Savages, Noble and Otherwise, and the French Enlightenment

Savages, Noble and Otherwise,mlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA and the French Enlightenment M IC H ELLE BU C H AN AN gfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA The notion of the French philosophes' humanistic view of the sav­ age continues to find wide acceptance, along with the belief in the capital role played by Montaigne and Rousseau in the development and concretization of the concept of the Noble Savage. Both common­ places, having too long served as a springboard for studies of philo­ sophical, aesthetic, political, and economic issues, should now take their place among the myths which underpin the thesis of the nobil­ ity of Man in Nature. The belief in the importance of the Noble Savage in the thought of the Enlightenment gave rise to the corollary belief in its conversion into a notable element of fiction and drama in the literature of eigh­ teenth-century France. Setting aside the possible relationship be­ tween life in nature and utopistic or socialistic societies, which is the chief premise of Rene Gonnard's RQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA L a L e g e n d e d u b o n s a u v a g e (1946), and accepting the reality of a continuing interest in exoticism which Gil­ bert Chinard endeavors to prove in L ' A m e r iq u e e t le r e v e e x o t iq u e d a n s la lit t e r a t u r e fr a n g a is e a u X V I I e e t a u X V I I e s ie c le (1913), an attempt must be made to determine whether "le bon sauvage" is indeed an impor­ tant link in the chain of philosophical and psychological elements which so decisively change the substance of French literature during the eighteenth century, or whether he is one of many stock characters used by writers much as they did "le bon mari," "la bonne mere," "le bon pere" (Marmontel), "le pere de famille" (Diderot), among others. 97 98 / BUCHANANgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA From de Lisle's RQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA A r le q u in s a u v a g e (1721) through Marmontel's L e s I n ­ c a s (1777) to the end of the century when Chateaubriand's A t a la (1801) heralds the dawn of Romanticism, who are those savages and what role are they given in the literature of eighteenth-century France? In Voltaire's C a n d id e (1759) Cacambo is of mixed-blood, from Mex­ ico, but hardly a savage. At one point in the story, master and servant find themselves prisoners of fifty Oreillons, a savage tribe in Para­ guay. The naked savages are getting their cooking pots and spits ready to roast the two men whom they have mistaken for Jesuits. Fortu­ nately Cacambo speaks some Oreillon and persuades the savages that Candide is not a Jesuit and has in fact just killed one. Adds Cacambo "I am persuaded you are too well acquainted with the principles of the laws of society, humanity, and justice, not to use us courteously, and suffer us to depart unhurt."1 The scene is farcical: Cacambo ex­ tolling the Oreillons' civic virtues while they are all standing before boiling cauldrons. Indeed the Oreillons release the two prisoners and show them "all sorts of civilities: offer them girls, give them refresh­ ments, and reconduct them to the confines of their country, crying before them all the way, in token of joy, 'He is no Jesuit, he is no Jesuit!'"2 L ' ln g e n u of Voltaire, first published in 1767, becomes in one English translation T h e C h ild o f N a t u r e , in another T h e S im p le S o u l, again in another T h e H u r o n . The hero is a Huron and a fine lad he is: "His head was uncovered, and his legs bare; instead of shoes, he wore a kind of sandals. From his head his long hair flowed in tresses, while a small, close doublet displayed the beauty...