issues of morality, art, poetry. In the shell of mild irony, the top of objectivity: the author allegedly has nothing in common with the characters in the novel, he is only an observer, an impartial judge standing over them. And at first, Rousseau got his way: he was asked whether these letters were really found, whether it was true or fiction, although he himself gave himself out as an epigraph to the novel and verse by Petrarch."New Eloise" consists of 163 letters, divided into six parts. There are relatively few episodes in the novel compared to the huge add-on, consisting of lengthy discussions on a variety of topics: about a duel, about suicide, about whether a wealthy woman can help her beloved man with money, about housekeeping and social organization, about religion and helping the poor , about the upbringing of children, about opera and dance. Rousseau's novel is filled with maxims, instructive aphorisms, and, in addition, there are too many tears and sighs, kisses and hugs, unnecessary complaints and inappropriate sympathies. In the 18th century, it was loved, at least in a certain environment; it seems to us today old-fashioned and often ridiculous. To read from beginning to end "New Eloise" with all the deviations from the plot, you need to have a fair dose of patience, but Rousseau's book is distinguished by its deep content. The "New Eloise" was studied with unflagging attention by such demanding thinkers and artists of the word as N.G. Chernyshevsky and L.N. Tolstoy. Tolstoy said about Rousseau's novel: "This beautiful book makes you think"
2) The plot.
"The family drama in the house of Baron d'Etange in the village of Clarans is first perceived as a hackneyed motive for the seduction of an innocent girl, the daughter of respected parents. At the heart of such a plot is a useful admonition: girls, be careful, do not succumb to the external charm of vice; parents tirelessly monitor the behavior of their children And now this banal plot of Rousseau turned inside out: the "fall" of a girl becomes her rise, the "corruptor" is tragic, the norms of patriarchal morality reveal their dogmatism, even inhumanity. [cm. 3]The action of the novel refers to the 30s of the XVIII century. A modest twenty-four-year-old teacher, a poor man and a wanderer, Madame d'Etange invited to her daughter. The name of the home teacher is Saint-Pre, which means: a brave man, a valiant person, virtuous and courageous. In Julia Saint-Preux he found virtues that delighted him: sensitivity, intelligence, aesthetic taste, besides, she is pretty. And something happened that often happens in such cases: Saint Preux fell in love with Julia. A dreamer by nature, Saint-Preux idealizes the object of his love, discovering in Julia "signs of a deity." The sighs suppressed by Saint Preux serve as proof to Julia of his unrest. From the restrained tone of Julia Saint-Preux comes to despair and seriously decides to commit suicide. The blinded Saint-Preux does not see his happiness: after all, Julia reciprocates, and if, being alone with him, she addresses him in an icy tone, and in the presence of other people - playfully, then she does this because of the difficulty of the situation: the more she gives him freedom, the more necessary will be his removal.
Julia once had a dear old governess, Shelio. A fragment of the courtly frivolity of morals, she willingly told Julia about the obscene adventures of her youth. But Chaillot did not manage to weaken Yulia's fidelity to virtue even by a drop. To some extent, conversations with Shelyo were even useful for Julia, introducing her to the wrong side of social life. But no matter how reasonable Julia is, she is by nature created for strong love, and no matter how much prudence is in her, she cannot "tame her passions." Feeling some kind of mental weakness, Yulia summons her faithful friend, cousin Clara, in whose person she has long acquired a confidante. Brought up by her parents in the spirit of strict morality, Julia begins to realize that her virtue is losing power over her. She fell in love, and there would be nothing terrible in this if her lover was not a commoner. Ruthless law, based on stupid prejudice, says that the noblewoman Julia cannot marry the philistine Saint-Preux. A deep feeling ran into obstacles, and Julia - no less than Saint Preux - was confused. The happiness of lovers is impossible because of the class prejudices of the Baron d'Etange, for whom the fetish of family honor is more precious than his own daughter. Arriving home after 30 years of military service, Mr. d'Etange gets acquainted with his daughter's success in the sciences. He could have been quite pleased if one trifle had not caught his eye: Saint-Preux despises heraldry, and Julia was imbued with his ideas. In addition, Saint-Preux refused to pay. The usual contempt of a nobleman for a plebeian who receives money for his work gives way to suspicion. Human dignity and honesty mean little to the baron - he considers these words "ambiguous". How can a nobleman be indebted to a common man, even an honest one?
