Thérèse philosophe
Thérèse philosophe, ou mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du Père Dirrag et de Mademoiselle Éradice ( French ; "Thérèse, the philosopher, or memorabilia on the history of Father Dirrag and Mademoiselle Eradice"), in short: Thérèse philosophe , was published in 1748 French novel and is considered one of the most important libertine works of the 18th century. Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens is believed to be the author .
action
The story of the Thérèse is one of the turning away from the authority of the Christian church towards the position of the radical atheistic enlightenment of Julien Offray de La Mettrie . In the plot of the novel, the main characters' sexual activities alternate with discussions on philosophical issues that lead them to higher knowledge. The text thus reflects - with all simplification - a central enlightenment thesis: There is nothing morally evil in nature , and reasonable morality is not based on the denial of natural impulses, but on the attempt to understand them.
The blasphemous key scene at the beginning of the story, through which Thérèse is led to turn away from religion, stems from a scandal of the 1730s that became known across Europe. The Jesuit Father Jean-Baptiste Girard was accused of seducing the bourgeois daughter Marie-Catherine Cadière to have sexual intercourse in the confessional. (The names of “Father Dirrag” and “Mademoiselle Eradice” appearing in the title are anagrams of the surnames “Girard” and “Cadière”.) Through a doorway, Thérèse observes how the Jesuit uses the pretext of his confessor, who is already inclined to religious trance Penance is brought into a state of ecstasy through flagellation and then announces a spiritual penetration . He deceives Eradice about sexual intercourse a tergo by persuading her that what she is experiencing happens through contact with a relic , namely the remainder of a cord of St. Francis .
Classification and reception in literary history
The novel, which is told from a first-person perspective, unites the literary traditions of Lukian's hetarian talks or Aretino's courtesan talks and the development or educational novel, as it was later cultivated by Rousseau . Thanks to his explicit descriptions of sexual acts, Thérèse Philosophe is considered one of the most important and best-selling pornographic texts of the Enlightenment period and is mentioned in numerous later libertine or pornographic texts. In the 19th century these texts disappeared in the “ poison cabinets ” of the libraries (for example in the enfer of the Bibliothèque nationale de France ) and only met with renewed literary and historical interest in the 20th century. Research into pre-revolutionary pornography takes place primarily in the context of the New Cultural History . Worth mentioning here are Robert Darnton , who points to the emancipatory potential of the texts, in which the moral boundaries are often embedded in criticism of society and religion , as well as Jean-Marie Goulemot , who considered these texts as essential elements for a history of mentality in the 18th century understand.
literature
- Robert Darnton : Thinking Lust or The Sexual Enlightenment of the Enlightenment. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-8218-4138-9 . - Essay on the pornographic literature of the Enlightenment period. Also contains the German translation of the novels Thérèse philosophe and Histoire de Dom B… .
- Michael Farin and Hans-Ulrich Seifert (eds.): Thérèse philosophe. An erotic confession. With an essay by August Kurtzel, a story by Carl Felix von Schlichtegroll and excerpts from the trial files and notes from the editors. Schneekluth, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7951-1169-2 .
- Jean Marie Goulemot. Dangerous books: erotic literature, pornography, readers and censorship in the 18th century . German First edition, Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1993. - Original title: Ces livres qu'on ne lit que d'une main .
- Hertha Busemann: The Jesuit and his confessor. The fascination of a moral scandal in three centuries. BIS, library u. Information system d. Univ. Oldenburg. With e. Foreword by Ernst Hinrichs. Oldenburg 1987, ISBN 3814202058