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1995 Number 43
CARR, THOMAS, ed. Réflexions sur l'éloquence des prédicateurs (1695) et Avertissement en tête de sa traduction des sermons de saint Augustin. Geneva: Droz, 1992.
Review: William Marceau in FR 68 (1995), 1090–91: Welcome publication of two key texts of the quarrel on preaching or sacred eloquence that proves to be also a quarrel over Saint Augustine. Valuable intro. on the nature of the dispute and biblio.
LENNON, THOMAS M. and PATRICIA ANN EASTON. The Cartesian Empiricism of Francois Bayle. New York/London: Garland, 1992.
Review: Steven Nadler in Isis 85 (1995), 696: Contains annotated translation of the Système général de la philosophie cartésienne by this Cartesian physician (1622–1709), who took his lead from Desgabets and P.-S. Regia; Locke learned somthing about the Cartesianism he was attacking from this work.
BOST, HUBERT. Un 'Intellectuel' avant la lettre: le journaliste Pierre Bayle (1647–1706). L'actualité religieuse dans les 'Nouvelles de la République des Lettres' (1684–1687). Amsterdam/Maarseu: APA-Holland U P, 1994.
Review: L. Bergen in BHR 57 (1995), 309–11: B. démontre "à quel point cette image de philosophe soupçonné d'athéïsme ou libre penseur qu'on lui attribue depuis les 'Lumières' est en réalité un contresens. Il nous offre au contraire le portrait d'un Bayle très fidèle aux positions thélogiques réformées, très soucieux néanmoins de défendre la liberté de conscience.
BOST, HUBERT. Pierre Bayle et le religion. Paris: PUF, 1994.
PIVA, FRANCO, ed. Catherine Bernard, Oeuvres. Tome I: Romans et nouvelles. Fasano/Paris: Schena/Nizet, 1993.
Review: G. Verdier in PFSCL 22 (1995), 289–291: A carefully done edition of Bernard's five novels and stories which "fera date dans la redécouverte du roman français du XVIIe siècle, et en particulier, du roman féminin." Sheds light on the life of the author. Modern spelling, lexical and historical notes, bibliography of manuscript sources and criticism, and an index of names. A second volume containing the novelist's tragedies and poetry is planned.
GIORDANO, MICHAEL J., ed. Studies on Béroalde de Verville. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 22 (1992).
Review: S. Bamforth in MLR 89 (1994), 999–1000: Collection of six papers explores B.'s multifaceted talents. Four articles concerned with Le Moyen, two with love poetry. Bibliography covers 1981–1991.
ZINGUER, HANA. Le roman stéganamorphique: "Le voyage des princes fortunez" de Béroalde de Verville. Paris: Champion, 1993.
Review: J. C. Ternaux in PFSCL 22 (1995), 693–695: Studies the hermetic and alchemical aspects of this "journal intime." According to reviewer, a study which "incite à redécouvrir une oeuvre séduisante par sa bizarrerie, carrefour de sciences et d'écritures."
DUPUY, MICHEL, ed. Conférences, vol. I of Oeuvres completes. Latin trans.Auguste Piedagnel. Paris: Cerf/Oratoire de France, 1995.
Review: Patrick Kechichian in Le Monde des Livres (31 Mar. 1995), v: Reviewer presents a virtuosic portrait of Bérulle's magnificence as a writer and of the man, scholar rather than "religious writer," whom Urban VIII acknowledged as "apôtre du Verbe incarné." The first of 14 vols. of collective ed., this volume's contents are modest—the instructions for religious communities largely in letters, questions, advice and support for spirituality. Reviewer gives good short biblio. of recent scholarship on the "Ecole française de spiritualité.
LEWIS, PHILIP. "Fragmented Text and Continuous Reading: A Longinian Text and Some of Its Implications." FLS (Vol. 21, 1994), 25–33.
While this article briefly discusses "Perrault's polemical responses to Boileau in the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns," its thrust deals with B.'s "translator's licence," as demonstrated by the poet's embellished, modernized passages that fill lacunae in Longinus's On the Sublime. According to Lewis, B. includes these passages in order to advance his own theory of the sublime.
MORIARTY, MICHAEL. "Satire and Power in Seventeenth-Century France: The Case of Boileau." FMLS 30 (1994), 293–304.
Enlightening and careful consideration of B.'s "struggle for poetic independence and dignity" discusses the manifold pressures on 17th c. satirical discourse. Treats B.'s numerous justifications, his appeals to his predecessors, his emphasis on self-knowledge and authenticity, the "censor" image, and ambiguity or "l'équivoque."
VUILLEMIN, JEAN-CLAUDE. "Stratégies et apories de l'éloquence sacrée: l'oeuvre oratoire de Bossuet." SCFS 17 (1995), 25–36.
Examines strategies by which the sacred orator marks the distance of his predication from the artes bene dicendi on the one hand and the actor's eloquence on the other; sacred theatre, from the seductive but temporally limited affectus of secular theatre. Included logically in these tactics by necessity is representation of the theatre as an "école et exercise de vice"; by the same token the analogy must be admitted with the pulpit.
VINCENT, DANIEL-HENRI et VINCENETTE MAIGNE, éds. Bussy-Rabutin Dits et inédits. Paris: Editions de L'Armançon, 1993.
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 87: G. states that V. and M.'s work is composed of two distinct parts: the first, primarily biographical and autobiographical, is complemented by the second, a previously unpublished transcription from a manuscript kept in the library at the Château de Chantilly containing 51 songs written by Bussy between 1640 and 1670. In his conclusion, G. remarks, "ce recueil est de forte belle facture, qui ne se veut pas une édition savante, est néanmoins pourvu d'introduction, d'annotations lexicales et historiques précises." All of which "révèle ainsi un précieux ouvrage pour faire mieux connaître à un public élargi l'attrayante personalité du comte libertin."
ARTIGAS-MENANT, GENEVIEVE et JACQUES POPIN, éds., avec MARIE EMMANUELLE PLAGNOL. Lecons sur Les Illustres Françaises de Robert Challe: Actes de la table ronde de Créteil (9 janvier 1993). Paris: Université de Paris XII-Val de Marne, 1993.
Review: S. Davies in MLR 90 (1995), 445: Collection of eleven essays plus additional contributions "concentrated on three areas: fictional techniques, the roman libertin, and the relationship of the text with religious and philosophical ideas."
CORMIER, JACQUES. "D'un Sancho à l'autre, de Saint-Martin à Robert Challe." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 201–221.
Treats differences between volumes five and six of the French Don Quichotte. Examines 1) la morgue des grands (oppressive judges, for example), 2) ambitious ecclesiastics, 3) the role of Sancho. Close examination of the last point demonstrates how the récit has become reoriented: "La Continuation, par la façon dont elle traite Sancho, s'érige en négation absolue de ce que le tome V laissait entrevoir."
DELOFFRE, FREDERIC. "Adieu à l'Acadie: Le dernier voyage de Challe en Nouvelle-France." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 185–200.
D.'s fascinating treatment complements Jean Mesnard's "Entre Mémoires et fiction" (Tra Lit 3) as it examines the question: "Challe nous dit-il la vérité, et toute la vérité, sur les circonstances de son dernier voyage et de son départ définitif du Canada?"
BELIN, CHRISTIAN. "Charron et Pascal," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 41–52.
Studies Pascal as the reader of Charron and the two as readers of Montaigne and Saint Augustine with special attention to the themes of the wager and the contradictions in human nature. Pascal found in Charron a theology directed at lay readers and and took away an Augustinian rather than a Thomistic reading. Pascal himself served as the conduit through which Charron gained entry to Port Royal spirituality.
LAGARDE, FRANÇOIS. "L'idée de nature chez Pierre Charron," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 55–70.
"Ce maître ès persuasion gère la conscience publique et entretient dans les esprits un double désir de belle nature: celui de l'ordre, et l'on sait que le siècle de la monarchie absolue aspire fortement à l'ordre politique. Celui d'un naturel plus intérieur, plus immédiat, qui fera l'objet d'une quête littéraire et même spirituelle, et qui semblera fuir à mesure que l'ordre de l'obéissance s'imposera."
MACDONOUGH, RICHARD B. "The 'Real' Pierre Charron and his Plan: A New Look," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 19–36.
Studies biography and works in order to conclude that C. was not an agnostic, atheist, or libertine.
NIDERST, ALAIN. "Montaigne, Charron, Bayle," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 83–91.
"Pour ces hommes le pyrrhonisme n'est nullement une brèche dans la foi; c'est au contraire, le meilleur, peut être le seul, moyen de la fortifier."
SCOTT, BRENDAN. "Pierre Charron and Mateo Ricci: Conversion as the Congruence of Theory and Practice," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 75–80.
Sees C. and Ricci, the first Jesuit missionary to China and C.'s contemporary, as enhancing one another in their attitudes toward China: ". . . both men . . . gave their best efforts to the issues of human dignity and non violent conversion of faith."
