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2021
- doi: 10.7202/1083173ar
Ce document est lié à :
Lumen : Selected Proceedings from the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies ; vol. 40 (2021)
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Lacrimal apparatus--SecretionsCiter ce document
Zeina Hakim, « De la sociabilité à la pudeur : l’éthique des larmes au xviiie siècle », Lumen: Selected Proceedings from the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies / Lumen: Travaux choisis de la Société canadienne d'étude du dix-huitième siècle, ID : 10.7202/1083173ar
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Résumé
The eighteenth century occupies a crucial place in the history of tears. Not only did this period gave rise to the concept of sensibility, but it also witnessed the development of new aesthetic and moral codes founded on the exaggerated use of tears. This article, which is concerned precisely with such codes, examines the nature and significance of emotional display in the eighteenth century. It argues that throughout this era, tears were associated with moral renewal and they were intended to be shared, particularly when engendered on the theatre stage. This study also shows how these collective tears were steadily devalued as a public good throughout the nineteenth century, to the point that the act of weeping became personal and intimate, valorizing the individual instead of the communal.