Talk:François Fénelon

message: I'm puzzled that The Adventures of Telemachus is claimed to be his most important work.  Explication des Maximes des Saints lays down his views on mysticism and the love of God. The book was condemnded by the Vatican and is the basis of his famous and long running quarrel with Bossuet.  The contention that he's best remembered for Télémaque seems dubious to me Sumergocognito 21:32, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: By way of comparison here's the CathEn article on him   Sumergocognito 21:35, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Whichever work of his is best remembered, the wording of the notice probably ought to change; the current version seems to claim that there is doubt that he was the author of Telemachus, which is misleading.  I agree, though, that Maxims of the Saints is much more widely remembered in the present day.  Telemachus was about local politics of the past; Maxims of the Saints about subjects of abiding interest. - Smerdis of Tlön 15:21, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

text: I don't know - I think that Telemachus is a pretty major work in the history of political theory.  People who are interested in political theory would probably know of Fenelon because of Telemachus while people who are more interested in him as a religious figure would probably know the Maxims better.  Both are important.
Adam_sk 00:13, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: To call the Télémache an "attack on the French monarchy" is ridiculous. It was written as an educational tool for the Heir to the Throne of France!! Fénelon was his official tutor.  It does criticise war-mongering, which some people may at some time have interpreted as a "thinly veiled" criticism on Louis XIV's war-like policies. If so, it's certainly a very gentle and formulaic criticism. Louis XIV himself, in his bed, piously told his eventual heir—infant son of Fénelon's pupil—that he had "loved war too much".  That's what great Christian kings do on their deathbed. As a saintly archbishop, Fénelon—a "Sword" aristocrat through and through, scion of a very great ancient family—could hardly recommend war. This sorry article needs to be thoroughly re-written. 208.87.248.162 (talk) 16:23, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Absurd comment

message: This quote has a citation needed: "Good kings are rare and the generality of monarchs bad". I put the first part of into Google and got p. 268 of Thomas Lewis, Origines Hebraeae: The Antiquities Of The Hebrew Republick (1725). He collates a bunch of pithy lessons from Old Testament books:
He then rattles off his list of "notices, truths, and maxims", one of which is:
Anyone got any insight on this? --YeOldeGentleman (talk) 14:57, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Good kings are rare..." 

message: 1) In the article section "Fénelon as reformer and defender of human rights" the last quotation includes the words "when they lack an education which inspire them to virtue...". It should be "inspires" but I am not sure if it is legitimate to correct a quotation.
2) In the Talk section just above, "Good kings are rare...", the bulky text below the initial comment is just a copy of the article itself. It looks like it could be simply deleted, but again I am not sure...
110.174.110.132 (talk) 12:50, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Re (1), I am now more sure it should be corrected. The original was in French. A grammatical error in English cannot be the work of the author. 110.174.110.132 (talk) 14:22, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: There is no reason you shouldn't correct 1 yourself - go ahead and fix it, no edit request template required. ~ ONUnicorn(Talk|Contribs)problem solving 15:28, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request 

message: The two occurrences of "Fénelon" just before the heading "Quotations", and the one just after it, have different accenting of the 'e's from all the rest. Could someone with access to the sources please either correct them or put "sic". 194.193.172.207 (talk) 13:00, 22 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fénelon or Fènelon or Fénélon?