VAN DER CRUYSSE, DIRK, ed. Journal du voyage de Siam. Paris: Fayard, 1994.
Review: Gilles Lapouge in QL (16–30 avril 1995), 11–12: Reviewed with Dirk Van der Cruysse, L'Abbé de Choisy: Androgyne et mandarin (Fayard). C. "accompagne l'ambassade que Louis XIV a décidé de dépêcher au Siam (Thaïlande) . . . . L'abbé note ses impressions dans un Journal plein de verve, un des plus beaux livres de voyage de son siècle. Il ouvre pour les Français une lucarne sur le royaume des talapoins: processions sur l'eau, pagodes, idoles d'or et de pierreries, chasses à l'éléphant et feux d'artifices. Du coup, l'abbé, quand il rentre à Paris, se fait ordonner prêtre."
Review: Nicolas Weill in Le Monde de Livres (31 Mar. 1995), x: Remarkable annotation (some 1100 notes, seven appendices on the political implications of the 1688 voyage, two indices). Modernized text. Esthetically superior illustrations. Brief notice is also given to the author's L'Abbé de Choisy: androgyne et mandarin. Fayard, 1995.
ABRAHAM, CLAUDE K. "Note sur les gentilshommes bourgeois de Corneille." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 119–123.
A. dedicates to the memory of Georges Couton this incisive review of lovers in C.'s comedies. A. recalls Couton's admonition: "S'il s'agit dans Mélite d'unir les coeurs, il ne faut pas oublier d'assortir les fortunes." Aristocrats as well as merchants use the "langage mercantile [pour révéler leurs] véritables sentiments." Thus, the clever title of A.'s note since, "pour le protagoniste comique de Corneille, la parole est le personnage."
ALBANESE, RALPH JR. "Masculin/Féminin: Discours et Pouvoir dans Le Cid." RR 85:3 (May 1994), 361–370:
A. examines the patriarchy's linguistic and political immobilization of Chimène at the conclusion of Le Cid. Chimène's "manipulation," via Fernand's false announcement of Rodrigues's death, exemplifies the "power" of "masculine discourse" in the sense that the goal of this manipulation is to "transformer le désarroi de l'héroine en spectacle d'humiliation public; il s'agit d'un discours féminin jugé excessif, ou, plus précisément, d'une hystérie contrôlée." Nonetheless, A. maintains that Chimène, largely through her silence, becomes a character of protest, a "contestataire acharnée" who challenges a royal authority forcing her to reconcile parricide and marriage.
ALLENTUCH, HARRIET R. "Surena's Melancholy." CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991) 91–100.
A. contends that the goal of her article is to show that the "pessimistic" and "melancholic" tone of C.'s last play "expresses a disillusion that is less personal to the hero than grounded in a general despair about the male condition of rivalry for pride of place and male-male violence." King Orode's jealousy of Surena, which prompts the king to murder his general, recalls the thematic, recurrent in much of C.'s drama, of "le sujet trop grand pour son roi." This thematic, found in Nicomède and Agésilas, has a unique outcome in Surena, because unlike the other two plays, there is "no reconciliation among men." Thus, in contrast with his other works, C.'s final play culminates in "a dark vision of monarchy" which, "while foreshadowed in C.'s earlier work... constitutes [in Suréna] its strictest expression."
ALLENTUCH, HARRIET. "Is Corneille's Oedipe Oedipal?" FR 67 (1994), 571–79.
Maintains that it is not the existence of a double action but by their discordance (that they overlap rather than mesh, Oedipe tyrant vs Oedipe redeemer) which explains the play's failure to survive. The double action, as a patterning discerned by Mauron in the Tetralogy, also leads to a "subtext poorly embedded in the dramatic action," a "failure to synthesize successfully conscious and unconscious thinking...in secondary revision." A fine article with incisive use of the Mauron paradigm.
BERTAUD, MADELEINE et ALAIN NIDERST, éds. Onze études sur la vieillesse de Corneille dédiées à la mémoire de Georges Couton. Boulogne/Rouen: ADIREL/Mouvement Corneille, 1994.
Review: M Margitic in PFSCL 22 (1995), 244–245: Studies combining literary and/or socio political history with analysis and interpretations of texts: C.'s effect on the esthetic and moral mentality of his generation, allusions to the period of Louis XIV in Attila, two late tragedies as embodiments of two successive Christian theologies, Pulchérie's characters as thinly disguised prominent figures in the theater, neostoicism in OEdipe, the reworking of Cinna's themes in Agésilas, Attila's paradoxical yet typical behavior, historical fidelity as an element of continuity in C., C.'s continuing attention to current events, allegorism in the tragedies, love and renunciation as thematic continuity, female characters as discontinuity, and modern stagings of the late plays.
BROWN, SASKIA. "Sacrifice and Catharisis in Corneille's Discours and Heraclius." SCFS 17 (1995), 157–168.
Thoughtful analysis of catharsis as purification, a process that "does obey the same logic of sacrifice as that which characterizes the dynamics of Cornelian tragedy." "Even in Rodogune," but especially in the last of the "pièces de la monstruosité," there is the "ambiguity of sacrifice" in powerful form. Interesting conclusion on Heraclius.
BYRNES, JAMES J. "Cultivating Violence and Violating Culture in Corneille's Horace." RLA (Vol. VI, 1994) 23–27.
B. states that his purpose is to discuss "an archaeology of Cornelian knowledge, in particular, the knowledge of violence—its historical situation, its system of valuation and the representations of the subtending mentalités and moral perplexities within the contrarieties of a history of ideas." For B., violence determines "the perception of the State and of civil Society." He argues that "The role of the State is not to suppress violence but to render it stable and productive." Thus, the "disorder" of violence becomes "only a stage...within an encompassing order that provides a larger meaning to the motivated actions of the characters."
CLARKE, DAVID. Pierre Corneille: Poetics and Political Drama under Louis XIII. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge UP, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 29 (1993), 372: Considered "invaluable," this study analyses the ideological conflicts which served as background to C.'s enduring poetic expression.
Review: Susan Read Baker in MP 92 (1994), 240–43: "With this study of the theory and practice marking the heyday of C.'s career, D. C. joins the ranks of a distinguished modern company of British scholars devoted to the study of French classical theater. Their criticism proceeds by carefully reinserting classical texts into the cultural climate that gave them birth." D. C.'s "comprehensive threefold program" consists of these elements: "to situate the dramatist as a Norman officier subjected to ideological and institutional turbulence fomented by Richelieu's politique de gloire, to disengage the oppositional flavor of Cornelian poetics, and to show how C. inspires political and moral reflection in seven dramas from the age of Louis the Just . . . ." The author's "final goal is to shed light upon the contemporary reception and abiding value of these exemplary Cornelian texts." In B.'s view "[t]he reader of this study must conclude with [D.] C. that C., like Aeschylus before him, located tragedy less in the individual soul than in man's place in a world order. Thanks to such thoughtful scholarship," says the reviewer, "twentieth century readers stand to gain a better grasp of the beginnings of modernity . . . ." B. commends the author "for renewing appreciation both of C.'s theater and the culture that produced it."
Review: G. Defaux in FrF 19 (1994), 235–238: Authoritative, solid and rich, C.'s volume treats 1) Une muse de province, 2) Corneille's conception of poetic drama, and 3) Corneille's plays written in the reign of Louis XIII. No deconstruction here, but a series of "rapprochements éclairants" of Corneille's text with those of his predecessors and contemporaries, well-known or not. D. praises the "impressionnante somme de lectures" and C.'s successful questioning of quite a few "idées reçues de la critique cornélienne."
DALLA VALLE, DANIELA. "L'OEdipe de Corneille: un mythe christianisé," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 123–133.
Studies C.'s reversal of the Greek myth as an example of his theatrical construction.
FORESTIER, GEORGES, ed. Pierre Corneille. Le Cid. 1637–1660. Paris: S.T.F.M, 1992.
Review: D. Clarke in MLR 89 (1994), 1002–03: Valuable double edition presents 1660 text of Le Cid with Cauchié's 1946 edition of the 1637 text. Useful chronology of the "Querelle du Cid" and "discussion of the dramatic and aesthetic significance of the changes Corneille made between 1637 and 1660." Textual bibliography; bibliography of critical works; summary glossary for 1637 text. Reviewer regrets typographical presentation.
Review: Helen B. McDermott in Fr 68 (1994), 338–39: Cauchie's text of original version with variants to 1657, the 1660 text, "Advertissement" (1648), and original "Examens." Useful for easy juxtapositions and analysis of the play's evolution.
Review: H. Stenzel in RF 105 (1993), 200–201: New edition established from that of Maurice Cauchie's 1946 volume. Less than favorable review details areas that could be improved and reminds the reader of the "vorzüglichen Edition von M. Margitic."
FORESTIER, GEORGES, éd. Suréna, général des Parthes. Pierre Corneille. Paris: Livre de Poche Classique, 1993.
