Secular etiquette and the "art of liking" in French moralistic literature of the XVII-XVIII centuries.

Abstract

The subject of the study is the French moralistic literature of the XVII - first half of the XVIII century. The author examines the period of the formation of the monarchy of the classical model, the time of the change of the heroic chivalrous ideal by the ideal of a noble, and then a gallant man. This transition was due to the need for the coexistence of a large number of courtiers in a small space of the courtyard and occurred through the introduction to essentially humanistic concepts such as "civilit", "politesse" and a rationalistic model of thinking. This brought to life a flood of literature about life at court, the upbringing of a nobleman, courtesy, the art of being liked in the light, which swept the book market. A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the analysis of numerous sources of the XVII - first half of the XVIII century on etiquette, demeanor and the art of being liked in the light. As a result, the author came to the conclusion that all this literature was of a practical nature. The manner of behavior, etiquette were not considered as a set of frozen rules. All these rules were aimed at educating and forming a society of noble people, which is based on respect for all participants in communication. The relevance of this topic is that the analysis of French moralistic literature may be interesting for socio-cultural research. Since the new court ethos was embedded in the monarchical model and cemented by the ideology of the "noble" and then the "gallant" person. In addition, the value system, etiquette and behavioral model that emerged in this era, reflected in the moralistic literature, formed the basis of communication, aesthetic assessments and value attitudes of the ruling elites not only of the XVII, but of the entire XVIII century. The principle of "the art of liking" developed in secular society extends not only to the sphere of communication, but also passes into the sphere of literature and art in general.