Race, milieu, and moment

Race, milieu, and moment were the three aspects of the literary critic and sociologist Hippolyte Taine's attempt at a scientific account of literature. Taine used these words in French (race, milieu et moment); the terms have become widespread in literary criticism in English, but are used in this context in senses closer to the French meanings of the words than the English meanings, which are, roughly, nation, environment, and time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Taine argued that literature was largely the product of the author's environment, and that an analysis of that environment could yield a perfect understanding of the work of literature. In this sense he was a positivist (see Auguste Comte), though with important differences. Taine did not mean race in the specific sense now common, but rather the collective cultural dispositions that govern everyone without their knowledge or consent. What differentiates individuals within this collective race, for Taine, was milieu: the particular circumstances that distorted or developed the dispositions of a particular person. The moment is the accumulated experiences of that person, which Taine often expressed as momentum; to later critics, however, Taine's conception of moment seems to have more in common with Zeitgeist.

Literary critic: REDIRECT Literary criticism...

Sociologist: REDIRECT Sociology...

Hippolyte Taine: Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (April 21, 1828 - March 5, 1893) was a French critic and historian. He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism, and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Taine is particularly remembered for h...

Race, milieu, and moment related Images and Photos (experimental)

Milieu Accompagne	Milieu Accompagne	Zen Moment	Great Race, The (DVD)
Moment's Rest	Java Moment	Master Race, The (DVD)	Quiet Moment
Magic Moment	Quiet Moment	Golden Moment	Silent Moment