The 18th century

Question 1

When was death of Louis XIV and what happened as an effect?

Answer 1

1715, absolute monarchy declined

Question 2

What happened under Louis XV?

Answer 2

France was prosperous but state reforms failed

Question 3

What happened under Louis XVI? There was an economic, political, financial and social crisis which shook the kingdom and…

Answer 3

Forced him to convene the Estates General( assembly of the Clergy, nobility and 3rd estate) on May 1,1789. The third estate proclaimed itself the National Assembly.

Question 4

The revolution began after the National Assembly declared itself. Bastille was taken on…

Answer 4

July 14

Question 5

The Declaration of Rights Of Man and Citizen was voted on…

Answer 5

August 26

Question 6

When was Louis XVI guillotined?

Answer 6

Jan 21,1793

Question 7

Cultural life is no longer in Versailles but where? How was the spirit of the age?

Answer 7

In Paris, in clubs, cafes, philosophical salons where new ideas spread

Morals are freer and critical thinking exercised on all knowledge

Confidence in progress, reason and happiness and a desire for universal fraternity characterise the philosophical spirit.

Question 8

What prompted cosmopolitan openness and a sense of relativity of customs and beliefs?

Answer 8

Travel stories from China, Persia and America

Question 9

When in the century did the exaltation of sensitivity herald romanticism?

Answer 9

In the second half of the century

Question 10

What are the 3 words of Condorcet summarising the ideas of 18th century philosophers?

Answer 10

Reason, tolerance, humanity

Question 11

Critical rationalism undermines the foundations of kingship by divine right. In (The Spirit of the laws) Montesquieu moves towards…?

Answer 11

Parliamentary monarchy ( as in england) enlightened and moderate

Question 12

For Voltaire”men are..”? In(The Philosophical Letters) he defends the English model.

Answer 12

Naturally free and equal

Question 13

Diderot proposes a contract between the sovereign and the people( article ‘Political authority’ of the Encyclopedia). How did Rosseau go a step further?

Answer 13

In his ( Social Contract) he stipulates a freely agreed social pacts between the people and a government which would ensure the administration of the state that is to say Democracy.

Question 14

Which question preoccupied 18th century philosophers? What did they fight against?

Answer 14

Question of religion. Fought against intolerance and fanaticism.

Question 15

What were the religious views of Voltaire, Rosseau and Diderot?

Answer 15

Faced with Deism of Voltaire

The “natural religion” of Rosseau( The Profession of Faith to the Vicar Savoyard)

Diderot affirms his atheism in( The Dream Of d’Alembert)

Question 16

What contributed to the abolition of slavery by the Convention in 1794?

Answer 16

Respect for human beings, reflection on freedom and affirmation of the equality of people

Question 17

Define the encyclopedia of the 18 century.

Answer 17

This immense work (17 volumes) is intended to be a reasoned inventory of knowledge, made available to all. Many philosophers collaborate on it.

Question 18

Who’s the project manager of the encyclopedia and
who deals with mathematics and controls scientific part?

Answer 18

Diderot
D’Alembert

Question 19

What is the ambition of the encyclopedia?

Answer 19

Combatting prejudices, making reason triumph, ensuring through science the liberation and happiness of man-the only one who can give meaning to the world

Question 20

How was 18th century poetry?

Answer 20

Genre is in crisis.

Question 21

Genre of 18th century poetry is in crisis but name one good poet and talk of his works?

Answer 21

André Chénier, influenced by Greece, leaves a work where plastic beauty and artificiality renew Epicurean themes:( Bucolics)

His revolt against the bloodthirsty excesses of Terror explodes in (Iambes)

Question 22

Theatre- talk about famous 18th century Comedies

Answer 22

Marivaux’s comedies of manners and intrigue ( The Game of love and chance) , (The false secrets)- the great subtlety of language orchestrates the fantasies of love

Question 23

Theatre- talk about famous 18th century social satires

Answer 23

For Beaumarchais, the satire of social institutions, present in (The Barber of Seville) becomes more virulent in (The Marriage of Figaro) where the valet triumphs over his master to the great joy of the public

Question 24

Which literary genre was booming in 18th century? It reflects evolution of a society of which it wants to give a faithful image.

Answer 24

Novel

Question 25

Give examples of realist novel, picaresque& educational novel and their authors

Answer 25

Realism is found in story of ( The History of Gil Blas of Santillane) of Lesage

A picaresque story and educational novel, in the description of the fatal passion of ‘ Manon Lescaut’ by Abbé Prévost

Question 26

Which novel type enjoyed considerable success and give example

Answer 26

Epistolary novel
( Persian letters) Montesquieu, a satire on morals and institutions

Question 27

In which of his novels does Rosseau try to reconcile passion and virtue?

Answer 27

( The New Heloise)

Question 28

Example of a novel with libertine ideals? It marks the apogee of the genre.

Answer 28

( Dangerous liasions) by Laclos, libertine story of the alliance of evil and intelligence

Question 29

How did Voltaire convey his ideas?

Answer 29

Under the mask of the fiction of philosophical tales( Zadig) (Micromégas) (Candide)

Question 30

What did Diderot do with his novels( The Nun) ( Rameau’s nephew) and especially ( Jacques the fatalist)?

Answer 30

Shatter the romantic illusion

Question 31

What did Rosseau do, persecuted and unhappy?

Answer 31

He took refuge in autobiography: the moving beauty of ( Confessions) was already pre-romantic