''Julie or the New Heloise'' (), originally entitled (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 between the fictional characters of a narrative. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse other kinds of fictional document with the letters, most commonly di ...

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

, published in 1761 by Marc-Michel Rey 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, was a ...

and

Peter Abélard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philoso ...

, a medieval story of passion and Christian renunciation.

Overview

The plot, entirely related through letters, turns on the spontaneous love between Julie d'Étanges, an aristocratic Swiss maiden living in Vevey on Lac Léman, and her tutor, a commoner who has no name but is given the pseudo-saint's name of St. Preux by Julie and her principal confidante, her cousin Claire. Although Rousseau wrote the work as a novel, a philosophical theory about virtue and authenticity permeates it. A common interpretation is that Rousseau valued the

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

of authenticity over rational moral principles, as he illustrates the principle that one should do what is imposed upon oneself by society only insofar as it would seem congruent with one's inner principles and feelings, being constituent of one's core identity. As this stood in conflict with the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

's authority, the book was listed on the

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The (English: ''Index of Forbidden Books'') was a changing list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former dicastery of the Roman Curia); Catholics were forbidden to print or re ...

, prohibiting its distribution to Catholics. Julie's eventual husband, the virtuous atheist Baron de Wolmar, is assumed to be based largely on

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

, 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

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

called ''Julie'' 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 *"Tristr ...

'', ''

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship ''Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'' () is the second novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1795–96. Plot The novel is in eight books. The main character Wilhelm Meister undergoes a journey of self-realization. The story centers ...

'' and ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

''. ''Julie'' was perhaps the best-selling novel of the 18th century. Some 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. Diane de Polignac wrote to Marie Madeleine de Brémond d’Ars after finishing the novel:

I dare not tell you the effect it had on me; no, I was past weeping; an intense pain took possession of me, my heart seized up; the dying Julie was no longer someone unknown to me, I became her sister, her friend, her Claire; I was so convulsed that had I not put the book down I would have been as overcome as all those who attended that virtuous woman in her last moments.

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

Many persons who have read your book, to whom I have spoken, have assured me that you thought it all up. This I cannot believe. Could a false reading n sensation comparable to what I felt in reading it? Once more, Monsieur, did Julie exist? Is St Preux still alive? In what part of this earth does he live? Did Claire, that tender Claire, follow her other half? Are M. de Wolmar, Mylord Edward, all those persons, only imaginary, as some try to persuade me? What is then the world where we live, where virtue is but an idea? Happy mortal, you alone perhaps know and practice it.

Others identified less with the individual characters and more with the nature of their struggles, seeing in ''Julie'' a story of temptation, sin and redemption that resembled their own lives. Rousseau liked to tell of how one lady ordered her carriage to take her to the Opera, and then picked up ''Julie'' only to continue reading it until the next morning. So many women wrote to him offering their love that he speculated there was not a single high society woman whom he could not have bedded if he had wanted. The novel made a strong impression on

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in his youth, and he would often read either it or the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

aloud to guests while he was a prisoner on

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

after dinner.

Notes

Bibliography

Translations

* William Kenrick (see links below) * ''Julie, or the New Heloise'', trans. Philip Stewart and Jean Vaché, Hanover NH: University Press of New England (''The Collected Writings of Rousseau'', vol. 6), 1997.

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 Charles Dédéyan (4 April 1910 – 21 June 2003) was a French-Armenian Romance philologist, literature comparatist and specialist of French literature. Biography Dédéyan defended his thesis at the Sorbonne (''Montaigne dans le Romantisme a ...

, ''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, La Nouvelle Héloise, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers'', 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 * Philip Stewart, "Half-title or Julie beheaded." ''Romanic Review'' 86:1 (1995), pp. 30–44. * 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 of all volumes (namely
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3
an
vol. 4
are available via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{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