Paul et Virginie

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"Paul et Virginie" is also a song by Celine Dion.

Bernadin de Saint-Pierre is lost in thought, in his memorial in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris: beneath, Paul and Virginie

Paul et Virginie (or Paul and Virginia) is a novel by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, first published in 1787. The novel's title characters are very good friends since birth who fall in love but sadly die when the ship "Le Saint-Geran" is shipwrecked. Written on the eve of the French Revolution, the novel is hailed as Bernardin's finest work. It records the fate of a child of nature corrupted by the false, artificial sentimentality that prevailed at the time among the upper classes of France.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia says of it, "[it is a novel in which] there rises melodiously, as it were, the wail of a moribund world: everywhere wholesome Nature in unequal conflict with diseased, perfidious art; cannot escape from it in the lowest hut, in the remotest island of the sea."

Saint-Pierre attacked the issues of divided social classes present in eighteenth century French society (see Estates general). In Paul et Virginie, Saint-Pierre describes perfect equality occurring on Mauritius, where inhabitants share the same possessions, have equal amounts of land, and all work to cultivate it. They live in harmony, without violence or unrest. These beliefs of Saint-Pierre's echo those of Enlightenment philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Furthermore, Saint-Pierre argues for the emancipation of slaves; in real life, he was a friend of Mahe de Labourdonnais, the governor of Mauritius who provided training and encouragement for the island's natives. Although Paul and Virginie own slaves, they appreciate their labor and do not treat them badly. When other slaves in the novel are mistreated, the book's heroes confront the cruel masters.

The book also presents an Enlightenment view of religion: that God, or "Providence," had perfectly designed the world to be harmonious and pleasing. The characters of Paul and Virginie live off the land without needing technology or man-made interference. For instance, they tell time by looking at the shadows of the trees. Norman Hampson mentions that Saint-Pierre’s idea of divine Providence was evident in that he "admired the forethought which ensured that dark-coloured fleas should be conspicuous on white skin," — that the earth was designed for man’s terrestrial happiness and convenience.