Clarification of Answer by
scriptor-ga
on
05 Oct 2003 06:32 PDT
Dear Sylvia,
Here is the completed answer:
- I. The Quotation -
The original French quotation is:
"Un bon esprit cultivé est, pour ainsi dire, composé de tous les
esprits des siècles précédents, ce n’est qu’un même esprit qui s’est
cultivé pendant tout ce temps-là."
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle wrote this in his essay "Digression
sur les Anciens et les Modernes" (Digression on the Ancients and the
Moderns). This essay was published in his book "Poésies Pastorales",
p. 224-282. Publisher: Michel Guerrot, Paris, 1688.
Here is the link to the full text of the "Digression...":
Eliohs: Electronic Library of Historiography - Fontenelle,
"Disgression..."
http://www.eliohs.unifi.it/testi/600/fontenelle/digression.htm
Left from the text, you will recognize the numbers 1-39 which probably
represent the numbers of the original 39 pages the essay spanned in
the book "Poésies Pastorales". Since the "Un bon esprit..." quote is
found on page number 30 here, I assume that in the original first
edition, it was located on page 253 of the "Poésies Pastorales".
Unfortunately, I could not found a more exact reference to the exact
location of thas particular quote in the book; nevertheless, I hope
that what I have found will prove satisfactory for you.
- II. Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle -
Here is a brief biography of B. de Fontenelle:
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle was born in Rouen, France, 11 February
1657, and died in Paris, 9 January 1757, at the age of 99 years and 11
months. He was the son of a lawyer at the Parliament and Marthe
Corneille, sister of the famous dramatists Pierre and Thomas
Corneille. From the age of thirteen, He was educated at the college of
the Jesuits in his native city, and distinguished himself by the
extraordinary precocity and versatility of his talents. His teachers,
who readily appreciated these, were anxious for him to join their
order, but his father had designed him for the bar, and an advocate
accordingly he became; but, having lost the first cause which was
entrusted to him, he soon abandoned law and gave himself wholly to
literary pursuits. His attention was first directed to poetry; and
more than once he competed for prizes of the French Academy, but never
with success. He visited Paris from time to time and established
intimate relations with the abbé de Saint Pierre, the abbé Vertot and
the mathematician Pierre Varignon. He witnessed, in 1680, the total
failure of his tragedy "Aspar". Fontenelle afterwards acknowledged the
justice of the public verdict by burning his unfortunate drama. His
opera "Thetis et Pélée", 1689, though highly praised by Voltaire,
cannot be said to rise much above the others; and it may be regarded
as significant that of all his dramatic works not one has kept the
stage. His "Poésies Pastorales" (1688) have no greater claim to
permanent repute, being characterized by stiffness and affectation;
and the utmost that can be said for his poetry in general is that it
displays much of the limae labor, great purity of diction and
occasional felicity of expression.
His "Letires galantes du chevalier d’Her...", published anonymously in
1685, was an amusing collection of stories that immediately made its
mark. In 1686, his famous allegory of Rome and Geneva slightly
disguised as the rival princesses Mreo and Eenegu, in the "Relation de
l’ile de Borneo", gave proof of his daring in religious matters. But
it was by his "Nouveaux Dialogues des Morts" (1683) that Fontenelle
established a genuine claim to high literary rank; and that claim was
enhanced three years later by the appearance of the "Entretiens sur la
pluralité des mondes" (1686), a work which was among the very first to
illustrate the possibility of being scientific without being either
uninteresting or unintelligible to the ordinary reader. His object was
to popularize among his countrymen the astronomical theories of
Descartes; and it may well be doubted if that philosopher ever ranked
a more ingenious or successful expositor among his disciples.
Hitherto Fontenelle had made his home in Rouen, but in 1687 he removed
to Paris; and in the same year he published his "Histoire des
oracles", a book which made a considerable stir in theological and
philosophical circles. It consisted of two essays, the first of which
was designed to prove that oracles were not given by the supernatural
agency of demons, and the second that they did not cease with the
birth of Christ. It excited the suspicion of the Church, and a Jesuit,
by name Baltus, published a ponderous refutation of it; but the
peace-loving disposition of its author impelled him to leave his
opponent unanswered. To the following year (1688) belongs his
"Digression sur les anciens et les modernes", in which he took the
modern side in the controversy then raging; his "Doutes sur le système
physique des causes occasionnelles" (against Malebranche) appeared
shortly afterwards.