Review: P. Dostie in LR 48 (1994), 147–149: Considered in a joint review with F.'s edition of Bajazet, both volumes are appreciated for their critical apparatus which D. finds "concis, néanmoins riche et stimulant." F.'s preface reveals his preference of C. to Racine as it invites a rehabilitation of this last tragedy of C.
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 186–88: Accessible edition contains introduction, good notes, classified bibliography. "Particularly illuminating are the remarks on the relationship between history and tragedy, on the simplicity of the play's structure, and on the significance of the Orpheus association."
FUMAROLI, MARC. "La tragédie de la cité terrestre dans Horace," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 157–190.
"Le destin de Rome, paradigme de la cité terrestre, forme à la fois le décor poétique et le thème 'philosophique' de la tragédie d'Horace. Plus qu'Horace en effet, qui n'incarne après tout qu'un des aspects et un des moments de ce destin, c'est Rome elle même qui est le sujet et qui fait l'unité de la pièce."
GEORGES, ANDRE. "L'Augustinisme politique de Cinna." LR 47 (1993), 149–159.
Consideration of C.'s politics, theories of climates and epochs, and "la prudence infinie" of heaven (or providence). Concludes that Cinna is "pragmatique comme Saint Augustin" and desirous of demonstrating that "le régime monarchique était le meilleur régime pour Rome dans le contexte politique, social et économique actuel." Finds Cinna's thought coherent, justifying apparent inconsistencies by the reasoning that he was both a "personnage réel" (Emilie's servant and Auguste's counsellor) and a "personnnage fictif" (the organizer of an apparently political plot). G. underscores Act III's monologue where this double character blends.
GERARD, ALBERT. Pierre Corneille ou la sensibilité lucide. Liège: Belgique, 1990.
Review: Harriet Allentuch in FR 68 (1994), 146–47: A provocative lecture providing an overview of C.'s political thought on the occasion of the tricentennial. Focuses on a political awakening that offers an "étonnante actualité." Parallels are sometimes strained, tendentiously anachronistic, oversimplified but sometimes also stimulating. No biblio.
JAOUEN, FRANÇOISE. "Pompée ou la fin de l'histoire," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 249–263.
Studies the reasons why C. never wrote the history of Richelieu's ministry: "La commémoration cornélienne du Ministre de Louis XIII se fera en silence, au bénéfice de son successeur, Mazarin, et pour l'édification politique de ce dernier."
KNIGHT, R.C. Corneille's Tragedies: The Role of the Unexpected. Savage, MD: Barnes & Noble, 1991.
Review: Harriet Allentuch in FR 67 (1994), 678–79: Commenting on 23 plays, builds a profile of the career and takes issue with system-building critics (Bénichou, Nadal, Doubrovsky, Stegmann) on the belief that no omnibus view does justice to the chess player playwright intent on unexpected moves and addicted to the strategy of reversal and surprise (e.g. Pertharite.) Purposes are poetic and dramatic. "Refreshing English iconoclasm" but the danger of reductionism must also be kept in mind."
KONSTAN, DAVID. "Oedipus and His Parents: The Biological Family from Sophocles to Dryden." Scholia. Natal Studies in Classical Antiquity 3 (1994), 3–23.
Unlike Sophocles, the successors, including Corneille, remove the emphasis from biological relationship and place it on regicide and revenge
POIRIER, GERMAIN. Corneille témoin de son temps II: "Le Cid" (1636). PFSCL/Biblio 17 84 (1994).
Review: Jean-Marc Civardi in IL 47:1 (jan-fév. 1995), 38: C. summarizes P.'s thesis that Le Cid depicts an "allégorie du combat des jésuites contre la réforme et l'humanisme scientifique représenté par Copernic et Galilée." After noting P.'s equation of the play's characters with various theological perspectives, C. acknowledges Jesuit influence on Corneille, but concludes that P.'s outlook is somewhat narrow. In this vein, C. mentions the difficulty in considering Le Cid as only "un grand jeu mystique," a "drame philosophique," or "la pièce du libre arbitre."
Review: M. O. Sweetser in PFSCL 22 (1995), 676–677: Studies allegorical and mystical aspects of the work in the context of the spiritual and ideological movements of the period. Reviewer finds "une vision neuve et originale" of the work albeit one that may not persuade everyone.
RATHE, ALICE. "La tentation du parricide dans le théâtre de Corneille," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 319–330.
Studies the reasons why C.'s characters flirt with but never actually commit parricide.
RATHE, ALICE. La Reine se marie: variations sur un thème dans l'oeuvre de Corneille. Geneva: Droz, 1990.
Review: Claire Carlin in FR 68 (1995), 873–74: High praise for demonstration of the triumph in self-determination of two queens—Cléôpatre and Pulchérie—contrary to an entrenched tradition interpreting them with the other queens as "weak." Thorough documentation in analyses of political deoctrine and solid proof of the thesis that "Corneille's originality extends to his interpretation of legitimacy; "grâce accordée par Dieu touche la famille royale tout entière," this engaging "les capacités légales de la femme."
SERROY, JEAN, éd. Le Cid. Paris: Gallimard, 1993.
Review: Benedicte Louvat in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994) 1079: Quite favorable review of what L. calls "la première édition en format de poche de la version originale de la pièce." Among the critical attributes of the edition are its "tableau de concordance," the "choix de variantes," and "un appendice sur les mises en scène du Cid." L. compliments Serroy on his preface, which gives "une analyse générique de l'oeuvre, tragi-comédie, puis tragédie, et peut-être davantage encore comi-tragédie." Of note also are the modernized orthography as well as the retention of the original punctuation.
SERROY, JEAN. "La Sincérité du Menteur." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 125–134.
Close examination of Dorante's words demonstrates that contrary to critics such as Georges Couton and Michel Cournot, the Menteur is not reduced to "un simple rouage de la mécanique dramatique, une sorte de machine à mentir." Indeed Dorante becomes "menteur pour être sincère avec lui-même." His "art de mentir" includes "la stratégie du paraître" and "le talent de l'affabulation," redounding to theatre within theatre.
TOCZYSKI, SUZANNE CATHERINE. "L'on n'y agit qu'en parlant: Reading Corneille Through Speech Act Theory." (Yale University, 1994) DAI 55:7 1983–4 A.
T. cites the "seventeenth-century preoccupation with questions of language" as the justification for applying speech act theory to Corneille. Among the texts examined are Le Cid, Horace and Cinna. In Le Cid, T. looks at the "protagonists' attempts at efficacious language," while the chapter on Horace examines how "the verbal structures of betrothal and marriage define the limits of possible speech of the female protagonists." Her discussion of Cinna involves "the social responsibility engendered by speech," as exemplified by the love relationship between Emilie and Cinna, as well as by Auguste's appropriation of power.
TOCZYSKI, SUZANNE C. "Chimène, or the Scandal of the Feminine Word." PFSCL 22 (1995), 505–523.
Author finds in Chimène's "provisional" silence at the end of the play the demonstration that "the question of woman's speech and its power is central to his conception of dramatic action in Le Cid; in its final version, at least, the efficacity of feminine discourse, although constantly put into question, retains its capacity to introduce a certain instability into the masculine social order."
TUCKER, HOLLY. "Corneille's Medée: Gifts of Vengeance." FR 68 (1995), 1–13.
Argues that the cycle of self-interested gift-giving present from the first scene, Corneille's prefatory "gift" of Médée, and the denoucement justify interpretation of a championing of women placed outside the gift-giving system by patriarchal society. An intriguing reading that makes good use both of Mauss and of earlier critical readings of the play.
VILLENA-ALVAREZ, JUANITA. "The allegory of literary representation as hybrid in Corneille's L'Illusion Comique,' Diderot's Le Neveu de Rameau, and Arrabal's La nuit est aussi en soleil." (University of Cincinnati, 1994), DAI 55:9 2857-A.
V.-A. takes as her critical point of departure Barbara Johnson's theory of "`closure versus subversion, product versus practice, meaning-containing versus significance-scattering process.'" Johnson's perspective allows V.-A. to develop her own concept of the literary hybrid, which she denotes as a "monstrous" form and structure exemplified in these specific works by Corneille, Diderot and Arrabal. With respect to Corneille, V.-A. emphasizes "Corneille's experimentation with the technique of a play within-a-play-within-a-play, emphasizing two divergeant principles: the theatricality of theater and theatrum mundi."
WATTS, DEREK A., ed. Corneille: Rodogune and Nicomède. London: Grant & Cutler, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 384: "Offers insights for the specialist" and "appeal[s] to the intended undergraduate audience," as it pairs the "only tragedies by C. to have maintained a foothold on the French stage." Highlights the nature of power and générosité.
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 186–88: W. "provides a systematic study of the two texts. Both sections deal with the plays in terms of performance, inventiveness, structure, classical rules, characters, tragic content. Some interesting contrasts emerge." Comparative conclusion could be expanded.
WYGANT, AMY. "Pierre Corneille's Medea-Machine." RR 85:4 (November 1994) 537–552.
