University criticism and school discourse in Pascal's Pensées: From the Restoration to the Second Empire (1817-1856)

Abstract

This essay examines a series of critical studies of Pascal’s Pensées from the beginning of the Restoration (1817) to the Second Empire (1852). It demonstrates the extent to which University criticism of Pascal was transformed into school discourse during this period. The major critics include François Neufchâteau, Abel François Villemain, Jean-Baptiste Bordas-Demoulin, Prospère Faugère and Désiré Nisard. In particular, this study sheds light on those school manuals geared to Catholic high schools (écoles congréganistes) and those that were used in the public secondary school system (écoles laïques). The critical reception of the Pensées thus reflects the ambiguity underlying the “culture wars” of this period in French history. A selection of school manuals that appeared during the post-Romantic period in France are examined in light of the emerging Romantic perspective on Pascal’s work. These manuals focus notably on the role of skepticism underlying Pascalian apologetics and illustrate the extent to which Pascal’s Pensées was rehabilitated as a canonical work during the July Monarch and the Second Empire.

Publication Title

Australian Journal of French Studies

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