Author

François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon(1651–1715)Inferred

François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon is documented in Fuller’s letters, books, published essays, and manuscripts (1840–1846). 3 distinct works are named, most often in Letter to Arthur B. Fuller, and the most intensive engagement recorded is “excerpted”.

Engagement: ExcerptedQuotedReadMentioned
Present in: Letters · Books · Essays · Manuscripts
Documented: 1840–1846

Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →

Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this author is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →

In Fuller’s words

“Fenelon, "N'en parlons que pour le louer, et pour exalter le triomphe de son immortelle obeissance. Debout, et le bras étendu pour instruire les hommes, il peut avoir un égal; prosterné pour se condamner lui-même, il n'en a plus.”

Extracts from De Maistre

When Fuller engaged with François de Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon

I. Childhood

II. Adolescence

III. Self-Directed

IV. Transcendentalist2records

V. New York3records

VI. Europe2records

✦. Memoirs (1852)

1810

1820

1832

1836

1844

1846

1850

This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.

Fénelon in Fuller’s reading world

Documentary evidence

Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.

1840—

Letter to Arthur B. Fuller

p196

read

“But I will not play Mentor much, lest I make you averse to write to your very affte sister MARGARET.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

Inferred Fuller's phrase 'play Mentor' is a standard literary allusion to the character Mentor in Homer's Odyssey — Odysseus's old friend who serves as adviser to Telemachus, and through whom Athena acts. The noun 'mentor' had become a generic word for a trusted adviser or guide by the early 19th century, but Fuller's phrasing 'play Mentor' invokes the literary character.

1841—

Reading Notes, 1841

p17

mentioned

“Philo-Judaeus, Swedenborg, Origen, Fenelon, Boethius, Madame Guyon, Mirandola, Dante, Petrarca, More, Cudworth, Norris.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Reading Notes, 1841." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1221 (Caroline Sturgis Tappan papers, 1838–1921).

1844—

Letter to Sarah Hodges

p228

read

“I think, dear Sarah, you cannot go amiss in Fenelon and know not that I could choose unless the volumes were before me.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. III. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.

Inferred Fuller recommends Fénelon's writings to Sarah Hodges, saying "you cannot go amiss in Fenelon," indicating she knows his works well and considers any of them beneficial.

1845—

Woman in the Nineteenth Century

p96

mentioned

“Fenelon learns from Guyon, Kerner, from his Seeress, what we fain would know.”

Fuller, Margaret. Woman in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Greeley & McElrath, 1845.

1845—

Review.

“Review.”

mentioned

“but—the “Spectator,” “Telemachus,” “Goldsmith’s Animated Nature” and the “Iliad.” Forms of gods and heroes more distinctly seen”

Fuller, Margaret. "Review." New-York Daily Tribune, 5 February 1845. · 5 February 1845

1846—

Papers on Literature and Art

p95

read

“As was she taught through the Telemachus of Fenelon, so was she taught the secrets of the universe from Wordsworth's poems.”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.

Inferred Fuller compares learning from Wordsworth's poems to learning from 'the Telemachus of Fenelon' — this names Fénelon's didactic novel Télémaque. Télémaque used as analogy for the edifying quality of Wordsworth's poetry.

1846—

Modern British Poets

“Modern British Poets”

mentioned

“But as all knowledge has been taught by Professor Jacotot from the Telemachus of Fenelon, so was she taught the secrets of the universe from Wordsworth's poems.”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846. · p104

Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p104; page given is to the 1869 reprint.

Undated

Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.

n.d.—

Extracts from De Maistre

p2–p3

excerpted · quotedManuscript page

“Fenelon, "N'en parlons que pour le louer, et pour exalter le triomphe de son immortelle obeissance.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Extracts from De Maistre." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

n.d.—

Woman-Her Sphere and Education.

“Woman-Her Sphere and Education.”

mentioned

“Fenelon learns Guyon, Kerner from his seress what we fain would know.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Woman-Her Sphere and Education." New-York Daily Tribune, .