W. discusses C.'s adaptation of the machine-play as represented in La Conquête de la Toison d'or. Suggesting that the machine-play involoved the pronounced use of stage technology in order to enhance dramatic meaning, W. argues that the figure of Medea in Toison d'or embodies "the power of both the machinist and of the magician." The image of the machinist/magician stands as a metaphor for "representational absolutism" in which Medea symbolically becomes a "resistant force" to Louis XIV that seeks not to topple the monarch, but to instruct and inspire him to become a "philosopher-king." From an aesthetic standpoint, W. states that "Medea becomes a witch for modernity," since she carries the "power to stage herself, to be the illusion herself, to control her own representation."
WYGANT, AMY. "Le corps métaphorique de Médée," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 385–388.
W. concludes that "dans la mesure où Médée figure la scène elle même, c'est la représentation qui enfante, et qui donne naissance à celui qui donnera naissance à l'empire, plutôt que le contraire."
CLARKE, JAN. "Thomas Corneille's Circé—A Precursor of Racine's Phèdre?" MLR 90 (1995), 325–32.
". . . it is not possible to claim categorically that Circé was one of Racine's main sources as far as the plot of Phèdre is concerned, since the numerous areas of similarity between the two works are already present in the classical sources from which both are derived. I do, however, contend that Thomas Corneille's machine play was an important source of inspiration for Racine, as great or even greater than that of Ariane, and that it is one which, surprisinqly, has hitherto been overlooked."
HARRISON, HELEN L. "Thomas Corneille's Darius: Tottering on the Brink of Identity." PFSCL 22 (1995), 525–537.
Thomas' frustrations in writing the play and the relationship between Thomas and Pierre: the questioning of Darius' identity mirrors Thomas' efforts to establish an identity separate from that of his brother.
ALBERT-GALTIER, ALEXANDRE. "La Mort d'Agrippe: transgression et libération dans une tragédie libertine". CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991) 1–13.
A.-G.'s examination of Cyrano de Bergerac's only tragedy defines libertinage in terms of transgression, or "la contestation du pouvoir ou des pouvoirs." According to A.G., Cyrano's characters "s'insurgent contre l'autorité familiale, morale, politique, religieuse.... He adds that the authority of language is also transgressed, emphasizing the importance of the lie as an aesthetic component of C.'s work. Lying and duplicity lead to "la transgression par le sang," setting a general tone of violence consistent with libertine thought.
ALBERT GALTIER, ALEXANDRE. "Derniers embrassements et consommation amoureuse: un aspect des amours masculines chez Cyrano," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 321–329.
Questions the status of love among males in C.'s work: "Le dessein général des Estats et empires de la lune suggère une réponse philosophique et dans un sens politique, car on ne peut toucher à l'ordre ou au désordre de la sexualité sans troubler l'ordre politique. Pour Cyrano, il peut y avoir plusieurs préférences sexuelles, il n'y a qu'une conduite: . . . . songez à librement vivre."
GARMANN, GERBURG. "Cherchez la femme: représentations et fonctions du féminin dans L'autre monde de Cyrano de Bergerac." PFSCL 22 (1995), 491–503.
Argues that the son's liberation occurs in a maternal context.
GAUTHIER, PATRICIA. "A propos de l'idée de fragmentation dans L'Autre monde de Cyrano de Bergerac." FLS (Vol. 21, 1994), 45–53.
G. examines the distinctiveness of C.'s L'Autre monde with respect to his other works such as his plays or Lettres. This distinctiveness resides largely in the discontinuous, fragmented structure of L'Autre monde. The novel's textual history contributes to its fragmentation, since it was first published in two separate "volets." More importantly, however, C.'s narrative point of view underscores the text's fragmentation as it is "un roman écrit à la première personne et le narrateur détient le pouvoir de donner un sens à ces différents fragments qu'il fédère comme autant d'épisodes vécus et narrés par lui." Structural fragmentation is complemented by thematic heterogeneity, which, G. states, includes "multiple referrences" to "Campanella, Gassendi, La Mothe Le Vayer, Copernic, etc..." Consequently, "à la fragmentation de l'écriture correspond la diveristé des sources de réflexion."
HARRY, PATRICIA M. "The Role of the Visual in the Novels of Cyrano de Bergerac." CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991), 15–28.
H. discusses Cyrano's application of the Horatian concept of ut pictura poesis to novels such as L'Autre Monde (which she refers to as Lune), and Les Estats et Empires du Soliel. Focusing on the exploits of C.'s protagonist Dyrcona, H. explores the thematic and structural importance of "mirror imag[ing]" in developing C.'s aesthetic. H. claims that "C. exploits to satirical ends the qualities of presence, immediacy and liveliness characteristic of painting, by employing the device of mirroring." Through satire and emphasis on the visual, C. is able to "mirror" both scientific moral issues of the period, such as Galileo's trial, corpuscular physics, and Platonic metaphysics.
MACPHAIL, ERIC. "Cyrano's Machines: The Marvelous and the Mundane in L'Autre Monde." FrF 18 (1993), 37–46..
Provocative examination of "la machine" demonstrates that C.'s imaginary contrivances suggest "the autonomy of literary truth from traditional notions of referentiality and authority." M.'s analysis is enriched by references to literary critics of C.'s day. C. uses machinery "to liberate narrative from its automatic reception."
RONZEAUD, PIERRE. "Les lettres de Cyrano de Bergerac sur les sorciers: montage et démontage d'une imposture culturelle," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 445–460.
"En deux textes complémentaires [Cyrano] aura soumis les ténèbres de l'âge classique à un éclairage qui en dissipe les obscurités ou les dénonce comme les illusions d'un théâtre d'ombre, que l'on ne peut regarder comme de simples figures grotesques quand on connaît les tragiques spectacles d'horreur qui se cachent derrière elles."
ZIMMERMANN, MARGARETE. "'Il le croqua comme un poulet': Discours alimentaires chez Madame d'Aulnoy," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 537–555.
Argues that the writer's "ample Comédie" merits inclusion in the literary canon as much as La Fontaine's.
FAUSETT, DAVID, ed. and trans. Gabriel de Foigny. The Southern Land Known. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1993.
Review: A. Stroup in ECr 34 (1994), 133: Appreciates F.'s work in making this fascinating and problematic book available in English, but indicates dissatisfaction with the scholarly apparatus.
ARIEW, ROGER and MARJORIE GRENE. "Ideas in and before Descartes." JHI 56 (1995), 87–106.
Studies the historical context of the "new way of ideas" in the philosophy of the period. D. turned the notion of "idea" away from the traditional sense as archetype and model in order to transform it into pure thought.
CAVAILLE, JEAN-PIERRE. Descartes: La Fable du monde. Paris: Vrin, 1991.
Review: Fernand Hallyn in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 84–85: H. praises C.'s work, a study "qui efface la frontière entre études philosphiques et littéraires, affirmant et démontrant l'interaction de l'écriture et de la pensée dans la constitution et la transmission de la pensée sciento-philosophique." According to H., C. views Descartes's metaphor of the world as theatre and fable to be grounded in the baroque fixation on "le doute devant les apparences naturelles et la fascination devant l'artifice." In this baroque world, humanity must formulate a "rhétorique [qui] se combine avec la revendication d'une vraie science" in order to derive a logic capable of discerning "évidence."
CHING, BARBARA. "Cartesian Cartography and Cultural Distinction Binding the `Book of the World'." CdDS (Fall 1991), 101–14.
C. begins her argument by applying Edward Soja's thesis that "Cartesian cartography" can be defined as "the enduring and somehow comforting belief that space can be methodologically discovered and innocently represented," that "space is susceptible to little else but measurement and phenomenal description: fixed, dead and undialectical." As a result, "Cartesian cartography" coincides with the the seventeenth-century "compulsion to know one's place." C. tempers this argument by quoting Soja and Mark Monmonnier who hold that "maps, like speeches and painting, are authored collections of information," and must be interpreted as subjective texts. As "the connections between cartology, power and hermeneutics become clear," one sees that "Cartesian cartography" gives the observer a sense of "place and positioning in a political sense.
COLE, JOHN R. The Olympian Dreams and Youthful Rebellion of René Descartes. Urbana/Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1992.
Review: William R. Shea in Isis 85 (1994), 799–800: Gives "psychohistory a second try," treating the three dreams of 10–11 November sophistication and a generous dose of humor and common sense." Thesis generally concerns Descartes rebellion against a paternally determined legal career and his decision to act and think outside convention. Valuable reconstruction of Descartes' family and the social climate in which he was reared.
Review: Eric Johnson in FR 68 (1995), 872–73: Major contribution is a reconstruction of the Olympica and a methodical analysis of the dreams, the events surrounding them, and their consequences. Cole in presenting an identity crisis (and youthful rebellion) "is at odds against a heavily entrenched tradition": hence a defensiveness of tone. But for rigor and insight, methodology and scholarship "this book is noteworthy."
COTTINGHAM, JOHN, ed. The Cambridge Guide to Descartes. Cambridge: CUP, 1992.
