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1993 Number 41
GUELLOUZ, SUZANNE. "Du bon usage des textes liminairs. Le cas d'Amelot de la Houssaye." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 261–275.
A study of Amelot de la Houssaye's literary career as "the most prolific if not the most eclectic translator of the 17th century". His preliminary discourses, despite their deceptive use of political flattery, should be examined carefully since they may distort the very meaning and orientation of his translations.
CARR, THOMAS, ed. Réflexions sur l'éloquence des prédicateurs (1695) and Philippe Goibaut Du Bois, Avertissemnet en Tête de sa traduction des Cermons de Saint-Augustin (1694). Geneva: Droz, 1992.
JEHASSE, JEAN and BERNARD YON, eds. Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, Epistolae Selectae/Epîstres Latines Choisies (1650). Saint-Etienne: Univ. de Saint-Etienne, 1990.
Review: P. Wolfe in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 247–248: 55 letters by the worldy and humanistic author. Translation, introduction, notes and index.
LASSERRE, FRANCOIS. "Influence de Balthasar Baro sur le jeune Pierre Corneille." PFSCL 33 (1990), 399–423.
B.'s influence on C. in terms of the play within the play: in Clitandre C. would especially have wanted to correct defects he perceived in Célinde.
WOLFF, HEIDE. Das narrative Werk Catherine Bernards (1662–1712): Liebeskonzeption und Erzähltechniken. Frankfurt/Bern/New York/Paris: Lang, 1990.
Review: G. J. Mallinson in MLR 87 (1992), 991–92: "This book makes a valuable contribution to the study of a neglected author. At times the frequent recapitulation and a tendency towards exhaustive documentation betray its origins in a dissertation and do not make for very easy reading. But as the coherent statement of Catherine Bernard's distinctive qualities as a writer (narrative concentration, stylistic sobriety, command of dialogue, perceptive analysis of feeling) it remains very worthwhile."
CRONK, NICHOLAS. "The Classical Sublime: Boileau's Traité du sublime in the context of contemporary poetic theory, 1650–1720" (Oxford Univ., 1990). DAI 53:10, 3546A.
Boileau's concept of the sublime perpetuates a "platonist aesthetic which circumvents the problems of mimetic theory;" the Traité du sublime is seen as "the most innovative and influential text of French classical poetic theory."
JORET, PAUL. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux révolutionnaire et conformiste. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 49 (1989).
Review: Valeria Santi Milana in SFr 104 (1991), 353–354: Joret's book challenges our basic opinions on Boileau as a 'poète officiel'. In a "not always easily readable" prose, he attempts to show the fundamental ambiguity of Boileau. His 'silence poètique' makes him appear as 'le prédécesseur de la prose enflammée des philosophes auteurs de la révolution.' For Santi Milana, "this volume, offering aspects of an original but not always relevant reflection", is completed by a "useful bibliography."
PINEAU, JOSEPH. L'Univers satirique de Boileau: l'ardeur, la grâce et la loi. Genève: Droz, 1990.
Review: D. C. Potts in MLR 87 (1992), 988–89: "This book is an important contribution to the reevaluation of Boileau's works which finally got under way some three decades ago with the publication of Brody's Boileau and Longinus." Particular praise for P.'s study of Boileau's style.
Review: J. Zarucchi in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 560–561: An attempt to reconstruct B.'s critical vision, identifying him as a poet and satirist rather than a cold, rational critic. Reviewer finds excessive partisanship and a "lack of critical depth." However, study succeeds in questioning view of B. as melancholic arbiter of rules. Interestingly written.
ROSI, ROSSANO. "Boileau en désordre (Ep. XI, vv. 1–10)." LR 46 (1992), 175–184.
Detailed examination of the exordium of B.'s Epistre XI, addressed to his gardner. R. reveals striking semantic, syntactic and phonic irregularies.
ZEBOUNI, SELMA. "Rhetorical Strategies in L'Art poétique orWhat is Boileau Selling." FLS 19 (1992), 10–18.
The poem is analyzed as a duplicitous text which overtly intends to define poetics, but covertly intends a rhetorical seduction of the reader.
LOMBARDI, MARCO, ed. Boussuet, Orazioni funebri. Venezia: Marsilio, 1992.
Review: B. Piqué in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 550–551: A bilingual French and Italian edition of only the sermons for Henriette de France and Henriette d'Angleterre. An introduction that studies in detail the two sermons and looks beyond to B.'s moral notions and conception of sacred eloquence. Biographical sketches of B. and two Henriettes, notes, and bibliography. Masterful translation into Italian.
MEYER, JEAN. Bossuet. Paris: Fayard, 1993.
Review: Philippe Sollers in Le Monde des Livres (8 Oct. 1993), pp. 25, 32: An "acte de courage intellectuel," this biography paradoxically set on viewing greatness, which historical judgment has put so much into quesion. "Bossuet est né de la Bible," therefore an historian, a panegyrist of saints, the opener of the grave — "allié de la mort." Emulator of Isaiah, Bossuet is the living Word in a language of "Sagesse/folie." Review is finally sympathetic to B. but is as interesting on Sollers as on Meyer's alleged fascination with paradox.
DELMAS, CHRISTIAN, ET GEORGES FORESTIER, eds. Oropaste, ou le Faux Tonaxare. Geneva: Droz, 1990.
Review: J.-P. Collinet in IL 44.4 (sep/oct 92), 29: Une riche introduction nous réintroduit à une tragédie presque oubliée, créée par la troupe de Molière en nov.-dec. 1662.
Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 174 (1992), 187–188: "Cette tragédie politique de 1662 ne pouvait trouver meilleurs éditeurs". A 70 page introduction examines Boyer's literary career and explains "les raisons de l'échec d'Oropaste et du discrédit de Boyer." However, contrary to the editors' opinion, Mazouer feels that this play, notwithstanding certain merits, is not a "chef-d'oeuvre méconnu."
VAUCHERT, ETIENNE, ed. Recueil des Dames, poésies et tombeaux. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.
Review: J. Brunnel in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 249–251: Une "véritable encyclopédie," avec des annotations riches et minutieuses et une longue introduction biographique et analytique.
HOPE, GEOFFREY, ed. Les Descriptions Poétiques. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 58, (1990).
Review: A. Génetiot in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 887–889: Le "poète épique et historien" néolatin a composé de "longs poèmes emblématiques dont la forme mondaine, en vers français, prépare le discours du moraliste chrétien." On regrette l'absence de notes.
DUCHÊNE, JACQUELINE. Bussy-Rabutin. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Review: V. Maigne in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 232–233: An excellent biography of Mme de Sévigné's cousin and correspondent: "Mais là où le livre de J. D. est extrêmement novateur, c'est dans la vision d'un Bussy romantique avant la lettre, . . . aussi, le refus de ne retenir de Bussy que ce que l'on a trop souvent retenu de lui,l'aspect scandaleux."
Review: P. Martin in IL 45.2 (mar/avr 93), 46–47: "Un portrait contrasté et savoureux de l'homme dont elle a pénétré les humeurs, le caractère et la personnalité jusque dans les détails les plus révélateurs."
Review: M.-O. Sweetser in FR 66 (1993), 814–15: "Beaucoup de précision dans la recherche historique et de pénétration dans l'analyse psychologique et littéraire . . . l'auteur rend justice à un des représentants les plus curieux de la vieille noblesse, fidèle à la monarchie mais indisciplinée, ayant trouvé dans l'écriture une compensation à une carrière manquée."
DUCHENE, JACQUELINE and ROGER, eds. L'Histoire amoureuse des Gaules. Paris: Gallimard, 1993.
Review: François Bott in Le Monde (19 Feb. 1993), 24: Indicates that ed. is "très documentée," but makes no other reference to it in a vivid portrait of Bussy, "immoral et charmant."
DESCRAINS, JEAN. Essais sur Jean-Pierre Camus. Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.
Review: E. Quallio in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 525–526: Collected essays by the scholar most responsible for introducing Camus to modern times. The role of Les Diversités in Camus' work represents the unifying theme of the essays.
ROBIC-DE-BAECQUE, SYLVIE. "La Coustillade salutaire, baroque et dévotion dans les récits de Jean-Pierre Camus." DSS 179 (avril-juin 1993), 291–303.
Réfutant les analyses précédantes soulignant une dichotomie fondamentale entre la sensibilité baroque et l'intention morale dans l'oeuvre de C., l'auteur de l'article affirme que "c'est une formule romanesque véritablement inédite que [Camus] désire élaborer, dans les entrelacs réciproques de la fiction et de la spiritualité."
WORCESTER, THOMAS. "A Feast: Alimentary Discourse in the Preaching of Bishop Jean-Pierre Camus." SCFS 15 (1993), 99–114.
That the Catholic Reformation may have gone lightly with gluttony ("péché mignon," according to J.-P. Pitte, cited here) is largely corroborated by the volume of gastronomic imagery in C.'s preaching from the 1614 Etats on. Homilies are themselves good food (1616–17) and good "entretien de table." God has prepared a banquet for us (beware Lent!) and Holy Eucharist is a divine instance of banquet. Application of Bakhtine to C.'s Sunday homilies, his discourses on the life of Jesus, shows that the Bishop preferred "obéissance mangeante" to excessive fasting. Interesting suggestions for additional research.
WEIL, MICHELE. Robert Challe romancier. Genève: Droz, 1991.
Review: BCLF 555 (1992), 702: Ouvrage sur Challe d'"une érudition impressionnante, un art de la démonstration sans faille qui connaît et sait utiliser ou contester les approches les plus diverses et les plus récentes." Ouvrage exemplaire malgré de nombreuses coquilles.
ADAM, MICHEL. Etudes sur Pierre Charron. Bordeaux: Presses universitaires de Bordeaux, 1992.
Review: BCLF 562–63 (1992), 1819: "En réunissant six études antérieurement publiées dans des revues, M. Adam aide à mieux saisir l'originalité d'un auteur qui mérite mieux que la réputation qui lui a été faite. En effet, par l'importance qu'il donne à la pensée et par la valeur qu'il reconnaît à la nature, il peut être considéré comme un précurseur tant de la première partie que de la seconde partie du XVIIe siècle."
Review: Henry Méchoulan in RMM 97 (1992), 418–19: "Aussi rigoureuse que systématique" in treatment. Religious orthodoxy is first established: "La doctrine de la Providence reste chez C. si orthodoxe que Saint-Cyran recommendera sa lecture comme initiation à la vie spirituelle." Best pages are those given to "prud' home,' "capables de faire comprendre le climat intérieur à la sensibiliteé propre à ces premiéres années du XVIIe siècle." Bio. and Biblio." qui en font un nouvel et précieux instrument de travail pour les historiens de la pensée moderne."
LEIBACHER-OUVRARD, LISE. "Sexe, simulacre et 'Libertinage honnête': La Satyre sotadique (1658/1678) de Nicolas Chorier." RR 83.3 (May 92), 267–280.
Cette oeuvre d'érotisme jette de lumière sur le libertinage de la seconde moitié du XVIIe, et met en cause des notions de modèle et d'identité.
HARDEE, A. MAYNOR, ed. Les Portugaiz infortunez. Geneva: Droz, 1991.
Review: A. Howe in MLR 88 (1993), 462–63: ". . . the book is doubly welcome — for providing a text which had never been reprinted since its first publication [1608], and for accompanying it with the first detailed analysis of a work which, as Hardee writes, 'mérite bien sa place dans la littérature moralisante de l'époque'."
SPERANZA ARMANI, ADA. Maurice Scève nelle Vies des poètes français di Guillaume Celletet. Fasano: Schena, 1988.
Review: H. Marek in RF 104 (1992), 222–224: M. has little praise for C. as critic but recognizes his importance as the last critical author before Ste-Beuve to have appreciated Scève. C.'s 5-volume ms. Histoire générale et particulière des poètes français partially survived an 1871 fire and fragments are available in the BN of the work of this author who was loyal to Malherbe's theories and who, as a poet-member of the Academy, was protected by Richelieu.
ABRAHAM, CLAUDE. "Pleasures of the Stage." Continuum 5 (1993) 241–243.
Review article of Gabriel Conesa's Pierre Corneille et la naissance du genre comique (Paris: SEDES, 1989) in which A. highlights the book's contributions to Corneille studies and concludes that ". . . this work will force its reader to look at the comedies of Corneille as theatre" and not simply as literature.
BAKER, SUSAN READ. Dissonant Harmonies: Drama and Ideology in Five Neglected Plays of Pierre Corneille. Tübingen: G. Narr, 1990.
Review: Claire Carlin in FR 66 (1993), 500–501: Detailed analysis of Clitandre, Thèodore, Pertharite, Sophonisbe, and Othon demonstrates ambiguities and tensions that exist throughout C.'s career. Esthetic and ethical examination of the corpus is original in its bringing together in a multi-faceted dialectical framework Marxist literary theory, reader response criticism, feminist psychoanalytical criticism.
Review: Alain Couprie in DSS 179 (avril-juin 1993), 406–407: Analyse de cinq pièces peu prestigieuses de C. portant sur "l'évolution esthétique de l'oeuvre du dramaturge et la manière dont s'équilibrent l'histoire et la fiction, l'idéologie aristocratique et l'existentialisme bourgeois, le machiavélisme et la générosité, la vérité et sa poétisation."
Review: W. O. Goode in FrR 17 (1992), 335–337: G. appreciates B.'s examination of five "failed" plays of C., neglected not by critics but by 17th c. audiences. Using an eclectic methodology B. draws an opposition between personation and impersonation and provides rich and "intricate analyses" of Clitandre, Théodore, Pertharite, Sophonisbe, and Othon. G. sees other possible applications of this dialectic in C.'s theatre.
Review: J. P. Short in MLR 87 (1992), 985–86: B. treats "drama and ideology in Clitandre, Théodore, Pertharite, Sophonisbe, and Othon and the author . . . calls on all the resources of Marxist literary theory, reader response theory, feminism, and psychoanalysis in order to define and isolate what she sees as unresolved tensions in Corneille's drama."
CARRIER, HUBERT, ed. Pierre Corneille, Le Cid. Paris: Hachette, 1991.
Review: M. Margitic in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 215: The Classiques Hachette edition of the last — 1682 — version of the text reviewed by C., thus of the "tragédie." Didactic apparatus is very effective: notes, bibliography, questions, etc.
CLARKE, DAVID. Pierre Corneille: Poetics and Political Drama under Louis XIII. New York: Cambridge UP, 1992.
Review: G. Jordorf in SCFS 15 (1993), 130–32: "Impressive learning" and "meticulous argument" in a "very intelligent" treatment of the political. Part I deals with the ideological and constitutional crisis, suppositions that nonetheless give "a useful picture of what it meant to be Normand in the 1630s." Part II "gives a heartening account of C.'s independence, integrity, and dogedness" in a climate of intellectual oppressiveness. Part III analyzes 7 plays, from Clitandre to La Mort de Pompée in terms of the common experience of audienced deduced from contemporary minor moral and political writers. An immense amount of detailed inquiry that should be continued.
Review: R. A. Picken in Choice 30 (1992), 623: R. considers this study to be "the most important scholarly work in English devoted to C." to have appeared in three decades. The author "undertakes a detailed study of the seven serious plays written by [C.] , . . . between 1630 and 1643, the political and ideological context in which they were written, and the principles that guided their composition." Topics discussed include "how C.'s provincial background is likely to have affected the way in which he envisages his art" and ". . . C.'s theoretical principles and his belief that the drama, by transmuting history into tragedy, offered a means to the better understanding of his times. In the final section C. discusses the political and tragic significance of each of the seven plays and seeks to link their reflection of contemporary ideological tensions with the 'collective mind' of the dramatist's intended audience." R. judges this book, which has "extensive notes and a valuable bibliography," to be "essential . . . for future research" on the dramatist.
CONESA, GABRIEL. Pierre Corneille et la naissance du genre comique (1629–1636): Etude dramaturgique. Paris: SEDES, 1989.
Review: See Abraham above.
COUPRIE, ALAIN, ed. Le Cid. Paris: PUF, 1989.
Review: See Sweetser below.
COUTON, GEORGES. Corneille et la tragédie politique. Paris: PUF, 1990.
Review: Sergio Poli in SFr 103 (1991), 130: This "deuxième édition mise à jour" is, contrary to the publisher's claim, a reprint of the 1984 edition.
EUGENE, CATHERINE, ed. Le Cid. Paris: Presses-Pocket, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1579–80: "Destinée à un large public, la collection s'attache moins à analyser l'oeuvre . . . qu'à la présenter dans son contexte: carrière de l'auteur, contexte historique, social et littéraire. Le commentaire se limite à la préface, qui dégage une orientation générale, développée ensuite dans le dossier historique et littéraire présenté à la suite du texte de la pièce."
FORESTIER, GEORGES, ed. Le Cid. Paris: Magnard, 1988.
Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 174 (1992), 186: The text, based on the 1682 edition, is printed on the right side. But "l'intérêt du volume est ailleurs, sur les pages de gauche, intitulées 'La gazette des contextes'." However, the reviewer, though impressed with the wealth of notes and excerpts from relevant sources, has some reservations about the format — "le texte de Corneille y est comme oublié, noyé qu'il se trouve sous l'avalanche de textes critiques, d'ailleurs découpés et morcelés en si courts extraits qu'on a rarement l'occasion de pouvoir entrer dans une pensée critique."
_________. "Corneille et la tragédie: hypothèses sur l'élaboration de Suréna." Littératures Classiques 16 (printemps 1992), 141–68.
"En some, l'hypothèse selon laquelle Corneille a pu vouloir, dans le contexte crucial des années 1673–74, se livrer d'une démonstration de 'sa' conception de la tragédie nous permet de rendre compte de l'extrême densité sémantique de cette pièce et, en décomposant les différentes strates qui semblent la constituer, de tenter de rendre compte des principes qui ont pu présider à sa composition."
_________. Pierre Corneille, Le Cid (1637–1660). Paris: STFM, 1992.
Review: M. Margitic in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 534–536: Reproduces two of the nineteen different versions of the play, those of 1637 and 1660. The reviewer is troubled by the absence of a theoretical rationale for the inclusion of two complete texts, finding the discernment of differences to be a difficult task for the reader to accomplish. Contains a concise and informative introduction.
FUMAROLI, MARC. Héros et orateurs: Rhétorique et dramaturgie cornéliennes. Genève: Droz, 1990.
Review: V. Kapp in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 889–890: Des études réunies qui enrichissent nos connaissances sur Corneille.
Review: Wolfgang Matzat in ZFSL 103 (1993), 67–71: High praise for the erudition of F.'s discussion of Counter-reformation culture, rhetorical theory, and C.'s place in them. Valuable précis of the essays (1968–1984) collected here.
Review: Felicita Robello in SFr 104 (1991), 350: A collection of 18 essays published between 1968 and 1984. Highly recommended.
GOSSIP, CHRIS J. "Tragedy and the Tragic Emotions in Corneille." AUMLA 79 (1993), 1–16.
After examining C.'s critical writings on theater, G. states: "For C., . . . the coupling pity-and-fear is as inadequately simplistic as is the modern view that his best-known plots are based on a black-and-white dichotomy 'duty versus love'." According to G., the playwright "offers a short but varied menu of emotions to be experienced singly or in direct contrast one to the other, at different times throughout a play, perhaps in sequence or cumulatively; emotions aroused, purified and then either removed or restored to a proper balance by curtain-fall." "Death, or the death of political power, or the death of human liberty, even if — perhaps especially if — these threats of death are faced and then avoided, these are the topics which engender a specific Cornelian aura and associated emotions which," in G.'s view, are "as genuinely tragic as most."
HAWCROFT, MICHAEL. "Corneille's Clitandre and the Theatrical Illusion." FS 47.2 (1993), 142–155.
A rereading of C.'s play as one in which the dramatist self-consciously plays with the notion of illusionist theatre."
________. "Homosexual love in Corneille's Clitandre (1632)." SCFS 15 (1993), 135–44.
Refines scenic evidence convincingly in response to the disagreement of Larthomas ("ambigous if any," Form and Meaning . . . Studies Presented to Harry Barnwell, 1982, pp. 41–50) with Scherer ("ouvert," La Dramaturgie Classique, p. 410). The visual impact and length of the embrace of the men (II,4) linked to the pledge of V,2 are unique 17th-century staging of evidence for the prince's homosexuality (Clitandre would be bisexual). Comparison with Racine's Antiochus and Quinault's Proteus and Bellérophon (but words as opposed to gestures) support the conclusion.
HUBERT, JUDD. "De l'écart historique à la plénitude théâtrale: Pulchérie et Suréna." ELF 58 (1993), 55–65.
"Bien qu'on ne puisse pas vraiment traiter Corneille comme un historien dans toute la force du terme, on peut néanmoins découvrir dans son théâtre une appréciaiton souvent pénétrante, non seulement de la politique de son temps, mais du pouvoir en général. Or, non seulement ces drames à base historique, mais aussi les comédies du début de sa carrière et même une tragédie mythologique comme Oedipe peuvent fournir d'utiles indications aux historiens . . . ."
