Excerpt
The Preface by Stephen Lewis, 1715 .i-xi
:'THERE is not any Speculation, which affords a more agreeable Pleasure to the Mind, than that of beholding from what Obscure and Mean Beginnings, the most Polite and Entertaining Arts have,Huet's Text: The Original of Romances. .1-149/h2>
What is a Romance?
:The Name of Romance was formerly extended not only to Prose but Verse; ''Giradi'' and ''Pigra,'' in their Treatises de ''Romanzi,'' scarce mention any other, and lay down the ''Bayrdos'' and ''Arioste'' for Instances of their Opinion. But the Custom of this Age prevails to the contrary; so that we esteem nothing to be properly Romance butAn Ancient Practice: Religions Use Fictions to Create Secret Knowledge
The following part of the treatise touches the origin of "romances". The peoples of Asia, especially those of Egypt had, so Huet claims, proven a tendency to decipher all kinds of information. TheNovels of Luxury: Persia, Greece and Rome
The ancient world developed a high cultural standard. Luxury commodities became important. Persia was the country of highest refinement, producing perfumes and dances before the Milesians imported much of that culture: :But the '' Milesians,'' above all the rest, discover'd the indulging Temper, surpassed them all in the Accuracy of their Pleasures, and shew'd the most singular Taste for Delicacies. They were the first who introduced the Art of Romancing among the ''Persians,'' when they had had such Success in it themselves, that the ''Milesian'' fables, the same with Romances, full of Love Adventures, and Licentious Relations, advanced into the Highest Reputation: 'Tis probable Romances were Innocent 'till they fell into their hands, and before recounted only singular and memorable Adventures. :But these were the first who corrupted them .. One does not have any material artefacts to prove this, yet the ancient historians help us here with their accounts. TheThe Northern Tradition: Fictions of a Dark Age of Ignorance
The ancient authors excelled with satires and texts which are no longer extant—a history which ended in darkness with the invasion of Germanic tribes causing the fall of the Roman empire: :Hitherto the Art of Romancing was maintained with some Splendor, but it soon decayed with Learning and the Empire; when the Furious nations of the ''North'' disseminated, with their Bodies, the Ignorance and barbarity of their Minds. Romances were hitherto composed for, <101> Delight. Fabulous Histories were now introduced, because none were acquainted with the Truth. ''Taliessin,'' who lived about the Middle of the Sixth Age, under that King ''Arthur'' so famous in Romances; and ''Melkin,'' who was somewhat younger, writ the History of ''England,'' his Country, of King ''Arthur,'' and the ''Round Table. Balæus,'' who has put them in his Catalogue, speaks of them, as of Authors filled with Fables. The same may be said of ''Hunibaldus Francus,'' who (as some relate) was Contemporary with ''Clovis,'' and whose History is no other but a Mass of Lies grossly conceived. .101 The present age—the late 17th century—has learned to live with a differentiation between fiction and fact. The Middle Ages were marked by a completely different frame of mind. Huet reaches the stories written about king Arthur and Merlin: : ..those which contained the Atchievements of King Arthur, and the Life of ''Merlin.'', <104> :These Diverting Histories pleased the Readers, who were more ignorant than those who composed them. They did not, in those Days, trouble themselves with Researches into Antiquity, and after being informed of the Truth of what they wrote. They had the Stuff in their own Head, and went no farther than their own Invention. Thus Historians degenerated into True Romancers. :In this Age of Ignorance, the Latin Tongue, as well as Truth, was neglected and despised. The Versifiers, Composers, Inventers of tales, Jesters, and in short, all of this Country who studied what they called the Gay Science, began about the Time of Hugh, <105> ''Capet,'' to set upon Romancing with great Fury; and soon over-ran France, by dispersing them. These Fables were composed in the Roman Tongue .. The term romance was now invented—to denote the Spanish and French Language these texts were written in: :The ''Spaniards'' use the Word ''Romance'' in the same Signification with us, and call their ordinary Language by that Name. The ''Romain'' being then most universally understood, those of ''Provence'' who apply'd themselves to Fictions, made use of it in their Writings, which from thence were called ''Romances.'' .106 The idea of a tradition coming via Spain to Europe is thus balanced by a second option: . 108-09Taliessin and Melkin were English heroes, Huet notes. The romances touching them must have been composed originally around 550.Where Traditions Met: Europe and Another Theory of the Anthropology of Fiction
