La Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes
Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes, La. Rather than a pitched battle, this was a long series of skirmishes between two camps, from the mid-17th c. until about 1715. It was a far from straightforward affair, and some of the positions adopted seem paradoxical to modern readers. For the anciens, the classics of antiquity remained worthy of admiration and imitation; this did not imply slavish copying, but continuing an old tradition which had been revitalized at the Renaissance. The modernes, even if they were not Cartesians, shared with Descartes a sceptical attitude to tradition and favoured the creation of a distinctively modern French culture, whether in philosophy, literature, or the arts. In many cases they set modern Christianity against the errors of paganism. There was also a political aspect to the quarrel, though this was complex. Both sides expressed their devotion to the monarchy, but in general the anciens were closer to the official power of Versailles, whereas their enemies were identified with the world of Paris, the précieux salons [see Preciosity], and the Mercure galant:
While the origins of the Querelle go back to Richelieu's cultural policy, and indeed to the Renaissance, the first real hostilities date from the 1660s. They are mainly concerned with epic poetry: Marolles, Louis Le Laboureur (author of Charlemagne, 1664), and Desmarets defended the modern Christian epic in which pagan mythological figures were replaced by angels and demons. At about the same time Le Laboureur and Desmarets both compared French with the ancient languages to the advantage of the former, and praised modern poetry above that of the ancients. The 1670s saw a vigorous polemic over the use of Latin or French for public inscriptions, Charpentier defending the French cause. One of the centres of opposition to moderne views was the Lamoignon academy, with figures including Fleury, Rapin, Pellisson, Bossuet, and above all Boileau, who was to remain the chief champion of the anciens until the end of his life. His Art poétique (1674) and his translation of Longinus' treatise on the Sublime express the views of the Lamoignon circle, their advocacy of grand simplicity, and their hostility to modern frivolity—which they often associated with the women-dominated salons. In the mid-1670s Boileau, Racine, and (somewhat ambiguously) La Fontaine were grouped together as ‘Messieurs du Sublime’, supported by such powerful figures as Condé, La Rochefoucauld, and Madame de montespan. Subsequently La Bruyère became an important supporter of the ancien cause.
The central episode in the quarrel was sparked off by Perrault's reading of his moderne poem Le Siècle de Louis le Grand at the Académie Française in 1687. This aroused Boileau's indignation, and Perrault added fuel to the fire with his long and provocative Parallèle des ancines et des modernes (1688-97). Boileau replied in his Réflexions critiques, and eventually Arnauld effected a somewhat fragile reconciliation between the two enemies. The quarrel mainly concerned literature; in his Digression sur les anciens et les modernes (1688) Fontenelle widened the debate by arguing that, while human capacities remained the same through the ages, intellectual progress meant that in scientific matters the moderns inevitably surpassed the ancients.
A trivial postscript to this debate was provided by the ‘querelle d'Homère’, when Madame Dacier took exception to La Motte's adaptation of the Iliad. Montesquieu refers mockingly to this polemic in his Lettres persanes (letter 36). And indeed the whole of the Querelle may be viewed as an ephemeral squabble between literary factions. It is also, however, a symptom of much more important cultural change, the decline of classical learning [see Latinity], the rise of modern philosophy and science, and the triumph of the spirit of criticism. In a sense, the modernes are the precursors of the Enlightenment, and they may be seen to have won the battle in the long term. On the other hand, it was the anciens who imposed themselves as the great classic writers of 17th-c. France; it was they who most influenced the canon of French literature and succeeded in overshadowing the many achievements of their rivals.
[Peter France]
Bibliography
- A. Adam, Histoire de la littérature française du XVIIe siècle, vols. 3 (1952) and 5 (1956)
- B. Magne, Crise de la littérature sous Louis XIV: humanisme et nationalisme (1976)