Confusion seized Julia and Saint-Preux. "Get me out," he pleads with her. "Protect me from myself," she replies to him. And then one day, when Clara was absent, Julia, in love, gave herself to her beloved Saint Preux. Reflecting further, she considered this act her moral "fall".
a) historical Eloise and echoes of the Richardsonian tradition
Eloise is the 17-year-old niece of Canon Fulber, who lived in the 12th century. Heloise was seduced by her theologian teacher Pierre Abelard. When Eloise's uncle found out about this, he was furious, and his servants mutilated Abelard, so that he could no longer be either a lover or a secret spouse of Eloise. In the convent he founded, he imprisoned his beloved there. Abelard's autobiography, The History of My Troubles, is full of tears and anger, greed for carnal life and repentant asceticism. From this autobiography comes the not very attractive appearance of a gifted, selfish, ambitious and fanatic who called himself a "pathetic little man." But the appearance of Eloise is unusually tragic and charming. Out of devotion to the despotic Abelard, she condemned herself to monasticism. "Thirsty for love, motherhood, happiness, Eloise submitted to Abelard's religious mania, but - a nun against her will - she could not and did not want to hide her sufferings, turmoil of the soul, fluctuations between the painful thirst for earthly happiness and the humility of the mission of the abbess. In letters to She wrote to Abelard about her "passion, the ardor of youth kindled by the experience of the most pleasant pleasures." Not for the sake of the Lord, Eloise admitted, she went to the monastery, for she loves him, Abelard, more than God. [cm. 2]Despite the novel's title, The New Eloise, Saint Preux and Julie have little in common with the true heroes of the twelfth century. Saint-Preux and Julie are equally deprived of the "experience of the passions"; love fell upon them like an element, and when it happened, they became ideal lovers. Not only Julia is chaste and extremely bashful - this can also be said about Saint-Preux. Consequently, Rousseau is also far from Richardson, in whose novel the situation is melodramatic and can easily be reduced to the formula: "Innocence is the victim of vice." In fact, Richardson's Lovlas dishonored Clarissa by cunning and violence: he is cynical, while in Saint-Preux love is all his pathos. If Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am", then Saint Preux, as it were, paraphrased this aphorism in the words addressed to Julia. "Do I still love you? What a doubt! Have I ceased to exist." If Saint Preux and Julia had not loved each other so much, they would never have become close before marriage. For both of them, the word marriage is a symbol of purity and holiness. Saint Preux hates the very thought of adultery. Let the feelings of Saint-Pere and Julia, after their relationship has lost its innocent character, become temporarily calmer, but there is more cordiality and variety in them, because friendship is now mixed with them, "moderating the ardor of passion." But Saint Preux still calls Julia with thousands of tender words: mistress, wife, sister, friend, angelic beauty, heavenly soul ...
Unfortunately, Saint-Preux's ability to fight for his happiness is far inferior to his ability to eloquently express his overwhelming feelings.
3) Sensitivity and sensuality.
In the love of Saint Preux and Julia, not only sensitivity is manifested, in the sense of tenderness, responsiveness, the ability to give any sympathy a sublime character; in this love there is also a heightened sensitivity, which Rousseau emphasizes with a number of details. In Saint Preux's love for Julia, sensitivity and sensuality are so merged that it is impossible to separate them from each other. Nothing in common with the boudoir eroticism of the XVIII century have those episodes of the novel, where the kiss of Saint-Preux in the grove causes Julia to faint or where Saint-Preux admires the contour of Julia's breasts, recalling the joys of a recent intimate meeting. In Saint Preux, sensuality gives love the power of a huge, tormenting passion, while the playful aristocratic poetry of the Rococo turned it into a frivolous trifle, into a fleeting pleasure. Love fell on Julia and Saint-Preux like a storm, before which self-control would have been just a sign of the pettiness of nature. No, this is not a momentary whim of a salon "heartthrob", but a deep, strong irresistible passion. Can a love that shocks, ignites the blood, feverish, be perceived by such chaste beings as Julia and Saint-Preux, separately from her spiritual, or from her physical side? The moment Julia, and then Saint-Preux, begin to oppose these sides to each other, their happiness will end, turn into continuous suffering, into a lie, into internal discord.a) Saint Preux