The development into the 17th century gives the ''Amadis of Gaul'' a central position . 114-16and leads to Cervantes ''Don Quixote''—which is rather a critic of "romances" than a romance itself. The following long passage gives Huet's picture of the intellectual network behind the rise of the modern novel—and of the traditions which now met: :All ''Europe'' was then overwhelmed with Darkness and Ignorance, but ''France, England,'' and ''Germany'' much less than ''Italy,'' which then produced but a small Number of Writers, and scarce any Authors of Romances. Those of that Country, who had a Mind to distinguish themselves by Learning and Knowledge, came for it to the University of ''Paris,'' which was the Mother of Sciences, and Nurse of the Learning of ''Europe.'' St. ''Thomas Aquinas,'' St. ''Bonaventure,'' the Poets ''Dante,'' and ''Boccace,'' came thither to study; and the President ''Fauchet'' produces, that the last of them took a great Part of his Novels from ''French'' Ro, <121>mances; and that ''Petrarch,'' and the other ''Italian'' Poets, have rifled for their Richest Fancies, the Songs of ''Thiband'' King of Navarre, ''Gace's Brussez, Chastelain de Corcy,'' and the Old ''French'' Romances. 'Twas then, in my Opinion, that the ''Italians'' learned from us the Science of Romance; which, by their own Confession, is to be ascribed to us, as well as that of Rhyming. :Thus ''Spain'' and ''Italy'' received from us an Art, which was the Effect of our Ignorance and Barbarity, and which the Politeness of the Persians, Ionians, and Greeks had produced. As Necessity engages us, to sustain our Bodies, <122> with Herbs an Roots; so when the Knowledge of Truth, which is the Proper and Natural Aliment of the Mind, begins to fail, we have Recourse to Falsehood, which is the Imitation of Truth. As in Plenty we refuse Bread, and our ordinary Viands, for Ragousts; so our Minds, when acquainted with the Truth, forsake the Study and Speculation of it, to be entertained with its Image, which is Fiction. This Imitation according to ''Aristotle,'' is often more agreeable than the Original it self; so that two oppositely different Paths, which are Ignorance and Learning, Rudeness and Politeness, do often conduct us to the same End; which is, <123> an Application to Fictions, Fables, and Romances. Hence it is, that the most Barbarous Nations are taken with Romantic Inventions, as well as the most Refined. The Originals of all the Savages of ''America,'' and particularly those of ''Peru,'' are nothing but Fables; no more are those of the Goths, which they wrote in their Ancient ''Runic'' Characters, upon great Stones; the Remains of which I my self have seen in ''Denmark.'' And if any Thing were left us of the Works, which the Bards among the Ancient ''Gauls'' composed, to eternize the Memory of their Nation, I don't question but we should find them enriched with Abundance of Fictions. :This Inclination to Fables, which is common to all Men, is not the Result of Reason; Imitation, or Custom. 'Tis Natural to them, and has its Seat in the very Frame and Disposition of their Soul. For the Desire of Knowledge is particular to man, and distinguishes him from Beasts no less than his Reason. nay we may observe in other Creatures some Rude Impressions of this; whereas the Desire of Understanding is Peculiar to Us only. :The Reason of this, according to my Opinion, is; because the Faculties of the Soul are too Vast an Extent, to be supplied by the Present Objects, so that 'tis obliged to, <125> have recourse to what's past, and to come, in Truth and in Fictions, in Imaginary Spaces and Impossibilities, for Objects to exert it self upon. The Objects of Sense fill the Desires of the Soul of Brutes, who have no farther Concern; so that we can't discover in them these restless