Talk:Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon

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More information about this article... The following comments have been left for this page: I question the statment that Saint-Simon was not a Peer. We all know he was a stickler for rank and protocol, and often consulted on these topics by contemporaries. He repeatedly refers to himself as a Peer in his Memoirs---how is it that he could be mistaken on such a critical issue? Sharewheel 21:26, 18 May 2007 (UTC) (edit)

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While Saint Simon's comments may sometimes be less than expansive, yet the multitudinous nature of his ouevre defies any generalization that would lead the reader to conclude that he is base or even inconsiderate in any consistent way. Indeed, several critics - most notably that German philological juggernaut Erich Auerbach - have even gone so far as to assert the opposite; that Saint Simon is in fact generally humanistic and empathetic. Auerbach claims that his sometimes unsympathetic trappings are in fact a kind of artifice, which he uses to highlight the ironic and often deeply pathetic inner nature of the people he describes:

"C'etait une grande creature, tres bien faite, d'un visage agreable, avec de l'esprit, et un naturel si simple, si vrai, si surnageant a tout, qu'il en etait ravissant..."

Note how the introductory phrases and verbs, which seem to be impugning or denigrating the lady, are suddenly reversed and made into a tribute to her deeply pathetic nature by the final string of adjectives.