KERR, CYNTHIA B. "Lectures textuelles, lectures scéniques: une conversation sur Corneille avec Jean-Pierre Miguel." ELF 58 (1993), 67–80.
Article basé sur un entretien que Jean-Pierre Miguel a accordé à l'auteur pendant le festival d'Avignon en 1988. "Pour marquer l'année où Le Cid, Othon et Suréna figuraient au programme de l'agrégation, il nous a paru indispensable de parler avec la seule personne à les avoir montés tous afin de faire le point sur l'art de Corneille, les différences fondamentales qui existent entre l'analyse littéraire et l'approche scénique, et les problèmes particuliers que pose la dramaturgie des spectacles cornéliens."
KERR, CYNTHIA. "Voix des femmes, voies du théâtre: Brigitte Jacques et la Sophonisbe de Corneille." TraLit 5 (1992), 161–178.
Detailed reflection on production by B. Jacques of C.'s Sophonisbe; considerations of choice of actors, mise en scène, costumes, etc. lead K. to conclude that one of the important organizing principles is "la dichotomie" and that this representation because of its intelligence and sensitivity "rend à l'oeuvre de Corneille sa juste dimension théâtrale." Furthermore, as testify J.'s Sophonisbe at the Théâtre national de Chaillot, Silvia Montfort's Théodore at the Carré, and Françoise Seigner's Nicomède at the Comédie Française (all in the fall of 1988), Corneille is considered as "porte-parole de l'esprit de résistance, musclé, audacieux, énigmatique et narquois, dénoncant le cynisme du statu quo et le totalitarisme des régimes qui gouvernent par la force des armes."
KNIGHT, R.C. Corneille's Tragedies. The Role of the Unexpected. Cardiff: Univ. of Wales Press, 1991.
Review: Jean Dubu in DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 407–10: "Elégamment pensé."
Review: Gillian Jordorf in SCFS 15 (1993), 129–30. Both "refreshing" and "in its easy manner accommodating a highly intellectual, sympathetic, and persuasive reading of C." Deals with 20 plays from various sub-genres. Sees patterning of brilliant pairs of plays interspersed with failures. The success of stage-craft, peripeties, coups, love of paradox, surprise, éblouissement leads to the successes. Not sympathetic to the "Ethique de la gloire" reading or "politically minded critiques."
LASSERRE, FRANÇOIS. Corneille de 1638 à 1642: la crise technique d'Horace, Cinna et Polyeucte. PSFCL/Biblio 17, 55 (1990).
Review: Helen Bates McDermott in FR 66 (1992), 329–30: An "original and fresh" viewing of crucial period in career with "subtle and persuasive" analysis of the effects on dramatic technique of the Querelle du Cid. Reveals through close textual analysis, "especially fine of Polyeucte, the rigorous coherence of C.'s dramaturgy, a period of "forced detour of a longer career that "remains problematic, modern, and fundamentally resistant to ideology or external control."
MARGITIC, MILORAD R. "La Galerie du Palais: une ruse baroque." PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 333–352.
The reassessment of a comedy that has often been viewed negatively because of the failure of critics to take the play's complexity into account. A baroque ruse unites action, theme and character and constitutes the basis of the comic in the play.
_______., ed. Le Cid: Tragi-Comédie. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1989.
Review: See Sweetser below.
MURATORE, MARY JO. Cornelian Theater. The Metadramatic Dimension. Birmingham, Alabama: Summa Publications, 1990.
Review: Saskia Brown in FS 47.2 (1993), 231: Refuting traditional criticism, this rereading of C.'s early tragedies demonstrates that C.'s primary concern was aesthetic rather than moral. "Refreshing" but its "sweeping hierarchies . . . tend to produce reductive readings."
Review: Philip Koch in FR 66 (1993), 129–30: "High voltage study of Médée, the tetralogy, and Rodogune," with a view to "provide an esthetic unity rather than to give moral significance to the works." The search for elements of metacommentary is "exciting and original;" arguments derive from "serious, often ingenious" readings of the texts.
NADAL, OCTAVE. Le Sentiment de l'amour dans l'oeuvre de Pierre Corneille. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.
Review: BCLF 553 (1992), 15–16: Réédition bienvenue qui traite de la place du sentiment amoureux dans l''éthique glorieuse de Corneille.
PICIOLA, LILIANE. "Corneille interprète de Lope de Vega dans La Suite du Menteur." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 209–221.
La Suite du Menteur is an adaptation of Lope de Vega's Amar sin saber a quién. A close study of both plays show how Corneille's work as an adapter differs from his contemporaries's approach. Though he has "habillé son sujet à la française" and done an important "travail de réécriture", Corneille did base his adaptation on "une traduction implicite, à la fois soucieuse de la lettre et fidèle à la fois soucieuse de la lettre et fidèle à l'esprit du texte originale, comme on le aime aujourd'hui."
POIRIER, GERMAIN. Corneille: Témoin de son temps, I: Clitandre (1631). PFSCL/Biblio 17, 53 (1990).
Review: L. Godard de Donville in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 255–256: L'immersion de C. dans l'humanisme dévot des Jésuites est argumentée, de façon contestable.
Review: Kathryn Willis Wolfe in SCN 51.1–2, (1993), 20–21: "While it may be impossible to rehabilitate Corneille's first dramatic work, Poirier makes a valiant attempt at least to justify its existence." He proposes a new interpretation as "he seeks to explain Corneille's approach from an altogether different perspective as a dramatic allegory representing the Jesuit position on Protestant heresy, in short as a document belonging to the Counter-Reformation. "The reviewer, nevertheless, is not convinced, and thinks Poirier "made no effort to keep in check highly controversial personal opinions."
PRIGENT, MICHEL. Le Héros et l'état dans la tragédie de Pierre Corneille. Paris: PUF, 1986/1988.
Review: See Carlin in Part IV above.
RATHE, ALICE. La Reine se marie. Variations sur un thème dans l'oeuvre de Corneille. Genève: Droz, 1990.
Review: M.-F. Bruneau in FrF 17 (1992), 222–224: Serious, with masterful analyses of Cornelian plays which feature true and powerful queens, not wives and kings. Reviewer finds illuminating examinations of ideological conflicts, juridical considerations and the exercise of power, concluding that R.'s work "démontre d'une façon tres convaincante que la différence sexuelle . . . est une catégorie enrichissante pour la compréhension de l'histoire et de la littérature."
Review: F. Lasserre in RHL 92.6 (nov/dec 92), 1068: L'entreprise du mariage conduite par la femme royale: l'héroïsme et le sens du politique sont éclairés, mais le rôle de l'amour est minimisé, donc l'interprétation reste discutable.
Review: D. A. Watts in MLR 87 (1992), 986: "This modest but well-documented volume studies the matrimonial dilemmas faced by Corneille's eleven true queens: that is, those who are queens in their own right, and not merely by virtue of marriage." Reviewer would have prefered more emphasis on the plays as theatrical inventions rather than political/moral teatises.
RIZZA, CECILIA. "Un Discours sur la comédie dans La Suite du Menteur." ELF 58 (1993), 81–92.
R. offre un commentaire sur La Suite du menteur qui part de la lecture attentive de la pièce par Sweetser dans Les Conceptions dramatiques de Corneille (1962). R. constate que "les idées de Corneille sur le genre comique et, plus en général, sur l'art dramatique, ne diffèrent point, en 1645, de celles qu'il défendait une quinzaine d'années auparavant,dans les Avis, les Préfaces, les Dédicaces de ses premières comédies. Il y a, donc, une continuité, une cohérence dans sa pensée que l'on aurait tort de sous-estimer, car elle témoigne de la solidité et de la profondeur de sa réflexion sur la comédie: le dernier mot ne contredit pas, mais confirme les premières indications."
SANCHEZ, JOSE, ed. Pierre Corneille: Othon. Mugron (France): Ed. José Feijoo, 1989.
Review: Cecilia Rizza in SFr 103 (1991), 130: Based on first edition of 1665. A 139 page introduction, written with the collaboration of eminent scholars (A. Niderst, G. Forestier, J. J. Morel, and Ch. Mazouer)studies the play's importance, its veiled critique of Parisianaudiences' new taste. Special emphasis is put on Othon's influence on Racine's early tragedies.
SWEETSER, MARIE-ODILE. "Jeunesse du Cid, jeunesse de Corneille." Continuum 5 (1993) 235–239.
Review article of Alain Couprie's Pierre Corneille. Le Cid (Paris: PUF, 1989) and Milorad Margitic's Le Cid: Tragi-comédie (Amsterdam/Philadelphie: Benjamins Publishing, 1989). S. commente les moments de convergences et de divergences de ces deux livres et apprécie les contributions qu'ils font aux études cornéliennes.
TRETHEWAY, JOHN. Corneille, L'illusion comique and Le Menteur. London: Grant & Cutler, 1991.
Review: G. Mallinson in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 292–293: Part of the Critical Guides to French Texts series: "a clear-headed, sensitive and very readable analysis" of the comedies. T. argues that the first play should not be seen as the forerunner of the modern experimental theater. For the second, he provides "acute analysis" of Dorante's major speeches.
WATTS, DEREK A. Corneille: Rodogune, Nicomède. London: Grant and Cutler, 1993.
WILLIAMS, TIMOTHY J. "A propos du Cid de Pierre Corneille." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 141–150.
La légitimisation de la violence rend le héros un personnage menaçant pour la stabilité sociale.
ALBINA, LARISSA L. "Un prix scolaire de Thomas Corneille." RHL 93.1 (jan-fév 93), 133–135.
La découverte d'un livre de Théophraste, présenté à T. C. en 1639 à l'âge de 14 ans.
ALCOVER, MADELEINE. Cyrano relu et corrigé. Geneva: Droz, 1990.
Review: Sergio Poli in SFr 103 (1991), 132: "A work deserving gratitude and praises not only from specialists but also from the reading public by and large." Alcover has studied various editions and copies of Cyrano's works, and shows how they were systematically censored and disfigured by publishers. Alcover's "exemplary research" sheds new light on Cyrano, and suggests how our understanding of that author is riddled with "idées reçues" and based on incorrect versions of his writings.
MOON, HI KYUNG. "Fictitious Travellers in French and English Literature: A Study of Imaginary Voyages from Cyrano de Bergerac to Oliver Goldsmith (1657–1762)" (Oxford Univ., 1989). DAI 53:10, 3520A.
A comprehensive view of the genre and the effects of the European discovery of other worlds upon the creative imagination.
ZUBER, ROGER. "De 'Lucien écrivain' au 'Lucien' de d'Ablancourt." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 9–18.
Reassessing Jacques Bompaire's 1958 doctoral thesis, Lucien écrivain, Zuber examines d'Ablancourt's aesthetics of "traduction libre." He admits that in his study of "les belles infidèles," he overlooked Bompaire's seminal research and neglected d'Ablancourt's Lucien (1654). D'Ablancourt's translation of Lucien's texts marked the transition from Blazac's eloquence to "cette lecture d'agrément qu'on n'appelle pas encore 'littérature'."
AURIAC, EUGENE D'. D'Artagnan. Paris: La Table ronde, 1993.
Review: François Bott in Le Monde (11 June 1993), 26: Reprint of 1847 bio. written to establish facts in reaction to Dumas. Contains nonetheless a lively heroization.
MALQUORI FONDI, GIOVANNA, ed. François Hédelin Abbé d'Aubignac: Le Roman des lettres. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 50 (1989).
Review: Madeline Alcover in FR 66 (1993), 501–502: Important critical apparatus that extracts "tout ce qui fait l'originalité de ce curieux livre" (considerable, it would seem, since Bray views its modernity as a precursor of Gide's Les Faux-Monnayeurs), beginning with the ambiguous title and the play of the found-real and the fictitious maintained by the play of epistolarity. Of its time, the work is also an epistolary manual, whose relationship to letters/novels is finely analyzed. A. raises questions of the sureness of the attribution, the exact date of D'.A.'s death, and the inclusiveness of the biblio.
Review: Sergio Poli in SFr 103 (1991), 131–132: An "édition anastatique" of a novel "in progress" by d'Aubignac. In her lengthy introduction, Fondi analyzes this seminal epistolary novel's complex struture, and shows its originality. Her "rigorous analysis" is completed by a "vast and exhaustive bibliography."
FANLO, JEAN-RAYMOND. Tracés, Ruptures. La Composition des Tragiques. Paris: Champion, 1990.
Review: Oliver Millet in BSHPF 138 (1992), 593–94: Important examination of the composition as it articulates (and obscures) themes. Close attention to syntax and punctuation. Also contains important study of the relations between the polemic and historical texts with the poetry. Demanding of the reader but repays with "une pénétration souvent rare du texte, de ses sources, de ses effets, de ses beautés même."
FRAGONARD, MARIE-MADELEINE, FRANK LESTRINGANT, et GILBERT SCHRENK. La Justice des Princes. Commentaires des Tragiques. Livres II et III. Mont-de-Marsan: Editions InterUniversitaires, 1990.
Review: Nathalie Philippe in RSH 229 (1993), 225–27: The authors "se proposent de présenter les enjeux idéologiques et littéraires de l'oeuvre majeure du poète protestant, d'en analyser les moyens spécificiques, d'accompagner un imaginaire au travail, en un temps où les études sur Les Tragiques sont en plein renouveau." This volume is called "un outil de travail que les étudiants et universitaires se doivent d'avoir dans leur bibliothèque!"
LESTRINGANT, FRANK. Les Tragiques. Agrippa D'Aubigné. Paris: PUF, 1991.
Review: BCLF 557 (1992), 926: "Frank Lestringant, dans ce petit volune [réédition 1986], dit l'essentiel sur Agrippa d'Aubigné et sur les Tragiques où il voit une 'Divine Comédie huguenote'. Il fait le dernier état de la question sur les origines familiales, plus humble qu'on ne croyait, et sur les études 'chantiques' du jeune Agrippa.
QUAINTON, MALCOLM. D'Aubigné, Les Tragiques. London: Grant and Cutler, 1990.
Review: Gilbert Schrenck in ZFSL 103 (1993), 101–2: "Clarté remarquable et un sens aigu de la synthèse," in progressive clarifications of the long genesis, structure, imagery, and rhetoric. Remains a good introduction even though much has been written since 1986 (when the biblio. stopped and the printing process began).
THIERRY, A. Histoire universelle. Agrippa d'Aubigné. Vol V: Livres VII–VIII et IX. Genève: Droz, 1991.
Review: I. D. McFarlane in MLR 88 (1993), 457: "This volume follows the principles described in Volume I; the text is that of the second edition (Geneva, 1626), but the critical apparatus gives the text of the original edition (Maillé, 1616–20)."
ADAM, MICHEL. "René Descartes et Pierre Charron." RPFE 1107 (1992), 467–483.
Descartes must have read Charron, whose influence had eclipsed Montaigne's in the early 17th century. Charron's Sagesse may have served as a source of reflection on the problems of the self, animal language and wisdom. But Adam concedes that "Descartes n'en a pas fait son interrogation première. On peut bien publier régulièrement les oeuvres de Charron; il appartient désormais à l'anti-cartésianisme."
CAVAILLE, JEAN-PIERRE. Descartes, la fable du monde. Paris: EHESS/Vrin, 1991.
Review: BCLF 567 (1992), 994: C. prend acte de la correspondance entre l'expression "Mundus est fabula" et le traité de physique de Descartes intitulé le Monde. Selon C., c'est une construction étroitement dépendante du baroque.
COTTINGHAM, JOHN,trans. A Descartes Dictionary. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1993.
Review: J. E. Roger Squires in PhQ 43 (1993), 581: "D's presentation of his philosophical system is a wonder of clarity, order and accessibility. The reader therefore approaches this fragmentation of his work into short alphabetical entries with a systematic doubt. This is only partly assuaged by the author's authority in Cartesian studies; the entries are clear and sensible, the scholarship is everywhere reliable." S. finds that ". . . the entries are a good antidote to the heuristic device of presenting a caricature of D. in order to display our latest critical weaponry in effective action."
EDMUNDS, BRUCE, "Idleness and Mastery: Descartes' Tree, Descartes' Treatise." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 237–249.
The epistemological finality of the Traité des passions contrasts with an underlying fear of idleness, animality, and individual and collective disintegration in the absence of self-mastery.
GARBER, DANIEL. Descartes's Metaphysical Physics. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1992.
Review: Peter Dear in Isis 84 (1993), 377–78: In many ways a book about D.'s Principles of Philosophy seen as the handbook of Cartesian physics glossed through other writings (especially The World). Discussion is set in chronological context (Chs. 1–2) on D.'s "vocation and project" and illuminated through the broad intellectual context of his ideas. Treats principally the nature of the body and of motion. Ch. 5 discusses D.'s arguments against atomists and his part in Pascal's Puy-de-Dôme experiment. Final 4 chapts. on motion and collision end with close consideration of the role of God. Influence of optics may indicate that "the tree of knowledge was built at least in part from the branches downward."
GAUKROGER, STEPHEN. "Descartes's Early Doctrine of Clear and Distinct Ideas." JHI 53 (1992), 585–602.
Argues that after 1628 D. transforms but does not abandon the doctrine of clear ideas.
GROSHOLZ, EMILY R. Cartesian Method and the Problem of Reduction. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1991.
Review: Michael S. Mahoney in Isis 84 (1993), 147–48: Seeks out inconsistenies/incoherences in systematization of mathematics, physics, physiology, and metaphysics: "While the order of reason dictates that the starting points explain the structure, the structure is needed to give meaning to the starting points . . . ." Quarreling with D. as a philosopher, he is given no slack. Reviewer would have seen, beyond the exposé of distortion, "some sense of what the clear picture would look like."
KEEVAK, MICHAEL. "Descartes's Dreams and Their Address for Philosophy." JHI 53 (1992), 373–396.
Examines the source of the diffuculty of interpreting D.'s dreams.
LAFOND, JEAN. "Descartes philosophe et écrivain." RPFE 1107 (1992), 421–438.
Using as a starting point P.-A. Cahné's thesis on Descartes' baroque world vision, Lafond examines the philosopher's knowledge of the uses and devices of literary language. Among his contemporaries, Guez de Balzac should be considered as one of the main sources of Descartes' reflection on style.
LAMPERT, LAURENCE. Nietzsche and Modern Times: A Study of Bacon, Descartes, and Nietzsche. New Haven: Yale UP, 1993.
MURDOCH, DUGALD. "Exclusion and Abstraction in Descartes' Metaphysics." PhQ 43 (1993), 38–57.
M.'s objective "is to bring to light a neglected distinction in D.'s philosophy, the distinction between abstraction and exclusion. Little attention has been devoted to this distinction," says M., mainly because "it does not feature prominently in any of D.'s philosophical works. Nevertheless it is," M. contends, "of crucial importance for a proper understanding of . . . [D.'s] argument for the real distinction between the mind and the body. Indeed," says M., "the concept of exclusion runs like a thread below the surface of several key arugments in the Meditations."
PALA, ALBERTO. Descartes e la sperimentalismo francese (1600–1650). Rome: Editori Riuniti, 1990.
Review: Martha Baldwin in Isis 84 (1993), 378–79: Departing from Le Noble, Pala seeks for the origin of French experimentalism in philological training (e.g. the new critical scepticism of a Peiresc) and in libertin scepticism (the critical and revolutionary attitude toward Aristotelianism of Gassendi, Mersenne). Direct evidence of the latter is wanting. Chooses to view D. as an experimentalist who was acutely conscious of the inadequacies of experiment for arriving at certainty and whose chief scientific achievement was his recognition of the negative limits of it (but neither is connected here to a philological or libertin influence.) "Remarkably disjointed" but "provacative" book.
RODIS-LEWIS, GENEVIEVE. "Doute pratique et doute spéculatif chez Montaigne et chez Descartes." RPFE 1107 (1992), 439–449.
A systematic comparison between Descartes and Montaigne in regard to their use of philosophical scepticism: "Montaigne ne cessait de rouler que pour s'endormir en une complète indifférence à la vérité, réservée à Dieu seul. Descartes, jusqu'à ses derniers jours, avance sur le chemin de la vérité. Il faisait confiance à ses successeurs pour enrichir la science à travers les siècles. Mais, à l'encontre de la prudence de Montaigne, toujours prêt à changer de guide, jamais il [Descartes] n'aurait prévu une nouvelle conception de la matière ou des lois du mouvement, parce qu'il en avait directement fonde les principes en Dieu."
SCHOULS, PETER A. Descartes and the Enlightenment. Kingston-Montreal: McGill/Queen's Univ. Press, 1989.
Review: A. McKenna in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 263–264: La thèse que la philosophie des Lumières dérive des principes de D. est une réduction contestable qui ne considère pas des influences importantes.
SHEA, WILLIAM R. The Magic of Numbers and Motion: The Scientific Career of René Descartes. Canton, MA: Science History Pubs., 1991.
Review: Michael S. Mahoney in Isis 84 (1993), 147–48: Much needed synthesis giving considerable attention to formative years of Jesuit education, studies with Beekman, and exploration into Rosecrucianism (yielding an accepted ethos of learning as well as the rejection of philosophical foundations — hence the "magic" of the title). Follows D. chronologically through a series of intellectual episodes leading to major scientific achievements in mathematics, optics, mechanics, cosmology, physiology. Does not sufficiently acknowledge problematics or polemics in interpretation and holds the Cartesian corpus to a standard of consistency that allows D. litte room to change his mind.