Emotions, which continually actuate the Mind of Man, and carry it into the Pursuit of a recent Information, to proportion (if possible the Object to the Faculty; and enjoy a Pleasure resembling that which we perceive in the Appeasing a Violent Hunger, and Extinguishing a Corroding Thirst. This is that which ''Plato'' intends, in the Marriage of ''Do-'', <126>''rus'' and ''Penia,'' (in which Terms he would express Riches and Poverty,) which produces exquisite Pleasure. The Object is signified by Riches, which are not so but in Use and Intention; otherwise they are unfruitful and afford no Delight. The Faculty is intended by Inquietude, while 'tis separated from Riches; whereas its Union with them, supplies the Highest Satisfaction. The Case is the same with our Souls: Poverty, the same with Ignorance, is Natural to it; it sighs continually after Science; which is its Riches; and when 'tis possess'd of this Enjoyment, it feels the greatest Pleasure. But, <127> this Pleasure is not always equal; it often is the Purchase of much labour and Difficulty: As when the Soul applies it self to intricate Speculations, and Occult Sciences, the Matter whereof is not present to our Senses; where the Imagination, which acts with Faculity, has a Less Part in the Pursuit than the Understanding, whose Operations are more Vehement and Intense: And because Labour is naturally tedious, the Soul is not carried to Hard and Spinous Learning, unless in Prospect of some Advantage, or Hope of some remote Amusement, or else by Necessity. But the Knowledge which attracts and delights it most, is that which is acquired without, <128> Pain and where the Imagination alone acts on Subjects which fall under our Sense, ravish our Passions, and are great Movers in all the Affairs of Life. Such are Romances, which require no great Intention or Dispense of Mind, to understand them. No long Reasonings are exacted; the Memory is not overburthened: Nothing is demanded, but Fancy and Imagination. They move our Passions; but 'tis on purpose to sooth and calm them again: They excite neither Fear nor Compassion; less it be to display to us the Pleasure of seeing those we are afraid, or concern'd for, out of Reach of Danger or Distress. In short, all our Emo, <129>tions there find themselves agreeably provoked and appeased. :'Tis hence, that those who act more by assion than Reason and labour more with their Imagination than Understanding, are affected by them; tho' these other are touched by them too, but after another manner. These are touched by the Beauties of Art, which amuse the Understanding; but the former, Ignorant and Simple, are sensible of no more than what strikes upon the Imagination, and stirs their Passions. They love the Fiction, and enquire no farther. Now Fictions being nothing but Narrations, True in Appearance, and False in Reality; the Minds of the Simple, who discern on, <130>ly the Disguise, are pleased and highly satisfied with this Shew of Truth. But those who penetrate farther, and see into the Solid, are easily disgusted with the Falsity: So that the first love Falsehood, because it is concealed under an Appearance of Truth; the Latter are distasted with the Image of Truth, because of the Real Forgery which is couched under it; unless it be varnished with Ingenuity, Subtility, and Instruction, and recommends it self by the Excellency of Invention and Art. St ''Augustin'' makes this Observation somewhere; 'That these Falsities which carry a Signification, and suggest an Hidden Meaning, are not Lies,, <131> but the Figures of Truth; which the most Wise and Holy Persons, and even our ''Saviour'' himself, have used upon Honourable and Pious Occasions.' :Since then 'tis true, that Lies commonly flow from Ignorance, and the Grossness of our Intellect; and that this Inundation of the Barbarians, who issued from the North, spread over all Europe, and plunged it into such profound Ignorance, as it could not clear it self from, within the Space of Two Ages; is it not then probable, that this Ignorance caused the same Effect in Europe, which it had produced every where besides? And is it not vain to enquire for that in, <132> Chance, which we find in Nature? There is then no Reason to contend, but that the French, German, and English Romances, and all the Fables of the North, are Fruits of those Countries, and