In 1691 he was received into the French Academy in spite of the
determined efforts of the partisans of the ancients in this quarrel,
especially of Racine and Boileau, who on four previous occasions had
secured his rejection. He consequently was admitted a member both of
the Academy of Inscriptions and of the Academy of Sciences; and in
1697 he became perpetual secretary to the latter body. This office he
actually held for the long period of forty-two years; and it was in
this official capacity that he wrote the "Histoire du renouvellement
de l’Académie des Sciences" (Paris, 3 vols., 1708, 1717, 1722)
containing extracts and analyses of the proceedings, and also the
éloges of the members, written with great simplicity and delicacy.
Perhaps the best known of his éloges, of which there are sixty-nine in
all, is that of his uncle Pierre Corneille. This was first printed in
the "Nouvelles de la republique des lettres" (January 1685) and, as
"Vie de Corneille", was included in all the editions of Fontenelle’s
Oeuvres. The other important works of Fontenelle are his "Elements de
la géometrie de l’infini" (1727) and his "Apologie des tourbillons"
(1752). Fontenelle forms a link between two very widely different
periods of French literature, that of Corneille, Racine and Boileau on
the one hand, and that of Voltaire, D’Alembert and Diderot on the
other. It is not in virtue of his great age alone that this can be
said of him; he actually had much in common with the beaux esprits of
the 17th century, as well as with the philosophes of the 18th. But it
is to the latter rather than to the former period that he properly
belongs.
He has no claim to be regarded as a genius; but, as Sainte Beuve has
said, he well deserves a place "dans la classe des esprits infiniment
distiugués" (in the ranks of infinitely distinguished spirits).
Distinguished, however, it ought to be added by intelligence rather
than by intellect, and less by the power of saying much than by the
power of saying a little well. In personal character he has sometimes
been described as having been revoltingly heartless; and it is
abundantly plain that he was singularly incapable of feeling strongly
the more generous emotions; a misfortune, or a fault, which revealed
itself in many ways. "Il faut avoir de l’ame pour avoir du goût." But
the cynical expressions of such a man are not to be taken too
literally; and the mere fact that he lived and died in the esteem of
many friends suffices to show that the theoretical selfishness which
he sometimes professed cannot have been consistently and at all times
carried into practice.
Please follow this link to see a portrait of B. de Fontenelle:
Saosnois.com: Bernard Le Bouyer (Bovier) de Fontenelle
http://www.saosnois.com/Monhoudou/Chateau-web-2001/Fontenelle_par_Greuze_Larousse_XX.jpg
Sources:
L'Encyclopédie de L'Agora: Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle
http://agora.qc.ca/mot.nsf/Dossiers/Bernard_Le_Bovier_de_Fontenelle
Prague University: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Oelkers, Literatur zur Vorlesung
(*.doc file!)
http://www.paed.unizh.ch/ap/lit00-01.6.doc
Saosnois.com: Le château de Monhoudou
http://www.saosnois.com/Monhoudou/le_chateau_de_monhoudou.htm
The 1911 Encyclopedia: Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier de
http://54.1911encyclopedia.org/F/FO/FONTENELLE_BERNARD_LE_BOVIER_DE.htm
Search terms used:
fontenelle "siecles precedents"
://www.google.de/search?q=fontenelle+%22siecles+precedents%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=
"un bon esprit cultive est pour"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22un+bon+esprit+cultive+est+pour%22&meta=
"digression sur les anciens"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22digression+sur+les+anciens%22&meta=
"digression sur les anciens" 1688
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22digression+sur+les+anciens%22+1688&meta=
"digression sur les anciens" 1687
://www.google.de/search?q=%22digression+sur+les+anciens%22+1687&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
fontenelle 1688 digression
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=fontenelle+1688+digression&meta=lr%3Dlang_de
"digression on the ancients and the moderns"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22digression+on+the+ancients+and+the+moderns%22&meta=
"Poésies Pastorales" fontenelle 1688
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22Po%C3%A9sies+Pastorales%22+fontenelle+1688&meta=
"Poésies Pastorales" "digression sur les anciens"
://www.google.de/search?q=%22Po%C3%A9sies+Pastorales%22+%22digression+sur+les+anciens%22&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
de fontenelle
http://images.google.de/images?q=de+fontenelle&svnum=10&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&start=0&sa=N
I hope that is what you need!
Very best regards,
Scriptor