Saint-Preux is a philistine, but how complex is the inner world of this "simple" person. Saint Preux is controversial. Experiencing everything painfully sharply, he, a lover of everything natural and healthy, enthusiastically treats Yulia when he sees her touchingly pale and languid, when he notices anxiety in her. He is timid and impudent, ardent and submissive, shy to the point of fury, indefatigable in the thirst for possession, he is impulsive and unbridled, more often melancholy than overwhelmed with joy, unusually susceptible to life's deformities, as well as to everything beautiful; add to this - educated and talented. Saint Preux is very uneven in his moods: despondency is often replaced by anger, apathy by irascibility. He is always immersed in his experiences and thoughts, distracted and almost blind to others, sometimes amazingly observant and subtle in his judgments. Any little thing can upset his balance. The sensibility of Saint-Preux manifests itself in an innumerable number of nuances. His emotionality is also the principle of his thinking, which is why he cannot stand philosophy so much, considering its empty phrases, "threatening passions from afar," to be boastful. But precisely because Saint-Preux is so impulsive, he needs a leader, he lacks judgment, and the fragile, tender Julia often turns out to be stronger than him. It would seem that all Saint-Preux's thoughts are turned to his favorite drama, however, this is not so: he is in deep conflict with the social environment, or rather, the drama of his love is intertwined with this conflict.b) Julia
Rousseau put his most ideal aspirations into the image of Julia. Her subtlety of taste and depth of mind, sensitivity and responsiveness suggest the possibility of delicate, sincere, soft relations between people, which, according to Rousseau, will someday be established in society.Julia has a very developed sense of duty, but it requires not heroic deeds, but continuous suffering.
4) Contrasting "public" and "natural" life.
The complex vicissitudes of the love of Saint Preux and Julia are due not only to the logic of passion - their love has a certain socio-historical background. Cavalier de Grieux's attraction to a girl who stands outside any norms of behavior brought him into conflict with his father and his environment; he is ready to flee to the desert, but he does not think about the structure of society. Saint-Preux is chained to this thought precisely because of his love for Julia. “Without you, fatal beauty,” he writes to Yulia, “I would never have felt this unbearable contrast between the greatness hidden in the depths of my soul and the baseness of my social position.” Indeed, it is difficult to understand a social world in which the poor, with elevated feelings, is oppressed and despised, and the man with the title, even if he is limited, rude, occupies one of the first places on the social ladder. The petty bourgeois Saint-Preux's love for Julia inspired even greater hatred of class inequality, and the noblewoman Julia, in turn, was convinced that her own father "sells her", "made a slave out of his daughter, wanting to pay her life for saving his own."a) father's despotism and noble honor
Even before the young teacher left for a short time in Neuchâtel on some business of Julia, Madame d'Etange returned from her trip, and not alone: with her was her old friend and old acquaintance of Saint-Preux - a noble Englishman Edward Bomston . Mutual sympathy attracts each other Edward and Saint-Preux.Having learned about Saint-Preux's passionate love for Julia, to whom Edward himself at some point was not completely indifferent, he voluntarily took on a hopeless mission - to persuade her father to allow his daughter Julia to become Saint-Prex's wife.
He was infuriated by the possibility that the name of the representative of the "noble family" d'Etange "lost its splendor or become shamed if Julia becomes the wife of" an obscure vagabond, a beggar who lives on alms.
Further events take a grim turn. Her father was "the best of fathers," Julia assured herself. Meanwhile, the baron, overcome with anger, almost beat his daughter. Seeing the blood on her face, he immediately repented and even sobbed, but even at this moment his fatherly feelings are doubtful. Julia's reverence for him is not justified in any way. Subsequently, Clara, in a letter to Saint-Preux, will expose the hypocrisy of the baron - today he tyrannizes his wife and daughter, and when he was in military service, he led a dissolute life, worrying little about noble honor and loyalty to his wife.
And so Saint-Preux and Julia had to part. In a series of letters from the second part of the novel, they express all the strength of their love and all the bitterness of separation. She torments him with thoughts about his possible cooling towards her, he answers her in the same way, and all this in order to revel in the feeling of mutual adoration. Bomston invites Julia to flee with her lover to England and settle in his estate, but Clara, who knows Julia's character well, dissuaded her. To strike at the very heart of a kind mother and upset even a callous father is not to Julia's liking; happiness bought at such a high price turns her away. So Saint Preux loses Julia forever.
Having left for France, Saint-Preux describes to Julia the social life of Paris. In just three weeks Saint-Preux recognized behind the outward sociability, courtesy, noble Parisians, behind their ostentatious hospitality, coldness and deceit.
