Saisselin II

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American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS)

Taste in Eighteenth Century France. by Remy G. SaisselinReview by: Harvey D. GoldsteinEighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, Special Issue: The Eighteenth-Century Imagination(Autumn, 1969), pp. 148-152Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Sponsor: American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies(ASECS).Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2737705 .

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148 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIESand examineshe title nd themes n a conjunctive,atherhan anexclusivelyntithetical,asis.

AvromFleishman's A Reading of MansfieldPark also avoids theexclusivehesis nd tries o apply a variety f critical pproaches"-particularlyhehistorical,hepsychological,ndthemythic. leishmanis to be commendedor ecognizinghat unhistoricaludgments"aveoften onfusedhe iteraryvaluationf JaneAusten's ictionp. 11).Andon this asisalonehis studyouldbe one ofthemore ignificantdevelopmentsn recent aneAusten riticism. uton the wholehishistoricalpparatus ndhis formidable ass ofsocial data frequentlyfail o come o gripswith rimaryssues. His materialsend obe self-contained,nd their mportancemphasizedt theexpense ftextualevidence.He minimizeshe symbolicole of theclergynMansfieldParkwhen e suggestshat nly hepoliticalssueof "multiplencum-bency"an renderntelligiblethe therwiseisproportionatemountfdetail evotedotheclerical rofession"p. 21). Neithers it illumi-nating o reduce hefamousheatricalso conjecturalllegory:in therejectionfthetheatricalsheTorygentryriticizesheWhig ristoc-racy's lirtationith hecultureftheFrenchRevolution"p. 29).Fleishman'sriticalapses re essforgivablehen etries o "recon-struct"ociologicalxperiencehypothetically."t s one hingodemon-strate aneAusten'sndebtednessoeighteenth-centuryumanitarianism,onthe extualvidencef SirThomas's elationshipith anny rice.It is quite nother hing o bolster he historicalhesiswithundocu-mentedpeculationsbout irThomas s a benevolentlave-owner.hedubious otion f benevolentlaverymaywellbemorallylevatingndemotionallyatisfying-forhe masters, f course. However,whenFleishman ses thisbit of extraneouspeculationo account orSirThomas's warmer eelings,"t becomes bvious hatthecritichassubordinatedhe text o his sociological ypothesis. pparentlyheanalyticalratherhan elf-descriptive)pproacho JaneAusten'sntel-lectualmilieutill emainsnthe uture. utWiesenfarthndFleishmanhave, nehopes, t east penedhe oor obetterhings.

LLOYD W. BROWNFairleigh ickinsonUniversity

REMY G. SAISSELIN.Taste in Eighteenth entury rance. Syracuse:SyracuseUniversityress,1965. Pp. 161. $5.This book is sub-titledAn ApologyforAmateurs," nd its authorappearsas precisely he sortof honnetehommehe is celebrating.Theclose identificationf the author withhis "hero" is a greatvirtueofthiswork,for thereader, aughtup by Saisselin'sown urbanity,nfor-mality, ense of history,enseof art,commitment,erception,s madeto feel thevalue of thesesame qualities n the gentlemenmateursof

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REVIEWS 149theRegencendthe eign fLouisXV. Saisselin's illains also clearlyindicated-the nemyof taste,the seventeenth-centuryrude andpedant nd hispost-Kantianounterpart,he esthetician,hodestroysthecomplexityf the artistic esponse y submittingrtto the nap-propriateanguage f conceptualhought. It is," says aisselin,whenthe anguages re mixed hat onfusionrises."Perhaps hegallery fheroes ndvillainss all that s clearly nougharrayedn thisbook. But the authornformss at the start ottoexpect conventionalystematizedtudy, or"system" ouldbe in-appropriateo the subject nd a violation f the book's thesis. Wecannot hereforeault he uthor orhiscasualpresentation. readerwho is himselfn academician nd aesthetician ay wish somewhatmore ntellectualrecision,omewhatmore argument. ut "taste smore complex han philosophersoncernedwith the problems fcognitionre likely o be aware of." It follows hatvaguenesss apositive ritical irtue. "The language f the abbe Batteux s veryvague, but that s precisely ts strength. . . La belle nature s not tobe defined onceptually . . but artistically y painters and poets.""Nature, eauty, aste, hesublime, enius-these mbiguouswordswerethe key to artistic reedom: heyhad the merit fvagueness."But has vagueness erebeen made too much virtue?We come totheconcludingnd summarizinghapter nd read: "Therecan belittle oubt hat omethingf importanceappenedn thecourseofthe ighteenthenturynthe ealm fthoughtoncerninghefine rts."Nor s the something"uitedefined.Artmaynotbe conceptualndcognitive. ut s nothistory,venhistoryf art?Perhaps, hough,hisbook s nota "history,"espitetsoccasionaltalkofdevelopments,hanges,ts stress n suchsignificantomentsas the1720's,the1740's. "History"s notpartof thetitle,nd thedust acketpoints othe nformalityfthearrangementy calling hevarious ections otchapters,ut"essays." Further,aisselin eginshisbookby quite roperlyttackinghefictionsfhistoricalniformityconveyed ysuch writerss Hazardand Monk (here Saisselin oinshandswith uch cademic ritics s R. S. Crane ndRobertMarsh):"History s beingread backwards . . a certainunity nd logic areimposed."Like Craneand Marsh-and in theseventeenthentury,Glanville-he ashes ut at thereliance n the occult ntities"f his-torical orces:"Thisprocess ccursndependentlyf thethinkersn-volved,o thehistoryfaesthetics ighte thoughtf as independentofmen ndof thearts." The individual orkingrtist,he ndividualrespondingonnoisseur akeup,for aisselin,hecomplicatedealityofrealhistory. nd so the uthors able todeny he"fantasy"faunivocal rench lassicism erivingromDescartes. Here theargu-ment s cogent."ThisconfusionccursbecausebothDescartes ndBoileauappealto 'reason,' utthepoet's reason' s notthatof thephilosopher. . . In pointof historical act, however, heseparallelsare but figmentsf thephilosophic magination. . . [Classicism] s