TREVISANI, FRANCESCO. Descartes in Germania. La ricezione del cartesianesimo nella Facoltà filosofica e medica di Duisburg (1652–1703). Milan: Franco Angeli, 1992.
VERBEEK, THEO. Descartes and the Dutch: Early Reactions to Cartesian Philosophy, 1637–1650. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1992.
Review: Daniel Garber in Isis 84 (1993), 576–77: Major contribution to understanding of the detailed dynamics of the crucial transformation from Aristotelianism to the new mechanist/mathematical philosophy by examining reception of D. in Dutch classrooms and university disputations. Concentrates on disputes in Utrecht and Leiden with considerable archival work. "Essential reading."
VIELLARD-BARON, JEAN-LOUIS. "L'Image de l'homme chez Descartes et chez le cardinal de Bérulle." RPFE 1107 (1992), 403–419.
The author examines how Bérulle and Descartes had different views on major philosophical issues, like the place of Man in nature and the psychology of will and passions: "Ainsi le système théocentrique de Bérulle offre une grand consistance théorique, bien qu'il ne soit pas à proprement parler philosophique. Mais il nous donne une image de l'homme dont l'unité est l'unité même de Dieu. Au contraire, l'humanisme de Descartes présente d'extrêmes difficultés du fait de son double foyer, l'homme d'une part et Dieu d'autre part". This dilemma will be solved partly by their heir and successor, Malebranche.
WOLF-DEVINE, C. Descartes on Seeing: Epistemology and Visual Perception. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993.
Looks at work in terms of its background in Aristotelian and later scholastic thought; from the Regulae through the later scientific writing, demonstrates continuity and break from tradition generated by use of different models. D. not utlimately successful in providing a completely mechanistic theory.
WOODHOUSE, R. S. Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz: The Concept of Substance in 17th-century Metaphysics. London: Routledge, 1993.
TOMLINSON, PHILIP, ed. Jean Desmarets (de Saint-Sorlin). Aspasie, comédie. Genève: Droz, 1992.
Review: C. Mazouer in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 579–580: A critical edition of the 1636 comedy associated with Richelieu's theater policies. Reviewer is skeptical of editor's allegorical reading of the play and desire to link it to Molière.
DETHON, GEORGES. La Vie de Gaston d'Orléans. Paris: Fallois, 1992.
Review: BCLF 562–63 (1992), 2029: "Le livre . . . est rigoureusement fondé sur les sources, ce dont témoignent des notes d'une exceptionnelle qualité."
CUENIN, MICHELINE. "Histoire et littérature dans les Mémoires de la Duchesse de Nemours." ELF 58 (1993), 153–63.
Article qui porte sur les qualités des mémoires de Marie d'Orléans — "pénétration politique, art du portrait, science narrative, maniement du suspense" — un document "fort apprécié des historiens."
CLIN-LALANDE, ANNE-MARIE, ed. Lettres amoureuses. Toulouse: Société des Littératures Classiques, 1990.
Review: Sergio Poli in SFr 104 (1991), 346–347: A "reproduction anastatique" of a little-known literary work pertaining to the genre of the "manuel de galanterie" in the guise of a collection of love letters. In her "dense and exhaustive" introduction, Clin-Lalande analyzes du Périer's baroque thematics, and the medieval sources of his "antifeminist" orientation.
ROGERS, HOYT and ROY ROSENSTEIN, eds. Poésies complètes. Genève: Droz, 1990.
Review: Robert T. Corum in FR 66 (1993), 128–29: Contains the Méditations (saved by Colletet), love poems, the well-known "Stances à l"Inconstance." Introductory essays on "les flammes et l'amour" (Rosenstein) and on "l'esthétique de l'inconstance" (Rogers). Scrupulous reproduction of poems with lucid and informative notes (that could have been expanded). Bonnefoy stresses the symbolism of the poetry that is seen to prefigure both Symbolism and Surrealism.
Review: A. Génetiot in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 887–889: L'oeuvre du poète ordinaire de Marie de Médicis. On regrette la minceur de l'annotation.
GREGORIO, LAURENCE A. The Pastoral Masquerade: Disguise and Identity in L'Astrée. Saratoga, CA: Anma Libri, 1992.
Review: E. Henein in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 541–542: Reviewer finds this a disappointing study: the conclusion is not closely linked to the body, the bibliography omits important studies, and key terms have not been well defined.
JÜRGENSEN, RENATE. Die deutschen Übersetzungen der "Astrée" des Honoré d'Urfé. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1990.
Review: A. Aurnhammer in Archiv 228 (1991), 441–443: Comprehensive and rich treatment of German translations of Astrée contributes extensively toward our knowledge of the reception of the oeuvre. Impressive bibliography based on over 500 European libraries.
KEVORKIAN, SERVIAS. Thématique de L'Astrée d'Honoré d'Urfé. Paris: Champion, 1991.
Review: M. Bertaud in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 891: Un choix de 40 thèmes, en ordre alphabétique, qui veut "aider les curieux à entrer dans cet univers" du roman, mais le travail souffre des erreurs et des analyses réductrices.
YON, BERNARD. "La Conversation dans L'Astrée, texte littéraire et art de vivre." DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 273–289.
Fait valoir la prééminence du langage et la place importante accordée à la conversation dans l'oeuvre.
CHIKHAOUI, TAHAR. "'L'Alcoran de Mahomet'. En mal de beauté, en quête de fidélité." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 131–146.
A study of André Du Ryer's ill-fated and often incorrect translation of the Koran published in 1642. In short, "L'Alcoran de Mahomet est une oeuvre équivoque. A la surface du texte, s'affiche le discours du mépris, sous la forme de clichés hérités du passé. Mais cet ensemble de formules évidentes, inertes à force d'être évidentes, est déjà menacé de l'intérieur par une ouverture, une disponibilité, un regard mêlé d'une douce fascination et d'un désir de (faire) connaître."
ROHOU, JEAN, ed. Pierre Du Ryer, Dynamis. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1992.
Review: J. Gaines in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 564–565: Critical edition of the tragicomedy, one of the first plays produced after the Fronde. Shedding interesting light on the ideology of royal authority, a "document of great interest for the history of early modern mentalities." Good annotation and glossing; introduction provides a detailed analysis of the action and structure of the play.
BERLAN, FRANÇOISE. "Fénelon traducteur et styliste: réécriture du chant V de l'Odyssée." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 19–52.
In 1693 and 1694, Fénelon prepared for the Duke of Burgundy the translation of the Odyssey's fifth canto. A close study of this unpublished work shows "identités troublantes" suggesting that Madame Dacier "disposait de la traduction de l'archevêque de Cambrai, pourtant alors inédite. Les adaptations, pour ne pas dire les recopiages, sont flagrants, corrigés seulement, quand il le faut, par les scrupules d'une bonne helléniste."
GABLE, A. T. "The Prince and the Mirror: Louis XIV, Fénelon, Royal Narcissism and the Legacy of Machiavelli." SCFS 15 (1993), 242–68.
Situates Télemaque in the mirror of Princes tradition. Outlines the reemergence of interest in Machiavelli in the 1680s — Amelot's new translation, Wicquefort, and Claude Fleurry's Réflexions, of which Fenelon's Dialogues des morts is an enactment. Useful précis of earlier Machiavellian tradition (the 16th and earlier 17th centuries).
HELMS, CHAD. "The Deserted Altar: Eucharistic Imagery in Selected Literary Works of Fénelon." SCFS 15 (1993), 269–78.
Throughout his literary corpus and correspondence F. shows belief in frequent participation in the sacraments reflecting his formation in Bétullian "immolation" and Salesian "mortification" by way of St. Sulpice. Presents letter of the duc de Bourgogne on his first communion as a miniature treatise on Fénelonian theology with its opposition to rigorists (like Arnauld).
ORCIBAL, J. et al., eds. Correspondance de Fénelon. Vols. X and XI. Genève: Droz, 1989.
Review: Benedetta Papàsogli in SFr 103 (1991), 134–135: These two volumes covering the period between June 1699 and December 1702 correspond to the most difficult years of Fénelon's existence. Most letters shed a new light on "affaires" and "chicanes" that plagued his everday existence. The editorial team's Commentaire contains scores of "precious and dense" philological and biographical observations. All in all, these volumes should help scholars define the notion of "retrait" and study thepractice of "direction spirituelle."
HAILLANT, MARGUERITE. "La tentation et la grâce dans le Télémaque (Livres II, IV, VI)." TraLit 5 (1992), 187–210:
Praiseworthy and thorough analysis of both temptation and grace in all their diversity. Here, as in her book Culture et imagination . . . (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1982–1983), H. demonstrated the allegorical nature of Télémaque and F.'s gift for teaching Christian faith and morals through mythology. Brings to bear numerous biblical passages and theological works which illuminate F.'s creative process, answers charges by F.'s critics and admirably examines F.'s génie in portraying "l'homme baroque du XVIIe siècle, dans toute sa complexité."
SELLIER, PHILIPPE. "Télémaque ou les aventures du cliché." ELF 58 (1993), 177–83.
S. cherche "à nuancer les jugements de valeur un peu sommaires que l'on porte fréquemment sur le cliché. Définition et illustration des fonctions du cliché dans l'écriture fénélonienne.
RONZEAUD, PIERRE, ed. La Terre australe connue (1676). Paris: STFM/Aux Amateurs de Livres, 1990.
Review: L. Leibacher-Ouvrard in RHL 92.6 (nov/déc 92), 1068–9: Une édition qui enrichit le corpus des utopies "classiques," avec une introduction substantielle et une bibliographie fournie.
NIDERST, ALAIN, Fontenelle. Paris: PUF, 1991.
Review: Ph. Hourcade in RHL 93.1 (jan/fév 93), 148–149: Une monographie complète et indispensable, qui part d'une interprétation un peu rigide, étant donné la perspective relativiste des historiens contemporains et l'esprit sceptique de Fontenelle lui-même.
Review: L. Leibacher-Ouvrard in OeC 17.1 (1992), 95–97: Biographie réussie "permettant à un large public de prendre mieux conscience du 'combat pour la lumière' auquel la vie de Fontenelle a été consacrée.
Review: P. Ronzeaud in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 301–302: Une biographie qui "prolonge et renouvelle notre connaissance d'une des figures les plus importantes de l'Aube des Lumières . . . un véritable panorama culturel de cette époque."
__________, éd. Oeuvres complètes. T. IV: Théâtre, 1678–1695. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1580: "Le tome IV des oeuvres complètes de Fontenelle est consacré à son oeuvre dramatique, la première partie seulement, car il fut toute sa vie un auteur de théâtre, peu reconnu à l'époque et encore bien moins aujourd'hui. Niderst rassemble ici les oeuvres écrites avant sa nomination comme secrétaire à l'Académie des sciences, à l'exclusion de deux tragédies (Laodamie, 1688, Brutus, 1690)."
Review: P. Hourcade in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 558–559: The first of two volumes on theatre, contains four operas, three pastoral works, one comedy, and a prologue based on the 1751–1761 edition. Reviewer points to the absence of an up-to-date bibliography of F.'s works.
__________, éd., éd. Oeuvres complètes. Vols I and II. Paris: Fayard, 1990 and 1991.
Review: P. Hourcade in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 263–264: Two of eight volumes planned. Based on the last edition reviewed by the author, the series presents works chronologically and offers an exhaustive and up-to-date bibliography. Edition affords for the first time an overall view of the author.
________. Oeuvres complètes. Vols. I and III. Paris: Fayard, 1990 and 1989.
Review: Corrado Rosso in SFr 104 (1991), 357: "This initiative will give an easier access to Fontenelle's writings that cannot be found in good modern editions."
SUMBERG, THEODORE A. "Fontenelle's Many Worlds." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 223–235.
The popularization of science and philosophy and the identification of women as appropriate pupils are traced from Descartes to F.
VIALET, MICHELE. Triomphe de l'iconoclaste: Le Roman bourgeois et les lois de cohérence romanesque. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 41 (1989).
Review: R. Howells in MLR 87 (1992), 990–91: "This study exhibits something of the eclecticism and the uncertain direction, if not the incohérence, of the Roman bourgeois itself. The bibliography is impressive, and its third section, along with the introduction, provides a useful guide on Furetière's work."
Review: G. Penzkofer in RF 104 (1992), 226–227: According to V., F.'s novel needs no defense in the area of unity, indeed the chaos of the narrative structure is a conscious narrative strategy. Numerous modern theoreticians such as Bakhtin, Bataille, Freud, Kristeva, Lyotard, etc. support V.'s inspirational analysis.
WOLFE, PHILLIP. "L'art de la polémique dans les 'Factums' de Furetière." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 133–140.
Discours sur l'exercice du pouvoir, publiés aprés l'expulsion de F. de l'Académie française.
BIAGIOLI, MARIO. Galileo Courtier: The Practice of Science in the Culture of Absolutism. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1993.
GODARD DE DONVILLE, LOUISE. Le Libertin des origines à 1665: un portrait des apologètes. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 51 (1989).
Review: E. James in MLR 87 (1992), 984–85: Work is "a detailed analysis of La Doctrine curieuse des beaux esprits de ce temps (1623) by François Garasse, SJ with special regard to his conception of 'le libertin'."
LENNON, THOMAS. The Battle of the Gods and the Giants: The Legacies of Descartes and Gassendi, 1655–1715. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.
MURR, SYLVIA and GENEVIEVE STEFANI, eds. François Bernier, Abrégé de la philosophie de Gassendi. 7 vols. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Review: Roger-Pol Droit in Le Monde (11 Dec. 1992), 37: The essentials of G.'s logic, physics, and ethics, allows for an overview. The fidelity of Bernier adaption of G.'s text has yet to be established. Text has no annotation. Reviewer meditates on the ambiguities or multiple personalities of G. "ancien et moderne."
BULL, HEDLEY, BENEDICT KINSBURY, ADAM ROBERTS, eds. Hugo Grotius and International Relations. Oxford: Clarendon, 1990.
Review: Willem Frijoff in Annales ESC 47 (1992), 1233–34: Oxford conference papers (1983) analyzing G.'s place in theorizing international relations and an ensuing tradition more or less independent of G. and the De jure . . . (1625). No longer held to be the father/founder of international law, the very significance of natural law for G. now seems obscure and jus gentium in fact minimally helpful. Important introduction by Bull on the history of G.'s reception in international law. "Exemple typique d'un intellectuel en politique."
DELOFFRE, FREDERIC, ed. Lettres portugaises suivies de Guilleragues par lui-même. Paris: Gallimard, 1990.
Review: A. Blanc in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 892–893: "Un des meilleurs ouvrages de la collection Folio;" avec une introduction précise et riche.
MALQUORI FONDI, GENEVIEVE. "Les Brutte infedeli ou des traductions italiennes des Lettres Portugaises." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 277–297.
A study of the six Italian translations of the Lettres Portugaises published from 1682 to 1980. Calling them "ugly infidels," Malquori Fondi deplores their poor quality and weaknesses, but they have "le mérite de souligner encore une fois l'originalité du style de Guilleragues."
MOUSNIER, ROLAND. L'Assassinat d'Henri IV, 14 mai 1610. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1743: Oeuvre rééditée qui comporte "une partie théologique assez délicate. Mais aussi une magistrale étude des grands problèmes du règne d'Henri IV, et surtout des Etats généraux de 1614." On regrette "la petitesse du caractère typographique . . . ."
HILGAR, MARIE-FRANCE. "Théorie et pratique de la tragédie dans l'oeuvre de Houdar de Lamotte." Littératures classiques 16 (printemps 1992), 259–67.
H. caractérise Antoine Houdar de Lamotte comme un "théoricien aventureux" mais un "novateur timoré." Tout en soulignant les inconséquences du théoricien, H. montre la part d'originalité que les tragédies du dramaturge renferment.
BURY, EMMANUEL. "Bien écrire ou bien traduire: Pierre-Daniel Huet théoricien de la traduction." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 251–260.
A study of Pierre-Daniel Huet's De Interpretatione, a treatise criticizing systematically d'Ablancourt's views on translation. For Huet, "une bonne traduction n'est pas forcément un bon livre, car c'est le 'caractère' de l'original qui doit l'emporter, quitte à nuire à l'élégance du français."
PALACIO, ERIC. "Le Boire et le manger dans Les Caractères de La Bruyere." AJFS 30.1 (1993) 3–17.
Etude intéressante qui développe ". . . le lien étroit qui unit l'acte de manger au reste des activitiés humaines."
VAN DELFT, LOUIS. "La Bruyère et Nietzsche." ELF 58 (1993), 185–96.
Ce rapprochementde Nietzsche-La Bruyère "est en fait l'occasion d'une opportune remise en question. Non point tant de l'histoire littéraire que de nos tranquilles certitudes en matière de morale."
GANIM, RUSSELL J. "More than a Reasonable Facsimile." Continuum 5 (1993) 225–228.
A review article of Y. Quenot's edition of Jean de La Ceppède's Les Théorèmes sur le sacré mystère de nostre redemption (Paris: STFM, 1988). While praising this first critical edition together with its lexicon and bibliography, G. finds that Quenot ". . . reads around La Ceppède's work, not into it, valuing the extrinsic over the intrinsic without providing sufficient justification."
QUENOT, YVETTE, éd. Les Théorèmes sur le sacré mystère de nostre rédemption. Paris: STFM, 1988.
Review: See Ganim above.
BOIXAREU, MERCEDES. Du "savoir d'amour" au "dire d'amour". Fonction de la narration et du dialogue dans La Princesse de Clèves de Madame de Lafayette. Paris: Minard, 1989.
Review: Marinette Pendola in SFr 104 (1991), 356: "L'oeuvre est marquée par deux grands mouvements thématiques: le premier, le 'savoir d'amour' est une acquisition progressive de la part de l'héroïne du sentiment d'amour dont la prise de conscience passe d'abord par une confrontation à ses propres réactions. Le deuxième est le 'dire d'amour' et ses différentes manifestations en paroles dont l'importance s'exprime dans les aveux." The reviewer summarizes the book without judgment.
CARTMILL, CONSTANCE. "Conversations insupportables: les lieux énonciatifs de La Princesse de Clèves." PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 435–446.
Studies the process of communication in the novel using a cybernetic model. Sees the princess's sincerity and frankness, her avoidance of dialogue and final solitude as the refusal to play the social and political games of a world dominated by men.
CAVE, TERENCE, trans The Princess of Clèves and The Princess of Montpensier and The Countess of Tende. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992.
Review: Peter France in TLS 4683 (1 Jan., 1993), "Well-judged" introduction and notes are aimed towards a student readership with a biblio of "quite complex essays in French." Accuracy is provided, "reflecting a close knowledge of nuances of 17th-century French usage and culture." Recreates L.'s syntax. By contrast, Robin Buss's recent translation (Penguin, 1992) is lightly annotated and sometimes "falls into infelicities."
COLOMBAT, ANDRE P. "La Princesse de Clèves et l'épouvantable vérité du désir." PFSCL 33 (1990), 517–529.
Studies the struggle between "le désir individuel et l'ordre de la reconnaissance sociale qu'il met en scène . . . ." Places the novel in the tradition of Pascal and Saint Augustine where love explodes through the bounds of reason.
DENS, JEAN-PIERRE. "La Princess de Clèves: vérité romanesque et discours mondain." ELF 58 (1993), 35–42.
"Malgré le fait qu'à partir des années 1660 le texte narratif commence à s'écarter des productions antérieures par le biais de la nouvelle dite 'historique', La Princesse de Clèves n'a pas échappé aux reproches des partisans du vraisemblance réunis sous l'enseigne de ce qu'on a appelé la critique mondaine. La dichotomie entre ce que le texte dit ou cherche à dire et ce qu'on 'veut' lui faire dire est l'un des aspects les plus troublants de la réception du roman de Mme de Lafayette. Mon propos sera d'examiner cette problématique selon un double axe: l'axe interne ou vertical — ce que le roman dit; et l'axe externe, qui s'identifie à la perception du roman par le public et les critiques de l'époque."
DUCHENE, ROGER, ed. Oeuvres complètes. Paris: Editions François Bourin, 1990.
Review: C. Chantalat in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 893–894: Un solide et fort utile travail d'édition.
HENRY, PATRICK, ed. An Inimitable Example: The Case for the Princesse d Clèves. Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1992.
Review: J. Warwick in Choice 30 (1993), 1318: Some of the material collected in this volume having been previously published, ". . . the main value of this compilation" in W.'s view "is in the convenient accessibility of the varied studies. A brief introduction outlines salient reactions to the novel . . .; a brief epilogue comments on the 12 contributions . . . . A general index facilitates conference with 17th-century critics as well as more recent ones; a thematic index facilitates cross-reference to those features of the novel that are discussed by different contributors. Little is said about the role of history in this historic novel." "Well-chosen, suggestive bibliography."
KREITER, JANINE A. "Function singulière de deux actants des récits de Madame de Lafayette." SCFS 15 (1993), 231–42.
