''Julie; or, The New Heloise'' (french: Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse), originally entitled ''Lettres de Deux Amans, Habitans d'une petite Ville au pied des Alpes'' ("Letters from two lovers, living in a small town at the foot of the Alps"), is an

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

, published in 1761 by

Marc-Michel Rey Marc-Michel Rey (; 5 May 1720 – 8 June 1780) was an influential publisher in the United Provinces, who published many of the works of the French '' philosophes'', including Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his day, he was the largest and most important ...

in Amsterdam. The novel's subtitle points to the history of

Héloïse d'Argenteuil Héloïse (; c. 1100–01? – 16 May 1163–64?), variously Héloïse d'ArgenteuilCharrier, Charlotte. Heloise Dans L'histoire Et Dans la Legende. Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion Quai Malaquais, VI, Paris, 1933 or Héloïse du Paraclet, wa ...

and

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed desc ...

, a medieval story of passion and Christian renunciation. The novel was put on the

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...

Overview

Although Rousseau wrote the work as a novel, a philosophical theory about authenticity permeates through it, as he explores autonomy and authenticity as moral values. A common interpretation is that Rousseau valued the

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

of authenticity over rational moral principles, as he illustrates the principle that one should do what is imposed upon him by society only insofar as it would seem congruent with one's "secret principles" and feelings, being constituent of one's core identity. Thus inauthentic behavior would pave the way to self-destruction.

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

cited ''Julie'' as one of the four greatest novels ever written, along with ''

Tristram Shandy Tristram may refer to: Literature * the title character of ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', a novel by Laurence Sterne * the title character of ''Tristram of Lyonesse'', an epic poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne *"Tristra ...

'', ''

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship ''Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'' ( ger, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) is the second novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1795–96. Plot The eponymous hero undergoes a journey of self-realization. The story centers upon Wilhelm's ...

'' and ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

''. It is thought that the virtuous atheist Wolmar is based on

Baron d'Holbach Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (; 8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789), was a French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, writer, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Land ...

, given his friendship and generous sponsorship of Rousseau.Michael LeBuffe
"Paul-Henri Thiry (Baron) d'Holbach"
''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Summer 2006 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).

Reception

Historian

Robert Darnton Robert Choate Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian and academic librarian who specializes in 18th-century France. He was director of the Harvard University Library from 2007 to 2016. Life Darnton was born in New York ...

has argued that ''Julie'' "was perhaps the biggest best-seller of the century". Publishers could not print copies fast enough so they rented the book out by the day and even by the hour. According to Darnton, there were at least 70 editions in print before 1800, "probably more than for any other novel in the previous history of publishing." Readers were so overcome that they wrote to Rousseau in droves, creating the first celebrity author. One reader claimed that the novel nearly drove him mad from excess of feeling while another claimed that the violent sobbing he underwent cured his cold. Reader after reader describes their "tears", "sighs", "torments" and "ecstasies" to Rousseau. One wrote in a letter to Rousseau after finishing the novel:

I dare not tell you the effect it made on me. No, I was past weeping. A sharp pain convulsed me. My heart was crushed. Julie dying was no longer an unknown person. I believed I was her sister, her friend, her Claire. My seizure became so strong that if I had not put the book away I would have been as ill as all those who attended that virtuous woman in her last moments.

Some readers simply could not accept that the book was fiction. One woman wrote to Rousseau asking:

Many people who have read your book and discussed it with me assert that it is only a clever fabrication on your part. I can't believe that. If so, how could a mistaken reading have produced sensations like the ones I felt when I read the book? I implore you, Monsieur, tell me: did Julie really live? Is Saint-Preux still alive? What country on this earth does he inhabit? Claire, sweet Claire, did she follow her dear friend to the grave? M. de Wolmar, milord Édouard, all those persons, are they only imaginary as some want to convince me? If that be the case, what kind of a world do we inhabit, in which virtue is but an idea?

Other readers identified less with the individual characters and more with their general struggles. They saw in ''Julie'' a story of temptation, sin and redemption that resembled their own lives. The success of ''Julie'' delighted Rousseau; he took pleasure in narrating a story about how a lady ordered a horse carriage to go to an Opera, and then picked up Julie only to continue reading the book till the next morning. So many women wrote to him offering their love that he speculated there was not a single high society woman with whom he would not have succeeded if he wanted to.