Review: Emily R. Gross in Isis 85 (1994), 151–52: Intro. offers a "reflective account of D.'s life including a pointed, accurate summary of each contributed essay." Marks a turning point in D. scholarship, from analytic emphasis to historical: Rodis-Lewis and R. Ariew on scholastic and scientific contexts; N. Jolley on reception; J.-L. Marion, J.-M. Beyssade, P. Markie, and L. Loeb on the Méditations; on science, D. Clarke (concepts of explanation), D. Garber (definition of matter), G. Hatfield (physiology), S. Graukroger (abstraction).
COTTINGHAM, JOHN. "The Self and the Body. Alienation and Integration in Cartesian Ethics." SCFS 17 (1995), 1–3.
Examines the Cartesian Revolution—reason and opacity; alienation from nature; the reintegration of the human being with the conclusion that D. clearly wished that a "perfect moral system" should be "an organic outgrowth from his anthropology;" it would rest on the fullest possible understanding of the workings of the passions, and their proper contribtuion to a fulfilled human life." Excellent synthetic formulation of questions.
DAMASIO, ANTONIO R. L'Erreur de Descartes: La raison des émotions. Paris: Odile Jacob, 1994.
Review: Anon. in Le Point (3 juin 1995), 66: The author proposes "cette thèse étonnante: sans émotions, l'homme ne saurait calculer, déduire, comprendre. Bref, nous pensons aussi avec ce qu'autrefois on nommait le coeur ou l'âme." In support of this notion, three "thèses" are proposed: First, "Il n'y a pas de 'raison pure': loin de les gouverner, la raison est informée par les passions, et notamment les 'six primitives' de D. . . ." Second, "La perception des émotions a une valeur cognitive. D. se trompe en ne voyant que le rôle négatif des émotions faussant le raisonnement, et non leur rôle positif . . . ." Finally, "Le cerveau n'est pas coupé du corps . . . ." The reviewer finds that ". . . ce livre stimulant prend à partie la double erreur de D. D'une part, son dualisme de l'esprit et du corps. . . . D'autre part, un second dualisme, au sein de l'homme pensant, oppose raison et passions . . . ." "Certes, on hésitera à suivre l'optimisme de Damasio," states the reviewer, ". . . mais on ne saurait récuser la force et la cohérence de sa démonstration."
DAMASIO, ANTONIO R. Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. London: Picador, 1995.
Review: Daniel C. Dennett in TLS 4821 (25 Aug. 1995), 3–4: The elaboration and history of Cartesian dualism is at the base of this "wonderfully written book" that seeks to restore appreciation for the perspective of the body and the shared balance of powers from which we emerge as conscious persons. The review is also a fine essay for those interested in Dennett.
FERRY, LUC. "Les Français sont ils encore cartésiens?" Le Point (3 juin 1995), 56–57.
First of several articles on D. in this issue of the magazine. "'Qui lit encore Descartes? Sans doute bien peu de monde, hors du milieu scolaire et universitaire. Et pourtant le mythe persiste: le Français a 'l'esprit cartésien.'" "Dans la sphère de la religion, comme dans celles de la politique et de la culture, [l'influence du cartésianisme] est encore si présente que nous pouvons être cartésiens sans jamais avoir lu une ligne de D." This brief article includes historical background.
FERRY, LUC. "Sa Vie comme un roman." Le Point (3 juin 1995), 58–59.
"Il y eut beaucoup de rêveries, de tumultes et de passions dans la vie de cet ami de la raison." Biographical summary.
GRISONI, DOMINIQUE ANTOINE. "Une Morale par provision." Le Point (3 juin 1995), 64–67.
"Descartes considérait qu'un traité de morale serait le couronnement de son oeuvre philosophique. Mais il ne l'a jamais écrit. Depuis, on s'interroge: sa 'morale par provision' avait elle vocation à devenir définitive?" "Le problème de la morale cartésienne est l'un des plus épineux auxquels les historiens de la philosophie ont eu à s'affronter. La raison? D. lui même. Tout au long de sa vie, le philosophe a tenu des propos contradictoires sur le sujet." Although, in the domain of "morale," D. "se révèle un adepte du flou artistique," in G.'s opinion, it is possible to find in D.'s writings "l'architecture cohérente d'une morale précise." According to G., "l'équilibre . . . [est] le maître mot de la morale cartésienne. Celui qui explique pourquoi le philosophe . . . avait placé médecine et morale sur le même plan: l'une aspire à l'équilibre du corps et l'autre à celui de l'âme."
MARION, JEAN LUC. "Descartes notre contemporain. Interview: Jean Luc Marion." Le Point (3 juin 1995), 60–62.
Introductory statement: "Relire Descartes? Rien n'est plus urgent, plus actuel, d'après J. L. M., son meilleur exégète français." According to M., it was not until early in the 19th century that people began to believe that "les Français sont cartésiens." M. says, "Il ne me semble guère possible de se déclarer, aujourd'hui, 'cartésien' . . . . Pourtant, on peut lire D. comme un contemporain. Car nous nous débattons toujours dans les oppositions qu'il a construites." M. goes on to explain why Cartesian thought remains relevant in the modern world. "En fait," concludes M., "les débats de la postmodernité restent largement cartésiens."
REVEL, JEAN FRANÇOIS. "Descartes, c'est la France, hélas!" Le Point (3 juin 1995), 62–63.
"On se demande comment a pu prendre naissance, deux siècles après sa mort, le D. imaginaire sur lequel nous vivons depuis lors. Car . . . D. n'a rien compris et, même s'est opposé de toutes ses forces à l'événement [sic] fondateur de la science: la naissance de la physique galiléenne et de la méthode expérimentale baconienne. Dès que lui parvient la nouvelle d'une expérience qui réfute l'une de ses idées préconçues, il récuse l'expérience." "Pour Kant, le livre fondateur [in philosophy or theory of knowledge] au XVIIe siècle, ce n'est pas le charmant mais banal 'Discours de la méthode,' c'est le 'Novum Organum' de Francis Bacon . . . ." (Title of article alludes to title of book by André Glucksmann, Descartes, c'est la France.)
DOGLIO, MARIANGELA MAZZOCHI, éd. Nicolas Drouin, dit Dorimond: Théâtre. Fasano/Paris: Schena/Nizet, 1992.
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 189–90: "This is a work of considerable scholarly interest, offering, in a most accessible form, the first collected edition of the works of the other significant seventeenth century actor manager author."
GREGORIO, LAURENCE A. The Pastoral Masquerade: Disguise and Identity in L'Astrée." Stanford: Anma Libri, 1992.
Review: Marie-Odile Sweetser in FR 68 (1995), 874–75: A sociocritical perspective and analytical study of the different kinds of disguise that form the identities of the novel's characters: a Platonic strain, identified from a history of disguise is present, but characters do not always measure up to the expected idealization/perfection or social class and mask do not match. "Analyses précises et méthodiques."
JÜRGENSEN, RENATE. Die deutschen Übersetzungen der Astrée des Honoré d'Urfé. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1990.
Review: T. Koch in ZRP 110 (1994), 560–61: Important reference for students/scholars of the pastoral in both German and Romance literatures. Treats not only the history of the text and interpretations but also the wider context such as the aristocracy, religious wars. Useful bibliography.
ZOTOS, ALEXANDRE. "Dichotomies et ambivalences de l'univers pastoral dans l'Astrée." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 91–101.
In the context of "le statu formel du berger" and "la représentation du séjour pastoral," Z. brings to light "certaines des intentions ou postulations du roman . . . dans l'ordre esthétique et moral." To accomplish this, Z. considers a series of antinomies from both thematic and structural perspectives. Thus, Le Forez, for example, is both "un ici familier" and "un ailleurs." The dualities develop, in L'Astrée, "la dialectique de l'être et du faire . . . en même temps que la quête d'unité et d'harmonie."
GAINES, JAMES F. and PERRY GETHNER, eds. Lucrèce, tragédie (1638). Genève: Droz. 1994.
Review: Georges Forestier in RHL 95:2 (Mars-avril 1995) 311–12: F. initially welcomes this edition, calling du Ryer "l'un des grands dramaturges de la première moitié du XVIIe siècle, ne le cédant qu'aux seuls Corneille et Rotrou." After summarizing du Ryer's plotline, F. places Lucrèce well within the classical tradition, calling the play "une vraie tragédie à l'antique." As for the edition itself, F. states that "Le texte de la pièce est établi avec soin et il est bien annoté." However, F. criticizes the editors for presenting an introduction that situates the work within du R.'s oeuvre and within a general literary context, but does not raise basic issues such as character, theme, and "les questions de dramaturgie et d'écriture." In addition, the introduction mentions neither Ovid nor G.B. Mamiani's Lucrezia as a possible antecedent. Finding further shortcomings in the work, F. claims that the editors do not, at any time study the text as a tragedy, and that they obfuscate the political message of the play by confusing "monarchie légitime absolutiste et usurpation tyrannique."