Subtle analysis of the differential qualifiers given by narrative uniquely to the Prince de Clèves and Félime (Zaïde).
MCGUIRE, JAMES R. "La Princess de Clèves dénouant La Princesse de Clèves." FR 66 (1993), 381–93.
The mutation of morality operated with the Princesse's "refus" is unrepresentable, literally "inimitable," because without codes, "hors de la narration." Fine analysis with a convincing argument for not Christianizing the dénouement.
MAYER, DENISE. Une Amitié parisienne au grand siècle: Mme de Lafayette et Mme de Sévgné (1648–1693). PFSCL/Biblio 17, 57 (1990).
Review: Janis L. Pallister in SCN 51.1–2 (1993), 25: "Texts from the letters of Mme de Sévigné, from the correspondence of Mme de Lafayette, as well as new archival materials, are woven together here in an effort to disengage the depth and nature of the longstanding friendship" that united them. The author succeeds in showing the complex and profound influence they exerted over each other. She also solves dating questions, and gives new insights on Mme de Lafayette's conversion.
Review: R. W. Redhead in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 311–313: A chronological record of correspondence which provides a colorful journal of events in the lives of the two authors and in the society which surrounded them.
Review: E. Woodrough in MLR 88 (1993) 203–05: Juxtaposition of the letters of Lafayette and Sévigné in four chronological stages reveals lives and times of the two writers.
MESNARD, JEAN. "La Couleur du passé dans La Princesse de Clèves." ELF 58 (1993), 43–51.
M. met en question le lieu commun critique qui dit que Mme de Lafayette dans La Princess de Clèves dépeint en réalité la cour de Louis XIV, non celle des Valois. Selon l'auteur, "non seulement cette vue ne s'impose pas, mais elle s'attache toujours à produire une sensation d'éloignement. Son oeuvre acquiert ainsi une couleur particulière, celle d'un passé qui enveloppe les êtres et les choses, leur prêtant dignité et poésie, et contribuant à parfaire le climat moral et esthétique du roman."
NIDERST, ALAIN, ed. Madame de La Fayette: Romans et nouvelles. Paris: Bordas, 1989.
Review: Corrado Rosso in SFr 104 (1991), 356–357: The reviewer, praising the "precise and exhaustive erudition" of the editor, recommends "this elegant volume" which "is a little but complete general survey of the complex issues" raised by the interpretation of Madame de La Fayette's works.
PAULSON, MICHAEL. "The Name of the Game and the Game of the Name in La Princesse de Clèves." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 73–83.
The absence of characters' first names in the novel suggests the importance of their social function, i.e., title, as opposed to an individual identity. Given names feature only in descriptions of historical figures, including Diane de Poitiers.
REDHEAD, RUTH WILLARD. "Images of Conflict in the Fictional Works of Mme de Lafayette." PFSCL 33 (1990), 481–516.
Imagery of light and obscurity, heat and cold, colors, abyss and elevation, and folly and reason. Imagery contributes to the concision of the works.
________. Themes and Images in the Fictional Works of Madame de Lafayette. New York: Peter Lang, 1990.
Review: C. Chantalat in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 893–894: Les grands thèmes récurrents du drame moral et psychologique: le masque, les clôtures, la tension desconflits violents; l'analyse, sinon pas toujours neuve, est fondée sur une étude attentive du vocabulaire.
Review: J.-P. Dens in CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 267–268: Une étude qui signale l'importance de l'éclat et le problème de la communication entre les personnages, et qui relève des questions méritant une considération plus profonde.
Review: E. Woodrough in MLR 88 (1993), 203–205: Thematic approach (mask/unmasking, absence/presence, sincerity, communication) yields "many interesting and detailed insights into the individual texts" despite some lack of organisation/presentation.
VENESOEN, CONSTANT. "Humour et ironie dans La Princesse de Clèves." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 53–71.
L'humour du roman se trouve dans les situations ou des traits caractériels sontdessinés ironiquement par l'auteur.
CAMPION, EDMUND J. "Convention and Originality: La Fontaine's Four Elegies." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 163–173.
The Roman love elegy, itself a parody of oratorical discourse, is imaginatively reworked by L. in four little-known poems of 1671.
COLLINET, JEAN-PIERRE. "La Cigale et le Hérisson." Littératures Classiques 12 (1990), 225–233.
A stylistic analysis of La Fontaine's bestiary. Trying to answer the question "qui parle dans les Fables?", Collinet studies the subtle balance between the narrator's discourse and the animal characters's speech.
__________. La Fontaine et quelques autres. Geneva: Droz, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1610–11: "Ce recueil d'articles, publiés de 1979 à 1991 dans des revues diverses et dans des Mélanges offerts à des universitaires prestigieux, atteste du renom international de J.-P. Collinet, grand spécialiste de La Fontaine . . . ."
Review: P. Force in RR 84.2 (Mar 93), 221–222: Un recueil d'études publiées dans diverses revues entre 1979 et 1990, avec plusieurs explications de texte; deux "beaux articles, l'un sur le temps et son expression poétique, l'autre sur le sommeil et les songes."
Review: M. Gutwirth in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 216–217: Some twenty studies previously published but gathered here and dealing with sources; fables and tales; genres, themes, and sources of inspiration; and imitators and successors. Reviewer lauds in C. the "finesse de ses aperçus et . . . l'ampleur de ses connaissances."
Review: Hermann Linder in ZFSL 103 (1993), 47–48: Collection of 20 papers, 1979–90, arranged by topic: earlier fable traditions (including the neo-Latin); metacommentary ("contes" as well as fables) and themes (love, kings, sleep and dreaming); reception in 18th and 19th centuries. C.'s enormously informed readings are seen to be similar to those of Stendhal that he describes. Findings of recent research are not expected to be found here.
DANDREY, PATRICK. La Fabrique des Fables; Essai sur la poétique de La Fontaine. Paris: Klincksieck, 1991.
Review: J.-P. Collinet in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 1993), 261–263: Une analyse avec de fines explications de texte et une étude originale du bestiaire des Fables; un instrument de travail utile.
Review: P. Force in RR 84.2 (Mar 93), 221–222: D'après D., la tendance au laconisme et la tendance à l'ornement font de la fable et apologue et conte, et sa poétique relève de la "concision ornée."
Review: M. Slater in FS 47.1 (1993), 72–73: Excellent analysis with fresh insights into the richness of La Fontaine's work.
Review: M.-O. Sweetser in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 223–225: According to the reviewer, a study of very high quality: "Son mérite essentiel consiste à avoir voulu comprendre et faire comprendre à ses lecteurs comment La Fontaine s'est montré poète en transformant pour la première fois un genre didactique, la fable, en poèsie, à l'encontre de ses prédécesseurs et d'un contemporain, Patru."
DROST, WOLFGANG. Jean de La Fontaine dans l'univers des arts. Richesses inconnues et inédites du Musée de La Fontaine à Château-Thierry. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1991.
Review: Z. Youssef in PSFCL 20, 38 (1993), 229–231: The poet's home as museum: history of the building, the poet's success in the decorative arts, his relation to painting from the 17th to the 19th centuries, influence on ceramics and interior decoration, and illustrations of the poet's work. Bibliography and list of works on the artists mentioned.
GUTWIRTH, MARCEL. "'De quoi faire à Margot, pour sa fête, un bouquet': l'avatar lafontainien du lieu amène." CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 31–39.
Le poème de L. sert de programme de visite pour le jardin idyllique.
JEANNERET, MICHEL, and STEFAN SCHOETTKE, eds. Les Amours de Psyché. Paris: Librairie générale française, 1991.
Review: M. Slater in MLR 88 (1993), 465: Welcome and affordable critical edition of La Fontaine's only novel. "This book compares favourably with the major critical editions; it complements Régnier's more specialized G.E.F. edition of 1892; it is frankly much fuller and more informative than Clarac's Pléiade edition of 1942."
RONZEAUD, PIERRE, ed. La Fontaine, Fables (livres VII à XII). Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.
Review: J. Cairncross in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 566–567: Five studies: the poetic lie, the dualism of fiction and wisdom, the role of animals, political ideas, and the role of tales in the genesis of the fables.
RUBIN, DAVID LEE. A Pact with Silence: Art and Thought in the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1991.
Review: Richard Danner in P&L 17 (1993), 167–69: "In this well-conceived, persuasively argued study, R. addresses these fundamental questions: What are fables, and how did LF enrich the genre? To what extent are his Fables informed by the thinking of . . . Lucretius? How is a representative grouping of fables [Book 11] structured? Is LF's poetic accomplishment a remarkable but isolated phenomenon, or are there connections between his art and the lyrical expression of his age [as illustrated by baroque poets and by Boileau]?" "R. finds that 'LF's fables . . . recapitulate the main features of their double [Aesopic and Indic] heritage, while also striking off in bold new directions' . . . ." The critic "makes clear that . . . [LF's] Epicureanism has original elements." Studying Book 11, R. examines "predominant modalities' in eleven categories . . . ." The conclusion argues that LF is not a "literary isolate." The book is described by D. as an "illuminating study" and "an accessibly erudite work . . . ."
Review: P. Force in RR 84.2 (Mar 93), 221–222: R. rejette les définitions traditionelles de la fable, dont les caractéristiques sont plutôt la clôture, la clarté et la monomodalité.
Review: M. Slater in FS 47.1 (1993), 73: Illuminating discussions of three topics of interest to specialists: the definition of a fable, La Fontaine's debt to Lucretius and the architecture of the 'Fables.'"
Review: Hermann Linder in ZFSL 103 (1993), 48–50: Finds topology of fables judicious and subtle preparation for the philosophical analysis that makes dialogue with Lucretius central to the entirety of the Fables. The influence of Lucretius has been long seen but the originality of this study is its forceful extension to philosophical prominence.
Review: Marie-Odile Sweetser in FR 66 (1993), 1005–7: Very favorable to "vues neuves et suggestives" leading to "une complète réévaluation du genre." Compares initially the Indian and Esopian fables with LF's particular writing of fables: lyric and problematic. Dense presentation of rhetorical strategies (allegory, irony) is followed (ch. 2) by examination of LF's Lucretian thought — Dispositio (ch. 3) analyzes rhetorically Book XI. The "brilliant" conclusion replaces the Fables in the history of 17th-c. poetry.
Review: Michael Vincent in VQR 69 (1993), 173–79: "Critical work on Aesopic writing, genre theory, and 17th-century poetry and poetics must now take account of R.'s sometimes provocative, always lucid treatment of LF and his place in 17th-century letters . . . . The first essay is a highly original formal reappraisal of the fable genre with special respect to LF's contributions to it. The second . . . establishes LF's place as the disciple and successor of Lucretius . . . . The third essay addresses the most perplexing problem remaining for L Fontainian scholarship, namely the disposition of individual fables within books of fables. The conclusion revises a number of recieved notions by situating LF with respect to his baroque predecessors and his contemporary Boileau." V. describes the book as "a model of clarity, concision, and elegance." Comparing this work to R.'s other books on 17th-century poetry, V. finds that it has "the same detailed scholarship and clearly enunciated methodology within a broad and compelling literary vision."
_________. "Form and Force in La Fontaine's Fables XI." ELF 58 (1993), 235–53.
"The present essay, on the finale of La Fontaine's 1678–79 edition, pursues and refines yet another approach [to the structural unity of the Fables], already advanced and modified in discussion of Book 7 (Rubin, 'Triple Calculus' and A Pact with Silence, 3). In brief, this line of inquiry seeks the formal and thematic norm for the individual book; the degree of each fable's participation in the norm; and the distribution pattern of fables, individually, or, more commonly, in groups, as they tend toward or away from the norm."
STEFENELLI, ARNULF. Lexikalische Archaismen in den Fabeln von La Fontaine. Lexikologische Bestandsaufnahme. Distribution und Funktion. Wortgeschichtliches Fortwirken. Passau: Andreas-Haller, 1987.
Review: Barbara v. Gemmingen in ZFSL 103 (1993), 208–9: Praise for rigorous and clear treatment of designation (using Richelet) of forms, meanings, phrases that may be designated diachronically as archaisms leading to a table of 280. Examination of distribution and function through the Fables indicates esthetics of this element (pastiche, e.g.). Finally considers the lexicological reaction to this line of "Fable-speak."
SWEETSER, MARIE-ODILE. "Pour une lecture allégorique de Clymène comme art poétique." FLS 18 (1991), 1–12.
La "comédie" publiée en 1671, représente le poète par rapport à Apollon et aux Muses, et fait de l'héroine une muse allégorique d'un nouveau genre.
_________. "Une fugue à trois voix: Joconde." Littératures Classiques 12 (1990), 213–224:
An analysis of La Fontaine's Joconde. Sweetser shows that the poet, using clever shifts in narrative points of view, transforms a traditional story on women's infidelity into a subtle "nouvelle à la fois subversive et exemplaire, illustrant le moyen de parvenir à l'harmonie en ménage."
VINCENT, MICHAEL. Figures of te Text, Reading and Writing (in) La Fontaine. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1992.
Review: P. Force in RR 84.2 (Mar 93), 221–222: V. examine la logique des figures de la lecture et de l'écriture, et voit là-dedans "une mise en scène d'un problème fondamental analysé par Derrida: celui du rapport de l'oral et de l'écrit."
Review: Hermann Linder in ZFSL 103 (1993), 210–12: Allegorization of reading is seen as a fruitful technique in constructing both an historic reader in the text and an ahistoric reader constructed by the text. With V.'s mastery of the material, reviewer regrets that he did not extend his examination to include additional perspectives only suggested in the book.
Review: E. Pósfay in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 587–588: A study of "intertextual play" revealing themes of reading and writing. Despite a certain post-structuralist jargon, a very worthy study that points to the importance of irony and duplicity in La F.'s works.
MARCHALL, ROGER. Madame de Lambert et son milieu. Oxford: SVEC, 1991.
Review: BCLF 562–63 (1992), 1825: Ouvrage dense et exhaustif sur Anne Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles, marquise de Lambert (1647–1733), "une personnalité capitale qui permet d'apprécier l'évolution intellectuelle de la fin du XVIIe au début du XVIIIe siècle . . . ." Bibliographie, index thématique.
GRANDEROUTE, ROBERT, ed. Oeuvres. Paris: Champion, 1990.
Review: J. Geffriaud Rosso in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 895: Une heureuse initiative de rééditer l'ami de Fontenelle; la biographie et l'annotation riche en font un ouvrage de référence.
PLAISANCE, DANIEL. "Un Nouvel inédit de Jean Corbinelli: 'Remarques sur plusieurs réflexions de Monsieur le Duc de La Rochefoucault.'" PFSCL 33 (1990), 563–572.
Argues that Corbinelli is indeed the author of the recently discovered manuscript.
RIGGS, LARRY W. "Moralism in a Constructed World: La Rochefoucauld's Semiotics of the Empty Center." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 119–131.
The Maximes reflect the primacy of motive and social performance in the interpretation of meaning.
ROHOU, JEAN, ed. La Rochefoucauld, Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes morales. Paris: Librairie Générale Française, 1991.
Review: M. Bouvier in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 268–272: This "Livre de poche classique" presents the text as established by the Truchet and Lafond editions. Includes long introduction, notes, glossary, and index. The edition's low cost just might explain its many errors.
TOFFANO, PIERO. La Figura dell'antitesi nelle massime di La Rochefoucauld. Fasano di Publia: Schena, 1989.
Review: Corrado Rosso in SFr 104 (1991), 355: Using a psychoanalytic approach, Toffano stresses "the structural importance of antithesis in La Rochefoucauld's system." For Rosso, if the appreciation of Maximes seems facilitated by that emphasis on the 'vertu explicative' of antithesis, such an exclusive and one-sided interpretation does not resist any serious critical examination since in literary criticism, there cannot be "any single golden key opening all doors."
ROSENBERG, PIERRE et MARINA MAJANA. Georges de La Tour. Catalogue complet des peintures. Paris: Bordas, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1763: "Après les quarante-six oeuvres répertoriées, on a rassemblé dix-sept peintures ou gravures réalisées d'après des originaux perdus, ainsi qu'une liste des originaux entièrement perdus. L'ouvrage est complété par une biographie rapide de La Tour."
THUILLIER, JACQUES. Georges de La Tour. Paris: Flammarion, 1992.
Review: Marc Le Bot in QL (16–31 déc. 1992), 20: The book is called "un ouvrage superbe, monumental . . . ." L. says that the study "est bien digne d'un peintre dont cet auteur [T.] aura été le premier à dire toute l'importance et le rôle de premier plan dans l'histoire de notre culture classique." Moreover, notes L., the book is "tout nourri . . . de la plus sûre érudition . . . ."
PARKINSON, G.H.R., trans and ed. De Summa rerum: Metaphysical Papers, 1675–76. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992.
Review: Steven Nadler in Isis 84 (1993), 577–78: Facing Latin and good English trans. of papers of important Parisian period during which L. becomes acquainted with Arnauld and Malebranche as well as Cartesianism. Introduction relates papers to later doctrines and context of development from this first systematic moment. This first volume in new series, enthusiastically greeted, will doubtless be the standard text for specialists and students of early modern philosophy and science.
PIERRE DE L'ESTOILE, Mémoires-journaux: 1574–1611. Paris: Tallandier, 1990.
Review: Joël Cornette in RdS 113:1–2 (janv.-juin 1992), 247–248: This reprint is "la reproduction anastatique intégrale de la grand édition du journal de Pierre de L'Estoile, publiée de 1875 à 1899 par la librairie des Bibliophiles, puis par la librairie Alphonse Lemerre". This highly valuable and magnificent edition "constitue un document unique et irremplaçable sur 'l'opinion publique' à Paris lors d'une des périodes les plus troublées de l'histoire politique de l'Etat moderne".
MCGOWAN, MARGARET. "Pierre de l'Estoile: Amateur Collector of Medals and Coins." SCFS 15 (1993), 115–27.
Examines the Mémoires-Journaux of the "homme de parlement" as an indicator of the intellectual life of the early century. The collection is viewed as a treasurehouse of knowledge contributing to the resurrection and reconstruction of the past. Scorn for lesser, material views of collecting are amusingly cited. Ground-breaking essay and valuable model for further research.
YOLTON, JOHN. A Locke Dictionary. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
ABRAHAM, CLAUDE. "The Medals of Louis XIV: Rewriting History." ELF 58 (1993), 199–208.
"What is less well known, in spite of scholars such as Louis Marin and Jean-Marie Apostolidès, is the extent to which Louis XIV used the arts to 'write' that history [of his reign] and — equally interesting — how, as his reign underwent major alterations, he ordered that history be rewritten to reflect those changes. I propose to study this process in one small but vital domain of art, that of the medal."
BURKE, PETER. The Fabrication of Louis XIV. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992.
Review: Anon. in VQR 69 (1993), 9: "In this book, B. chronicles the multimedia construction of Louis XIV's royal image. He offers a massively erudite collection of facts disposed into an admirably clear narrative . . . . Its primary weakness it shares with many works under the heading 'early modern cultural studies' which, faced with a crushing quantity of material, awe the reader with demonstrations of the complexity of history but frequently fail to advance clear theses of their own." The reviewer notes that "B.'s scope is so broad, however, and his knowledge so deep, . . ." that in this case it would have been hard to proceed differently — i.e., by developing a thesis. The reviewer calls the book "an interdisciplinary ice breaker."
Review: D. C. Baxter in Choice 30 (1993), 858: In this book B. treats "the French government's conscious shaping of the public image of the Sun King through literature, the arts, ritual, and spectacle." According to the reviewer, this "work presents a comprehensive, general account of the components of Louis XIV's public image, its development, its intended audience, and its impact. Perhaps the most tantalizing is B.'s last chapter comparing the 'packaging'of today's rulers. Eschewing jargon, B. presents a fascinating interpretation of the 'selling of Louis XIV' that should appeal to a wide audience concerned with the broad connection between art and power and the manipulation of public opinion."
Review: C. Frank in Burlington Magazine 135 (1993), 221–223: Reviewer finds little in this study of the "selling" of the ruler that is new.
DEON, MICHEL. Louis XIV par lui-même. Paris: Gallimard, 1991.
Review: BCLF 554 (1992), 377: D. "présente Louis XIV en puisant dans les Mémoires et dans l'abondante correspondance de celui-ci." On regrette qui l'auteur n'ait pas mentionné la biographie de Labatut, Louis XIV, roi de gloire (1984).
RODIS-LEWIS, G., ed. Oeuvres, t.2. Edition, notices, notes et bibliographie, Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
Review: J.-L. Solère in RSH 230 (1993), 202–03: ". . . prenant pour base le texte des dernières éditions parues du vivant de M. (l'orthographe est modernisée), . . . [cette édition] ne signale que les variantes significatives, qui laissent percevoir l'évolution de la pensée de l'Oratorien. En revanche de nombreuses et érudites notes livrent une foule d'informations sur les sources patristiques et philosophiques de l'auteur, et sur le contexte. Chaque oeuvre est présentée par une notice très précise (donnée en fin de volume). L'ensemble est complété par un index des noms propres et un index des citations bibliques pour les deux tomes." S. finds R.'s edition "très soignée" and "un indispensable outil de travail."
