Books by Francois Fenelon

A la fin de l'an 1693, toute la France est en crise, dévastée par la famine et la corruption d'un absolutisme à la dérive. François de Salignac de la Mothe, dit Fénelon, est alors précepteur du petit-fils du Roi Soleil. Saisi de rage et d'effroi devant la situation catastrophique, il prend la plume pour interpeller le tout-puissant souverain dans un réquisitoire féroce. Sa violence étonnante et ses attaques frontales sont renforcées par un style irréprochable, qui fait de ce texte historique un chef-d'oeuvre de l'histoire du pamphlet, et un manuel de gouvernance d'une clarté incomparable. "On a rendu votre nom odieux [...] vous avez passé votre vie entière hors du chemin de la vérité et de la justice..." dénonce-t-il avec fougue. Et il sait de quoi il parle : à Versailles, il a découvert l'envers du décor, les rouages d'un Etat perverti par la flatterie et l'asservissement des nobles. Fénelon le théologien se montre ici plus que visionnaire : non seulement ses prédictions se réalisent à la Révolution, mais les accents de son texte restent d'une actualité terrible. A prendre en considération pour éclairer les mouvements sociaux d'hier comme d'aujourd'hui.

Telemaque s'embarque sur les mers a la recherche de son pere, le legendaire Ulysse. Conduit par Minerve, la deesse de la sagesse devenue le Mentor du jeune aventurier, il decouvre au fil de son voyage seme d'embuches les mefaits des mauvais gouvernements, et en tire de justes lecons.Entre epopee et traite de morale et de politique, Les Aventures de Telemaque sont un manuel a l'intention des eleves royaux tel que le Duc de Bourgogne, eleve de Fenelon. Mais c'est aussi une critique allegorique de l'absolutisme, qui vaudra a son auteur a la fois d'etre chasse de la cour de Louis XIV, et un succes considerable qui dure encore.-

The most engaging collection of the French mystics' writings now availableTwenty-first century Christians are now discovering the wisdom of this controversial theologian and spiritual thinker. Fenelon showed how it was possible to have devotion and faith in the original Age of Reason. In many respects, rationality still rules today in religion and culture, and as a result, Fenelon speaks to modern Christians wanting deeper faith and a meaningful inner life. His writings have never been as accessible as they are now in these lively new translations. The Complete Fnelon includes more than one hundred of Fenelon's letters of spiritual counsel, as well as meditations on eighty-five other topics. Also translated here into English for the first time are Fenelon's personal reflections on twenty-one seasons and holidays of the Christian year. An introduction from bestselling translator Robert J. Edmonson and in-depth recommended reading and bibliography make this the first place to start in any study of Francois Fenelon. Franois Fnelon was a seventeenth-century French archbishop who rose to a position of influence in the court of Louis XIV. Amid the splendor and decadence of Versailles, Fnelon became a wise mentor to many members of the king's court. Later exiled for political reasons, he set out to improve the lot of peasants of his diocese. His letters of counsel and spiritual meditations have found a wide audience for more than three centuries.

This collection of five books contains F?nelon's outstanding teachings on prayer, suffering, the achievement of virtue, and other spiritually crucial tenets.Uniting aspects of philosophy with Christian theology and spiritualist thought, F?nelon presents here a lively set of treatises where esoteric knowledge and concepts are put to singular good purpose: enhancing and informing the spiritual life of the reader. Although at times arcane, the advice given is rooted in the Christian tradition and scriptures. F?nelon never attained mainstream popularity as an author during or after his life, however he was and remains a favorite of scholars and religious adherents seeking to explore the deepest channels of their faith. Although more difficult than other inspirational authors, F?nelon's authenticity and depth cannot be doubted.

Stories by Catherine Bernard, François Fénelon, Louis de Mailly and Jean de Préchac. This volume includes three tales by Catherine Bernard (1662-1712), one of the originators of contes de fées, that deliberately subvert not merely their narrative strategy, but also their entire mythology; two enigmatic allegories of French history as seen through the prism of faerie by Jean de Préchac (1647-1720); four stories by François Fénelon (1651-1715), and The Illustrious Fays, a collection of tales by Chevalier de Mailly (1657-1724), which shows how the contes de fées quickly became suited to very different narrative purposes. The variety embraced by these stories is a striking illustration of the versatility of a format that seemed, at first, to be rather narrow. If some of stories seem more stereotyped and less ambitious, the spectrum they display is not lacking in color and variety, and the more flamboyant of them make significant additions to the imagery assembled by the core writers of the original school.