Review: M. F. Hilgar in PFSCL 22 (1995), 650–651: According to reviewer, an excellent edition of a play that has not been in print since 1638 and that figured prominently in the formal development of tragic theater and in the creation of political tragedy.
ROHOU, JEAN, ed. Pierre Du Ryer. Dynamis. Exeter: U of Exeter Press, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 29 (1993), 372: Appreciates R.'s persuasive argument regarding importance of this text and its socio-political context; finds disappointing certain omissions and inconsistancies.
CUCHE, FRANÇOIS XAVIER, ed. Fénelon, Lettre à Louis XIV. Précédé de "Un prophète à la cour." Rezé: Editions Séquences, 1994.
Review: F. Lagarde in PFSCL 22 (1995), 640–641: According to reviewer, "Cuche fait de la Lettre un texte plus mystique que politique, plus prophétique que rebelle, et entreprend de la défendre." A welcome reedition of the work.
ORCIBAL, JEAN avec JACQUES LE BRUN et IRENEE NOYE, eds. Correspondance de Fénelon. vol. X: Fénelon dans la retraite (juin 1699-décembre 1702; vol. XI same title; vol. XII: Les Nouvelles Controverses (1703–1707); vol. XIII same title; vol.XIV: Guerre, négociations, théologie (1708–1711); vol. XV: same title. Genève: Droz, 1989–1994.
Review: A. Vermeylen in LR 47 (1993), 132–133: Welcome addition to the monumental collection and a tribute to its initiator Orcibal, "ce modèle d'érudition et de labeur infatigable." dix-septiémistes will regret his death but continue to appreciate in these volumes his solid direction of a fine team.
RILEY, PATRICK. Fénelon-Telemachus. Cambridge: CUP, 1995.
RONZEAUD, PIERRE, ed. La Terre australe connue (1676). Paris: STFM, 1990.
Review: Madeleine Alcover in FR 67 (1994), 866–67: Wisely uses the text of 1676 (without modernization) with variants from the 1692 that show the mutilation of the text in response to censorship. Introductory study, "a (re)lecture 'negative du roman'" is appreciated, including its many questions still open concerning the interpretation of the text, the author's intentions, and the author himself. Alcover raises a number of interpretive questions.
NIDERST, ALAIN, éd. Oeuvres complètes. Tome V: Théâtre et autres textes. Tome VI: Histoire de l'Académie des Sciences. Paris: Fayard, 1993/94.
Review: P. Hourcade in PFSCL 22 (1995), 670–671: Volume 5 contains items dating from 1710 to 1741 and relating to the writer's theatrical production and the academic discourses. Volume 6 contains the scientific academic discourses and correspondence. Very valuable editions.
GIARDIMA, CALOGERO. Narration, burlesque et langage dans le Roman Bourgeois de Furetière. Paris: Minard, 1993.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1080–81: G.'s work consists of five studies on F.'s novel, with emphasis on the manner in which Le Roman Bourgeois subverts the esthetic of the baroque novel. Citing G., E. states, "C'est l'ensemble des `procédés formels visant à tourner en dérision les récits de l'époque' qui intéresse Calogéro Giardima." Satire of the baroque transforms itself into the burlesque, defined as "la parodie des grands thèmes romanesques (l'amour, l'héroïsme, et le beau langage)," as well as by a "`jeu verbal' sur l'onomastique et la polysémie." Subjectivity of perspective is assured by the "omniprésence du jeu qui parvient paradoxicalement à rendre son roman vraisemblable en définissant un nouveau réalisme.'" Quoting G., E. concludes that altering conventional narrative structures allows Furetière to "répondre aux aberrations romanesques de l'âge baroque par "`l'incohérence' d'une intrique qui juxtapose deux intriques différentes, dont chacune constitue un roman."
GIARDINA, CALOGERO. "Narration, burlesque et langage dans Le Roman bourgeois d'Antoine Furetière." ALM 257 (1993), 1–81.
Multifaceted treatment of this "livre paradoxal" which is at once a product of its time ("procédés chers aux romanciers . . . le hasard . . . le réalisme . . . des personnages outranciers . . . la composition du récit . . . pas si différente de celle de l'Astrée," and a parody of the very narrative strategies it uses. G. also demonstrates surprising affinities with the nouveau roman. Useful notes complete this study which is in five parts: 1)"la parodie des grands, thèmes du roman de l'âge baroque et le burlesque (l'amour, le héros, le beau langage)," 2) "le langage, le burlesque et le jeu," 3) "narration, réalisme et subjectivité," 4) "les types d'énoncés," 5) "la structure narrative."
CAMPANELLA, THOMAS. A Defense of Galileo.... Ed and trans. Richard J. Blackwell. Notre Dame/London: U of Notre Dame P, 1994.
Review: Maurice Finocchiaro in Isis 86 (1995) 108–9: Valuable text (supersedes 1937 trans.) concerning G.'s status in 1613–16 and "in its liberal context" fuller evidence for a progressive wing of the Church. Campanella elaborates many arguments present in G.'s "Letter to the Grand Duches Catherine." Long, well-informed introduction:" a welcome addition to the literature on the Galileo "affair."
FANTOLI, ANNIBALE. Galileo: For Copernicanism and the Church. Trans.Georg V. Coyne. Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory Publications, 1994.
Review: Maurica A Finocchiaro in Isis 86 (1995), 486–87: An account of the "Galileo affair" that is "well documented, intelligently argued, deeply insightful, and judiciously balanced." The best one-volume, up-to-date account of the episode, which renders older one-volume accounts obsolete "and moves the discussion to a higher level."
RESTON, JAMES. Galileo: A Life. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.
Review: Maurice A Finocchario in Isis 86 (1995), 487–88: "A popular biography that has merit for the aesthetic values of Reston's writing and the universalist intention; however...reluctantly, it cannot be recommended to its intended public, or to anyone else: too many factual errors, edited quotations, no standard bibliographical references, full of untenable interpretations, many unsubstantiated claims and non-sequiturs.
SHARRATT, MICHAEL. Galileo: Decisive Innovator. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1994.
Review: William A. Wallace in Isis 86 (1995), 326–27: With clarity and brevity, and evenhanded narrative, a long needed single-volume that is abreast of recent scholarship and brings the man to life in his scientific, social, and religious contexts. The concluding chapter recounts the efforts made by the Holy See (1964–1992) to reopen and rehabilitate Galileo.
WALLACE, WILLIAM A. Galileo, the Jesuits, and the Medieval Aristotle. Aldershot/Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum, 1991.
Review: Lawrence M. Principe in Isis 85 (1994), 694: Valuable collection of 15 papers from the 1980s: the first 8 complement the author's Galileo and his Sources (1984), the others his Galileo's Logic of Discovery. Important since "the relationship of Galileo to his Aristotelian Jesuit sources still has an important role to play in the larger arena of the current (much needed) revaluation of the revolutionary paradigm of scientific development," here ironically favoring the "continuity theory."
COUVREUR, MANUEL et DIDIER VIVIERS. "Galland se relit: correction ou censure?" RBPH 72 (1994), 585–93.
Etude de deux textes, Smyrne ancienne et moderne et voyage fait en Levant, et de l'évolution d'un écrivain. "Comme le prouve une analyse de son travail de traduction, cette évolution résulte en fait de l'application, à ses propres oeuvres, de procédés qu'il maîtrisait parfaitement, mais qu'il réservait uniquement à l'imitation d'auteurs anciens et modernes, comme pour trouver une frontière entre une oeuvre d'art et son simple travail de savant antiquaire."
BERNIER, FRANÇOIS. Abrégé de la philosophie de Gassendi. Eds. Sylvia Murr and Genevieve Stefani. 7 vols. Paris: Fayard, 1992.
Review: Lynn S. Joy in Isis 85 (1994), 152–53: The Abrégé is welcomely recovered for textual study in this readable edition. Reviewer gives a helpful summary of Bernier's editorial practice and problems raised by it and by the discrepancy between the prefatory presentation of Gassendi and G's own view of himself as philosopher. The questions: finally to what degree Bernier was himself a Gassendist and Gassendism a coherent philosophical movement.
MURR, SYLVIA, ed. Bernier et les Gassendistes. Paris: Corpus des Oeuvres de philosophie de Langue Française, 1992.
Review: Lynn S. Joy in Isis 85 (1994), 153–54: Essays contribute to our understanding of the ways we may better know Gassendi by greater attention to his disciples: revision of the Syntagma on circulation of the blood (S. Murr), on Bernier's opinions of G.'s and Descarte's views on space (R. Ariew); Fred Michael on the logic of ideas; Carole Talon-Hugon's comparison with Acquinas; A. Niderst on dissemination. The best starting point for future scholarship: Jean Menard's "La Modernité de Bernier."
CHAPLIN, P. E., ed. Gillet de la Tessonerie, L'art de régner. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1993.
Review: H. Baby-Litot in PFSCL 22 (1995), 251–253: The first critical edition of the forgotten tragi comedy that will interest, among others, historians of the monarchy and pedagogues.
