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- Next to François Fénelon and Jean-Jacques Rousseau: the utopian idyll of Europe and Africa in the novel “Paul and Virginia” by Bernardin de St. Pierre
- Firsova G.P. Next to François Fénelon and Jean-Jacques Rousseau: the utopian idyll of Europe and Africa in the novel “Paul and Virginia” by Bernardin de St. Pierre. Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2025, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 52–56. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2025-31-3-52-56
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2025-31-3-52-56
- УДК: 821(44).09”18”
- EDN: YMSROU
- Publish date: 2025-05-14
- Annotation: The author of the study examines the specifics of the idyllic in the novel “Paul and Virginia” by Bernardin de St. Pierre (1788), whose feature is the depiction of a different natural and cultural space running counter to the “increment of life” “to the native country” (Mikhail Bakhtin). The prerequisites for the unity of human and nature are established, due to the writer’s orientation towards the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and François Fénelon, and the image of a different nature is associated with the travel experience of St. Pierre himself, the desire to find an imaginary ideal in the process of nostalgia for his homeland, and separately the influence of the utopian in Fénelon’s novel “The Adventures of Telemachus” (1699). During the analysis, it becomes clear that with the external opposition of Europe and Africa, a synthesis of European and exotic cultures and flora takes place inside the island, which expresses the author’s nostalgic experience of a break with his homeland (Hans- Jürgen Lüsebrink). It is concluded that St. Pierre, relying on his predecessors, rethinks the idyllic by depicting it outside strictly national borders, as well as synthesising elements of different cultures, at the same time he represents its loss, which is a characteristic feature of sentimental experience.
- Keywords: idyllic, utopian, Europe, Africa, nature, Bernardin de St. Pierre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, François Fénelon
- Literature list: Bakhtin M.M. Formy vremeni i khronotopa v romane [The forms of time and chronotope in the novel]. Voprosy literatury i estetiki [Questions of literature and aesthetics]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaia literature Publ., 1975, pp. 234–407. (In Russ.) Bernardin de Saint-Pierre J.-H. Pol' i Virginiia [Paul and Virginia], trans. by K. L'dov. Pol' i Virginiia; Indiiskaia khizhina [Paul and Virginia; Indian Hut]. Moscow, RUGRAM Publ., 2023, pp. 9–151. (In Russ.) Chekalov K.A. «Ego filosofiia – bred…». «Etiudy o prirode» Bernardena de Sen-P'era [“His philosophy is nonsense…”. “Sketches on Nature” by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre]. XVIII v.: literatura kak filosofiia, filosofiia kak literatura [XVIII century: literature as philosophy, philosophy as literature]. Moscow, Ekon-inform Publ., 2010, pp. 249–258. URL: http://lit-prosv.niv.ru/lit-prosv/articles-fra/chekalov-bernarden-de-sen-per.htm (access date: 01.05.2025). Lotman Iu.M. Poniatie granitsy [The concept of a border]. Vnutri mysliashchikh mirov. Chelovek-tekst-semiosfera-istoriia [Inside the thinking worlds. Man-text-semiosphere-history]. Moscow, Iazyki russkoi kul'tury Publ., 1996, pp. 175–193. (In Russ.) Pakhsar'ian N.T. Idilliia i utopiia v romane Russo «Iuliia ili Novaia Eloiza» [Idyll and Utopia in Rousseau’s novel Julia or the New Heloise]. Istoriko-filosofskii ezhegodnik [Historical and Philosophical Yearbook], 2013, vol. 27, pp. 258–271. Chérel A. Fénelon au 18e siècle en France, 1715–1820: son prestige, son influence. Paris, Hachette, 1917, 694 p. Cussac H. Poésie et peinture: réception des Noirs mis en scène dans Paul et Virginie (1789–1984). Bernardin de Saint-Pierre: idées, réseaux, reception. Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, 2021, pp. 195–218. Duflo C. Figures et lectures de Fénelon chez Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Lectures et Figures de Fénelon. Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2023, pp. 175–186. https://doi.org/10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-14491-5.p.0175 Fabre J. Une question de terminologie littéraire: Paul et Virginie, pastorale. Littératures 2, 1953 (novembre), pp. 167–200. https://doi.org/10.3406/litts.1953.934 Lüsebrink H.-J. Nostalgies tropicales. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre et les littératures francophones de l’océan Indien. Études littéraires, 1999, № 31 (2), pp. 41–52. https://doi.org/10.7202/501233ar Racault J.-M. Virginie entre la nature et la vertu. Cohésion narrative et contradictions idéologiques dans Paul et Virginie. Dix-huitième Siècle, 1986, № 18, pp. 389–404. https://doi.org/10.3406/dhs.1986.1612