Notes

Bibliography

Books

* Santo L. Aricò, ''Rousseau's Art of persuasion in La nouvelle Héloïse'', University Press of America, Lanham, 1994 * Nouchine Behbahani, ''Paysages rêvés, paysages vécus dans La Nouvelle Héloïse de J.-J. Rousseau'', Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution, Oxford, 1989 * ''L'Amour dans la nouvelle Héloïse : texte et intertexte : actes du colloque de Genève, 10-11-12 juin 1999'', Éd. Jacques Berchtold, François Rosset, Droz, Genève, 2002 * Jean-Marie Carzou, ''La Conception de la nature humaine dans la Nouvelle Héloïse'', Sauret, Paris, 1966 * Charles Dédéyan, ''Jean-Jacques Rousseau : la Nouvelle Héloïse, ou, l'éternel retour'', Nizet, Saint-Genouph, 2002 * Charles Dédéyan, ''La Nouvelle Héloïse de Jean-Jacques Rousseau : étude d'ensemble'', SEDES-CDU, Paris, 1990 * Maurice R Funke, ''From saint to psychotic: the crisis of human identity in the late 18th century : a comparative study of

Clarissa ''Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage'' is an epist ...

, La Nouvelle Héloise,

Die Leiden des jungen Werthers ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; german: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm ...

'', P. Lang, New York, 1983 * James Fleming Jones, ''La Nouvelle Héloïse, Rousseau and utopia'', Droz, Genève, 1977 * Peggy Kamuf, ''Fictions of Feminine Desire: Disclosures of Héloïse'', U of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1982 * François van Laere, ''Une Lecture du temps dans la Nouvelle Héloïse'', La Baconnière, Neuchâtel, 1968 * Laurence Mall, ''Origines et retraites dans La nouvelle Héloïse'', P. Lang, New York, 1997 * William Mead, ''Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ou le Romancier enchaîné ; étude de la nouvelle Héloïse'', Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1966 * Daniel Mornet, ''La Nouvelle Héloïse de J.-J. Rousseau ; étude et analyse'', Mellottée Paris, 1929 * Perry Reisewitz, ''L'Illusion salutaire : Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Nouvelle Héloïse als ästhetische Fortschreibung der philosophischen Anthropologie der Discours'', Romanistischer Verlag, Bonn, 2000 * Yannick Séité, ''Du Livre au lire : La nouvelle Héloïse, roman des lumières'', Champion, Paris, 2002 * Étienne Servais, ''Le Genre romanesque en France depuis l'apparition de la Nouvelle Héloïse jusqu'aux approches de la Révolution'', M. Lamertin, Bruxelles, 1922 * Anne Tilleul, ''La Vertu du beau : essai sur La nouvelle Héloïse'', Humanitas nouvelle optique, Montréal, 1989