LOBBES, LOUIS, ed. La Guisade. Genève: Droz, 1990.
Review: Oliver Millet in BSHPF 139 (1993), 312–13: Correct text and introduction informative on career of Henri IV's historian as playwright and especially the historical and ideological significance of this tragi-comédie (1589), which represents Guise as a true martyr and Henri III as responsible for his future assassination.
ALBANESE, RALPH, JR. Molière à l'école républicaine. De la critique universitaire aux manuels scolaires (1870–1914). Stanford, CA: Anma Libri, 1991.
Review: Christopher Smith in JES 23 (1993), 365–66: A.'s approach to this "intriguing subject" is called "well-informed and informative, interesting and revealing, even if not entirely persuasive." ". . . The French state educational system pressed . . . [M] into the service of a policy that, in the words of the Instructions officielles of 1890, sought above all in literary studies 'une leçon de choses morales' presented by 'des écrivains de génie.' The consequence was certain distortions." S. finds that "A . . . presents his arguements with a wealth of detail. Rather more information on schoolroom practices would have been welcome, . . ." says the reviewer, "and so would more comparisons with other authors admitted to the republican canon, but there will be few concerned either with the teaching of French classical drama or with the history of France in the ninteenth century who do not find a great deal of interest in this book."
________. "Molière: aux matinées classiques: réflexions sur de discours scolaire républicain." ELF 58 (1993), 95–104
"Divertissements à la fois mondains et scolaires, les matinées classiques ont servi, de tout évidence, à assigner des finalités pédagogiques aux représentations théâtrales, à opérer en quelque sorte une mise en scène scolaire des textes canoniques. Plus précisément, elles ont valorisé le statut privilégié de Molière comme classique scolaire, et même comme 'saint laïque' au sein de l'Ecole républicaine."
AULD, LOUIS E. "Une Rivalité sournoise: Molière contre Pierre Perrin," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. V. Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991),(1991), 123–137.
Views Monsieur Jourdain's song, "Je croyois Janeton," as a satire of Perrin, the co-founder of French opera and, as such, a major rival of M.
BEHDAD, ALI. "The Oriental(ist) Encounter: The Politics of turquerie in Molière." ECr 32 (1992), 37–49.
Investigates Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and the Nov. 1669 visit of the Turkish ambassador to the court arguing that the relationship "unveils a complex system of exchange between different social institutions in 17th c. France." The comedy is "self-reflexive"; the mimicry of the Oriental is accompanied by a "reaffirmation of the West;" M.'s play is a "productive cultural site that . . . reaffirmed the nascent Empire's interest in the other, thus contributing to the emergence of Orientalism as a critical discourse of colonizing power."
BOUCQUET, THEIRRY. Mirages de la farce: fête des fous, Bruegel et Molière. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1991.
Review: Léonard Rosmarin in FR 66 (1993), 491–92: Chapter 4 focuses Molière in terms of a traditional theatrical universe, a "régime discursif chiasmique de folie raisonnable/raison affolée" centering on Amphitryon and Le Malade imaginaire. "Cette analyse paraît la plus percutante du livre . . . d'une haute qualité intellectuelle."
BOURQUI, CLAUDE. Polémique et stratégies dans le Dom Juan de Molière. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 69, (1992).
Review: J. Cairncross in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 519–520: An excellent study that views the play above all as "une oeuvre polémique et une machine à offenser." Reviewer, however, takes issue with the classification of Don Juan among the "petits marquis fats et snobs."
Review: Patrick Dandrey in DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 412–14: Analyse bien menée mais néanmoins peu originale d'un sujet traditionel, notemment, la signification de Dom Juan.
Review: C. Delmas in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 260–261: Un livre incisif, mais limité par la partialité et la réduction.
Review: J. Emelina in IL 45.3 (mai/juin 93), 45–46: Une étude bien argumentée et stimulante, qui soutient la thèse que Dom Juan est une "oeuvre de combat" contre le parti dévot; l'interprétation est parfois contestable.
CALDER, ANDREW. Molière: The Theory and Practice of Comedy. London: Athlone, 1993.
Review: P. Koch in Choice 30 (1993), 1631: "By theory, C. . . . has in mind the opinions — Classical, Renaissance, and contemporary — available to a writer in the later 17th century . . .; by practice, the use M. made of such opinions in his comedies. This theory-practice nexus is examined first in relation to 'dramatic forms,' such as plot, character, and then to the 'subject matter,' or thematic elements . . . — always with an eye to identifying M.'s original, personal stamp. Although well-chosen examples invariaby support C.'s commentary," says K., "they are not exhaustive, nor can they be given the study's brevity." The only plays receiving extensive commentary are Tartuffe and Dom Juan. "Written with erudition, enthusiasm, and affection," according to K. "This study serves to introduce the uninitiated reader to the Molièresque world, at the same time it illustrates well a critical approach (historico-intentional) not much in vogue today."
CRONK, NICHOLAS. "The Play of Words and Music in Molière-Charpentier's Le Malade Imaginaire." FS 47.1 (1993), 6–19.
M.'s play seen as an exploration into a new aesthetic in which the dynamic of the work depends upon the tension between word and music.
DANDREY, PATRICK. Molière ou l'esthétique du ridicule. Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.
Review: M. Gutwirth in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 523–524: A subtle and rich study of the originality of the comic in Molière described by the reviewer as "le comique cueilli à même notre nature, portée comme d'elle-même à tout excès,soumise à tous manques, s'adonnant à tout grimace." The author situates his study in the context of thetheatrical theory and practice of the period. Reviewer calls the study "une somme."
DAVIES, MARIE-HELENE. "Molière, panégyriste du Roi." KRQ 39 (1992), 283–298.
"Le but de cet article est de montrer l'ambiguité avec laquelle M. remplit son rôle de panégyriste."
DOCK, STEPHEN VARICK. Costume and Fashion in the Plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière: A Seventeenth-Century Perspective. Genèva: Slatkine, 1992.
Review: Susan Read Baker in SoAR 58.1 (1993), 132–34: According to B., "this book furnishes an excellent example of innovative scholarship combining a study of iconography, textual analysis, history of theater, and cultural history. D.'s purpose is to explore the significance of costume and fashion in M.'s theater from 1643 . . . until 1673 . . . . Thanks to his painstaking study of extant documents pertaining to each of M.'s productions, a far clearer picture emerges of M.'s jeu, his attitude toward fashion's role in social life, and the semiotic code that he carefully crafted onstage through the use of style, color, and figurative vestimentary language." Having offered extensive commentary on D.'s findings, B. declares that the study "is required reading for seventeenth-century specialists and historians of the theater" and that it should be "of equal interest to general readers."
Review: K. Wolfe in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 226–228: A well-illustrated study that fills a major gap in Molière studies: the relation between costume and action and costume and court fashion. Glossary of vestimentary terms.
DOSMOND, SIMONE. "Les Femmes Savantes. Comédie ou drame bourgeois?" IL 44.5 (nov/déc 92), 12–22.
La pièce est une synthèse originale et puissante des deux structures, qu'elle dépasse l'une et l'autre.
DUCHENE, ROGER. "Boutgeois gentilhomme ou bourgeois galant?" ELF 58 (1993), 105–110.
Exposé sur la double vision de M. Jourdain, vision de noblesse et de galanterie.
DUPARC, CHRISTIANE. "Le Retour de Dom Juan." L'Express 2192 (15 July 1993), 42–45:
Interview with Jacques Lassale on his Avignon Festival production with the Comédie-Française. Striking illustrations.
FORESTIER, GEORGES. Molière. Paris: Bordas, 1990.
Review: N. Hepp in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 258: La vie de M., sa situation dans le théâtre de son temps et l'univers propre de la comédie molièresque; une analyse intéressante qui apporte du nouveau.
FRICKE, DIETMAR. "Deux Mises en Scène cinématographiques récentes du Bourgeois gentilhomme de Molière: Roger Coggio, 1982; Jérôme Savary, 1981–82," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 115–122.
Reviews the two recent film versions.
GEORGES DANDIN. By Molière. Théâtre sur la Place. Foundation Deutsch de la Meurthe, Paris. 15 June 1991.
Theatre Review: James F. Gaines in TJ 44 (1992), 535–37: In the production being discussed George Dandin "is genially transformed into an . . . introspective and sophisticated hybrid of the Courteline-Feydeau bedroom farce." "For a troupe committed to recreating in the theatre a spectacle of collective memory, the migration of M.'s farce into the Gay Nineties is almost second nature," says G. "The total coordination of the production and the sensitivity of the actors to a harmonic unity in the midst of disjunctive existence help to make this experience one that is bound to be admired and imitated for years to come." The performance is discussed in detail. (Combined with review of 1991 production of Tartuffe given by Compagnie de l'Elan.)
GERHARDI, GERHARD C. "Circulation monétaire et mobilité sociale dans le Bourgeois gentilhomme," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 23–33.
Views money in its relation to social mobility as the "metteur en scène invisible" in the play.
GETHNER, PERRY. "Tartuff as Drama Critic: A Literary Quarrel of 1669–70." ELF 58 (1993), 111–123.
G. explores unresolved questions concerning the anonymous La Critique du Tartuffe. "While I intend to argue that Licidas may have been intended to designate Antoine Montfleury, my focus will be not so much the factual questions as the theoretical issues raised by this and other polemical comedies. In particular, given the minimal amount of attention accorded to comedy by the Abbé d'Aubignac in his monumental La Pratique du théâtre (1657) and by Corneille in his Discours (1660), I would like to explore which aspects of comic theory were preoccupying practicing playwrights during the first decade of the Sun King's personal reign."
GRIMM, JURGEN. Molière et son temps.Trans.B. Naudet andF. Londeix.PFSCL/Biblio 17, 75 (1993).
An introduction to M.'s work in the context of his times. Bibliography.
HALL, H. GASTON. Molière's Le Bourgeois gentillhomme: Context and Stagecraft. Durham: Univ. of Durham, 1990.
Review: D. Kuizenga in FrF 17 (1992), 226–227: Helpful, informative and well-rounded treatment places Le Bourgeois gentilhomme in its historical and dramatic contexts. Includes chapters on costumes, ceremony, first performances, social context, literary and stage context, the major roles, theatrical structure and contemporary performances. Selected critical bibliography.
Review: Marinette Pendola in SFr 104 (1991), 353: Hall tries to "uncover the literary roots of this drama," and analyzes Molière's playful uses of theatrical language. He also studies various elements such as gesture and costumes, whose immediate meaning has been lost. The book ends with a survey of recent presentations of the Bourgeois gentilhomme.
Review: Karolyn Waterson in FR 66 (1993), 813–14: "Sensitivity to all forms of theatricality and an approach that keeps page and stage in a symbiotic relationship distinguish Hall's analysis. Accessible to a wide readership and well documented, it offers numerous perspicacious observations gained from long reflection."
JAYMES, DAVID. "Parasitology in Molière: Satire of Doctors and Praise of Paramedics." L&M 12.1 (1993), 1–18.
In this reading of Doctor Cupid and The Imaginary Invalid, J. convincingly proposes that ". . . it is the nonphysicians . . . who restore the family to health . . ." that the ". . . medical profession, once constituted, . . . [has] cares and concerns that are inimical to the patients it serves . . . " and that Molière's ". . . medical philosophy is holistic."
JESCHKE, CLAUDIA. "Vom Ballet de Cour zum Ballet d'Action. Uber den Wandel des Tanzverständnisses im ausgehenden 17. und beginnenden 18. Jahrhundert," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 185–223.
JONES, DOROTHY F. "Insiders and Outsiders in Les Fourberies de Scapin." SFr 106 (1992), 67–72.
In Les Fourberies de Scapin, there is a sharp contrast between the male characters, the insiders forming "a closely knit world, linked by blood, acquaintance, laws, and shared values," and female characters, who are outsiders living "on the fringes of society." Reconciliation should be achieved, as in Molière's early plays, through marriage. But in Les Fourberies, matrimony is not "liberation, freedom from bondage," it remains "within the framework of a patriarchal order" which "however perverted or absurd remains unchanged."
KAPP, VOLKER, Ed. Le Bourgeois gentilhomme: Problèmes de la comédie-ballet. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991).
Review: S. H. Fleck in CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 253–56: A collection of articles of use to every Molière specialist, including perspectives of social history, nonverbal language, musicology, and choreography.
Review: Janis L. Pallister in SCN 51.1–2 (1993), 21–22: This collection of essays is intended "as a follow-up" to Claude Abraham's "pioneer study" on the comédie-ballet. It contains significant and sometimes contradictory contributions on Molière's critical attitude towards "bourgoisie" and aristocracy, and on the musical dimension of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Françoise Karro's essay on the Turkish ceremony is "perhaps the most substantial" contribution. "All in all, this collection of studies is an indispensable new tool in the analysis and understanding" of Molière's play.
_______. "Langage verbal et langage non-verbal dans le Bourgeois gentilhomme," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 95–113.
A study of the two forms of communication to show how M mocks both the bourgeois intruder and the aristocratic elite.
KARRO, FRANÇOISE. "La Cérémonie turque du Bourgeois gentilhomme: mouvance temporelle et spirituelle de la foi," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 35–93.
Studies the ceremony in the context of the relations between France and the Ottoman Empire. Collaborative links with Antoine Arnauld and Laurent d'Arvieux. Bibliography.
KNUTSON, HAROLD. "The Cuckold Triange in Molière's L'Ecole des femmes and in Wycherley's The Country Wife." ELF 58 (1993), 125–134.
Examination of the schema of the cuckold triangle in two contemporary comedies. "What is significant for our purposes is that each playwright consciously elected certain options among a range of possibilities, and that their field of choice was in turn circumscribed by ideological limits. All literature is governed, to a degree, by strictures placed upon the representation of percieved reality, and authors are largely unaware of them. Thus what is made of cuckoldry is not merely a matter of subjective judgment, as Chrysalde ironically suggests, but part and parcel of a comic tradition and a related ideological base."
KOPPISCH, MICHAEL S. "Molière et le problème de l'ordre." ELF 58 (1993), 135–150.
"La recherche d'un ordre permanent est à la base de tout le théâtre de Molière, qui partage avec Pascal un sens de l'impossibilité de la permanence." K. examine ce propos dans Tartuffe et le Malade imaginaire.
MCCARTHY, M. J. "The Black Economy in Molière's L'Avare." AJFS 28.3 (1991) 235–248.
Demonstrates ". . . the logical and dynamic way in which Molière fuses together love, greed, and household economy . . ." and ". . . shows the inner working of an Aristotelian economy in which usury and avarice destabilize everything."
MC GOWAN, MARGARET M. "La Danse: son rôle multiple," in Le Borgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 163–183.
The role of dance in terms of its relations with the other arts, its court and social context, and the contributions made by professional dancers.
MAZOUER, CHARLES. "Molière et la voix de l'acteur." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 261–274.
A close study of Molière's plays and prefaces, and of contemporary testimonies reveals the importance of the vocal abilities of actors. For Molière, voice plays an essential part in the creative process of characterization.
NURSE, PETER. Molière and the Comic Spirit. Genève: Droz, 1991.
Review: N. Hepp in RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 259–260: Un dialogue avec Gérard Defaux sur la division du théâtre de M. entre la visée morale et la célébration de la souveraineté du plaisir; N. arrive à une affirmation de l'unité de l'oeuvre.
Review: N. A. Peacock in MLR 88 (1993), 202–203: Collection of essays published over the last three decades and revised in light of Defaux's thesis on the evolution of Molière's work treats "the interrelationship between the comic spirit and the moral focus of the plays . . . ." General lack of references beyond 1977 in bibliography.
PEACOCK, NOËL, "Alceste et Théophile." SFr 108 (1992), 449–458.
Peacock thinks Théophile de Viau may have been one of the sources of Alceste, the main character of Le Misanthrope: "Suivant son imagination créatrice, Molière a transposé dans un contexte comique l'esprit sérieux et amer de Théophile."
_________. Le Dépit amoureaux. Durham: Durham University Press, 1989.
Review: Karolyn Waterson in FR 66 (1993), 813: Critical ed. that reassesses the play as comic and dramatic spectacle mostly on the basis of an analytical enumeration of components M. subsequently reutilized. Notes ironically reemphasize the play's awkwardness and the persistent need for theatrical adaptations.
_________. Les Femmes Savantes. London: Grant and Cutler, 1990.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 191: Judged "essential reading for specialists as well as for undergraduates," this "valuable reassessment of [an] under-rated and under-performed play" treats language, ideas, satire, exits, entrances and concentrates on two principal questions: "what is the shape of the play? and how does this play work?"
PHALESE, HUBERT. Les Mots de Molière. Les quatre dernières pièces à travers les nouvelles technologies. Paris: Nizet, 1992.
RIGGS, LARRY W. Molière and Plurality: Decomposition of the Classicist Self. New York: Peter Lang, 1989.
Review: William O. Goode in FR 66 (1993), 1664–65: Focusing on Le Misanthrope, Le Tartuffe, Les Femmes savantes, explores the discourse of ridicule whose singleminded "reason" is examined by a pluralistic world with the result of a comic exposure of real desires and will to power. Originality of critical terminology aside, reviewer questions "newness" of findings. Deconstruction of socio-political discourse under the monarch would be the original line.
Review: Janis L. Pallister in SCN 50.3–4 (1992), 65–66: "Professor Riggs intends to show how critics are simplistic when they assume that Louis XIV had a comprehensive worldview which could not be deviated from without dire consequences." The reviewer has strong reservations about the author's methodology: "this book aims to join other pyrotechnical works of 20th-century criticism which become entangled in (lacanic) issues of discourse ("rhetoric") and decomposition." In short, Pallister feels this book does not "tell us anything we did not already know."
SCHNEIDER, HERBERT. "Die Serenade im Bourgeois gentilhomme," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 67 (1991), 139–162.
THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES. By Molière. In a version by Neil Bartlett. Dir. byVincent Murphy. Theater Emory, Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA. 7 March 1991.
Theatre Review: Philip Auslander in TJ 43 (1991), 388–90: Since A. was unable to deterimine the extent of B.'s creative contributions "it was not really possible to evaluate B.'s text, though it seemed to be a lively, colloquial, two-act translation in rhymed verse, well suited to the post-modernist time warp that combined elements of several historical eras." "The production abounded in contemporary cultural references: Alain . . . was glued to a portable television set; Arnolphe claimed to be rescuing Agnès . . . from a single-parent family in a housing project; snatches of current popular songs were played at strategic moments . . . ." A. calls this production "a successful hybrid . . . ," asserting that "it made valid bridges between the social and gender-political worlds of M.'s time and our own."
SHAW, DAVID. "Molière and the Art of Recyclying." SFCS 15 (1993), 165–80.
Labored examination of the later use of La Jalousie du Barbouillé, Le Médicin volant, and Dom Garcie de Navarre. Bibliography does not contain Marcel Gutwirth's treatment of Dom Garcie.
STENZEL, HARTMUT. "Projet critique et divertissement de cour. Sur la place de la comédie-ballet et du Bourgeois gentilhomme dans le théâtre de Molière," in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme et les problèmes de la comédie-ballet. Ed. Volker Kapp. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 69, (1991), 9–22.
Views the comédie ballet as reflecting a "profonde ambivalence" in M.'s theater because it conflicts with its critical foundation.
TARTUFFE. By Molière. Compagnie de l'Elan. Crypte ste-Agnès, Paris. 14 June 1991.
Theatre Review: James F. Gaines in TJ 44 (1992), 535–37: G. offers a detailed commentary of this unusual production, in which (for example) the actors wear "totally conventional street clothes . . ." and "a large wolfhound" is cast as Flipote. "One emerges from the crypt," says G., "with a solid respect for the talents of the actors — and a thousand plans for redirecting them." (Combined with review of 1991 production of George Dandin performed at Théâtre sur la Place.)
TESSON, PHILIPPE. "De Céline à Sophocle." RDM (décembre 1992), 191–192.
Parmi les pièces actuellement inscrites à l'affiche, Le Cocu imaginaire et Le Mariage forcé de Molière accouplés au Théâtre de l'est parisien par Jacques Lassalle. Le décor suggestif de Chantal Gaiddon — "une boîte trouée de trappes, de fenêtres et de portes" — appelle un "jeu de mécanique obsédante . . . [qui] ralentit à l'excès le rythme de la farce." Traitement plus traditionnel du Mariage forcé.
_________. "Promenade chez Molière." RDM (juillet-août 1992), 199–206.
"Le théâtre parisien inscrit actuellement à l'affiche . . . l'Ecole des femmes [Théâtre du Marais], le Misanthrope [Théâtre Marigny], et Georges Dandin [Comédie-Française]. Nous en prenons le prétexte pour une visite à Molière." T. conclut: "Ces trois chefs-d'oeuvre introduisent l'homme-individu sur la scène du théâtre ironique, où n'évoluaient pas qu'alors que des silhouettes ou des types . . . . Individus confrontés à la société. Arnolphe, Alceste et Dandin sont là pour mettre l'ordre logique, Dandin l'ordre social. Le théâtre de la contestation et de la liberté est né."
