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Katie Savannah Amos Dr. Cook - Honors English 2001 September 30, 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Draft !

Through her amusing erudition of French literature from the 1200 to the present,

senior scholar at Stanford University, Marilyn Yalom, presents for us the ways in which the French invented love as we know it. Yalom shows us the cultural developments around the ideals of love, passion, relationships, sex, marriage, homosexual desire, and amorous friendship, period by period, through the popular literature thought to best represent societal perspectives of the time. Through her careful and impressive analysis of French literature from 1200 to the present, Yalom presents to her readers a convincing picture of how and why it is the French who envisioned, invented, and eventually championed the art of love as we know it. ! Marilyn Yalom is a well-known and well-respected author, professor, scholar of

gender studies, wife, mother, and lover herself. Throughout her career, she has published a number of well-respected publications on the nature of gender, love, and relationships, such as "Birth of the Chess Queen" (2004), "A History of the Wife" (2001), and "Inside the American Couple" (2002), among others. She began her career as a professor teaching French Literature and Western Civilization at a small university in Californina until taking a position at Stanford University in 1976, where she remains today. She is also an avid love of France and French culture, and has spent several years studying French history, specically literature. Given her experiences, credentials, and personal interests, Yalom is the perfect woman to write this book!

The rst time the author herself presents herself in terms of education and

scholarly activity is in the second chapter of this book, called "Gallant Love:" She tells us that

That winter, when I was still teaching French literature and Western Civilization at a state university in California, I was asked to review the 1973 edition of the Norton World Masterpieces Since the Renaissance. . .that did not include a single selection from a woman! ... ! ! ! ! ! I made my case to Norton on the basis of La Princess se Clves. Surely, this was a !masterpiece in every sense of the word and deserved to be included in the next edition of World Masterpieces. I'm pleased to say that every subsequent edition of the Norton anthology has included sections written by women (pg. 69-70).

She so humbly shares with us an incredible accomplishment that she, nearly

single-handedly attained! This is a woman who had a profound impact on the future of the greatest anthology of literature that there (has ever been), inadvertently giving her an incredible amount of power and credibility. She then goes on to describe to us how she became involved with the notorious Stanford University.

! !

My experience in 1976 forced me to rethink what I was doing in a department of literature. . . I chanced upon the newly created Center for Research on Women

! ! ! !

at Stanford University. There I was able to nd a home as a senior research scholar and, later, as one of its directors. Since that transition I have been engaged in writing about women's cultural history, with a special focus on women in France and the United States. (pg. 69-70)

As well as her personal validation, she spends a decent amount of time and

length in the book properly citing credible sources, as well as presenting a selected bibliography of notable works. ! It is hard to say exactly what her motivation is for writing this book, because there

seem to be many. She tells us that she wants to trace the development of French love through literary history, but why exactly? She seems to answer this question later in the book. ! Thinking about women, I have never been far away from their

relationships with men. I have tried to understand how men and women see themselves within a given ! culture and historical moment. I have read, with fascination, their accounts of how they acquired gender-specic traits and roles. While males and females in France and the United States pass through the same biological stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, maturity, and old age, each of these stages is so shaped by a person's specic time and place that they often bear little resemblance to each other across the divide of language, region, and class, not to mention sex. . . Love, too, we are forced to admit, is socially constructed. (pg. 70-71)

She aims to explore the effects of society on culture, and then the resounding

effects of culture on oneself, specically through the lens of love and literature. By comparing the ideas of love in France to those of Britain and America, she presents to us her valiant argument for l'amour la franaise. ! This book is primarily written for well-educated Americans, especially those

interested in the nature of love, sex, and relationships in the context of literary history as well as in the cultural comparison of the United States and France. A rather convenient example of such an individual would be a Sociology undergraduate with a concentration in families and intimate relationships! ! As she plainly states many times, she shares a cultural, American background

with her audience, as well as a thorough understanding of 'American' values, norms, and experiences concerning relationships and family. For example, she identies American outrage over President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and French indifference. Conservative French politician in parliament even said, "He loves women, this man! . . . It's a sign of good health!" (pg. 42). She also emphasizes the common ground that many of us share, even worldwide; that of the experience of love. Evoking her reader's memories and feelings of love is almost crucial to an effective argument in this subject. ! While an understanding of love and strong emotion is a fairly easy commonality