Saint Preux is fed up with Paris, he misses the "wild places" that he admired not so long ago, he does not have enough of one "physical" nature, he also needs an "internal" nature, that is, a restored, or simply undistorted moral image of a person.
At the very beginning of the third part of the novel, Clara - now Madame d'Orbe - informs Saint-Prex that Julia's mother fell ill with grief after she accidentally found a letter to Saint-Prex to her daughter. Saint-Preux makes the most terrible decision for him. He writes a letter to Madame d'Etange, in which he expresses his readiness to abandon Julia forever. Such a decision could not pass without a trace for Saint-Prex: torment and anger, sorrow and despair harden him. Madame d'Etange was touched by the suffering of Saint "Pré, but she was too soft-tempered to be able to influence her stubborn husband. She died soon after, however, not only from worries about Julia: she was ill with dropsy. After the death of Madame d'Etange, her husband writes a letter to Saint-Prex , full of all sorts of insults. Saint-Preux answer him with dignity, although his grief is immense: Julia herself refused him. Julia thinks that her conscience has a share of the blame for the death of her mother.
Julia's trouble is that, too obedient daughter and not decisive enough mistress, she, according to Saint-Preux, became "a victim of a chimera of social status."
The baron considered it a matter of honor to give the fifty-year-old Wolmar the long-promised daughter, because "honor is dearer to him than the happiness of his daughter."
b) virtue
Six years have passed since Saint Preux met Julia. And now the woman he loves belongs to someone else. Now Julia's reasoning that, having lost his mistress, Saint-Preux acquired a faithful girlfriend, should console him. Julia faced an alternative: marriage with a loved one and a break with the nobility or violence against herself, voluntary slavery of an unwanted marriage. Meanwhile, Julia formulates these paths in a completely different way: humility, devotion to family duty, or the shame of "free love." It turns out that love for Saint Preux was "a crime, her temptation", and marriage to the elderly Wolmar awakened in her a "sense of chastity", and this means for her - "return to herself", the rebirth of virtue.Another six or seven years passed. From a letter from Julia to Clara, now the widow d "Orb (her husband died), we learn that Julia became the mother of two children and that the joys of motherhood helped her to ease her heartfelt losses in her memory. When she sees herself surrounded by children with Wolmar, she it seems that everything around her "breathes with virtue", and this expels from her mind the thought of "mistakes of the past". Confident that nothing is left of her former love, Julia is sad about the gloomy fate of Saint Preux, who probably died during his wanderings From time to time, in Julia's letters to Clara, elegiac memories of lost happiness break through: what kind of soul did he have? How he knew how to love!...
Soon, Madame d'Orb receives news from Saint-Preux: he is alive, he has returned and settled on the shores of Lake Geneva. A complete surprise for Saint-Preux was a letter received from Julia's husband, Wolmar. Julia revealed her secret to her husband. Having learned about the sublime character of Saint-Preux, Wolmar declares him worthy of the love of such a beautiful woman as Julia. Moreover, Wolmar wants to be friends with Saint-Preux from now on and invites him to his house, where innocence and peace, sincerity and hospitality reign.
Julia regained Saint Preux, but now she is his sister and mother, he is only a true friend for her. Julia tells her husband about all her conversations with Saint-Preux, shows him her letters: Wolmar's trust in Julia and Saint-Prex is limitless.
You might think that Julia is now provided with lasting peace of mind. But no, she does not feel truly happy, and this undermines her consciousness of her virtue.
Julia's family happiness is illusory and that her virtue stands on the edge of the abyss as soon as Saint-Preux is near her. Julia and Saint Preux are irresistibly attracted to each other; awakening passion, only covered with the ashes of time, is about to flare up with the same force. This was especially evident during the walk of Saint-Preux and Julia together, when they were overtaken by a storm on the lake.
