Discussion response strategies and best practices

¶ … Humanism, Absolutism, Power and Style

Read the following excerpt from an article, then discuss the three questions below the excerpt. Then respond to 3 members below. Post comments on what they have to say.

In an article in Psychology Today published on September 01, 2008, Hara Estroff Marano writes:

It's tempting to think that style is a new invention, open to us only now because we particularly value self-expression, and an extraordinary range of possibilities for doing so is available to us. But Joan DeJean, a professor of French language and culture at the University of Pennsylvania, contends that style has its well-shod feet firmly planted in the seventeenth century; it was the deliberate creation of Louis XIV of France, the Sun King. He was, she says in The Essence of Style, history's greatest exemplar of it.

DeJean sums up the style that Louis created in a word -- sparkle. Louis bedecked himself in diamonds for their sheer dazzling impact, his vision of power and prosperity reflecting on the state itself. He greeted visiting royalty and other heads of state in a black velvet suit encrusted with virtually every diamond in the possession of the crown.

Louis didn't just impose his grand sense of self on his clothes and his court. He transformed Versailles from a hunting lodge to the resplendent palace we recognize today. He made Paris glitter at night, literally creating the City of Light.

"Louis realized that style can be a country's mark on the world," says DeJean. So he used his power to create the fashion industry. From her study of Louis XIV, DeJean distills a definition of style as "something recognizable and yet at an unexpected angle, with a surprising twist that both reflects someone's personality and expresses that personality to the outside world."

Discussion these questions:

1. Having studied the French Renaissance from Francis the First to Louis XIV, from the Chateau de Chenonceau to the Palace of Versailles, what kind of connections do you see between he above comments about style and what you saw in the clips and articles about life in the Renaissance. Do you see different types of style, for example: style that you would definitely connect with Louis XIV and Versailles and other types of style that are very different to Louis XIV's style? You might like to think about prom attire vs. what you wear on an everyday at school for instance, or what you'd wear to an interview vs. what you wear to go over to a friend's to watch TV or a movie.

2. On another note, do you notice a difference between the style of the early Renaissance (Chenonceau) and that of Versailles and the late Renaissance of Louis XIV?

3. It has been said that the Chateau of Chenonceau evokes the humanism of the early French Renaissance embodied in the life and life style of Francis I. By contrast, the Palace of Versailles in all of its glory, reminds us of the absolute power wielded by Louis XIV, the Sun King. Would you agree with this and what connections do you see between these two different styles and styles you see today in the U.S., in France, or elsewhere in the world.

Give your response to the above

Your response here

The difference between the styles of Louis XIV and the men of the Renaissance reflect different concepts of power, the body, and social worth, not simply different degrees of ostentation. In the Renaissance, displays of learning and the simple beauty of the human form were valued. However, for Louis XIV, anxious to make a display of his power and wealth, rather than the 'natural' state of the human body, there was a glory in artifice: instead of celebrating human nature, his style reflected a desire to triumph over nature. His style was not merely more formal like a prom dress, or even an expression of personal taste. He was literally wearing the wealth of his kingdom on his back to show his authority, much like a Renaissance man might show his learning.