not imported from Abroad: That they never had other Originals than the Histories stuffed with Falsities, and made in Obscure Ignorant Times, when there was neither Industry nor Curiosity to discover the Truth of Things, nor Art to describe it, if 'twas found: That these Histories have been well received by the Unpolished and Half-barbarous People; and that the Historians thereupon took upon them the Liberty to pre, <133>sent them with what was purely forged, which were the Romances. The whole development of fiction is thus not one of continuities—but one of different traditions and complex reasons why fictions develop. Huet reaches the present age and passes through numerous titles:Fictions and the Modern Period
:I shall not undertake to ..examine whether ''Amadis de Gaul'' were originally from ''Spain, Flanders,'' or ''France;'' and whether the Romance of ''Tiel Ulespiegel'' be a Translation from the ''German;'' or in what Language the Romance of the ''Seven Wise Men of Greece'' was first written; or that of ''Dolopathos,'' which some say was extracted from the Parables of ''Sandaber'' the ''Indian.'' Some say 'tis to be found in ''Greek'' in some Libraries; which has furnished the Matter of an ''Italian'' Book call'd ''Erastus,'' (and of many of Boccace his Novels, as the same ''Fauchet'' has remarked) which was written in ''La-'', <137>''tin'' by ''John Morck,'' or the Abby ''de Hauteselne,'' whereof Ancient Copies are to be seen; and translated into ''French'' by the Clerk ''Hubert,'' about the End of the Twelfth Age, and into ''High Dutch'' about Three Hundred Years afterwards; and an Hundred Years after that, from ''High Dutch'' into ''Latin'' again, by a Learned hand, who changed the Names of it, and was ignorant that the ''Dutch'' had come from the ''Latin.'' :It shall suffice if I tell you, that all these Works which Ignorance has given Birth to, carried along with them the Marks of their Original, and were no other than a Complication of, <138> Fictions, grossly cast together in the greatest Confusion, and infinitely short of the Excellent Degree of Art and Elegance, to which the ''French'' Nation is now arrived in Romances. 'Tis truly a Subject of Admiration, that we, who have yielded to others the Bays for ''Epic'' Poetry, and History, have nevertheless advanced these to so high a Perfection, that the Best of theirs are not Equal to the Meanest of ours. :We owe (I believe) this Advantage to the Refinement and Politeness of our Gallantry; which proceeds, in my Opinion, from the great Liberty which the Men of ''France'' allow to the, <139> Ladies. They are in a manner Recluses in ''Italy'' and ''Spain;'' and separated from Men by so many Obstacles, that they are scarce to be seen, and not to be spoken with at all. Hence the Men have neglected the Art of Engaging the Tender Sex, because the Occasions of it are so rare. All the Study and Business there, is to surmount the Difficulties of Access; when this is effected, they make Use of the Time, without amusing themselves with Forms. But in ''France,'' the Ladies go at large upon their Parole; and being under no Custody but that of their own Heart, erect it into a Fort, more strong and secure than, <140> all the Keys, Grates, and Vigilance of the ''Douegnas.'' The Men are obliged to make a Regular and Formal Assault against this Fort, to employ so much Industry and Address to reduce it, that they have formed it into an Art scarce known to other Nations. :'Tis this Art which distinguishes the ''French'' from other Romances, and renders the Reading of them so Delicious, that they cause more Profitable Studies to be neglected. :The Ladies were first taken with this Lure: They made Romances their Study; and have despised the Ancient Fa, <141>ble and History so far, that they now no longer understand those Works, from which they received their greatest Embellishments: And lest they should blush at this Ignorance, which they find themselves so often guilty of; they perceive they had better disapprove what they don't know, than take the Pains to learn it. :The Men, in Complaisance, have imitated them; condemned what they disliked, and call that Pedantry, which made an Essential Part of Politeness, even in ''Malherbes Time. The Poets, and other ''French'' Writers who succeeded, have been constrained to submit to this Arbi, <142>tration; and