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150 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIESmost ertainlyot Cartesianismn thearts. It is a psychologyf artworkingwithin onventions . . not imposed by Cartesianreasoningbutby thoughtroper o thearts hemselvesnd thewordmost ptto describet is propriety."This s worthaying! t is disturbing,herefore,hatCartesianism,nevertheless,anifestsshadowyndstrangelyersistentresencenthis ook. There refrequenteferenceso "therequirementsf clearand distinctdeas," nd this eems omehowo explainwhy he eigh-teenthentury as "thenadir" f French oetry: Given herequire-ments f reason, larity,nd truth, . . whatcould remain fpoetry?"Fontenelles vaguelyompared ith escartes,ndLa Motte-Houdaris called poete et cartesienmondainbecause he "questionsthereputa-tion of Homer muchas Descartes did thatof the philosophy f theMiddle Ages and the ancients" my italics!). One wonderswhat hashappened o Saisselin's rtistsnd amateurst thesepoints nd howtheyelate othis artesianism.ordoesSaisselin'sxcellentiscussionof Roger de Piles (whomhe quite rightlyraises) quitesave theappearances.We are also told that he notion f clear and distinctideas is compatible ith rtistichought ecause t insists pon per-ception.Butis this necessaryoint?Does Saisselin eedto worryover thisghost?And whyforhis curieux ad theworldbeen "de-poetized"?Taste," he tudy rgues,s bestunderstoodith eferenceto art, ociety,ndhistory;nd thestudys best when t dealswiththesemattersather hanwith hilosophy.Saisselin, formerurator t theClevelandMuseum fArt,hasfirmontrol,nd s delightful,henhe deals (all too rarely)with heart tself.His discussion,orexample, f thechangingastes f theRegenceis rich, ubtle, nd suggestive. Art . . . could now be usedto makeat leastsomemen moreat home n theworld. It was tobecome hedecor f ife ivedwith orm."He then emonstratesowthebrighteraintingsfLemoyne,oucher, atoire, etroy xpressedthenewtaste.And he analyses hechangesn architecturen con-siderable etail, howing owtheymanifestedhenewtrends.Eventhenames! Chateaux were called Mon Repos, Mon Bijou, Bagatelle.The petits ppartementsmerged, nd the boudoir for "l'amour-gout. . . an exchangef twofantasiesnda meetingftwoepidermises."This s more hanwitandurbanity. his s Saisselin t hishumanebest, tressinghe omplexiving unctionf taste.It determinedhedecorwithin hich ne' ived; t allowed ne to livewithoneselfs well s with thers;t was themannerf udginghe rts s well sthe ciences. t was muchmore hanpersonal referencesorworks fart,andit was muchmore omplex han he "aestheticudgment"hilosophersattemptedo definen the abstract. aste was an overall rinciple herebyoneattemptedhecreationfa civilized uman rder.... Thusunderstoodtaste s inseparablerommanthinkingnd acting, hinkingnd usinghisjudgment.twasnot a raison aisonnante,twasnotthe sprit e ge'omgtrie,but ather ascal'sespritefinesse.