TOBIN, RONALD W. Tarte à la crème. Comedy and Gastronomy in Molière's Theatre. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1990.
Review: B. Fink in FrF 17 (1992), 106–108: Positive review finds T.'s gastrocritical study of nine of M.'s high comedies insightful and fascinating on a number of levels. T. explores through a variety of approaches M.'s use of comic and satirical devices from l'Ecole des femmes to Le Malade imaginaire. 17th c. codes of civilité and currents of philosophy provide an appropriate background against which M.'s comic vision is masterfully examined.
Review: N. A. Peacock in MLR 88 (1993), 202–203: This "witty and scholarly exploration of the relationship between language and gastronomy in eight Molière texts" uses a pluridisciplinary approach and "breaks new ground." Some references to food are inflated and not germane to T.'s subject.
VERNET, MAX. Molière. Côté jardin, côté cour. Paris: Nizet, 1991.
Review: J. Gaines in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 262–266: The "most significant new philosophical approach" to Molière in twenty years, with potential applications in many areas, including sociocriticism. The work "should be a staple" for graduate students and scholars.
Review: M. Gutwirth in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 267–169: Un ouvrage ambitieux qui considère le théâtre de M. comme "son propre métalangage" du jeu, du mouvement et de la vérité. Une étude riche, complexe, charmante, mais dont les thèses sont parfois contestables.
Review: L Riggs in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 294–296: Reviewer finds this study an "event" for Molière specialists and students of drama and literary theory: V. discovers that the ridicules "share a way of dealing with others that implies solitude, mastery, abstraction, and a kind of mobility for themselves that denies the importance of roles and relationsips. V. sees the plays as constituting an increasingly urgent contemplation of the emerging modern world." The study does suffer from the lack of a well defined theoretical framework and ignorance of some recent criticism.
WHITTON, DAVID. Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. London: Grant and Cutler, 1992.
________. Molière: Le Misanthrope. Glasgow: Univ. of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 299: A scene by scene analysis focuses on "exigencies of the comic stage" and is complemented by perceptive remarks on critical perspectives.
LOPEZ, DENIS. "Sur une traduction en vers: Montausier et les Satires de Perse (1653)." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 75–88.
"Dans les receuils manuscrits de Conrart se trouve une traduction en vers des Satires de Perse." This unpublished translation, dating between 1652 and 1653, reflects the aesthetic sensitivity of Parisian literary circles of the 1650's. It is "une imitation du sens qui donne lieu à une création littéraire où la clarté, la mesure des effets et l'élégance sont de mise," and it foreshadows "les grandes réussites imitatives à venir."
WELCH, MARCELLE MAISTRE. "Manipulation du discours féerique dans les Contes de Fées de Mme de Murat." CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 21–29.
La tension entre la sexualité et la bienséance se cache dans l'emploi de la symbolique du merveilleux; le texte de M. est un discours féministe subversif qui "exprime une impuissance existentielle."
DOBBS, BETTY J. T. The Janus Faces of Genius: The Role of Alchemy in Newton's Thought. New York: Cambridge UP, 1991.
Review: William Newman in Isis 84 (1993), 578–79: Shifts from earlier view of direct influence of alchemical ideas on his physics to the combination of theology, religious philosophy, and the tradition of ancient wisdom: a religious interpretation of ancient wisdom: a religious interpretation of N.s alchemy embedded in a religious interpretation of his science in general. Proposes new datings for two important essays (De gravitatione, De aere et aethere).
ARMOUR, LESLIE. "Infini-Rien": Pascal's Wager and The Human Condition. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993.
Locates the "wager" within the confluences of two vital strands of Platonism (Bérulle, Hauranne-Jansen) and an intellectually powerful scepticism (agreeing with the claim that it is difficult to find God in nature but disagreeing that we may know nothing of nature).
ARRAUD, VINCENT. Pascal et la philosophie. Paris: PUF, 1992.
BOITANO, JOHN F. "The Polemics of Conversion in the Pensées: Pascal's Address of Both the Occult and Rational Beliefs of the Libertine Reader" (Columbia Univ., 1992). DAI 53.6, 1936A.
Analyzes occult elements of libertinage and narrative shifts between the Catholic apologist and the libertine interlocutor.
COGNET, LOUIS et GERARD FERREYROLLES, eds. Les Provinciales. Paris: Bordas, 1992.
Review: B. Norman in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 291–292: A new issue of the excellent 1965 Cognet edition, with minor changes by Ferreyrolles, including an updated biblography.
COMPAGNON, ANTOINE. Chat en poche: Montaigne et l'allégorie. Paris: Eds du Seuil, 1992.
Review: P.L. in Le Monde (29 Jan. 1993), 30: Part III seeks in Montaigne the basis of Pascal's political reading of the Essais and the elements of his political philosophy.
CONTAT, MICHEL. "Pascal: Pensées on Discours." Le Monde (18 Dec. 1992), 29.
Debate among Emmanuel Martineau (See below), Jean Mesnard, Pol Ernst, and Vincent Carraud on E. M.'s new edition, "la seule édition objective possible." Continuous discourse or fragments? "Brouillons" or fragments." The nature of "APR."
EDMUNDS, BRUCE T. "The dix-septiémiste as Jesuit, or How to Read Pascal's Lettres provinciales." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 201–208.
A reading of the work to illustrate how the critic must "renounce the talk of elucidation defined in traditional (classical!) terms. He or she writes . . . 'to designate a distrubance.'"
GAINES, JAMES F. "Religious Propaganda and Boureois Values in Pascal's Lettres provinciales." Etudes littéraires françaises 58 (1993), 165–76.
"Pascal's texts contain a detailed strategy of social affiliation reaching beyond the codes of honnêteté that deserves to be discussed independently of contemporary models before it can be reconverted into the critical continuum." According to G., "Since the Provinciales aim at nothing less than an ideological reconstitution of literate society, an analysis of their function as propoganda brings to light often neglected elements of the writer's strategy."
GALLUCCI, JOHN A. "Pascal and Kenneth Burke: An Argument for 'Logological' Reading of the Pensées." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 123–150.
Explores the relevance of literary theory to Pascal, concluding that "current literary theory . . . can be seen as the secular translation of the theological Pascal."
HAMMOND, NICHOLAS. "'Levez le rideau': Images of the Theatre in Pascal's Pensées." FS 47.3 (1993), 276–87.
Demonstrates P.'s use of theatrical effects as a means of persuasion.
HELLER, LANE M., and THERESE GOYET. Bibliographie Blaise Pascal (1960–1969). Clermont-Ferrand: ADOSA and CIBP, 1989.
Review: Benedetta Papàsogli in SFr 103 (1991), 134: With the collaboration of the Centre International Blaise Pascal, Heller has collected nearly 1500 titles devoted to Pascal in the 1960's. This "elaborate and complex" bibliography is presented by T. Goyet, who shows the underlying unity of that decade's "paysage pascalien."
JAOUEN, FRANÇOISE. "From Faith to Bad Faith: Pascal, Valéry, Nietzshe." FLS 20 (1993), 21–30.
An analysis of misreadings of P., based on assumptions about the relation between philosophy and strategies of rhetoric, with reference to judgments of P. made by Valéry and Nietzsche.
KIM, HYUNG-KEL. De l'art de persuader dans les Pensées de Pascal. Paris: Nizet, 1992.
Review: L. Thirouin in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 548–549: Study aims at demonstrating the application in the Pensées of Pascal's theory of persuasion as found in the De l'esprit géométrique. Although the author is not always aware of the difficulties posed by such an enterprise, he raises important questions. A suggestive study.
KOCH, EREC R. "Ironic Re-Inscriptions." Continuum 5 (1993) 251–255.
Review article of Buford Norman's Portraits of Thought: Knowledge, Methods, and Styles in Pascal (Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1988). General praise for this ". . . rigorous and highly original epistemological model for Pascal's thought . . ." together with thoughtful questioning of Norman's treatment of rhetorical and semiological issues.
________. "Rhetorical Aesthetics and Rhetorical Theory in Pascal." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 151–170.
Questions whether literary theory illuminates or deforms Pascal: ". . . it is my intention to establish that the mandate of rhetoric for theory is not to lay claim to illumination or deformation but to illuminate a deformation in the text of Pascal."
LAGARDE, FRANÇOIS. "Le Différement de Pascal." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 183–192.
"La critique contemporaine [semiotics and deconstruction] retrouve Pascal en le fuyant," or at least an important aspect of Pascal often ignored by traditional criticism.
MCKENNA, ANTHONY. De Pascal à Voltaire: Le rôle des Pensées de Pascal dans l'historie des idées entre 1670 et 1734. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1990.
Review: Sean O'Cathasaigh in FS 47.1 (1993), 73–74: "One of the most important works of scholarship in this area published in recent years."
Review: Anthony R. Pugh in FR 66 (1993), 494–95: Major contribution to intellectual history, comprehensive, precise, incisive and wholly convincing. Pascal is represented as a Christian Pyrrhonist, influenced by Gassendi, as such, faithful to the original spirit of Port-Royal, whose authors (Arnauld, e.g.) betray him by equating Descartes's first principle of certainty with Pascalian sentiment. Pascal is a constant point of reference with the passages to Enlightenment where the real stakes and battle are between Christian apologetics and the new philosophy.
MAGNARD, PIERRE. Pascal. La Clé du chiffre. Paris: Editions universitaires, 1991.
Review: Louis Millet in EP 2 (avril-juin 1993), 260–262: A new slightly modified version of P. Magnard's doctoral thesis, Nature et histoire dans l'apologétique de Pascal. The book analyzes the "key" to Pascal's historical, philosophical and theological vision — Jesus-Christ. The reviewer concludes, "Aussi Magnard peut-il établir que Pascal n'est nullement un 'anti-philosophe', une sorte de théologien négatif sans théologie positive: une philosophie reste intégrée à tout un système spirituel, théologique, comme le support nécessaire du travail d'interprétation: la 'clé du Chiffre', c'est aussi le Verbe, le logos de Saint-Jean."
MARINER, FRANK. "The Order of Disorder: The Problem of the Fragment in Pascal's Pensées." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 171–182.
Reflections on the differences between author-based and reader-based interpretations in the context of the fragmentary form of the Pensées.
MARTINEAU, EMMANUEL, ed. Blaise Pascal: Discours sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujects. Paris: Fayard/A. Colin, 1992.
Review: Bernard Croquette in QL (15 déc. 1992), 8–9: Review titled "Pascal enfin édité ou mort programmée du fragment?" C. describes M.'s project: "Nous aurions enfin entre les mains la 'seule édition objective' de ce qu'on persistait à appeler les Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets." Unlike other editors, M. "se propose de reconstituer l'état primitif de cette oeuvre. Mieux, de défaire ce que P. a si soigneusement fait, c'est-à-dire, . . . de refaire ce que P. a défait." C. has reservations about M.'s method: "On peut craindre . . . qu'à partir de quelques intuitions justes et de quelques suggestions séduisantes, E. M. n'ait construit un système auquel le texte doit se plier à toute force et qu'il n'ait placé dans une méthode purement philologique une confiance que seule sans doute mériterait une analyse scientifique des papiers originaux . . .," similar to what is used in the study of paintings.
Review: See above: Contat, Michel.
MESNARD, JEAN, ed. Oeuvres complètes. T.IV: Oeuvres diverses (1657–1662). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1692: Ce volume "contient tous les documents susceptibles d'éclairer sa vie et son oeuvre. Ses textes publics ou rivés, ceux qui lui sont adressés ou ceux qui concernent ses travaux ou ses affiares. C'est une somme exhaustive, objective, où chaque texte est présenté selon la chronologie et introduit par une synthèse qui le situe et l'interprète avec un maximum d'érudition et de clarté."
__________. Oevres complètes, III: Oeuvres diverses (1654–1657). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1991.
Review: Denise Leduc-Fayette in RPFE 1107 (1992), 620–622: An indispensable edition of Pascal's lesser known writings, the Ecrits sur la grâce being the most important one. Each 'opuscule' is dated, analyzed and put in its philosophical and theological context: "M. Mesnard offre d'ores et déjà une interprétation décisive dont la rigueur, la pénétration, la clarté laissent admiratifs, et au terme de laquelle il apparaît que Pascal, loin d'être un ignorant en matière de théologie possédait une culture véritable dans ce domaine."
NORMAN, BUFORD. Portraits of Thought. Knowledge, Methods and Styles in Pascal. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1988.
Review: R. Heyndels in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 277–279: N. "apporte une importante contribution aux études stylistiques consacrées à la discursivité et surtout à la parole pascalienne." Une étude rigoureuse de la multiplicité des méthodes et des styles employés par P., et un indispensable ouvrage de référence lexique.
Review: See Koch above.
Review: Benedetta Papàsogli in SFr 103 (1991), 136: Norman's purpose is to "explain and analyze the relations between Pascal's multiple approaches ("methods") to the problem of knowledge and the multiplicity of stylistic means of expression in his works." The third and last part explores the connection between stylistic devices and "démarches cognitives" and is the "most original" one. However, the reviewer thinks Pascal's artistic craft eludes Norman's categorizations.
NORMAN, BUFORD. "Beyond Winning and Losing: Polemics about Polemics." Continuum 5 (1993) 257–261.
A review article of Richard Parish's Pascal's Lettres Provinciales. A Study in Polemics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989). While praising Parish's knowledge of the work and some of his textual readings, N. questions the historical readings and urges additional work on the text itself rather than on Pascal's possible move into fiction in this work.
PARISH, RICHARD. Pascal's Lettres Provinciales: A Study in Polemic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.
Review: E. Davies in MLR 87 (1992), 987–88: In the drama of les Provinciales, P. focuses "upon reader, persona, and motive, thereby distancing himself from Roger Duchêne's L'Imposture littéraire dans les Provinciales de Pascal (Provence, 1985)."
Review: See Norman above.
Review: Benedetta Papàsogli in SFr 104 (1991), 352–353: When analyzing Pascal's use of polemical style, Parish makes a distinction between the author's encounter with his adversaries at the level of the formulation of faith (modus crecendi) and of moral doctrine (modus vivendi), and the expression in itself of an "art de la polémique" (modus disputandi) in Les Provinciales. But the "most interesting part" of Parish's work is the study of "counter polemic" or acknowledgement and dismissal of Jesuits's replies in the Pensées, and of the relationship between Provinciales and Pensées. All in all, Parish's observations "revive our critical appreciation of Pascal."
THIROUIN, LAURENT. Le Hasard et les règles. Le modèle du jeu dans la pensée de Pascal. Paris: Vrin, 1991.
Review: Norbert Meusnier in RMM 97 (1992), 568–69: "Renouvelle ici totalement, par la vue d'ensemble qui se dégage de sa lente et profonde enquête . . . essai d'une rare finesse, qui met en évidence avec une extrême précision conceptuelle et une maîtrise délicieuse des paradoxes apparents, la cohérence des aspects politiques, morals et mathématiques de la partie de la démarche apologétique de P. portant sur le pari."
Review: D. Wetsel in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 288–291: Reviewer finds this a brilliant study that sheds new light on the significance and function of the wager argument in P.'s apologetic plan. T. views the argument as "un discours de commencement pour capter l'écoute."
WETSEL, DAVID, ed. Meaning, Structure and History in the Pensées of Pascal. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 56 (1990).
Review: R. Parish in MLR 87 (1992), 988: Volume containing proceedings of a colloquium at Portland State University in April 1989 is "hindered by an uncertainty as to the level at which they [the participants] are pitching their papers." Reviewer cites valuable contributions by "Natoli on Pascal's notions of proof; Sellier on the 'fleuves de Babylone'; Force . . . on order and the cryptographic tradition; Wetsel on Pascal and disbelief."
ETIENNE PASQUIER ET SES "RECHERCHES DE LA FRANCE," Cahiers V. L. Saulnier, no 8. Paris: Presses de l'ENS, 1991.
Review: J.-L. Bourgeou in BHR 55 (1993), 465–68: Recueil de contributions d'un colloque, consacré surtout au plus célèbre ouvrage de Pasquier apparu en 1560. "Dans ses meilleures parties, ce recueil marque le départ d'une réévaluation d'E. Pasquier" (1529–1615).
BRESSON, AGNES, ed. Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, Lettres à Claude Saumaise et à son entourage (1620–1637). Firenze: Olschki, 1992.
Review: P. Wolfe in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 521–522: Letters on a variety of scholarly topics. Indexes and bibliography.
REINBOLD, A., ed. Pereisc ou la passion de connaître. Colloque de Carpentras, novembre 1987. Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin, 1990.
Review: R. Darricau in RFHL 72–73 (1991), 310–311: "Le présent ouvrage rassemble la plupart des communications prononcées au Colloque organisé à Carpentras du 5 au 7 novembre 1987 à l'occasion du 350e anniversaire de la mort de Nicolas-Fabri de Pereisc. Les textes réunis offrent un ensemble significatif de quelques aspects importants de l'oeuvre et de la personnailité de Pereisc." Jean Bernhardt's contribution on "l'inventaire posthume de la bibliothèque de Pereisc" is most enlightening.
GAUTIER-GENTES, JEAN-LUC, éd. La Peinture. Poème. Charles Perrault. Genève: Droz, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–561 (1992), 1604–05: "Présentant une édition critique de ce long poème publié en 1688 . . . Jean-Luc Gautier-Gentès précise qu''il serait vain et périlleux de chercher dans la Peinture une doctrine artistique claire, complète et cohérente,' même si on peut y recueillir quelques informations sur les conceptions de Perrault en la matière, conceptions éclairées par l'analyse et rattachées à ce qu'on peut savoir de l'éducation de Perrault par sa famille ou son milieu."
HANNON, PATRICIA. "Antithesis and Ideology in Perrault's Riquet à la Houppe." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 105–118.
The symmetry of Perrault's tale is seen to convey an ideological message opposing mind (male) and matter (female).
IORIO, RAFFAELE, ed. Charles Perrault, Saint-Paulin Evesque de Nole. Poème. Napoli: Loffredo, 1990:
An edition which, according to the reviewer, violates everything critical in a critical edition.
MALARTE, CLAIRE-LISE. Perrault à travers la critique depuis 1960: Bibliographie annotée. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 47 (1989).
Review: Benedetta Papàsogli in SFr 104 (1991), 357: This bibliography takes into account not only the monographs dedicated to Perrault but also landmark works mentioning him. Each entry, in alphabetical order, is accompanied with a short description. A catalog of subjects and a panorama of methods used by scholars help the reader to find all the 'grandes clés interprétatives' of Perrault's Contes. Despite major omissions, Malarte's bibliography remains "very useful."
Review: C. Smith in CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 251–252: A useful, easily accessible research tool, documenting the growth of interest in P. and the breadth of diversity of critical approaches to his work.
MECHOULAN, ERIC. "The Embodiment of Culture: Fairy Tales of the Body in the 17th and 18th Centuries." RR 83.4 (Nov 92), 427–436.
The body is seen by M. as a trope which "literalizes, and then stabilizes, the social use of language." Includes analysis of Le Petit chaperon rouge, Le chat botté, and Les Mille et une nuits.
SIMONSEN, MICHELE. Perrault, Contes. Paris: PUF, 1992.
Review: C. Malarte-Feldman in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 576–577: An edition aimed at the beginning reader of P. Despite some shortcomings, a very worthy introduction to the work and author.
SORIANO, MARC. La Brosse à reluire sous Louis XIV: L'Epitre au Roi de Perrault annotée par Racine et Boileau. Fasano/Paris: Schena/Nizet, 1989.
Review: Patricia Oppici in SFr 103 (1991), 137–138: In this edition of Perrault's Epître au Roi, Soriano tries to identify the author(s) of anonymous notes published by the Abbé d'Olivet in 1738. Those notes are very negative comments on Perrault's Epître that served as the introductory discourse to the first edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française. Soriano argues that the notes were written by Racine with the collaboration of Boileau. They lampooned Perrault's lack of talent for praising Louis XIV. Hence the use of J. Prévert's expression—"brosse à reluire"—: it defines the poet's submissive attempt to please authority.
PICON, ANTOINE. Claude Perrault ou la curiosité d'un classique. Paris: Picard, 1988.
Review: See Zarucchi below.
ZARUCCHI, JEANNE MORGAN. "Confluences." Continuum 5 (1993) 267–270.
Review article of Antoine Picon's Claude Perrault ou la curiosité d'un classique (Paris: Picard/Caisse Nationale des Monuments Historiques et des Sites, 1988). General praise for this work in which ". . . Claude Perrault has been revealed as an immensely talented practitioner and theoretician of architectural science, whose seeming amalgam of interests reflected a coherent, rationalist world-view that was uniquely seventeenth-century."
LEROY, JEAN PIERRE, ed. Les Folies de Cardenio, tragi-comédie suivie des autres oeuvres poétiques (1620–1629). Geneva: Droz, 1989.
Review: Marinette Pendola in SFr 103 (1991), 129: This play "est une des premières réalisations dans le genre qui dominera en France pendant les années 1630–1640: la tragicomédie." It is also the first French theatrical adaptation of Don Quixote. This "respectful" edition is completed by the addition of the author's poems.
