Libertine
Related: Anabaptism - anti-clericalism - 1600s - early erotica - Enlightenment - free - free love - libertine novel - philosophy - radical
Films related by title: The Libertine (1969, Italy) - The Libertine (2004, United Kingdom)
Johnny Depp in The Libertine (2004) - Lawrence Dunmore
The Libertine is an English-language British 2004 film starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, Samantha Morton, and Rosamund Pike. It is directed by Lawrence Dunmore from Stephen Jeffreys' adaptation of the play of the same name. Johnny Depp's character is the poet John Wilmot. The film features the characters Charles II of England and John Wilmot. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Libertine_%282005_film%29
Definition
Libertine is the name given to certain political or social groups active in Europe in the 17th century. Libertinism was a form of freethinker philosophy, and was first derisively applied to a Dutch Anabaptist sect in the 16th century that rejected many of society's established mores, and advocated a community of goods and of women.Libertine has come to mean one free from restraint, particularly from social and religious norms and morals. The philosophy gained new-found adherents in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in France and England. Notable among these were the Marquis de Sade and Aleister Crowley. In modern times, libertinism has been associated with sado-masochism, nihilism and free love.
The Libertine is the name of a 1969 film (Matriarca, La) and a 2004 film starring Johnny Depp.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertine [Sept 2004]
Etymology of libertine
1382, "an emancipated slave," from L. libertinus "member of a class of freedmen," from libertus "one's freedmen," from liber "free" (see liberal). Sense of "freethinker" is first recorded 1563, from Fr. libertin (1542) originally the name given to certain Protestant sects in France and the Low Countries. Meaning "dissolute or licentious person" first recorded 1593; the darkening of meaning being perhaps due to misunderstanding of L. libertinus in Acts vi.9. --http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=libertine [Sept 2005]
The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France (1997) - Michel Feher
The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France (1997) - Michel Feher [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Irresistibly charming or shamelessly deceitful, remarkably persuasive or uselessly verbose, everything one loves to hate--or hates to love--about "French lovers" and their self-styled reputation can be traced to eighteenth-century libertine novels. Obsessed with strategies of seduction, speculating endlessly about the motives and goals of lovers, the idle aristocrats who populate these novels are exclusively preoccupied with their erotic life. Deprived of other battlefields to fulfill their thirst for glory, libertine noblemen seek to conquer the women of their class without falling into the trap of love, while their female prey attempt to enjoy the pleasures of love without sacrificing their honor. Yet, despite the licentious mores of the declining Old Regime, men and women are still expected to pay lip service to an austere code of morals. Since they are constantly asked to denounce their own practices, their erotic war games are governed by a double constraint: whatever they feel or intend, the heroes of libertine literature can neither say what they mean nor mean what they say.
The Libertine Reader includes all the varieties of libertine strategies: from the successful cunning of Mme de T_____ in Vivant Denon's No Tomorrow to the ill-fated genius of Mme de Merteuil in Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons; from the laborious sentimental education of Meilcour in Crebillon fils's The Wayward Head and Heart to the hazardous master plan of the French ambassador in Prevost's The Story of a Modern Greek Woman. The discrepancies between the characters' words and their true intentions--the libertine double entendre--are exposed through the speaking vaginas in Diderot's The Indiscreet Jewels and the wandering soul of Amanzei in Crebillon fils's The Sofa, while the contrasts between natural and civilized--or degenerate--erotics are the subjects of both Diderot's Supplement to Bougainville's Voyage and Laclos's On the Education of Women. Finally, Sade's Florville and Courval shows that destiny itself is on the side of libertinism. via Amazon.com
Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern London : Sexuality, Politics and Literary Culture, 1630-1685 (2001) - James Grantham Turner
Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern London : Sexuality, Politics and Literary Culture, 1630-1685 (2001) - James Grantham Turner [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Review
"Libertines and Radicals is unquestionably a major contribution to our understanding of libertinism in the age of Milton..." Milton Quarterly "An ambitious and innovative book." Seventeeth-Century News "The mass and diversity of materials Turner covers is awesome....Turner's scholarship will be mined by students and scholars in any number of fields...and those readers will also discover here a model of brilliance and intellectual tact." Choice "Libertines and Radicals is an impressive, suggestive, and elegant work that makes an important contribution to political, cultural, and literary studies." Albion "The writing is racy and polished, leaping from anecdote to text to archive, and back again...required reading for any student of Restoration literature." Renaissance Quarterly "Learned and lubricious, the book is witty, exceedingly well informed, and a little bit obscene." Studies in English Literature --via Amazon
Synopsis
A 'Deluge of Libertinism' swept through England in the turbulent seventeenth century: class and gender relations went into deep crisis, and sexually explicit literature took the blame. Bridging periods often kept apart, Libertines and Radicals analyses English sexual culture between the Civil Wars and the death of Charles II in unprecedented detail. James Grantham Turner examines a broad range of Civil War and Restoration texts, from sex-crime records to Milton's epics and Rochester's 'mannerly obscene' lyrics. Turner places special emphasis on women's writing and on pornographic texts like The Wandering Whore and The Parliament of Women, flavoured with cockney humour or 'Puritan' indignation. Throughout, Turner reads satirical texts, whether political or pornographic, as an attempt to neutralise women's efforts to establish their own institutions and their own voice. This exhaustive study will be of interest to cultural historians as well as literary scholars. --via Amazon
See also: The Private Case - secret
The Libertines (2004) - The Libertines
In search of rock 'n' roll.
The Libertines (2004) - The Libertines [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Pete Doherty's influences
In interviews, Doherty has listed his favourite books as George Orwell's 1984, Brighton Rock by Graham Greene, Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet, Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire and the works of Oscar Wilde. He has also mentioned Emily Dickinson as an influence, as well as Tony Hancock. However numerous literary and musical allusions occur throughout Doherty's ongoing Books of Albion. He places particular importance on the Romantic poets and on existential philosophers such as Albert Camus and Miguel de Unamuno. Doherty has also alluded to work by the Marquis de Sade and Thomas de Quincey.
His favourite films include British films of the 1960s such as Billy Liar, Poor Cow, O Lucky Man! and the film versions of Steptoe and Son. He also cites Lee Mavers of The La's as a musical influence, having covered "There She Goes," as well as The Only Ones. He is particularly fond of The Smiths and The Clash.
Doherty and Carl Barat had a fondness for Cockney musicians Chas and Dave. Doherty also champions up-and-coming British bands, such as indie band The Paddingtons.
On March 27, 2006, the magazine Entertainment Wise reported Pete Doherty as adopting Buddhism to get through his drug problems. After attending classes on the religion, he admitted to feeling more calm. Along with his companion then Kate Moss, he aims to deepen his Buddhist practice and try more meditation. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Doherty [May 2006]
See also: rock music - libertine - 2004
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