Article
French
ID: <
10670/1.vbbbrn>
Abstract
`titrebDistinguishing Flattery from Friendship. Classical Virtue vs. Gallantry in Télémaque`/titrebFénelon’s approval of classical morals mirrors his lack of warmth towards the trend in gallantry. This article looks at both attitudes because they join forces in the Aventures de Télémaque, and become a critique of flattery. In the manner of Plutarch in his treatise on the topic, Fénelon explains a predisposition to respond to flattery by a lack of self-knowledge. His novel shows how flatterers and seductresses use powerful people’s pride to penetrate their very heart. Flattery is, like gallantry, an art of making oneself beloved. It imitates true friendship ; because it does not have the moral purpose of friendship, it finds itself reduced to the display of fine manners. Fénelon thus shows the limits of any ethical system whose goal is to please, and presents virtue as based on self-examination – the only efficient barrier against courtiers paying endless compliments of all sorts – and aiming at the common good. Modesty and self-sacrifice are the qualities, which, maybe, lead to being loved.