Les caractères

La Bruyère, Jean de, 1645-1696Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.5
Word count
825K words
Chapters
83

Tags

Foreign Literature Ethics Character SketchesHuman ObservationHuman NatureSocial SatireMoral AphorismsAphoristic StyleMaxim StyleSeventeenth CenturyCourt SocietyFrench Literature

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Les caractères by Jean de La BruyèreAuthor: La Bruyère, Jean de, 1645-1696,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Mar 14, 2006

Editor's review

Les caractères is the masterpiece of the French classical writer La Bruyère; the original French text is freely available from Project Gutenberg. The book consists of aphoristic short pieces and character sketches that dissect the manners and morals, court culture, and varied personalities of seventeenth-century France. Its value lies not in a continuous plot but in precise, coolly detached observation and a concise, incisive style; many passages stand on their own as classic examples of social observation and moral satire. For learners of French, it is excellent material for encountering classical French expression and rhetoric; for literary readers, it offers an entry point into the tradition of French classical prose. The barrier to reading lies in the language and historical context: the original is in seventeenth-century French, and its figures and allusions mostly point to the society of the time, so understanding is difficult without annotations. Reading alongside a translation or annotated edition is recommended; there is no need to read it straight through—selected passages can be savored by theme.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Begin with the character sketches to get a feel for the style, then gradually move on to the aphorisms and discursive sections.
  2. Read alongside a modern French or Chinese translation to lower the barrier of seventeenth-century language and allusions.
  3. Read in thematic groups—court, wealth, literary criticism, and so on—to help summarize the author's social observations.
  4. Read only a few passages at a time and take notes; the aphoristic style suits slow, careful reading rather than reading straight through.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83

FAQ

My French is average—can I read this original text? This book is in seventeenth-century French, and its syntax and vocabulary are distant from modern French, so beginners will find the original hard going. Intermediate or higher French reading ability is recommended, along with an annotated edition or a modern translation for comparison. If you only want to understand the content, read a Chinese or modern French translation first, then go back to passages in the original to appreciate the style.
Is this a novel? Do I need to read it in order? It is not a novel but a collection of aphorisms, short essays, and character sketches; the parts are relatively independent and do not depend on a plot. You therefore do not need to read it straight through and can choose passages by theme or interest. Reading the whole book gives a full picture of the author's social observation, but fragmented reading works just as well.
Are the characters in the book real historical figures? The character sketches are largely typological and satirically shaped, often based on types of people in society rather than portraits of real historical individuals one by one. Through these figures the author comments on court manners, social vanity, and human weaknesses. They are best read as literary social observation, not as biography or historical record.

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About the author

La Bruyère, Jean de, 1645-1696 Author · French · 1645–1696

Jean de La Bruyère (1645–1696) was a French moralist best known for Les caractères (The Characters). Written in concise maxims and character sketches, the work portrays seventeenth-century French court life and social customs, depicting the temperaments and manners of people from different social classes with a blend of satire and observation. It is regarded as one of the representative works of French moral literature. Two of his works are included here, commonly classified under inspirational growth, which suggests that his writing still offers insight into human nature and social life. Public information about the details of his life is limited, so no speculation is made here; readers may begin with the works themselves and appreciate their concise style and calm tone.