French Literature Reviews - 2026
B. Cannone, La Bêtise s'améliore
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Belinda Cannone
La bêtise s'améliore
STOCK
209 p.
Published on: 19/09/2007
ISBN: 978-2-234-05947-4
EAN 13: 9782234059474
Publisher's price: 18.50 €
In La bêtise s'améliore, three characters engage in a dialogue concerning love, politics, economics, art, morality, education, language, desire, happiness, and more...
There is no definitive cure for the petrification of thought that threatens everyone at any given moment.
The key is simply to remain perpetually vigilant, and this essay aims to contribute to that goal by renewing praise for freedom of mind and the call for intellectual responsibility.
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A first review of this work can be read on the nonfiction.fr website: "The Intelligence of Stupidity", by Ph. Guerre.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
What, then, is stupidity? (And intelligence?)
Ouiyhn and Re-examination
A Matter of Degree
The Allure of a Vague Concept: The Reactionary
Boulangerie Moderne and Bar du Progrès
Conformism: The Production of Avatars
When Does It Begin?
The Origins: Theorism
Another Origin: Actualism
The Power of Rhetoric
The Warning
Right Under Our Noses
Didacticists and Pterodactyl Attacks
Artist + Censorship = Petition
Staircase Wit (L'esprit de l'escalier)
Protective Fiction
Thinking by Omission
Co-optation
Molière as a Contemporary
Sparing Bouvard and Pécuchet
Talking Nonsense
A New Horticultural Variety
On Wit
Political Correctness
Nocturnal Drift
Drivel
Fiddle-faddle
Reductionism
Skateboarding Sets the Tone, Direction, and Method
Reading Foolishly
Origin Once Again: Perverted Egalitarianism
The Cardinal Virtue
Happiness Is Not Stupid
The Deadly Herd Instinct
Love: Passionately Conformist?
Let's Go to the Woods
Selective Bibliography
Biography of Belinda Cannone
Belinda Cannone is a novelist and essayist. She has published five novels, including *L'Homme qui jeûne*, and several essays, notably *L'Ecriture du désir* (recipient of the 2001 Essay Prize from the Académie française) and *Le Sentiment d'imposture* (recipient of the 2005 Grand Prize for Essays from the Société des gens de lettres).
The critique of human stupidity, or bêtise, has a long lineage in French literature and philosophy. From the satirical plays of Molière to Gustave Flaubert's exploration of bourgeois conformism in Bouvard et Pécuchet, writers have frequently targeted the rigid, unthinking habits of mind that threaten intellectual freedom. In La bêtise s'améliore, Belinda Cannone uses a dialogue between three characters to address this petrification of thought. The dialogue concerns topics such as love, politics, economics, art, morality, education, language, desire, and happiness. The essay aims to encourage perpetual vigilance, renewing praise for freedom of mind and intellectual responsibility. Readers interested in contemporary French essays and the defense of intellectual liberty may find it relevant.