for almost any author to establish, a thorough understanding of major English, American, and Greek literature and art may not be. Several times throughout her book, the author cites characters and stories familiar to most anyone with a thorough liberalarts education. For example, she sites Queen Guinevere, King Arthur, and Guinevere's

lover, Lancelot, who are all well-known characters of English literature (pg. 25). Also sites Dido in Virgil's Aeneid and Hester Prine in Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter (pg. 42).! ! While some of her reference material may be a bit dense, by beginning this work

with a section titled, 'A Note to the Reader,' Yalom immediately establishes an informative and personal relationship with her audience. She continues to address her audience directly, often referring to "Reader," directing questions and sharing personal stories. Thankfully, our author clearly states her premise aim for writing this book in her friendly introduction.

Americans of my generation thought of the French as purveyors of love. From their books, songs, magazines, and movies, we concocted a picture of sexy romance that was at odds with the airbrushed 1950's American model. How did the French get that way? This book was written to answer that question.

Throughout this publication, Yalom makes a few key assertions and many

supporting claims in order to advance her argument. Most importantly, she asserts that 1) love is a social construct, 2) the French invented and mastered many different types of 'love' throughout history that we still acknowledge and participate in today, 3) l'amour la franaise is the ideal cultural manifestation of love in the world, 4) French literature and media are the maps by which to trace this rich history of societal construction and cultural development, and 5) the French ideas of love are different from American, and it

is this comparison of culture that highlights and thereby proves the French as the authorities of love. ! She presents this argument to us by showing us the history of French thought in

the context of love through the vehicle of 'popular' literature from 1200 to modern times. She often begins with a claim, supports it with period-appropriate literature, and then opens her arguments to debate. She says explicitly states that, "This tour of twelfthcentury culture will allow me to venture several generalizations that are open to debate." ! Her style, chronological organization, concrete literary examples, consistent

cultural comparison, and willingness to discuss her ideas contribute quite favorably to the friendly, yet scholarly tone of her overall rhetoric. ! !

!
! Despite her pleasant tone and convincing arguments, like all authors, Yalom

encounters some limitations in her writing. Because it is targeted at Americans, the piece operates on the basis of comparison to American culture (and some British) only. We as readers are forced to consider whether or not her conclusions would still be valid if compared with another culture instead. The author's knowledge and educational background also serves to limit her because her research and evidence are mostly limited to literary works, which cannot necessarily lend itself directly to reality. It is arguable whether or not her claims are relevant to real French society (but she acknowledges this). ! Her presentation is limited only because we know of her obvious preference for

l'amour la franaise over all other cultural expressions of love, as well as her culture of origin. She is an American woman (although one very studied in the French language

and culture) studying French literature to nd societal truths. Because of the ethnocentric bias inherent, often unintentionally, in many people, it is possible that she could be coming up with incorrect conclusions. Ethnocentricism is a sociological concept referring to the common fallacy of looking at the cultures of the past (or simply different cultures in the world) through the lens of one's own culture, and thereby evaluating those cultures incorrectly. ! She is also limited by her narrow selection of works from each time period

(approximately three pieces of literature and one piece of art each). Can it be considered to encompass all of that era? Also, because most of her academic career focuses on women more than men, her preference towards one side of the societal dichotomy could skew her perspective. ! Through her skillful study of French literature from the 1200 to the present,

Yalom, presents for us the ways in which the French invented love as we know it. As an accomplished and respected author, scholar, and professor, Yalom writes this book for well-educated Americans, especially those interested in the nature of love, sex, and relationships in the context of literary history as well as in the cultural comparison of the United States and France. She presents her argument to us by showing us the history of French thought in the context of love through the vehicle of 'popular' literature from 1200 to modern times. She often begins with a claim, supports it with period-appropriate literature, and then opens her arguments to debate. Despite her limitations of cultural origin and limited reference material, in the end Yalom presents us with a clear and convincing argument for the French and the ideal culture of love they have created over the past nine hundred years.

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