''L'Ingénu'' ( , , ), sometimes subtitled ''The Sincere Huron'' in English, is a satirical

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

by the French philosopher

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, published in 1767.

Overview

The work tells the story of a Huron "child of nature" who, after having crossed the Atlantic to England, crosses into

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, France, in the 1690s. Upon arrival, a

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

notices depictions of his brother and sister-in-law, whom they deduce to be the Huron's parents – making him French; and he is christened Hercules de Kerkabon (''Hercule de Kerkabon''). Having grown up outside of European culture, he sees the world in a more 'natural' way, causing him to interpret things directly. He is unaware of what is customary, leading to comic misinterpretations. After reading the Bible, he feels he should be circumcised and calls upon a surgeon to perform the operation, which is stopped through the intervention of his 'family'. After his first

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

, he tries to force the priest to confess as well since he interprets a biblical verse to mean confessions must be made mutually and not exempting the clergy. Not expecting to be

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

in a church, they find the Child of Nature waiting in a stream, as baptisms are depicted in the Bible. The story satirises religious doctrine, government corruption and the folly and injustices of French society, including its practices that conflict with actual scripture. The story also criticizes the contemporary corruption in the French government. First, the Child of Nature, on his way to receive accolades for helping fight off a British amphibious assault, is wrongly imprisoned as a

Jansenist Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of free will and divine grace in response to certain development ...

after he shows sympathy to the plight of those fleeing

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...

. He spends a great deal of time in prison, until his lover, having been sent to a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

for four years,– journeys to

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

to find out his plight. To do so, she must use back channels such as the wife of a confessor. Ultimately, to secure her lover's release, the woman must succumb to the advances of a government minister. She seeks guidance from the confessor, but he says she must have misunderstood the minister's deal and that whatever he was intimating, it must be for the best since the minister is related to

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

's confessor. The episode suggests not only the personal corruption in the French government but also the corrupt interplay of secular and religious institutions. She eventually gives in for the sake of her lover but dies of an illness shortly after they are reunited.

Context

''L'Ingénu'' is a mix of genres and shares characteristics with the conte philosophique, the apologue and the novel.Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval: ''L'Ingénu de Voltaire'' (''Profil d'une œuvre'', vol. 113). Hâtier, Paris 1989, p. 2. Throughout ''L'Ingénu'', Voltaire advocates

deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

and lambastes

religious intolerance Religious intolerance or religious bigotry is intolerance of another's religious beliefs, practices, faith or lack thereof. Statements which are contrary to one's religious beliefs do not constitute intolerance. Religious intolerance, rather, ...

fanaticism Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or an obsessive enthusiasm. The political theorist Zachary R. Goldsmith provides a "cluster account" of the concept of fanaticism, identifying ten main attributes that, in various com ...

, superstitions,

sects A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

and the Catholic clergy.

Notes

References

* *

External links

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L'Ingénu, audio version

''L'ingénu, histoire veritable'', Tirée des Manuscrits du Père Quesnel
a Utrecht, 1767. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingenu 1767 novels 18th-century French novels Novels set in the 1690s French novellas Novels by Voltaire Novels set in Brittany Novels set in Paris French satirical novels Novels about Native Americans Deism Anti-Catholic publications