many of them, observing that the Knowledge of Antiquity would be of no Advantage to them, have ceased to study what they durst not practise: Thus a very Good Cause has produced an Ill Effect; and the Beauty of our Romances has drawn upon them the Contempt of Good Letters, and consequently Ignorance. :I don't, for all this, pretend to condemn the Reading of them. The Best Things in the World are attended with their Inconveniencies; Romances too may have much worse than Ignorance. I know what they are accused for: They exhaust our Devotion, and in, <143>spire us with Irregular Passions, and corrupt our Manner. All this may be, and sometimes does happen. But what can't Evil and Degenerated Minds make an Ill Use of? Weak Souls are contagious to themselves, and make Poyson of every Thing. Histories must be forbidden, which relate so many Pernicious Examples; and the Fable must undergo the same Fate; for there Crimes are authorised by the Practice of the Gods. <144> :Little Regard was had to Sobriety of manners, in most Part of the Greek and Old French Romances, by Reason of the Vice of the Times in which they were composed. ..But the Modern Romances (I speak of the Good ones) are so far from this Fault, that you'll scarce find an Expression, or Word, which may shock Chaste Ears, or one single Action which may give Offence to Modesty. :If any one object; That Love is treated of in a Manner so Soft and Insinuating, that the Bait of this Dangerous Passion invades too easily the Tender Hearts; I answer, That it is so far from being Dangerous, that it is in some Respects Necessary, that the Young People of the World should be acquainted with it; that they may stop their Ears to that which is Criminal, and be better fortified against its Artifices; and know their Conduct, in that which has an Honest and Sacred End. This is so true, that Experience lays before us, that such as are least acquainted with Love, are the most unguarded to its As, <145>saults, that the most Ignorant are soonest decoyed. Add to this that Nothing so much refines and polishes Wit; Nothing conduces so much to the Forming and Advancing it to the Approbation of the World, as the Reading of Romances. These are the Dumb Tutors, which succeed those of the College, and teach us how to Live and Speak by a more Persuasive and Instructive method than theirs .. .145 Huet has with this survey reached the end of his treatise. D'Urfee and Mademoiselle de Scudery become important here: :Monsieur ''D'Urfee'' was the first who retrieved them from Barbarity, and reduced them to Rules, in his Incomparable ''Astrea,'' The most Ingenious and Polite Work which has appeared in this Kind, and which Eclipsed the Glory which ''Greece, Italy'' and ''Spain,'' had acquired. <146> :None can, without Amazement, read those which a Maid as Illustrious in her Modesty, as her Merit, has published under a Borrowed Name; depriving her self so Generously of that Glory which was her Due, and not seeking for Reward, but in her Virtue; as if while She took so much Trouble for the Honour of our Nation, She would spare that Shame to Our Sex. But Time has done her that Justice, which she had denied her self; and has informed us, that the Illustrious Bassa, Grand ''Cyrus,'' and ''Clælia,'' are the Performances of Madam de ''Scudery'' .. The last lines refer to the following "history" ''Zayde''—which will, so Huet, deserve all praise: :The Virtues which conduct his Reign are so Noble, and the Fortune which attend them so Surprizing, that Posterity would doubt whether it were a History, or a Romance. .149 ...which is the final sentence.Literature
*Olaf Simons, ''Marteaus Europa oder der Roman, bevor er Literatur wurde'' (Amsterdam/ Atlanta: Rodopi, 2001) , p. 165-72. *Camille Esmein, "Le Traité de l'origine des romans de Pierre-Daniel Huet, apologie du roman baroque ou poétique du roman classique?", communication lors de la journée d'étude sur 'Le roman baroque' organisée par M. le Professeur Jonathan Mallinson, colloque de l'Association internationale des études françaises (AIEF), Paris, 9 juillet 2003, publiée dans les Cahiers de l'Association internationale des études françaises (CAIEF), mai 2004, p. 417-436. {{DEFAULTSORT:Traitte de l'origine des romans Essays about literature 1670 works Narratology 17th-century French literature 17th-century essays