_________. L'Infidèle Confidente, (1631). Geneva: Droz, 1991.
Review: H. Baby-Litot in RHL 93.1 (jan/fév 93), 145: Une tragi-comédie publiée en 1631, présentée avec une analyse dramaturigique et un glossaire utile.
Review: Michael Hawcroft in FS 47.1 (1993), 70: A successful edition of P.'s play with "an excessively long glossary."
CHEVALLIER, MARJOLAINE, ed. Cogitationes rationales de Deo, anima et malo. Hildesheim: Olms, 1990.
Review: P. Ramoni in RMM 98 (1993), 282–83: Text of 1715 with variants from 1677 and 1688 printings. Cartesian, anti-Spinozist, anti-Augustinian and also a critic of Bayle. Remarkable critical introduction.
ORCEL, PATRICE. "La Main de Poussin." NRF 480 (janvier 1993), 6–12.
A meditation on Poussin's fight against a recurrent paralysis of his hands.
BARNWELL, H. T. "Quinault, Racine and Their Sources: An Addendum." SCFS 15 (1993), 158–63.
Sets limits to a rehabilitation of Q. through comparisons with Racine, as Edmund Campion does (especially in "Representation of History and Mythology in Quinault and Racine," SCFS 13 (19–91) largely through the repeated assertion that Racine does invent poetically in the situation of Andromaque on a level that Q. does not or cannot in Astarté and that Racinian verse has an evocative power that Q. does not (and does not need for tragédie galante).
BASSINET, STEPHANIE, ed. Atys. Geneva: Droz, 1992.
BROOKS, WILLIAM and EDMUND J. CAMPION, eds. Bellérophon. Paris: Droz, 1990.
Review: P. Zoberman in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 895–896: "Un très utile ajoute à la connaissance et à l'appréciation du XVIIe siècle," avec une "bonne introduction qui aborde des questions pertinentes tant à la pièce elle-même qu'à l'ensemble du théâtre du XVIIe."
ABRAMOVICI, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE. "'Sans forme et sans couleur': Le corps dans la tragédie racinienne." PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 369–378.
Studies the different forms (parlant/écrit, sexuel, mort, mystique) the human body assumes in the theater. In particular, the presentation of Phèdre's body breaks with its usual treatment in neo-classical literature.
BIET, CHRISTIAN. "Dans la tragédie, la traduction n'existe pas: l'empilement des références dans Andromaque." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 223–237.
A study of Andromaque's acknowledged (Euripides) and unmentioned sources (Virgil, and Thomas Corneille's Pyrrhus). For Biet, "Andromaque est une pièce qui cherche par les solutions qu'elle propose, par les compromis esthétiques et idéologiques qu'elle indique, à trouver une échappatoire à la chute de Troie conçue comme l'exil l'Eden."
CAMPBELL, JOHN, ed. "Bérénice: The Plotting of Tragedy." SCFS 15 (1993), 145–55.
Argues convincingly against the tenacious traditions of interpretation as elegy and pure poetry and that plot-making and its dynamism, an "unstable compound of changing and conflicting emotions" set the tragedy in the line of Andromaque and Britannicus and leaves "elegy" much short of description of the reality of the play. Like characters in the earlier plays Bérénice undergoes a "voyage of discovery" through unstable perception to "illusion of self-mastery," ironic moment of the plays "machine infernale" "which traps and breaks . . . ."
_______. Britannicus. London: Grant & Cutler, 1990.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 188: Excellent stylistic analysis and discussion of moral order established by ending. Treats choice of subject, role of sources, structure, time and dramatic effects.
Review: W. D. Howarth in FS 47.1 (1993), 74–75: A monograph, informative yet devoid of critical complexities, perfect for the undergraduate student.
DAY, RICHARD. "La Poétique du récit de Théramène." PFSCL 33 (1990), 465–480.
Studies the relation between narrative and dramatic poetry in R.
ECKSTEIN, NINA. "The Destabilization of the Future in Racine's Iphigénie." FR 66 (1993), 919–31:
By letting Iphigénie live, overturning his carefully constructed first level, R. destabilizes the status of the future in his dramatic universe. What happens next, despite hindsight, is an open question. The balance of fatality and free will is upset, explaining in part critics' reluctance to call the play tragic. Fine analyses of "the present of the future" of a play seen as different in degree and kind from Andromaque.
EROTOPOULOS, ZOE. "Invisible Presence and Absence in Racine's Tragic Vision" (Columbia Univ., 1990). DAI 53.9, 3234A.
Invisible characters which enhance the dramatic structure include absent progenitors, entities invisible to the audience but visible to the protagonists (Astyanax, Ménélas), and deities whom the characters address in moments of emotional intensity.
FORMAN, EDWARD, ed. Racine. Appraisal and Reappraisal. Bristol: University of Bristol, 1992.
Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 537–538: Seven studies presented at a recent colloquium on the impact of literary theory on Racine studies in British universities. The results seem to indicate that Picard and Barthes were both right and wrong.
FUMAROLI, MARC. "Entre Athènes et Cnossos: Les dieux païens dans Phèdre." Première partie, RHL 93.1 (jan/fév 93), 30–61; Seconde partie, RHL 93.2 (mar/avr 93), 172–190.
Une considération approfondie du paganisme et comment il met en question la littérature chrétienne au XVIIe siècle: "la Querellle du merveilleux païen."
GOODKIN, RICHARD, ed. Autour de Racine: Studies in Intertextuality. New Haven: Yale UP, 1989.
Review: Catharine Randall Coats in SCN 51.1–2 (1993), 21: "The methodological meditation generating this volume is that of the definition, nature, and function of intertextuality. This volume is significant on at least two counts: it contributes to reflections on the purpose and operation of theory, and it expands our understanding of the complexities of the Racinian texts." Though R. Goodkin's introduction is quite too short, this book contains excellent contributions by Joan Dejean, Elissa Marder, Claudia Brodsky, Antoine Compagnon and Gérard Defaux.
Review: See Stone below.
________. "Orientalism and the Hero Other in Racine's Alexandre le Grand: A Homeric Intertext." ECr 32 (1992), 63–74.
A model of scholarship, G. leaves no stone unturned as he convincingly demonstrates the function of Asians in Alexandre le Grand and suggests their role in subsequent plays. Etymological observations complement parallels drawn between the play and Homer's Iliad. G. gently and deftly leads the appreciative reader into his skillful analysis of the Greek and the Asian, "these two worlds [which] correspond to the two discourses that are often at odds in R.'s tragedy: heroic discourse and the discourse of love."
GOSSIP, C. J. "Oreste, amant imaginaire." PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 353–367.
Argues that Oreste is not a fully tragic character.
GREENBERG, MITCHELL. "Racine's Bérénice. Orientalism and the Allegory of Absolutism." ECr 32 (1992), 75–86.
While Bérénice is much more than a "transcoding of the political," it does, as a literary production of Classicism "continue. . in another rhetorical register, a more violently passionate register, the political theorizing that is contemporaneously elaborating and solidifying the hegemonic discourse of Western/Christian difference." G. demonstrates how "the text must sacrifice the other that seduces it—the female, maternal oriental other—and expels it, in order for Rome, masculine and militaristic, to triumph."
GREGOIRE, VINCENT. "La Femme et la loi dans la perspective des pièces bibliques raciniennes représentées à Saint-Cyr." DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 323–336.
Mise en valeur de la dimension subversive de ces pièces de R. conçues pour l'édification et l'instruction des jeunes saint-cyriennes.
HAWCROFT, MICHAEL. Word as Action: Racine, Rhetoric, and Theatrical Action. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992.
Review: G. Jordorf in SCFS 15 (1993), 134: Combines rhetorical analysis (of inventio as well well as dispositio, according to Kibédi-Varga's challenge) with theatrical analysis (à la Barnwell or Capatti) to test the verbal action set by Corneille and D'Aubignac. Formal encounters, "informal oratory" of characters attempting to persuade, monologues of self-persuasion are studied for dramatic qualities. Particularly perceptive remarks on monologue within dialogue.
HAWCROFT, MICHAEL and VALERIE WORTH, eds. Alexandre le Grand. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1990.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 294: Original version with variants of play which, though often undervalued now, was extremely popular with 17th c. audiences. Valuable for its "approche théâtrale," edition will prove an impetus to re-evaluations of R.
Review: E. Forman in MLR 87 (1992), 990: ". . . the first modern edition to present as its base the original 1666 text, on which the play's initial success, and Racine's subsequent career, was founded." New edition of interest to scholars, students, and general readers.
Review: W. D. Howarth in FS 47.1 (1993), 74–75: A "thorough and workmanlike critical edition" of R.'s neglected play.
Review: C.G.S. Williams in FR 66 (1993) 666–667: Restores original text, surer and more complete than any other available. Reading against Weinberg's "a poem of praise," and in sustained opposition to Picard's denigration, the editors' introduction stresses the play's viable theatricality. Included also are extended considerations of sources, details of first staging, a review of evidence for a politically allegorical reading. A capital contribution to the history of the play.
HERZEL, ROGER W. "Racine. Laurent, and the Palais à Volonté." PMLA 108 (1993), 1064–82.
H. summarizes: "It is generally believed that the appearance of Racine's stage never varied, that all tragedies performed in seventeenth-century Paris were staged in a neutral, anonymous setting known as the 'palais à volonté'. However, an inventory of stage settings kept by Michel Laurent, the décorateur at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, where Racine's plays were first performed, shows that Racine, like Molière but unlike most other authors of tragedy, demanded visual backgrounds that were specific and appropriate to the action of the plays. Abstract and universal decors indeed had a place in the seventeenth-century theater, and they became common after Racine's retirement, but they were used for practical reasons that have little to do with the modern conception of 'classicism'."
HILL, CHRISTINE M., ed. Racine: Théâtre et poésie. Actes du troisième colloque Vinaver à Manchester, 1987. Leeds: Francis Cairne, 1991.
Review: G. Jordorf in SCFS 15 (1993), 132–33: Praise for diversity of subjects and differing perspectives of the papers. Brief descriptions of Madeleine Dufrenne on "Formes scéniques et créations des personnages dans le Mithridate de Racine," Richard Parish, "Racine: scène et vers," Maurice Delcroix, "La poétique du monstre dans le théâtre de Racine," Christian Delmas, "Bérénice comme rituel."
Review: J. Rohou in RHL 93.1 (jan/fév 93), 146–147: Un ensemble divers et riche d'articles sur une variété d'aspects du théâtre de R.
Review: M.-O. Sweetser in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 243–246: Third Vinaver Colloquium papers on prosody, stylistics, and musiciality; lexicon and Racinian perspective; characters and action; and myth, ritual, and fiction, all based on close textual study.
Review: Johannes Thomas in ZFSL 103 (1993), 190–91: Useful précis of contents and appraisal of currents of research represented by contributing.
MARY, G. "Bérénice dans ses plis." IL 44.4 (sep/oct 92), 21–26.
L'étude psychologique risque de "ravaler une tragédie au niveau d'un drame bougeois;" au contraire, il faut "contourner le rideau des codes pour retrouver la singularité d'une oeuvre."
MASKELL, DAVID. Racine: A Theatrical Reading. New York: Oxford 1991.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 291: Attractively illustrated contribution to discussion of R.'s "actualization on stage of the essence of the tragic." R.'s originality shines through as M. examines sources and debts.
Review: G. Jordorf in SCFS 15 (1993), 133: Praise for the scope of performance history incorporated into this analysis of "theatrical language." Reader's active participation is required to concentrate on one play (e.g. Andromaque) discussed in up to ten different places according to categories—"significant exits," "stage directions," "kneeling," "Eyes and tears," "conventional and incongruous action," "Conventional action," "visual focus," "comparisons." Valuable antidote to assertions that in classical tragedy there is nothing to watch and that all "action" consists in words and offstage events.
Review: Henry Phillips in FS 47.1 (1993), 75–76: While providing new insights into the visual effects of R.'s theater, this study exhibits some weaknesses in its argument for a "coherent theatrical system."
MOREL, JACQUES. Racine. Paris: Bordas, 1992.
Review: BCLF 562–63 (1992), 1818: Contribution "précieuse et érudite" à la redécouverte de Racine. M. "restitue les études 'historiques' de ses prédecesseurs Goldmann, Barthes, Gracq, dans la perspective théâtrale du XVIIe siècle."
PARISH, RICHARD. Racine: The Limits of Tragedy. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 74 (1993).
Studies R. working at the extreme limits of the dramatic conventions he adopts, using both the prefaces, despite their limited value, and the texts of the plays.
PHILLIPS, HENRY. Mithridate. London: Grant & Cutler, 1990.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 192: Emphasizes R.'s techniques of reader/audience involvement in a thorough and excellent discussion of relevant dramatic entities such as space and time, character and action.
ROHOU, JEAN. Jean Racine, entre sa carrière, son oeuvre et son Dieu. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–561 (1992), 588–89: "La biographie que Jean Rohou propose de Racine, pour ne pas apporter de nouvel éclairage sur le poète, trace le parcours d'une ambition servie par le talent et la rage d'arriver dans un siècle qui s'ouvrait aux beaux esprits." C'est "une brillante démonstration menée dans un style vif et une écriture claire . . . ."
Review: M. Brix in ECL 61 (1993), 73: A "literary biography" of R.: An attempt to find coherence in R.'s life in the context of his works.
_________. L'Evolution du tragique racinien. Paris: SEDES, 1991.
Review: Richard Paris in FS 47.2 (1993), 215–216: Using Freud and statistics, this study provides some illuminating insights, but suffers primarily from inadequate editing.
Review: Johannes Thomas in ZFSL 103 (1993), 102–103: Reduction of dissertation (1970), this study is based in the structuralism of Goldmann (schema of the father is prominently accepted) and the "psycho-critique" of Mauron. Goal is to identify and trace "la structure de notre condition, inscrite dans notre psychisme." Reviewer finds the method's renewal the main contribution of the work and that its methodology does not do damage to individual texts.
SELLSTROM, A. DONALD. "Intertextual Configurations in Bérénice. Etudes littéraires françaises 58 (1993), 255–63.
The author proposes "to demonstrate that Racine's invention is more complicated than he leads us to believe and that he fashioned Bérénice not just from a short text of Suetonius but, more importantly, from two intervening poetic texts as well: the story of Dido and Aeneas, which Vergil tells in Book VI of the Aeneid, and the story of Angelica, Medoro, and Orlando, to which Ariosto devotes much of Cantos XIX and XXIII of the Orlando furioso."
STONE, HARRIET. "Text into Text, Text out of Text." Continuum 5 (1993) 263–266.
Review article of Richard Goodkin's Autour de Racine: Studies in Intertextuality (New Haven: Yale UP, 1989). While expressing reservations about the form of some of the thirteen articles and about the fact that most of them are ". . . studies of his [Racine's] legacy; his plays most often pre-texts," Stone notes the value of each of the contributions.
SURBER, CHRISTINA. Parole, personnage et référence dans le théâtre de Jean Racine. Geneva: Droz, 1992.
WORTH-STYLIAMOU, VALERIE. "La Querelle du confident et la structure dramaturgique des premières pièces de Racine." Littératures classiques 16 (printemps 1992), 229–46.
"Dans le cadre de cet article, nous nous pencherons sur un seul aspect de la dramaturgie des deux premières tragédies de Racine, la quasi-absence/l'absence totale des confidents. Il nous semble que Racine a relevé un defi en allant à l'encontre de l'usage étable. Pour mieux comprendre sa démarche, il convient de se reporter à la Querelle de Sophonisbe, qui permet de préciser les arguments à l'ordre du jour en 1663."
WORTMANN, ANKE. Das Selbst und die Objektbeziehungen der Personen in den weltlichen Tragödien Jean Racines. Wurzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1992.
BRUNEL, JEAN. "Nicolas Rapin traducteur des néolatins." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 163–195.
Rapin's translations of 16th- and early 17th-century neolatin poetry constitues an important literary activity "tout à fait représentative d'un milieu caractérisé par un humanisme à la fois traditionnel et ouvert sur l'actualité. Elle montre la symbiose entre le latin et le français et combien féconds pouvaient se révéler les rapports complexes tissés entre ces deux volets linguistiques d'une même littérature."
MAZOUER, CHARLES, ed. Attendez-moi sous l'orme, La Sérénade et Le Bal, comédies. Geneva: Droz, 1991.
Review: François Moureau in RHT 174 (1992), 189: A trilogy of minor plays by Regnard: "La présentation de C. Mazouer a pris le parti raisonnable de ne pas écraser ces petits joyaux comiques d'une érudition hors de propos. Chacune des pièces est présentée dans son environnement (création, échos divers) et dans sa singularité sans que l'on oublie de la rattacher à la dramaturgie personnelle de Regnard."
BERTIERE, SIMONE. éd. Maximes et réflexions (tireés des Mémoires). Cardinal de Retz. Paris: Fallois, 1991.
Review: BCLF 555 (1991), 476: L'auteur "a pris le parti d'isoler un certain nombre de phrases de Retz, en n'hésitant pas, au besoin, à les modifier légèrement pour leur donner un tour gnomique plus marqué, ce qui pourra lui être reproché."
HADDAD, GABRIEL. "Héroisme et valeurs aristocratiques dans les Mémoires du Cardinal de Retz." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 211–222.
La naissance, la valeur militaire, l'esprit, l'honneur, la probité et l'individualisme sont les données morales de l'héroisme dans les écrits de R.
RONZEAUD, PIERRE. "La Voix du théâtre politique de Retz." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 235–247.
An analysis of Retz's auditive perspicacity. In his Mémoires, political conflicts are viewed as a vast theatrical exchange of noises and voices. Only his own personal and eloquent voice seems to elude and dominate that noisy "théâtre d'ombres."
MOUSNIER, ROLAND. L'Homme rouge ou la Vie du cardinal de Richelieu, 1585–1642. Paris: Robert Laffont, 1992.
Review: BCLF 562–63 (1992), 2029–30: M. est parvenu à présenter une image assez neuve et vivante du cardinal.
FORESTIER, GEORGES. "Le Véritable Saint Genest de Rotrou: enquête sur l'éboration d'une tragédie chrétienne." DSS 179 (avril-juin 1993), 305–322.
Examine la pièce de R. en tant que tragédie singulière "étroitement dépendant du principe selon lequel le monde est un théâtre sous le regard de Dieu."
MOREL, JACQUES, ed. Laure persécutée. Mont-de-Marsan: Edition José Feijóo, 1991.
Review: Christian Delmas in DSS 179 (avril-juin 1993), 404: Excellente édition qui se distingue par la "sobre élégance" de l'introduction.
Review: J.-C. Vuillemin in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 273–284: The first separate edition of the play. Based on three versions published during R.'s lifetime, this excellent edition corrects the many errors of preceding editions.
ROTROU, JEAN DE. Agésilan de Colchos, tragi-comédie, Strasbourg: Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Cicero éditeurs, 1992.
Review: Jacques Truchet in DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 402–403: Une pièce oubliée, jouée au Théâtre National de Strasbourg, le texte mis à la disposition des spectateurs. Ni notes, ni commentaires critiques, mais une préface utile et précise.
SANCHEZ, JOSE, ed. Jean Rotrou, Le Véritable Saint Genest. Mont-de-Marsan: Editions José Feijóo, 1991.
Review: J.-C. Vuillemin in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 273–284: Contains a substantial introduction and an excellent critical apparatus: chronology, thematic bibliography covering all of R.'s work, sources, etc.
WATTS, DEREK A., ed. Jean Rotrou, Venceslas. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1990.
Review: J.-C. Vuillemin in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 273–284: Because of its reasonable price, judicious introduction and notes, an excellent edition for the classroom.
Review: Valérie Worth-Stylianou in FS 47.1 (1993), 72: A new, inexpensive edition perfect for the undergraduate syllabus.
WATTS, DEREK., éd. Venceslas. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1991.
Review: BCLF 557 (1992), 898–99: Edition critique de qualité, "plus maniable, plus accessible que l'édition de Scherer dans "la Pléiade."
PAGNIER, DOMINIQUE. "Retour du satyre." NRF 488 (septembre 1993), 71–78.
In 17th-century literature, "le satyre qui apparaît dans la pastorale est généralement un être déchu, privé de sa puissance magique", but, for Saint-Amant, "l'esprit gémissant du satyre" announces "par sa simple réapparition le retour de l'ordre des anciens jours" and gives back to pagan cosmogony "son charme antique et sa force mythique."
BAKER, SUSAN READ. "The Rhetoric of Self-Presentation in Saint-Evremond." FLS 19 (1992), 19–27.
A study of S.'s epistolary contribution to the "elaboration of a new space of writing which allows the expression of a subjective vision," a hybrid of the autobiographical and the fictional.
HOPE, QUENTIN, M. "Saint-Evermond and the Pleasures of the Table." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 9–36.
With his emphasis on simplicity, naturalness, refinement, and the importance of preserving the distinctive quality of each flavor, S.-E. made a major contribution to gastronomy.
ROORYCK, GUY. Les Mémoires du dac de Saint-Simon. De la parole du témoin au discours du mémorialiste. Genève: Droz, 1992.
