Jacques Cazotte, alchimiste. (French text)
Item
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Title
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Jacques Cazotte, alchimiste. (French text)
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Identifier
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AAI8820911
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identifier
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8820911
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Creator
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Weingord, Stella.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Madeleine Morris
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Philosophy
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Abstract
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The life and works of Jacques Cazotte, mystic, prophet and visionary, reflect the despair and hopes of the Siecle des Lumieres. Though hostile to many forms of the "mouvement philosophique," Cazotte moved with the most advanced trends of his time in recognizing the potential of the perfectibility of the individual.;Like all Illuminists, Cazotte subscribes to the theory of "regeneration and reintegration," believing that man has within himself the means to be free and to recover his original state of perfection, thus permitting his reconciliation with God and the Universe. His works illustrate not only the eternal struggle between God and Evil present in Nature and within Man, but also the importance of the principles of Liberty and Free Will leading to redemption and happiness.;Cazotte's creative powers transported him out of everyday reality into the world of the fantastic and the imaginary. From the Songs, Ballads and Contes of his early years to the Diable amoureux of his maturity, to the Songes and Revelations of his old age, Cazotte creates and maintains a symbolical composition. While he does not use a language particular to a specific "initiation," the orientation of his thinking recalls the symbolism of the alchemical endeavor whose supreme goal was the regeneration of Man. Accordingly, Cazotte the mystic strives for the spiritual "transmutation" of his heroes through their moral and physical trials, representing symbolically the alchemical "operations" through which base metals must pass before they can reach the stage of gold, symbol of perfection and purity.;Cazotte's last years saw him in a defiant rebellion against the Revolution, perceived as the "devil's work," and against the enemies of his beloved king, whom he equated with Christ himself. His writings now reveal a unique fusion of the mystic and the political activist.;Remembered primarily for his masterpiece Le Diable amoureux and for his tragic, self-prophesized death at the guillotine, Cazotte's non-conformism and non-traditional views of his era are reflected today in our age of technological and scientific wonder, which in many instances surpass the wildest dreams of the promoter of the fantastic, of the prophet and the visionary.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
