Politics and culture in classical France

In the time of Louis 14th, the royal court underwent a great deal of change. Social spaces were transformed and a new, self-formed elite emerged. This led to a fascination with the links between discourse and being.

Discourse - a way of using language in a given social context.

The centre of court life was the palace at Versailles. Louis used spectacle (pageants and theatre, often linked to classical culture) to consolidate the image of the monarchy. The notion of the shared identity of the court was expressed by literary means.

An alternative social space to the court known as the salon began to emerge. These were meetings hosted by women in their private homes, however, they were, in their own way, just as structured and hierarchical as the court. They gave women a chance to socialise with central figures of the court along with great writers and artists of the era, who often show cased their work at such events. The salons also acted as a bridge between women interacting with writers and women becoming writers.

At this time, the boundary between the oral and the literary was much more permeable. Literature was read aloud at the salons and the books themselves were secondary, being no more than a means to assert a kind of copyright. Literature was actually a means of social exchange and advancement as writing a poem to a person of higher social status might win you their favour.

As many public offices were for sale at this time, the 'elite' of society had a sudden influx of new members, which many of the older class objected to. A kind of cultural insecurity emerged, as people were unsure as to their place in society. Many literary works were written in an attempt to enshrine 'polite' language exactly as it was. An author named Vaugelas wrote a book advising people on the 'dos and don'ts' of polite French, and while it was only intended as a guide, the Academie Francais regularly republished it with revisions that were actively prescriptive, forbidding certain language usage for polite society.

This question of proper language was all focused on the idea of one question: 'how are you to be?' The nobles were constantly trying to define 'polite' behaviour and in many cases they referred to classical culture to aid this search. The author La Bruyère wrote a book that suggested how one ought to behave by showing how not to behave. He began his book with a translation of the ancient Greek plays by Theophraste. He used the stereotypes of Greek plays to describe the types of characters who frequented the court. This led to much speculation as to who these stereotypes were really based on.