The emotional excitement recently experienced by Saint-Preux caused him a deep spiritual crisis. Rousseau is trying to prove that Saint Preux continues to love Julia d'Etange, and not Julia Wolmar, and that open explanations with her husband cured him of the desire to think of her as a beloved woman.
c) Wolmar
Even before the marriage, Volmar confessed to Julia that the marriage that was being forced on her was a mistake on his part: "My behavior is unforgivable, I offend your tenderness, I sin against your modesty, but I love you and no one but you." Surprisingly, in the future Wolmar, although he is not at all heartless, will never experience remorse. For all that, if we ignore his relationship with Julia, Wolmar is not without attractiveness and, in any case, originality. He is noble, easy to get along with, courteous, laconic, has a taste for order, and is distinguished by innate calmness.d) the ideal of rural life and nature
So, before us is Wolmar - a family man, the owner of the estate and a zealous owner. In the 18th century, various designs of "consecrated monarchy" were in vogue; Rousseau invented the model of the "dedicated landowner", with which he connects the renewal of the common world in its economic and moral foundations.In the house of the Volmars, everything is subject to economy and expediency, but this expediency is not oppressive, but pleasing to the eye. The domestic servants of the Volmars do not look like deceitful, groveling before their masters capital lackeys. They are all honest, love their masters, men are isolated from women, so virtue reigns among them. Not very rich, Wolmar is not stingy or extravagant. Wolmar's land is not leased out and cultivated by him; at the same time, its goal is to improve the economy, and not to increase capital.
A beautiful garden adjoins the house of the Volmars, which Julia calls her "Champs Elysees" - Elysium. Everything here is organized in such a way as to give the most charm of solitude: gazebos of living foliage, dark grottoes, winding paths, thickets that hide the horizon lines and create the impression of complete isolation from the "big noisy world". In such a garden, during leisure hours, one can imagine oneself as a happy Robinson who has gone far, far from the centers of civilization.
This is how Rousseau describes the rural life of the Volmars in pink tones, endowing it with the features of cordiality, hospitality, and comfort. Again, the village is opposed to the spoiled city life.
e) interchange
In any work, the denouement is a "dot over and" summing up. If the author avoids it, then he must have good reasons for this. The artificial plot point in Rousseau's novel has a well-known justification. Not wanting to turn the tragedy into a moralizing and prosperous petty-bourgeois drama, Rousseau tried to perpetuate that moment of love between Saint Preux and Julia, when "old age and the fading of beauty would not be added to the satiety of long possession" (the words of Clara d'Orb).And yet, Yulia's death is an imaginary, far-fetched denouement. It testifies that Rousseau did not know where to lead his heroes further, and he simply cut the Gordian knot tied by him of a huge tangle of ethical and social issues.
Rousseau leaves his heroes lonely: Wolmar - a widower, Clara - a widow, Saint Preux and Edward - who have lost their beloved. The whole novel "New Eloise" is some kind of tombstone, on which the names of "beautiful souls" are inscribed - one better and higher than the other.
5) Rousseau's ideas
"New Eloise" occupies a special place in the work of Rousseau. Rousseau revealed in the novel those aspects of his worldview that cannot be found in his theoretical writings. Nowhere did Rousseau so clearly outline his ideal of man, and that is why his works are considered the first "ideological novel" in French literature. Rousseau still does not strive to depict reality as he sees it, and is least of all concerned with the plausibility of the images he created; he is more concerned about the people he wants to see, or rather, what they should be according to his concepts. Due, not existing - the pathos of Rousseau. How characteristic of Rousseau that there is not a drop of humor in his humanism, that all his characters are only sensitive or restrainedly serious and, it seems, are not even able to smile. They perceive life only as if it were a book filled with some moral problems. And since the expression of feelings in Rousseau often reaches its highest point, an atmosphere of tragedy arises from the first pages of the novel, as a vague foreboding of the hopelessness of the current situation.""New Eloise" testifies with great passion to the deformities of the old social order, which distorts the best aspirations of a person, prevents a person from straightening up to his full height. "It seems that the whole system of natural feelings is destroyed here," says Rousseau. [cm. 1]
IV. "New Eloise" - a product of sentimentalism.
Thus, "Julia, or New Eloise", being a product of sentimentalism, affirms the natural feeling and the cult of nature, opposing vicious civilization.Rousseau created a new type of sublimely emotional landscape associated with the experiences of the hero. Rousseau's psychological analysis, permeated with lyricism, determined the nature of the further development of the European novel.
Bibliography:
1. Anisimov I.I. French classics from the time of Rabelais to Romain Rolland. Articles, essays, portraits. Comp. R.M. Anisimova. Comment. V. P. Balaskova. M., "Art. Lit.", 1977. - 334 p.2. Vetsman I.E. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. M., "Art. Lit.", 1958.
3. Vetsman I.E. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Ed. second, revised and additional M., "Art. Lit.", 1976.
4. History of foreign literature of the XVIII century / Edited by V.P. Neustroeva, R.M. Samarina. M.: "Moscow University", 1974.
