Grimm – Gotha – Paris - Eine europäische Konstellation zur Zeit der Aufklärung / Une constellation européenne au temps des Lumières
BHT
- Gantet, Claire ORCID Université de Fribourg
- 2025
Published in:
- Grimm – Gotha – Paris - Eine europäische Konstellation zur Zeit der Aufklärung / Une constellation européenne au temps des Lumières / Gantet, Claire ; Meumann, Markus ; von Treskow, Isabella. - Schwabe Verlag. - 2025, p. 341-359
German
Politics in the Correspondance littéraire
For Friedrich Melchior Grimm, the Enlightenment could only flourish in a favourable political context – and the Correspondance littéraire had to contribute to this. The secret journal was based on the promise of a complicity that would confer on its recipients the status of enlightened princes and princesses. Grimm not only glorified the figure of the enlightened prince or princess, he circulated it by lending himself the symbolic power to grant it.
The project was certainly full of contradictions. Its initial purpose was to disseminate literary and cultural news, and Grimm, a scholar in search of social status, had to look after the interests of his recipients. He went even further, developing a taste for honours and a devotion to certain powerful people – which eventually led to a rift with Denis Diderot, who was furious at his sycophancy. Grimm went so far as to correct copies intended for Frederick II, and even more so for Catherine II, to flatter their image. But he also knew how to be critical. What role did politics play in the Correspondance littéraire?
This chapter draws on the notion of «virtual community» developed by Rudolf Schlögl to analyse the political judgements, norms and values deployed in the Correspondance littéraire.
For Friedrich Melchior Grimm, the Enlightenment could only flourish in a favourable political context – and the Correspondance littéraire had to contribute to this. The secret journal was based on the promise of a complicity that would confer on its recipients the status of enlightened princes and princesses. Grimm not only glorified the figure of the enlightened prince or princess, he circulated it by lending himself the symbolic power to grant it.
The project was certainly full of contradictions. Its initial purpose was to disseminate literary and cultural news, and Grimm, a scholar in search of social status, had to look after the interests of his recipients. He went even further, developing a taste for honours and a devotion to certain powerful people – which eventually led to a rift with Denis Diderot, who was furious at his sycophancy. Grimm went so far as to correct copies intended for Frederick II, and even more so for Catherine II, to flatter their image. But he also knew how to be critical. What role did politics play in the Correspondance littéraire?
This chapter draws on the notion of «virtual community» developed by Rudolf Schlögl to analyse the political judgements, norms and values deployed in the Correspondance littéraire.
- Faculty
- Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
- Department
- Département d'histoire
- Language
-
- French
- License
-
CC BY-NC-ND
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.24894/978-3-7965-5363-9
- ISBN 9783796553639
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/333958
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