TY - JOUR
TI - Between Vice and Virtue: The Mondain’s Difficult Path  in Jean-Pierre Camus Palombe, ou la femme honorable
AU - Pawłowska, Maja
TI - Between Vice and Virtue: The Mondain’s Difficult Path  in Jean-Pierre Camus Palombe, ou la femme honorable
AB - 
	Published in 1625, Palombe, ou la femme honorable, is a novel by Jean-Pierre Camus showing the model of a mondain, or worldly, Christian. With the example of count Fulgent, an immoral rake, who undergoes a spiritual transformation, Camus demonstrates that even a libertine courtesan can become a good Christian. However, such coexistence is possible only for those who have achieved spiritual maturity and who can distinguish vice from virtue, consciously renouncing immorality. Camus represents the marriage of mondains not as a source of pleasure or opportunity for a libertine lifestyle, but rather as a contract demanding certain commitments and renouncements. On entering marriage, Fulgent is not initially morally prepared for the social position and responsibilities that he must assume. He only becomes a good husband and Christian once he accepts the commitments of his social position, This is indeed how Camus defines virtue: as a conscious renouncement of licentiousness and a conscious acceptance of duties imposed by society. To turn back from the path of debauchery is a slow and difficult process, just as it is to learn to fulfil one’s moral duties.
VL - 2018
IS - 1/2018 (4)
PY - 2018
SN - 2391-7997
C1 - 2450-050X
SP - 131
EP - 140
DO - 10.4467/2450050XSNR.18.008.9769
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/saaclr/article/pomiedzy-wystepkiem-a-cnota-trudna-droga-czlowieka-swiatowego-w-powiesci-jean-pierre-camusa-palombe-ou-la-femme-honorable
KW - Jean-Pierre Camus
KW - roman dévot (pious romance)
KW - Palombe
KW - ou la femme honorable
KW - libertinage
KW - French 17th century novel