HOWE, ALAN, ed. Didon se sacrifiant. Genève: Droz, 1994.
Review: T. Alliott in MLR 90 (1995), 751: A "scholarly and sensitive edition of an important text." Howe examines "the perhaps surprising fidelity of Hardy's text to the Latin original and the dramatic debt that he owed to Jodelle's tragedy of the same name, published in 1574." Howe argues for "the coherence and subtlety of the psychological presentation of Didon and Aenée."
Review: C. Delmas in PFSCL 22 (1995), 278–279: The first truly critical edition of the work: "L'auteur met l'accent sur une 'dramaturgie de la rupture' largement fondée sur l'exploitation nouvelle des conflits et les balancements psychologiques entre devoir d'Etat et passion au point de faire de Hardy le précurseur direct de Racine dans Bérénice et Phèdre, alors même que les hésitations des personnages sont présentées comme caractéristiques de l'ambiguïté 'baroque.'"
GUELLOZ, SUZANNE, ed. Actes du Colloque de Caen. Paris: PFSCL/Biblio 17, 83 (1994).
Review: Frédéric Charbonneau in IL 47:2 (mars-avril 1995), 46–47. C. applauds the appearance of this compendium which fills "une lacune manifeste de la bibliographie de cet auteur important." Along with the collection of papers is a "version allégée" of the catalogue of Huet's works. The purpose of this catalogue, according to C., is to "fournir la localisation précise de divers documents d'archives, manuscrits et éditions originales, dispersés dans les bibliothèques municipales." Among the most notable of topics are the refutation of the claim that Huet was an ardent skeptic, Huet's anti-cartensianism, and his relationship to Jansenism and the Jesuits.
SALAZAR, PHILIPPE-JOSEPH, éd. Mémoires (1718). Toulouse: Société de Littératures Classiques, 1993.
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 90: The context within which G. evaluates S.'s work is Ch. Nisard's nineteenth-century translation of Huet's Commentaires. While praising S. for "rendant à nouveau accessible un texte capital pour l'intelligence des milieux érudits de la seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle, G. points out that unlike Nisard, S. does not add Huet's two famous letters to Perrault on the "Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes, et à Montausiersur le sublime." For G., however, the largest difference between the two editions concerns the notes, which, in Nisard's work are primarily bio-bibliographical, while Salazar "se concerne exclusivement au repérage rigoreux des texts évoqués, renchérissant alors considérablement sur son prédécesseur."
MEISSNER, WILLIAM W. Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint. New Haven/London: Yale UP, 1992.
Review: E. G. Gleason in RenQ 47 (1994), 421–422: Although the work could have gained from better editorial guidance and some pruning, it is judged "sophisticated [and] intelligently argued." G. finds the portrait convincing as it places the saint in his "cultural and religious context and draws his trajectory from an aristocratic courtier and intrepid soldier to a spiritual ascetic." Of particular interest to specialists of devotional poetry.
DELUMEAU, JEAN. L'Accomplissement des prophéties. Imprimerie Paris: Nationale, 1994.
Review: Jean Nicolas in QL (16–31 janvier 1995), 26: "Le huguenot J. est surtout connu pour sa d_nonciation violente de la politique religieuse de Louis XIV, mais dans L'Accomplissement des Prophéties, pub[l]ié en 1686, . . . il affirme ses certitudes millénaristes à grand renfort de citations bibliques . . . ." "J. formule dans une langue vigourouse et colorée l'espérance populaire d'un soulagement immédiat sous le règne de l'église terrestre de Jésus Christ." "Cette rédition d'un texte en apparence loin de nous, traversé de mystères et de furies d'un autre âge, éclaire jusqu'aux racines des faits de mentalités sans doute permanents, à la fois positifs et négatifs: le repli fanatique dans les fantasmes sectaires, mais aussi la promesse du bonheur comme ultime étape de l'avance du temps."
PANTIN, ISABELLE, ed. Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo.... Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1993.
Review: James R. Voelkel in Isis 85 (1994), 513: Painstakingly edited text, valuably annotated with fluent French translation. Three-part intro traces the historical context, situates the concepts within Kepler's career, and contrasts Galileo with him.
LAFOND, JEAN. "De la guerre et de la paix, de la monarchie et de la république, dans 'Démophile et Basilide' (Les Caractères, X, 11)," in 'Diversité, c'est ma devise.' Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 281–299.
L. concludes that near the end of the century in La B.'s work "ainsi naît un regard ethnologique qui ne pouvait pas ne pas tenir à distance le temps présent, laissant pressentir par là même l'importance de la relation des moeurs au politique. C'est la littérature qui, en l'occurrence, s'est montrée le moyen le plus aigu et le plus subtil de cette mise à distance, qui est aussi mise en question."
MAZAHERI, HOMAYOUN, "L'animal dans Les Caractères de La Bruyère." CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991), 135–46.
M. places La B. on the side of Montaigne, La Fontaine and Gassendi in the debate with Descartes over animal intelligence. According to M., La B. contradicts D.'s theory of "animaux-machines" in De L'Homme, Des Esprits Forts, and Des Jugements. M. also cites passages from Montaigne's L'Apologie de Raymond Sebond and La F.'s Discours à Madame de La Sablière attesting to animal cognition. La B.'s emphasis on humanity's cruelty, not only to animals, but to all life, leads M. to assert that "L'homme est, en effet, considéré comme une sorte d'animal." M. concludes by mentioning Bossuet's critique of Montaigne's writings on animal intelligence. Although not stating it directly, the author implies that Bossuet saw himself in opposition to La B. in this debate.
MAZAHERI, HOMAYOUN. "La Bruyère: de la nostalgie à l'espoir." RF 105 (1993), 102–109.
Surprising re-examination of La B.'s perspectives, finds him an "esprit progressiste, non réactionnaire." If M. admits that La B. is "relativement pessimiste," he also finds "quelques lueurs d'espoir" such as La B.'s belief in literature and the fact the the moralist continues to dire even if the essential has been said.
SNAITH, GUY. "All for Friendship: La Calprenede's Phalante and Other Friends." SCFS 17 (1995), 147–55.
Examines the ways in which seven of the nine extant plays represent a "world in which friendship stands out as a value which is never dishonoured." A significant contribution to the growing number of studies on friendship in 17th-century France.
GANIM, RUSSELL. "A Kiss is Not Just a Kiss: The Use of Baiser in La Ceppède's Théorèmes." RLA (Vol. VI, 1994) 61–66.
G. argues for La Ceppède's a lo divino adaptation of the Renaissance lyric subgenre of the baiser. La Ceppède appropriates this lyric form in order to demonstrate how erotic love can be transposed on a divine level. G. discusses La Ceppède's sacred rehabilitation of the baiser in several sonnets of the Théorèmes, but emphasizes that the baiser jumeau between Mary and Christ, depicted in sonnet (I,3,13), acts as a response to the kiss of Judas, portrayed in sonnet (I,1,43). The poet's goal in recuperating secular lyric subgenres is to redeem them, so that those who read the poetry "may attain the same purity, with literature's transformation enabling the reader's."
HENRY, PATRICK, ed. The Inimitable Example: The Case for the Princesse de Cleves. Washington: The Catholic Univ. of America P, 1992.
Review: H. Porre in Fr 67 (1993), 354–55: Excellent collection of 12 articles of divergent approaches and methodologies, of uniform high quality of scholarship and writing. Attention has generally shifted from interest in the "aveu" to the dénouement, considered here with stimulating diversity. Intro by Henry outlines history of critical reception; epilogue, by John D. Lyons a mise-au-point of the articles' contribution to it. Extensive biblio. "An important contribution."
JAYMES, DAVID. "The Princesse de Clèves through a Microscope Darkly." PFSCL 22 (1995), 611–619.
J. studies the related themes of curiosity and "instrumentalized" seeing in the novel: ". . . it is as if the Princess were confined to a cabinet curieux and investigated and forced to examine herself with the aid of a metaphorical microscope. . . . The Princess thus realized her mother's deathbed wishes, to accede fully to her destiny as a bearer of pure meaning, to become the precious object of wonderment and curiosity that only she could be. In so doing she had to remove herself completely from the 'economic circuit,' shutting herself up in a museum that was a tomb, rendering herself invisible in the two senses of that French word."
MICKELSEN, DAVID. "You Can Never Tell: Déja Vu and Jamais Vu in La Princesse de Clèves." RLA (Vol. VI, 1994) 135–140.
M. argues that La Fayette's novel "undermines vision as a sufficient and reliable source of knowledge, [because] it disrupts both social and personal expectations for both characters and readers." Citing Nemours's astonishment and despair at the novel's conclusion, M. states that "a hermeneutic based on vision must fail when confronted with complex, subtle or unforseen mental states." M. takes as an example the Princess's ultimate response to Nemours, which the latter "expects" will be "affective," but turns out to be "an idealizing intellectual stance."
