![]() ![]() As such, the medieval ultimately served as an epistemological counter-model, an imaginary point of origin within a larger history of human virtue. ![]() Associated with the purer language of music, the medieval finally offered access to a higher spiritual plane, exemplified by Julie’s role as a Mary-like or even Christ-like figure. Because of its position outside of the accepted classical canons, it could incarnate an alternative vision commensurate with Rousseau’s own self-image as an outsider to the morally corrupted societies of his own time. It spoke not of historical events, but of his own “pays des chimères”. ![]() The medieval in La Nouvelle Héloïse, as in his larger thought, was not a chronological, but an ethical category. This article both identifies a possible eighteenth-century source for Rousseau’s retelling of the Abélard and Héloïse story, and explores the function played by the medieval in his novel. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s critical rewriting in his Nouvelle Héloïse of two foundational medieval works-the letters of Abélard and Héloïse, and Petrarch’s Canzoniere-reveals the crucial role that the medieval played in his own moral vision. ![]()
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