The Belles

8/11/2019 The Belles

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Examples of BELLES-LETTRES STYLE

Definition:

In its broadest sense, any literary work; more particularly, the term "is now generally

applied (when used at all) to the lighter branches of literature" (The Oxford English

Dictionary, 1989). Until recently, belles-lettreshas similarly been used as a synonym for

thefamiliar essay.Adjective:belletristic.

From the Middle Ages until the late 19th century, notes William Covino, belles-lettres

andrhetoric"had been inseparable subjects, informed by the same critical and

pedagogicallexicon" (The Art of Wondering, 1988).

Etymology:

From the French, literally "fine letters"

Examples and Observations:

"The emergence of a literature of belles-lettresin Anglo-America reflected the success

of the colonies: it meant there now existed a community of settlers who took settling in

the New World enough for granted not to write about it. Instead of histories, they

wroteessaysin which style mattered as much as content and sometimes more . . ..

"'Belles-lettres,' a literary mode that originated in 17th-century France, signified

writing in the style and service of cultivated society. The English mostly kept the

French term but on occasion translated it as 'polite letters.' Belle-lettres denotes a

linguistic self-consciousness testifying to the superior education of both writer and

reader, who come together more through literature than through life. Or rather, they

meet in a world reconstructed by literature, for belles-lettres makes life literary, adding

an aesthetic dimension to morality."

(Myra Jehlen and Michael Warner, The English Literatures of America, 1500-1800.

Routledge, 1997)

"Reporting trained me to give only the filtered truth, to discern the essence of the

matter immediately and to write about it briefly. The pictorial and psychological

material which remained within me I used for belles-lettresand poetry."

(Russian author Vladimir Giliarovskii, quoted by Michael Pursglove inEncyclopaedia

of the Essay, ed. by Tracy Chevalier. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997)
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Examples of Belle-Lettrists

"Often the essay is the favoured form of the belle-lettrist. The works ofMax

Beerbohmprovide good examples. So do those of Aldous Huxley, many of whose

collections of essays . . . are listed as belles-lettres. They are witty, elegant, urbane and

learned--the characteristics one would expect of belles-lettres."(J.A. Cuddon,A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 3rd ed. Basil

Blackwell, 1991)

Belletristic Style

"A piece ofprosewriting that is belletristicin style is characterized by a casual, yet

polished and pointed, essayistic elegance. The belletristic is sometimes contrasted with

the scholarly oracademic:it is supposed to be free of the laborious, inert,jargon-ridden

habits indulged by professors.

"Reflection on literature has most often been belletristic: practiced by authors

themselves and (later) by journalists, outside academic institutions. Literary study,

beginning with research on the classics, became a systematic academic discipline only

in the 18th and 19th centuries."

(David Mikics,A New Handbook of Literary Terms. Yale University Press, 2007)

Oratory, Rhetoric, and Belles-Lettres in the 18th and 19th Centuries"Cheap printliteracytransformed the relations of rhetoric,composition,and literature.

In his review of [Wilbur Samuel] Howell'sBritish Logic and Rhetoric, [Walter] Ong

notes that 'by the close of the 18th centuryoralityas a way of life in effect ended, and

with it the old-time world oforatory,or, to give oratory its Greek name rhetoric' (641).

According to one of the literature professors who occupied the chair of rhetoric

and belles lettresestablished for Hugh Blair, Blair was the first to recognize that

'"Rhetoric" in modern times really means "Criticism"' (Saintsbury 463). Rhetoric and

composition began to be subsumed into literary criticism at the same time that themodern sense of literaturewas emerging . . .. In the 18th century, literature was

reconceived as 'literary work or production; the activity or profession of a man of

letters,' and it moved toward the modern 'restricted sense, applied to writing which has

claim to consideration on the ground of beauty of form or emotional effect.' . . .

Ironically, composition was becoming subordinated to criticism, and literature was

becoming narrowed to imaginative works oriented to aesthetic effects at the same time

that authorship was actually expanding."

(Thomas P. Miller, The Formation of College English: Rhetoric and Belles Lettres inthe British Cultural Provinces. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997)
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The Influential Theories of Hugh Blair

"[Throughout the 19th century, prescriptions for] fine writing--with their attendant

critique of literary style--advanced an influential theory ofreadingas well. The most

influential exponent of this theory was [Scottishrhetorician]Hugh Blair, whose1783Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettreswas the text for generations of students. .

"Blair intended to teach college students the principles ofexpository writingand

speaking and to guide their appreciation of good literature. Throughout the 48 lectures,

he stresses the importance of a thorough knowledge of one's subject. He makes it clear

that a stylistically deficient text reflects a writer who doesn't know what he thinks;

anything less than a clear conception of one's subject guarantees defective work, 'so

close is the connection between thoughts and the words in which they are clothed' (I,

7). . . . In sum, Blair equates taste with the delighted perception of wholeness and

posits such delight as a psychological given. He makes this remark by way of

connecting taste with literary criticism and concludes that good criticism

approvesunityabove all else.

"Blair's doctrine of perspicuity further connects least effort on the reader's part with

admirable writing. In Lecture 10 we are told that style discloses the writer's manner of

thinking and that perspicuous style is preferred because it reflects an unwavering point

of view on the part of the author."

(William A. Covino, The Art of Wondering: A Revisionist Return to the History of

Rhetoric. Boynton/Cook, 1988)
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