Review: BCLF 560–61 (1992), 1612: Le projet de R. est d'"étudier les Mémoires en tant 'qu'oeuvre littéraire, c'est à dire comme une "structure langagière" fondamentalement ambigüe et polysémique'." R. définit sa démarche critique: "Nous nous reférons tantôt à la stylistique ou à des méthodes d'inspiration structuraliste . . . ."
FROIDEFOND, DOMINQUE. "Le Traitement de Ragotin dans Le Roman comique de Scarron." PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 415–433.
An attempt to rescue Ragotin from the secondary status as the mere burlesque counterpart of Destin: "Ragotin a été créé pour nous faire rire, mais ce mécanisme est poussé à bout dans la deuxième partie."
SERROY, JEAN, ed. Le Virgile travesti. Paris: Bordas, 1988.
Review: F. Assaf in CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 277–279: A highly readable, well illustrated edition with an exemplary critical apparatus, including an elegant and didactic introduction which discusses the notion of the burlesque in terms of history, style, and aesthetics.
VIALET, MICHELE. Triomphe de l'iconoclaste, Le Roman bourgeois et les lois de cohérence romanesque. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 42 (1989).
Review: C. Giardina in IL 44.3 (mai/juin 92), 46–47: Un livre original qui soutient que le Roman bourgeois "a été jugé incohérent seulement parce qu'il ne correspond pas aux structures romanesques avec lesquelles le lecteur est familiarisé." Quelques aspects du roman sont moins bien développés (le point de vue, les sous-récits).
BIET, CHRISTIAN and DOMINQUE MONCOND'HUY, eds. Le Cabinet de Monsieur de Scudéry. Paris: Klincksieck, 1991.
Review: M-C Canova-Green in FS 47.1 (1993), 71–72. An excellent introduction and meticulous annotations.
DUTERTRE EVELINE. Scudéry théoricien du classicism. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 66 (1991).
Studies evolution of S.'s critical thought: S. mirrors the central tenets of classical doctrine.
Review: Claude Chantalat in DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 405–06: "Brève mais riche étude" qui nous montre "les défauts, les contradictions que présente l'oeuvre de Georges de Scudéry, mais en nous révélant aussi ce qui en fait la force et l'intérêt."
Review: Michael Hawcroft in FS 47.1 (1993), 70–71: A clear and careful analysis of S.'s theoretical texts revealing his place among the "Classiques."
Review: G. Penzkofer in RF 104 (1992), 227–228: Small (73p.) but impressive and informative volume analyzes S.'s Observations sur Le Cid and other theoretical documents such as the prefaces to Ibrahim and Andromire, comparing them to writings of Chapelain, La Mesnardière, etc. and underscoring S.'s formulation of vraisemblance and unité d'action.
DUTERTRE, EVELINE et DOMINIQUE MONCOND'HUY, eds. Le Prince déguisé. La Mort de César. Paris: Société des textes français modernes, 1992.
Review: Alain Couprie in DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 405: "Cette double édition s'impose dorénavant comme l'édition de référence."
Review: N. Hepp in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 527–529: Critical edition of the first tragi-comedy and the first tragedy by the writer. In her introduction Duterte emphasizes the contrary tendancies, both baroque and classical, of the first play. Moncond'Huy finds much in the tragedy that is "regular" except for the absence of an internal conflict. An excellent edition.
KLAUS, PETER G. Georges de Scudéry (1601–1667). Dramen und Schriften zum Theater. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1989.
Review: K. Schoell in PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 249–250: Studies S.'s theoretical writings, baroque and classical tendencies in four plays, and social structures in the theater. Reviewer finds this study to be narrower in scope than the recent studies by Eveline Dutertre.
PELLEGRINI, ROSA GALLI. Georges de Scudéry, Autres Oeuvres. Fasano/Paris: Schena/Nizet, 1989.
Review: E. Dutertre in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 539–540: An edition of S.'s early poetry, different genres on a variety of themes all written before 1636. Introduction and notes.
Review: A. Génetiot in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 887–889: Suite à l'édition des Poésies diverses de S. On note la "coexistence d'une veine réaliste et satirique et d'une veine pastorale et amoureuse."
SOARE, ANTOINE. "Scudéry exégète de Corneille." CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 129–151.
L'Amour tyrannique de S. et ses relaitons dramaturgiques et thématiques avec l'oeuvre de Pierre Corneille.
STONE, HARRIET. "Scudéry's Theater of Disguise: The Orient in Ibrahim. ECr 32 (1992), 51–61.
The Orient is seen as the "medium through which the European . . . comes to understand himself"; voyage, therefore, is a metaphor for self-discovery. Intriguing discussion of portrait passage among others reveals "the devices traditionally perceived as signs of the novel's . . . immaturity as a genre or . . . as weaknesses of a narrative technique . . . perform the novel's most profound truth about subjectivity and representation."
CAPASSO, RUTH CARVER. "Sun, Veil and Maze: Mlle de Scudéry's Parthenie." PFSCL 20, 38 (1993), 97–112.
Using the psychological theories of Adler and Horney, C. sees the character as a "woman actively questioning and rejecting her societal role and attempting to create her own sense of self-worth."
DOIG, KATHLEEN HARDESTY. "Madeleine de Scudéry in the Bibliothèque universelle des romans and the Encyclopédie méthodique." CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 153–167.
Abridged versions of S.'s novels published between 1775 and 1784 conveyed admiration for S. while making radical alterations to the text and providing commentary suggesting that S.'s work should be considered a "style manual in reverse."
PENZKOFER, GERHARD. L'Art du mensonge. Mlle de Scudéry und der Barokroman. Munich: Habitationsschrift, 1991.
TROTZKE, MARGARET ANNE. "Framing the Police: Scudéry's Secret Critique of Louis XIV." CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 169–182.
S.'s "La Promenade de Versailles" (1669) is seen as a subversive criticism of the king.
CADILHON, FRANÇOIS. "Jean-Baptiste de Secondat, oncle et mentor de Montesquieu." RFHL 76–77 (1992), 301–306.
A brief analysis of the career and political ideas of Jean-Baptiste de Secondat, Montesquieu's uncle—"à celui-ci le futur philosophe dut sa carrière et l'orientation de sa vie."
GUICHEMERRE, ROGER, ed. Les Nouvelles françaises ou les divertissements de la princesse Aurélie. Tome l. Paris: STFM, 1990.
Review: Christian Garraud in FR 66 (1993), 815–16: Welcome critical ed. that includes "Eugénie," Adélayde, "Honorine" with a hundred lexical, historical, and literary notes, an introductory life of Segrais, and excellent primary and secondary biblio.
Review: P. Zoberman in RHL 92.5 (sep/oct 92), 891–892: Une édition commode d'un texte écarté du canon, mais qui représente "une étape importante dans le développement de la nouvelle historique et du roman."
AREY, MARIE-JO. "L'Espace d'une Sévigné." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 35–51.
L'inscription physique du corps féminin dans l'espace répond aux métaphores pascaliennes de la "spatialisation de la condition humaine," et forge une structure féminine particulière au texte sévignéen.
FARRELL, MICHÈLE LONGINO. Performing Motherhood: The Sévigné Correspondence. Hanover, NH: Univ. Press of New England, 1991.
Review: K. A. Jensen in ECr 32 (1992), 98: Completely positive review judges F.'s reading as "stunning" and "superbly written." F. claims that S.'s passion for writing was acceptable because of the genre she chose and the destinataire of her letters. F. stresses the conflict and alienation which S. was responsible for in the Mother/daughter/granddaughter "generational continuum." Social history, feminist literary and psychological theories inform the analyses.
Review: N. Mallet in CdDS 5.1 (Spring 1991), 281–285: Une analyse pénétrante de la maternité en tant qu'une quête d'identité ontologique et littéraire pour S., qui est devenue "l'artisan de sa propre canonisation littéraire." Le livre est "dense, hardi, intuitif," et d'intérêt aux spécialistes de la littérature épistolaire et de l'écriture féminine.
Review: C. Montfort in PFSCL 20, 39 (1993), 530–533: An "ambitious and rich study" that brings much recent feminist theory to bear on the subject but that ignores or overuses primary sources from the 17th and 18th centuries. Farrell attributes S.'s success both to her observance of the code for appropriate generic behavior for women and her limiting herself to the marginal domain of the epistolary.
Review: Helje Porré in FR 66 (1993), 665–66: Thesis is that S. was "deprived of the more socially integrated role of a wife, relegated to the margins of a patriarchially organized world," therefore she gave meaning to her life by the construction of herself in writing as a paragon of maternity. Uses the mirror image as main theme in exploring mother-daughter relationship. Cogent argument with good close reading to support it. Useful introductory chapters on women and epistolarity and S.'s apprenticeship style. The feminist point of view somewhat diminishes the traditionally portrayed charm of the letter-writer. Not a book for the general public.
OJALA, JEANNE A., and WILLIAM T. OJALA. Madame de Sévigné: A Seventeenth-Century Life. New York: Berg, 1990.
Review: Janis L. Pallister in SCN 51.1–2 (1993), 23–24: This biography presents a "doggedly sociological view of Madame de Sévigné," and "is seriously flawed in other ways. The work is not annotated," and the authors' assessment of Sévigné's religious and literary opinions cannot stand its ground against a careful perusal of her letters. All in all, they "do not appear to be specialists in French or French literature, though they present a relatively competent historical background of the times."
AERCKE, KRISTIAAN P. "Sorel's Le Pauvre généreux: An Early Dramatic Narrative." CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 85–104.
Sorel's story of 1623 contains tragicomic, pastoral, and precious elements comparable to Théophile's play Pyrame et Thisbé.
DEBAISIEUX, MARTINE. Le Procès du roman. Ecriture et contrefaçon chez Charles Sorel. Saratoga, CA: Anma Libri, 1989.
Review: Sergio Poli in SFr 103 (1991), 128: This work, focusing mainly on a comparison between Francion's three versions and outlining Sorel's evolution from that seminal novel to le Berger extravagant and Polyandre, offers a "stimulating" analysis of a literary shift from Baroque forms to Classical norms.
Review: H. Stenzel in RF 103 (1991), 484–490: Valuable contribution to Rezeptionsgeschechte of 17th c. novel, examines S.'s narrative program and development through an investigation of three versions of Francion. Reviewer cites the theoretical debt to Bakhtin and Foucault and D.'s claim that S. prefigures the nouveau roman: "dans les deux cas se manifestent une volonté de rompre avec la tradition romanesque et un refus de se laisser imposer des règles."
Review: K. Wine in FR 66 (1993), 502–503: Uses Francion's trial for counterfeiting to figure an ongoing "procès du roman" that both denounces the fraudulent character of fiction and unveils its inner process. The core consists of separate readings of the 1623 ed. and the four books added in 1626 and 1633, the latter treated as self-reflexive "trial." Interpretation of the notion of reflection on fiction is one of the most original features. Pays unusual attention to word play. Succeeds admirably in double aim of illuminating S.'s role in the evolution of the novel and the interest for modern readers.
HOWELLS, ROBIN. Carnival to Classicism, The Comic Novels of Charles Sorel. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 48 (1989).
Review: H. Stenzel in RF 103 (1991), 484–490: H.'s useful work emphasizes the plurality and openness of S.'s work as he examines chronologically S.'s development as an author from Francion to Polyandre. His "carnivalesque reading" is seen in a literary historical perspective.
LEINER, WOLFGANG. "Regards critiques sur le statut picaresque du Francion." Etudes littéraires françaises 58 (1993), 209–221.
L. se propose de "suivre de près le cheminement du concept de 'roman picaresque' appliqué au roman de Sorel et de voir ce que le recours à ce terme a apporté à notre compréhension de l'oeuvre et de ce qu'il peut nous enseigner sur la démarche de la critique."
ARONSON, NICOLE. "Le Poids du silence: Tallement et la Princesse Nièce." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 111–120.
Argues that one needs "une bonne carte routière" in order to understand the writer's hidden intentions.
CHAPLIN, PEGGY. "Choses à mettre en lumière: Tallemant des Réaux's 'Historiette' of Cardinal Richelieu." SCFS 15 (1993), 25–32.
Defends T. as a writer and historian as prelude to his claim to be drawing a portrait of R. in all his aspects, delineated in all its dimensions. Interest in family fortunes and especially in the actor-manager's plots, as well as his sense of humor present at the same time, predominately a "behind-the-scenes" viewing revealing R.'s ferocity and tyranny.
GAINES, JAMES F. "Nobility and the Sexual Economy in the Historiettes." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 79–90.
How the insistence on sexuality (and money) in the work raises its cultural stature. Sees galanterie as the source of the ideological cohesiveness the work has.
MAIGNE, VINCENETTE. "Les Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux: un immense discours rapporté." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 135–141.
Compares the Historiettes with a recently published manuscript by T. Sees the Historiettes as the "mise en livre de l'immense conversation" that occured during the Regency and the reign of Louis XIV.
STEFANOVSKA, MALINA. "Histoire ou historiette: le portrait du roi par Saint-Simon et par Tallemant des Réaux." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993).
Compares and contrasts the portraits of Henri IV and Louis XIII: "à travers leur [the two writers'] imaginaire personnel se jouent les enjeux symboliques de l'époque, ainsi que ceux de l'écriture."
WOLFE, PHILLIP. "La Perspective huguenote dans les Historiettes." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 121–128.
Despite the fact that T. was not a model of virtue, he remained a Huguenot, not a deist or free thinker, as some have claimed.
ZUERNER, ADRIENNE. "Gossip as History in Tallemant des Réaux's Historiettes." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 99–106.
"Seduced by the lure of gossip, Tallement nonetheless conforms to the rules of historical writing, and, at the same time, his text offers an implicit critique of the conventions governing historiography."
ABRAHAM, CLAUDE. "Burlesque et fantaisie verbale dans Le Parasite." CTH 15 (1993), 12–21.
Skillfully evokes the spirit of the commedia that is immediately popular but condemned as anachronistic by a new generation. The Capitan Matamore, Fippesauces (parodic miles gloriosus who substitutes the language of gastronomy for that of heroism), the go-between nurse Phénice are the richly verbal structure of the comic action.
CAHIERS TRISTAN L'HERMIT 15 (1993).
Bibliography and Chronicle of the Sociétée d'Amis for 1992. Articles are entered separately in this edition of French 17.
CHAUVEAU, JEAN-PIERRE. "Tristan L'Hermite, Stances-épître, de la langue de l'homme à la langue des dieux." CTH 15 (1993), 47–54.
Commentary on the textual birth of the poet, from prose to poetry, juxtaposing the stanzas of the Lettres meslées no. 33 with the poem of Le Page desgrâcié, Part II, ch. 55.
EKSTEIN, NINA. "Language, Power, and Gender in Tristan's La Marianne and La Mort de Sénèque." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 9–18.
"No one finishes well in these two dramatic universes, but the women, unlike the men, have exerted power effectively for their own ends."
HARRISON, HELEN L. "Tristan, Exchange, and the Undermining of the Tyrant." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 19–29.
Explores economic themes: "the disorder which comes with the tyranny of 'mercenary souls'."
ONYEOZIRI, GLORIANNE. "'Les Terreurs nocturnes' de Tristan L'Hermite: figures et projets narratifs." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 63–75.
Poses "la question de savoir s'il s'agit d'un 'message-codé' qui exige une compétence encyclopédique pour sa compréhension, ou si un déchiffrement sémiotique et rhétorique général peut constituer une interprétation adéquate." Concludes that "le texte dans sa totalité se refuse à une interprétation figurative . . . ."
PREVOST, JACQUES. "Sur Le Page disgrâcié." CTH 15 (1993), 5–11.
Examines the different inscriptions of the "je" that construct the autobiographical narrative and the "writing short" that is both anticonventional and antiideological while it discovers with increasing sureness "le paradis de l'écriture personnelle dans la voie, la vocation poétiques."
ROSENTHAL, OLIVIA. "Le Poète et ses peintures." CTH 15 (1993), 23–42.
Stimulating essay with textual analysis that develops the nature of the "je" of T.'s self-portrait as writer and poet through allusions to painting and the topos ut pictura poesis: links vocabulary of painting with melancholy and withdrawal, voice with different modes of expression especially in La Lyre and L'Orphée.
SOARE, ANTOINE. "Les Inquiétudes cornéliennes de Tristan." PFSCL/Biblio 17, 77 (1993), 31–52.
"Avec La Marianne, le théâtre héroïque avouait, en somme, le scandale de l'innocent écrasé à cause de son innocence. Avec Le Cid, il se mettra à explorer le scandale complémentaire, du généreux criminel à cause de sa génrosité." Views La Mort de Sénèque as "une Marianne explicitée jusqu'à l'éclatement."
WILLIAMS, CHARLES G.S. Valincour: The Limits of 'honnêteté'. Washington: The Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1991.
Review: James F. Gaines in FR 66 (1993), 503–504: Chs. are arranged chronologically to follow V.'s career as a poet, critic, historian, civil servant, academician, and spiritual correspondent; interconnectedness emerges. "From a purely literary-historical viewpoint, W.'s book opens much new ground, for time and again he introduces exciting new discoveries from poems, letters, and archival texts. But it is in probing the limits and margins of V.'s well-established honnetêté that W. makes his most orignial contributions."
Review: J. D. Lyons in FrF 17 (1992), 339–341: Entirely praiseworthy, W.'s account of V. "illuminates not only a single exemplary career, but the whole concept of civil and intellectual life in the Classical period." Half of the book treats political, religious and institutional aspects of V.'s role: his service to the state and the Académie, for example. L. particularly appreciates the careful treatment of V.'s criticism of La Princesse de Clèves and his rigorous historical writings. L. praises this "exceptionally fine intellectual and literary biography", judging it an "eminent demonstration of the most solid and patient archival scholarship."
CARON, PHILIPPE. "Une traduction relue à l'Académie française ou Vaugelas à l'épreuve de Vaugelas." Littératures Classiques 13 (1990), 89–107.
Vaugelas's translation of Quintus Curtius was criticized by the French Academy, which used the Remarques sur la langue françoise's methodology. The Academicians's copious notes on Vaugelas' manuscript, Quite Curce, show how important they considered the grammarian's contribution to the French language, and constitute a clear testimony on the Académie's attempt to materialize Richelieu's program on the institutionalization of language.
DUCHENE, ROGER, ed. Actes du colloque du CMR 17: Théophile de Viau, Hommage à Guido Saba. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 65 (1988).
Review: M.-F. Hilgar in CdDS 4.2 (Fall 1990), 257–258: Douze communications examinent T. en tant que poète, dramaturge et prosateur; le volume témoigne de l'intérêt scolaire dans cet auteur 400 ans après sa naissance.
_________. Théophile de Viau: Actes du Colloque de Centre Méridional de Rencontres sur le Dix-septième Siècle. Offerts en hommage à Guido Saba. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 65 (1991).
Review: S. Warman in MLR 88 (1993), 463–64: Volume constitutes a record of the 1990 Marseille conference commemorating the fourth centenary of Théophile de Viau's birth and honoring Guido Saba's work on the poet. Contributions cover the full range of Théophile's work: prose, poetry, and theater.
KAMBWA, AUGUSTO EDUARDO. "Les métamorphoses de la liberté: Libertinage et baroque chez Théophile de Viau" (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992). DAI 53:10, 3547A.
The concept of freedom as the central theme in T.'s works; a linkage is seen between libertine ideology and baroque esthetics.
SABA, GUIDO, "La Poétique de Théophile de Viau." FLS 18 (1991), 13–25.
T. était poète et non pas théoricien comme Malherbe, mais parfois dans ses écrits il "se double d'un théoricien de l'art poétique, ou du moins de son propre art."
_______. ed. Théophile de Viau. Oeuvres poétiques. Paris: Bordas, 1990.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 27 (1992), 192: Welcome edition makes V.'s poetry more widely accessible. Valuable introduction includes information on biography, criticism and a "sympathetic assessment" of V.'s poetry.
Review: P. Gethner in FrF 17 (1992), 221–222: This edition which aims to broaden T.'s audience includes a fine introduction attentive to biography, critical reception, poetic theory and thematics. A bibliography, glossary, notes and a name-index complete the scholarly apparatus. Although numerous errors remain after proof-reading, and the reviewer would have preferred more attention to disputed texts, this volume by the premier Théophile critic will undoubtedly prove highly useful to "specialists and to all lovers of French poetry."
Review: Cecilia Rizza in SFr 104 (1991), 347: Rizza feels G. Saba has fulfilled his objective by presenting a complete picture of the author's poetic project, of the cultural and historical context of Viau's works, and of their "fortune littériare." The book's vast bibliography, its index of names, its table of incipits, and the concordance between the 1621, 1622 and 1623 editions are "very helpful."
VIAU. Les Amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisbé, tragédie. Strasbourg: Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Cicero éditeurs, 1992.
Review: Jacques Truchet in DSS 179 (Avril-juin 1993), 402–03: Avec les deux éditions critiques qui existent déjà, "l'intérêt de cette réédition, réside dans la préface de G. Forestier, modèle de mise au point."
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