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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: March 8, 2001
Latest update: March 24, 2001
 E-Mailjeannecurran@habermas.org

On Francois Villon's Ballade des Pendus

Villon's Ballade des Pendus and Adversarialism

On Tuesday, February 27, Santos Espinoza wrote:

Jeanne, I just started reading Rambo and the Dalai Lama and came to the term Fellman refers to as adversarialism. After I read the poem "Ballade des pendus" it made me realize that adversarialism existed in the 15th century, an era of great accomplishments and individualism. As Fellman asserts, "people not only have issues with each other; they find ways to oppose each other in virtually all contexts". This is vivid in our society today, people try to impose their beliefs and ideas in a coercive manner and bring adversarial conflicts when others have different perspectives.

Get well, we missed you!

Santos Espinoza
Social Theory
T-Th 11:30

On Sunday, March 11, 2001, jeanne responded:

I agree with you, Santos. The Ballade des Pendus does make us realize how long a history of adversarialism we have. As Fellman points out, once this paradigm might have been functional, as humans fought to survive each other and nature, but today we need to understand mutuality and interdependence, not only in our interpersonal relationships, but in our interdependence with nature itself. It's time for a paradigm shift.

Isn't it amazing that Francois Villon had such thoughts already in the 15th century?

love and peace, jeanne

Summary of Villon's Ballade des Pendus

On February 28, 2001, Anita Johnson wrote:

Hi, Jeanne. this is Anita Johnson. I'm writing to you to talk about the "Ballade des Pendus."

I found it to be very interesting. From my understanding, the writer was saying not to frown on a person because they are in a particular situation, and not to turn away from them; just pray that God have mercy upon them, because if you do God will show more mercy on you. The writer is also saying not to have any hate in your heart for the people who do harm, even though they are in powerful places; just remember that not everyone has the same way of thinking.

Those in control can't hurt the Pendus (the Hanged) any further, because they have moved on to a better place. "Just pray that God forgive us all."

Jeanne, i hope this is what I was supposed to do. Please write back and let me know if i'm on the right track. Thank you.

On Saturday, March 24, 2001, jeanne responded:

Yes, Anita, this is what you were supposed to do. This summary in your own words will help others clarify the meaning of Villon's poem. Although I want you to do more than just summarize most of the time, sometimes that's the first step to understanding. Doris Lara summarized her reading of Darkness in El Dorado, Part I and Part II. That summary, too, was helpful to those who had chosen to read other texts. And it was helpful to me, since then I didn't need to summarize.

Good work. love and peace, jeanne