Far From the Whirlwind: Christian Ethics and the Classical Tradition in Genlis’ Pedagogy

Abstract

The tensions between Graeco-Roman ideals and Catholic norms were one of the key issues in aristocratic education during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While this problematic was largely absent from female pedagogies, Genlis took it up in her oeuvre because of the prominence of Greek and Latin texts in the pedagogy described in Adèle et Théodore. Genlis re-solved this paradox by manipulating the physical environment of her pupils. By incorporating specific aspects of monastic culture into her pedagogical practices, she helped her pupils to de-velop a distinctive self-discipline that justified their aristocratic rank. This exploration of Genlis' pedagogical space reframes her pedagogy in its cultural, intellectual and theological context.