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REVIEWS 151Does Saisselin'sppreciationf this omplexityegeneratento ome-thingesswhenhe laterwondersfAlisonmight ave been"incapableofgraspinghe rts faristocraticurope"?Like Johnson, eynolds, ume,Alison,Gerard, he bestEnglishcritics ftheeighteenthentury,aisselinnsists,s do his "heroes"(Du Bos is, perhaps ightly,isgreathero) upon the"wholeness"ftheartisticesponse: "pe'netrationtfinesse 'esprit."Du Bos, de Piles,Marietteudgewith hemind, heknowledgefart, ndthe ensibility,"all three eing oined ndsensibilityotbeing onfused ith eelingsof a personal ature."The great dvantage f theconnoisseurverthe critichere s thatthe gentlemanmateur everforgetshathejudges a work fartsubject o certainonventions."his discussionis the cruxof Saisselin's argument,nd he brilliantlynalyzes hequarrel f the ncientsndmodernsn this ontext-"apresentondi-tionedby an artistic ast"which escapes history."The coherentsensibilityttached o itsperceptionf the artobject, ware of theconventionsehind hework,masters hecaprice fsensation,voidsthe narchyf culturalelativism,scapes hedestroyingrror fdis-cursive eason. It is too bad that fter uchdiscourse aisselin allsinto uch ommonplacess "thepositingfa universal uman ature."It is alsotoo bad that aisselin's edicationo histhesis, is dentifi-cationwith he "civility"fhisamateurreventsisunderstandingftheaesthetician. he enemies merge s the"essentialist"ant,the"naturalistic"lison.But are thesenotoversimplifications?rantedthatKanthad little ense of the artisticxperience,ittle warenessof the onventions.etKant, n theonehand, ndAlison, longwithsuchotherEnglishwriterss Gerard,Kames,Hume, Reynolds, nthe ther,re, ntheir ifferentays, nterestinglyndsimilarlyealingwith heproblem f thecoherentrtisticensibility.Saisselins,ofcourse, elebratingheFrench vertheEnglish ndtheGermans.He is occasionalyedinto omerathertrangettitudes.I shallpoint utonlyone: "Dr. JohnsonnBritain tillbroughtpthequestion f [the]rules n his preface o Shakespeare'n a timewhen ne could nFrance, fter heQuarrel,all these deadissue."Certainlytwas a moredead issue n England.Saisselin, imselfskillfulronist,eemsfooledby Johnson'sronic tance. "Neander,"almost centuryefore he"Preface" ad disposed f therules. Onthe ther and, oltaire as till ttackinghakespeareith hisweapon.This s a smallpoint. am more roubledySaisselin's onfusionregardingestheticisinterestedness.e seems o dentifyt with uiet-ismorPietism.The argumenteemsvery ad. BecauseQuietismscontemporaryith heQuarrel f theAncientsndModerns ndthebreakdownfthe uthorityfthe ules, aisselin osesan occult ntitycalled"thisunity fthought." e asserts hatdisinterestedestheticpleasurehassome trikingarallelswith hepietisticraison e simpleregard. . . Pietisticcontemplationnd the aestheticcontemplation



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152 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIEShave ncommonassivity."heresnothingassivebout isinterested-ness! Saisselinhould eadKamesorHume, r even, or hatmatter,JaneAusten.Further,s he nothere,himself,uilty f drawing"parallel" hat s buta figmentfthe magination? couldwish hediscussionway. But tis notcentralo Saisselin'srgument.HARVEY D. GOLDSTEINUniversityfSouthernCalifornia

SHORT NOTICES AND BOOKS RECEIVED(Works istedheremay aterbe reviewed t greaterength.)S. AUSTINALLIBONE. A CriticalDictionary f English Literature ndBritish nd AmericanAuthors, ivingand Deceased, From the EarliestAccountsto the LatterHalf of theNineteenth entury.Detroit: GaleResearch Company,1965. 3 vols. Pp. 3140. $84. (Facsimile reprintof theedition ublished yJ.B. Lippincott nd Co., Philadelphia, 858.)This well-known eference ork,more than a century ld, proves onre-examinationo be an unexpectedly seful ompanionto students feighteenth-centurynglish and American literature. The articleonSamuel Johnson, orexample,runsto nearly20,000 words;as well as

briefbiographical nd bibliographical ccounts, t contains discussionof Johnson's orkunder evenheadings as poet, exicographer,ssayist,critic, tc.), with wealthofcomment uotedfrom therwritersfthelater ighteenthnd earlynineteenthenturies,ften illedwithgoodsense and unfamiliar o most modem students f Johnson. As well assimilarlyxtensivereatmentsfothermajorwriters,ts istingfobscureandminoriteraryiguress remarkablyomprehensive.D. C. CABEEN (general d.). A CriticalBibliography f FrenchLitera-ture. Vol. IV: The Eighteenth entury, d. George R. Havens andDonaldF. Bond. Syracuse, .Y.: Syracuse niversityress, 1951;reprinted 968. Pp. xxx+411. $12.50. Vol. IV, Supplement, d.RichardA. Brooks.Syracuse niversityress,1968. Pp. xxiv+283.$12.TheSupplementothis ine ooperativelyroducednnotatedibliog-raphyfboth ooks ndarticlesistsworks ublishedetween950and1967,with very ew arlier nes not ncludednthe earliervolume. Itis a remarkableestimonyo the"scholarship xplosion"of the asttwodecadesthat heSupplement unsto more thantwo-thirdshe ength fthe original volume,whichtried to cover everything ritten n thesubject efore 950. Small mprovementsnthe ayout ftheSupple-mentmake t somewhat asierto consult hantheoriginal olume.The thirty-seven-pageection n "Foreignnfluencesnd Relations"(only enpages horterhan hat nthe arlier olume) s an intelligentselection.ndispensableo the studentfeighteenth-centuryiteratureand ntellectualistory.


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Saisselin II