5. Brief literary encyclopedia. Ch. ed. A.A. Surkov. M., "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1971. v. 6.
6. Maurois Andre. Three Dumas. Literary portraits; Per. from French / Approx. L. Bespolova, S. Shlapoberskaya, S. Zenkin. - M.: Pravda, 1986. - 672 p.
In a small town in Switzerland, the intelligent commoner Saint-Preux lives. The young guy is in love with his pupil Julia. The young lady was the daughter of the Baron d'Etange. The raznochinets, in love, believed that his father would not give Yulia for a rootless guy. Julia was also in love with Saint Preux. The young lady was educated and did not understand marriage and love without parental blessing. Julia constantly scribbled letters to her beloved. And Saint-Preux was tormented by separation from Julia. The young lady's cousin Clara supported her and the young guy.
Julia's father was going to give his daughter to an old comrade, Monsieur de Volmar. Upon learning of the imminent wedding, Saint-Preux decided to convince Julia to run away. The girl refused, thinking about the fate of her parents. Dual emotions pushed the girl to become the mistress of a commoner. A little later, the girl regretted it and told everything to Clara. Julia's agony brought great pain to Saint-Preux. The girl counted love for the most important feeling in life. On the path of attraction, Julia decided to arrange a nightly rendezvous with Saint-Preux.
The nightly rendezvous went on for a long time. The young guy is happy from love. In society, all the men of the city began to pay attention to Yulia. Among them is the wanderer Edward Bomston. In one of the assembled company, Bomston said flattering words to Julia, which Saint-Preux did not like. He challenged the traveler to a duel. Mr. d'Orb told Clara, his lover, about the situation. And Clara told her sister everything. The young lady begged Saint-Preux to refuse the duel, because the enemy had excellent command of weapons. Having heard the refusal, Yulia told Eduard everything. The generous Sir Bomston apologized to Saint Preux in public. Edward made friends with the young hero. Bomston, having met Julia's dad, tried to persuade him to pay attention to Saint-Preux as Julia's chosen one. The baron refused, and forbade his daughter to meet with the hero. To avoid a quarrel, Edward convinced a friend to go with him.
Julia was worried and feel jealous of Clara. The girl's father did not mind the relationship of d'Orbes. Saint Preux went to Paris and wrote letters to his beloved. Soon he succumbed to passion and cheated on his beloved. Julia found out about the betrayal, and forgave the commoner. Soon the mother of the heroine found her letters from Saint-Preux. She did not mind such connections and decided not to tell her husband. Madame d'Etange soon died of remorse. Julia agreed to marry Wolmar. She wrote a letter to a commoner that she was going to get married. At this time, Clara managed to marry her betrothed. Clever Clara asked Saint-Preux not to send any more letters. After all, Julia is now a married woman.
The husband of the young girl was Mr. Wolmar, a man of 50 years old. He was a noble and simple and silent man. He always acted according to his mind and loved Julia very much.
Saint Preux traveled for several years. Upon his return, the traveler wrote a letter to Clara with a desire to see her and Julia. After a while, the desired meeting came. At the meeting, the young and exemplary wife Julia introduced Saint-Preux to her own sons. Wolmar called the traveler to stay and asked to stay. Saint-Preux stayed on their estate and began to develop family relationships. The family lived well, but did not show off. Servants also lived with the family. Julia and her family constantly participated in local holidays and paid great attention to proper nutrition.
After the death of her husband, Clara began to live with the Wolmars. At the request of Sir Wolmar, Saint Preux decided to take part in the upbringing of 2 boys. A little later, Saint-Preux went to Italy to meet with Bomston. Edward became interested in a former courtesan and intended to marry. Saint-Preux convinces the girl to refuse marriage. Eduard, at the invitation of friends, moved to Clarans, where Julia lived.
A little later, during a walk, Julia's son accidentally fell into the river. To save the boy, Edward jumped into the water and pulled the boy out. After the incident, Bomston fell ill and soon died. By the end of the novel, Julia confessed to Saint Preux that she had done everything for the sake of duty. And her heart has always belonged to Saint-Preux.
Picture or drawing of Rousseau - Julia, or New Eloise
Other retellings for the reader's diary
- Summary of The Legend of Robin Hood
The story begins in Kansas City, where the family of a street preacher lives, raising their children in strictness and faith. But one of the sons, Clyde, dreams of breaking out of this poverty and dull existence, to live in luxury and wealth.