Articles

* Nouchine Behbahani, ''Paysages rêvés, paysages vécus dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' de J. J. Rousseau'', Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution, Oxford, 1989, * Jacques Berchtold, "L'Impossible Virginité du jardin verbal : les Leçons de la nature selon la Lettre IV, 11 de ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", Éd. et préf. Jürgen Söring, Peter Gasser, ''Rousseauismus: Naturevangelium und Literatur'', Frankfurt, Peter Lang, 1999, pp. 53–83 * Nadine Bérenguier,
Le 'Dangereux Dépôt': Virginité et contrat dans ''Julie ou La Nouvelle Héloïse ''
, ''Eighteenth-Century Fiction'', July 1997, n° 9 (4), pp. 447–63 * André Blanc, "Le Jardin de Julie", ''Dix-huitième Siècle'', 1982, n° 14, pp. 357–76 * Luciano Bulber, "Jean-Jacques Rousseau, peintre de la nature-état d'âme dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny'', 1988, n° 35 (4), pp. 415–29 * Henri Coulet, "Couples dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Littératures'', Fall 1989, n° 21, pp. 69–81 * Catherine Cusset, "Cythère et Elysée: Jardin et plaisir de Watteau à Rousseau", ''Dalhousie French Studies'', Winter 1994, n° 29, pp. 65–84 * Claude Labrosse, Éd. K. Kupisz, G.-A. Pérouse, J.-Y. Debreuille, "La Figure de Julie dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Le Portrait littéraire'', Lyon, PU de Lyon, 1988, pp. 153–58 * Michel Delon, "''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' et le goût du rêve", ''Magazine Littéraire'', Sept 1997, n° 357, pp. 36–38 * Arbi Dhifaoui, "L'Épistolaire et/ou la violence dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' de Rousseau", Éd. et intro. Martine Debaisieux, Gabrielle Verdier, ''Violence et fiction jusqu'à la Révolution'', Tübingen, Narr, 1998, pp. 357–66 * Jean Ehrard, "Le Corps de Julie", Éd. Raymond Trousson, Michèle Biblio. Mat-Hasquin, Jacques Lemaire, Ralph Heyndels, ''Thèmes et figures du siècle des Lumières : mélanges offerts à Roland Mortier'', Genève, Droz, 1980, pp. 95–106 * Anne Srabian de Fabry, "L'Architecture secrète de ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', 1982 Jan.–Apr., n° 19 (1), pp. 3–10 * Anne Srabian de Fabry, "Quelques observations sur le dénouement de ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''French Review'', Oct 1972, n° 46 (1), pp. 2–8 * R. J. Howells, "Désir et distance dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'', 1985, n° 230, pp. 223–32 * R. J. Howells, "Deux histoires, un discours : ''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' et le récit des amours d'Émile et Sophie dans l'Émile", ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'', 1987, n° 249, pp. 267–94 * François Jost, "La Nouvelle Héloïse, Roman Suisse", ''Revue de Littérature Comparée'', 1962, n° 35, pp. 538–65 * Tanguy L'Aminot, "L'Amour courtois dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", Piau-Gillot, Colette Éd. Desné, Roland Éd. L'Aminot, Tanguy Éd. Modernité et pérennité de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Champion, Paris, 2002, pp. 241–57 * Claude Labrosse,

" ''Eighteenth-Century Fiction'', Jan–Apr 2001, n° 13 (2–3), pp. 235–46 * J.-L. Lecercle, "L'Inconscient et création littéraire : sur ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Études Littéraires'', 1969, n° 1, pp. 197–204 * Annie Leclerc, "Jean-Jacques Rousseau : l'Amour au pays des chimères", ''Magazine Littéraire'', Par 1995, n° 331, pp. 31–34 * Pierre Rétat, Litteratures, "L'Économie rustique de Clarens", 1989 Fall; 21: 59–68 * Laurence Mall, "Les Aberrations de l'errance : le Voyage dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Australian Journal of French Studies'', 1994, n° 31 (2), pp. 175–87 * Francine Markovits, "Rousseau et l'éthique de Clarens : une économie des relations humaines", ''Stanford French Review'', 1991, n° 15 (3), pp. 323–48 * Ourida Mostefai, ''Lectures de La Nouvelle Héloïse'', N. Amer. Assn. for the Study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ottawa, 1993 ** Philip Knee, "Wolmar comme médiateur politique", pp. 117–27 ** Guy Lafrance, "L'Éthique de ''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' et du '' Vicaire Savoyard''", pp. 141–50 ** Jim MacAdam, "Reading Julie Amour-propre-ly", pp. 107–16 ** Laurence Mall, pp. 163–73", "L'Intérieur et l'extérieur : Étude des lettres parisiennes dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", pp. 163–73 ** Jean Roussel, pp. 61–72", "''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' et la politique : de l'écart à l'emblème", pp. 61–72 ** Teresa Sousa de Almeida, "La Circulation des lettres dans le roman ou le Partage des pouvoirs", pp. 175–84 ** Jean Terrasse, pp. 129–39", "Jean-Jacques, Saint-Preux et Wolmar : aspects de la relation pédagogique", pp. 129–39 ** Loïc Thommeret, "De ''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' aux '' Confessions'', une triade infernale", pp. 213–21 ** María José Villaverde, "L'Égalité dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", pp. 73–84 * Ruth Ohayon, "Rousseau's Julie; Or, the Maternal Odyssey", ''College Language Association Journal'', Sept. 1986, n° 30 (1), pp. 69–82 * Robert Osmont, "Expérience vécue et création romanesque : le sentiment de l'éphémère dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Dix-huitième Siècle'', 1975, n° 7, pp. 225–42 * Paul Pelckmans, "Le Rêve du voile dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Revue Romane'', 1982, n° 17 (1), pp. 86–97 * René Pomeau, "Le Paysage de ''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' : l'Asile, l'espace", ''The Feeling for Nature and the Landscape of Man'', Éd. Paul Hallberg, Gothenburg, Kungl. Vetenskaps & Vitterhets-Samhället, 1980, pp. 132–42 * Jean Roussel, "La Douleur de Saint-Preux", Éd. Carminella Biondi, Carmelina Imbroscio, Marie-Josée Latil, Nadia Minerva, Carla Pellandra, Adriana Sfragaro, Brigitte Soubeyran, Paola Vecchi, ''La Quête du bonheur et l'expression de la douleur dans la littérature et la pensée françaises''. Genève, Droz, 1995, pp. 371–79 * Jean Roussel, "La Faute, le rachat et le romanesque dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Travaux de Littérature'', 1995; 8: 209–20 * Timothy Scanlan, "Perspectives on the Nuits d'amour in Rousseau's ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''AUMLA'', Nov 1993, n° 80, pp. 93–79 * Norbert Sclippa, "L'Idéal politique et l'idée de Nation dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Jean-Jacques Rousseau, politique et nation'', Intro. Robert Thiéry, Paris, Champion, 2001, XXIV, pp. 101–08 * Norbert Sclippa, "''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' et l'aristocratie", ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'', 1991, n° 284, pp. 1–71 * Norbert Sclippa, "La Nouvelle Héloïse, la noblesse et la bourgeoisie", ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'', 1989, n° 265, pp. 1617–19 *

