Études de la nature
Contributions
- Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
- author
- Imprimerie de Monsieur (Pierre-François Didot)
- publisher
Related resources
- has translation
- Studies of nature. By James-Henry-Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Translated by Henry Hunter D.D. translation has other edition
Notes
'Paul et Virginie' was originally published in the fourth volume of the third edition of 'Etudes de la nature' in 1788. These 'Etudes' (whose first edition appeared in June 1784) represent, together with his posthumous 'Harmonies de la nature', Bernardin’s philosophical manifesto. It was reissued every year by Didot le jeune until 1792, and then by other publishers.
Their objective is to provide a systematic analysis of the anthropocentric character of the natural world, and 'Paul et Virginie' was presented to the eighteenth-century reader as a fictional extension of the doctrines found in the first three volumes of the 'Etudes'. For instance, in the lengthy 'Préambule' to a deluxe edition from 1806, Bernardin emphasizes how, “this short work… is but a repose from my 'Etudes de la Nature', and my application of its laws for the delight of two ill-fated families”. This pastoral novel aspires to be a serious application of the theoretical text with which it is subtly interwoven.
It is not simply a presentation of content in a different literary form. Rather, it addresses readers who are presumably familiar with the 'Etudes', and who, thanks to this familiarity, possess the heuristic key to deciphering the omnipresent, but implicit, philosophical message that drives the narrative.