Before imagination : embodied thought from Montaigne to Rousseau

305 Pages·2005·1.029 MB·English

by  Lyons, John D

Before Imagination

Before Imagination
embodied thought from
montaigne to rousseau
John D. Lyons
stanford university press
stanford, california
2005
StanfordUniversityPress
Stanford,California
(cid:2)C 2005 bytheBoardofTrusteesofthe
LelandStanfordJuniorUniversity.Allrightsreserved.
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Lyons,JohnD.,1946-
Beforeimagination:embodiedthoughtfromMontaigneto
Rousseau/JohnD.Lyons
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8047-5110-2(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Frenchliterature–16thcentury–Historyandcriticism.
2.Frenchliterature–17thcentury–Historyandcriticism.
3.Frenchliterature–18thcentury–Historyandcriticism.
4.Imaginationinliterature.5.Philosophy,French–16th
century.6.Philosophy,French–17thcentury.7.Philosophy,
French–18thcentury.8.Imagination(Philosophy)I.Title.
PQ145.1.I45L962005
840.9’384–dc22
2005003042
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OriginalPrinting2005
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14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
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ForGwydeon

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction 1
1. TheReturnofStoicImagination 32
2. Self-CultivationandReligiousMeditation 61
3. PicturingOurselvesintheWorld:Pascal’sPens´ees 94
4. TheImaginationofLoss 122
5. FromImaginationtoSignificance:TheNovelfrom
Scude´rytoLafayette 148
6. HowtheAncientsModernizedImagination 179
Conclusion 206
Notes 209
Bibliography 257
Index 279
vii

Preface
Virginia Woolf begins To the Lighthouse with the description of Mrs.
Ramsay’s son, looking forward to an outing to the lighthouse. “Since he
belonged,”saysthenarrator,“evenattheageofsix,tothatgreatclanwhich
cannot keep this feeling separate from that, but must let future prospects,
with their joys and sorrows, cloud what is actually at hand, since to such
peopleeveninearliestchildhoodanyturninthewheelofsensationhasthe
powertocrystallizeandtransfixthemomentuponwhichitsgloomorradi-
ancerests,JamesRamsay,sittingonthefloorcuttingoutpicturesfromthe
illustratedcatalogueoftheArmyandNavyStores,endowedthepictureofa
refrigerator,ashismotherspoke,withheavenlybliss.”i LittleJamesRamsay
is not a philosopher, nor is he an artist. When he endows the illustrated
refrigerator with the joy of a future trip to the shore, he does not do, in
thestoryteller’sview,anythingespecially“creative.”Butheis,withinalong
traditionofEuropeanculture,usinghisimagination.Hehasfusedoneim-
age with another and blended one day with the idea of the following day,
thuslosingcontrolofthepresenttime.AsWoolfdescribesthissmallevent
within the mind of her character, she conveys disapproval of the “clan” of
thosewhocreatesuchconfusions.Thisdisapprovalisentirelyconsonantwith
Stoicwarningsaboutmisuseoftheimpressionsthatflowthroughourminds.
JamesRamsay,hadhebeenastudentofEpictetus,wouldhaveknownbetter.
Andhewouldhaveknownbetterifhadgrownupinthegreatrevivalof
imaginativepracticethatoccurred,concurrentlywitharediscoveryofStoic
philosophy, in early-modern Europe. Instead of confusing the pleasure of
thelighthousewitharefrigerator,hemighthaveusedthepicturewithmore
awareness. As did a young French woman (who would later become a nun
atPort-RoyalunderthenameGenevie`vedel’Incarnation)oneafternoonin
1629whenshesteppedintothechurchofSaintGervaisintheMarais.There
ix