Jean-Paul Sermain Jean-Paul Sermain is a French academic teaching at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle. A specialist of the eighteenth century, his research concerns the 18th-century French literature, the poetics of the novel and fairy tales. He also ...

, "''La Nouvelle Héloïse'' ou l'invention du roman-poème"", Éd. Colette Piau-Gillot, Roland Desné, Tanguy L'Aminot, ''Modernité et pérennité de Jean-Jacques Rousseau'', Paris, Champion, 2002, pp. 227–40 * Jean Sgard, "De Cunégonde à Julie", ''Recherches et Travaux'', 1996, n° 51, pp. 121–30 * Lieve Spaas, "D'un Clarens à l'autre : structures du désir sexuel dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 1991, n° 284, pp. 73–82 * Jean Starobinski, "Jean-Jacques Rousseau : Jours uniques, plaisirs redoublés", ''Thèmes et figures du siècle des Lumières : mélanges offerts à Roland Mortier'', Éd. Raymond Trousson Michèle Mat-Hasquin, Jacques Lemaire, Ralph Heyndels, Genève, Droz, 1980, pp. 285–97 * Raymond Trousson, "De Jacques à Jean-Jacques ou du bon usage de ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", Éd. Elio Mosele, Intro. Pierre Brunel, ''George Sand et son temps'', I–III. Slatkine, Genève, 1994, pp. 749–66 * Raymond Trousson, "Le Rôle de Wolmar dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", Éd. Raymond Trousson, Michèle Mat-Hasquin, Jacques Lemaire, Ralph Heyndels, ''Thèmes et figures du siècle des Lumières : mélanges offerts à Roland Mortier'', Genève, Droz, 1980, pp. 299–306 * Joseph Waldauer, "La Solitude et la communauté dans ''La Nouvelle Héloïse''", ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'', 1989, n° 265, pp. 1271–74 * Hans Wolpe, "Psychological Ambiguity in ''La Nouvelle Héloise''", University of Toronto Quarterly, 1959, n° 28, pp. 279–90

External links

Original text in French from Rousseau online
* English translation by

William Kenrick William Kenrick may refer to: *William Kenrick (Member of Barebone's Parliament), MP for Kent (UK Parliament constituency) *William Kenrick (writer) (1725–1779), English novelist, playwright and satirist *William Kenrick (nurseryman) (1795&nda ...

of all volumes (namely
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3
an
vol. 4
are available via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Julie Or The New Heloise 1761 novels 18th-century French novels Epistolary novels French philosophical novels Works by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Novels set in Switzerland