Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie
After Nicolas-André Monsiau’s painting (1810) showing Ninon de Lenclos, amongst a group of male spectators, who listens to Molière as he reads his Tartuffe, we want to follow the historiographical construction of a woman as a « freethinker ». Ninon de Lenclos, the famous xviith Century’s female cour...
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Groupe de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur l'Histoire du Littéraire
2010-04-01
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Series: | Les Dossiers du GRIHL |
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Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/dossiersgrihl/3913 |
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doaj-7f848d90652442509bff23d81e19a96e2020-11-25T00:04:50ZfraGroupe de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur l'Histoire du LittéraireLes Dossiers du GRIHL1958-92472010-04-012010110.4000/dossiersgrihl.3913Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophieSophie HoudardAfter Nicolas-André Monsiau’s painting (1810) showing Ninon de Lenclos, amongst a group of male spectators, who listens to Molière as he reads his Tartuffe, we want to follow the historiographical construction of a woman as a « freethinker ». Ninon de Lenclos, the famous xviith Century’s female courtesan, is one of the rare available exemples of this kind of character. Well-known as a freethinker form the begining of the xxth Century, she also inherits the historiographical construction the xviiith produced about her. During the xviiith Century, indeed, Ninon was conceived as a reasonable woman, surrounded by illustrious men helping her to spread, during the Enlightment, the Renaissance’s unbelievers’ wisdom. But as she had never been presented as a person who is able to own or transmit an autonomous culture, nevertheless, the figure of Aspasie, the female Pericles’master of philosophy, was always recalled by the historiography as a possible, but dangerous, historical fiction. However, if Ninon de Lenclos was known as a person who knows how to build a mixed sociability where it was possible to share and partake, with male partners, frienship, body’s pleasures and spiritual open enjoyments — wit and flesh —, this peculiar sociability was unthinkable as feminine and had to be conceived as a form of masculinity : that’s why Ninon de Lenclos, single woman amongst many men, appears as a sort of « other » male.http://journals.openedition.org/dossiersgrihl/3913AspasiecourtesaneducationfreethinkerlearningNinon de Lenclos |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
fra |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sophie Houdard |
spellingShingle |
Sophie Houdard Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie Les Dossiers du GRIHL Aspasie courtesan education freethinker learning Ninon de Lenclos |
author_facet |
Sophie Houdard |
author_sort |
Sophie Houdard |
title |
Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie |
title_short |
Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie |
title_full |
Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie |
title_fullStr |
Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ninon de Lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie |
title_sort |
ninon de lenclos, esprit fort dans la compagnie des hommes ou de la difficulté de concevoir la maître de philosophie |
publisher |
Groupe de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur l'Histoire du Littéraire |
series |
Les Dossiers du GRIHL |
issn |
1958-9247 |
publishDate |
2010-04-01 |
description |
After Nicolas-André Monsiau’s painting (1810) showing Ninon de Lenclos, amongst a group of male spectators, who listens to Molière as he reads his Tartuffe, we want to follow the historiographical construction of a woman as a « freethinker ». Ninon de Lenclos, the famous xviith Century’s female courtesan, is one of the rare available exemples of this kind of character. Well-known as a freethinker form the begining of the xxth Century, she also inherits the historiographical construction the xviiith produced about her. During the xviiith Century, indeed, Ninon was conceived as a reasonable woman, surrounded by illustrious men helping her to spread, during the Enlightment, the Renaissance’s unbelievers’ wisdom. But as she had never been presented as a person who is able to own or transmit an autonomous culture, nevertheless, the figure of Aspasie, the female Pericles’master of philosophy, was always recalled by the historiography as a possible, but dangerous, historical fiction. However, if Ninon de Lenclos was known as a person who knows how to build a mixed sociability where it was possible to share and partake, with male partners, frienship, body’s pleasures and spiritual open enjoyments — wit and flesh —, this peculiar sociability was unthinkable as feminine and had to be conceived as a form of masculinity : that’s why Ninon de Lenclos, single woman amongst many men, appears as a sort of « other » male. |
topic |
Aspasie courtesan education freethinker learning Ninon de Lenclos |
url |
http://journals.openedition.org/dossiersgrihl/3913 |
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