PAULSON, MICHAEL G. andTAMARA ALVAREZ-DETRELL,trans. Madame de La Fayette's The Princess of Cleves. Lanham, MD: UP of America, 1994.
New readable translation in a modern language format with introduction, critical commentary, and Who's Who section.
ROHRER, JAYMES ANNE. "Epistolary Intercourse in La Comtesse de Tende." RLA (Vol VI, 1994), 160–164.
R. examines the importance of the letter in La Fayette's novella. Among other things, R. discusses the letter as a "figurative sex act" between the correspondents." In discussing Navarre's letter to the Comtesse, R. states that the missive "metonymically stands for its writer, [as] it is delivered on to the countess's bed, the contracted site of their future trysts." At the beginning and end of the article, R. mentions the countess's reply to Navarre. This letter "is referred to but not textually reproduced." She calls this a "suppressed" letter, which corresponds to the fact that La Fayette's text itself was suppressed until after her death. Both the letter and the novella were stifled, she argues, because of their "scandalous natures." For R., this unique relationship between narrative and textual history shows La Fayette's attempt to "subver[t] a social order that suppresses `illegitimate' channels of power and intercourse."
BECKER, KARIN. "Elemente mittelalterlicher Schwankkomik in La Fontaines Contes et Nouvelles en vers," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 43–62.
BRANAN, ELISABETH GIROD. La Fontaine: Au dela des "bagatelles" des Contes et des "badineries" des Fables. Lexington, Ky.: French Forum, 1993.
Review: T. Alliott in MLR 90 (1995), 440: Author starts from the premise that the Contes and the Fables of La Fontaine should be understood in terms of interrelationship, for they have common stylistic features and are united above all by their moral themes. Reviewer feels that "it might have been beneficial to take into account more frequently the different expectations raised by these distinct genres."
Review: J.-P. Collinet in RF 105 (1993), 450–452: Finds B.'s "agréable essai" useful to "gens de goût" and "exégètes déjà chevronnés du poète" as well as to "étudiants novices." Singles out B.'s analyses of themes such as the king and the court, the poet's attraction to solitude, and so forth. Finds that B.'s principal merit is to "mettre mieux en lumière l'indépendance de La Fontaine et d'en proposer une définition plus adéquate et très judicieusement affinée."
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 89. G. notes that B.'s work focuses on "les thématiques de la critique morale et sociale" at the end of the seventeenth century. B's thesis is that La Fontaine is best termed a "pessimiste, mais non désespéré, qui se réserve pour s'évader une `arrière boutique' à la Montaigne." G. faults B. for an excessively "descriptive" approach that focuses little on La Fontaine research published within the last ten years.
Review: Roseann Runte in Fr 68 (1995) 525–26: "A very intelligent and useful integrated reading," unified by treatment of solitude and retreat and placed in comparison with others from d'Urfé to Deshoulières, the philosophy of Gassendi, and the pessimism aggravated by speculation and discussion of the political theories of Hobbes and Machiavelli.
BRODY, JULES. "Lecture philologique d'une fable de La Fontaine: Le coq et le renard (II, 15)." in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 81–91.
B. concludes that the fable is "saturé, jusque dans les recoins les plus refoulés de son fond et de sa forme, par des variantes tautologiques sur les thèmes de la dualité et de l'ambiguité de l'existence."
CALDER, ANDREW. "La Fontaine and La Rochefoucauld: The Other as Reflection of the Self." SCFS 17 (1995), 37–51.
Using the paradigm of friendship as occasion for self-knowledge, and regulation of excessive self-love, examines LF's tributes to LR. Wisdom is availability, seen in the "mirror of others," and the resulting "pleasure of knowing a multiplicity of selves."
COLLINET, JEAN PIERRE, éd. Jean de La Fontaine, Poésies et oeuvres diverses. Paris: La Table Ronde, 1994.
Review: Jean Plaud in IL 47:3 (mai-juin 1995) 47: P. claims that C.'s edition "invite à lire ou à relire des oeuvres en vers ou en prose de La Fontaine autres que le Fables et les Contes." Among the notable aspects of the work are its "préface substantielle" as well as its "notes sobres [qui] facilitent utilement la lecture des textes." P. praises the "diversity" of the edition which includes works such as L'Eunuque, Adonis, and Le Songe de Vaux.
Review: M. O. Sweetser in PFSCL 22 (1995), 638–639: A pocket edition of lesser known works with preface, endnotes, and chronology of the author's life. Reviewer states that "ce qui fait le prix de cette anthologie sans prétention savante est la parfaite intelligence et le goût raffiné qui ont présidé au choix des textes."
COLLINET, JEAN-PIERRE. "La Fontaine et ses jeunes veuves." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 165–183.
"La Fontaine et la mort; beau sujet sur lequel nous manque une étude." C.'s analysis demonstrates the individuality and "fine vérité" in La F.'s incarnation of "l'éternel féminin." Characterized as "profound" despite "apparences de légèreté," La F.'s poetic rendering of young widows was appreciated by a society filled with so many (C. enumerates several, from Madame de Sévigné to Hortense Mancini): "On conçoit aisément que, de chacune et d'elles toutes, l'oeuvre de La Fontaine ait pu capter et retenir de fugaces reflets."
DANDREY, PATRICK, éd. Le Fablier. (Revue des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine, 4). Chateau Thierry: Société des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine, 1992.
Review: M. Slatter in MLR 89 (1994), 1003: Fifth issue of papers and articles from the annual conference of the Society. Review under the general direction of M. Fumaroli "reflects the breadth as well as the scholarship of this dynamic new society." Particular praise for the articles by Collinet on "Les Deux Pigeons" and Moreau on Psyché.
DANDREY, PATRICK and ALAIN GENETIOT, éds. Le Fablier. (Revue des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine, 5) Actes du colloque 'La Fontaine de Château-Thierry à Vaux-le-Vicomte': Première partie: Les Années de formation. Château-Thierry: Société des Amis de Jean de la Fontaine, 1993.
Review: T. Alliott in MLR 90 (1995), 751–52: "This issue of Le Fablier includes some contributions to the 1993 colloquium focused on the earlier years of the poet's career." M. Fumaroli explores the influence of Giambattista Marino on La Fontaine; A Génetiot stresses Marot and Voltaire as models for the naïve/natural style of studied negligence and mondain humor La Fontaine developed; M. McGraw explores LF's "skill in paradoxical description"; R. Duchêne clarifies the term galant in the context of "the competing claims of classical learning and social appeal in the literature of the period"; Y.-M. Bercé reviews evolving historical interpretations of Foucquet's trial.
Review: J. P. Collinet in PFSCL 22 (1995), 261–263: A "riche numéro" of conference studies and other items.
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1082–83: G. describes the collection of the "revue annuelle de la société des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine." This particular edition is dedicated to the "premier" La Fontaine, i.e., "le protégé de Fouquet avant sa brutale disgrace en 1661, et qui trouve son inspiration dans la veine ovidienne et galante goûtée par le maître Le Vaux." Among the notable papers are Marc Fumaroli's "Politique et poétique de Vénus: l'Adone de Marino et l'Adonis de La Fontaine; Alain Génetiot's "La Fontaine à l'école du style marotique et du badinage voiturien," and Margaret Mc Gowan's "L'Eloge et la discrétion: l'art de peindre chez La Fontaine."
GRIMM, JURGEN. Le pouvoir des fables. Etudes lafontainiennes I. PFSCL/Biblio 17 85 (1994).
Seventeen studies using sociocritical and historical methods to situate La F. in time. Bibliography.
GRIMM, JURGEN. "L'amour sans corps, ou l'art du 'dire sans dire' dans les Contes et nouvelles de La Fontaine," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 281–299.
Studies La F.'s rhetoric of indirection: "Ce sont des textes, au fond, très peu sensuels qui, dans la mesure où ils éliminent le corps et ses fonctions, s'adressent à la capacité intellectuelle du lecteur, au plaisir qu'il a de déchiffrer ce qu'ils disent en ne le disant pas."
HELLER, LANE M. and IAN M. RICHMOND, eds. La poétique des Fables de La Fontaine. London/Ontario: Mestengo Press/The University of Western Ontario, 1994.
Review: J. P. Collinet in PFSCL 22 (1995), 652–654: Nine conference studies which critically are a "carrefour entre la tradition la plus immémoriale et la plus audacieuse modernité, . . ." Reviewer states that "de cette enquête collective sur le fabuliste, ressort surtout, en définitive, que s'il demeure indispensable de préciser sa rhétorique, une telle étude ne suffit plus, mais qu'elle doit se prolonger et se couronner d'une autre investigation, non moins nécessaire, mais plus délicate, spécifiquement consacrée à sa poétique."
NELL, SHARON DIANE. " Looks Can Be Deceiving: The Trompe-l'oeil Poetics of French Rococo Style." ECr 33 (1993), 43–56.
Although focusing on rococo poets such as the abbé Chaulieu and examining patterns of "heterometrical motifs," treatment has ramifications for La Fontaine studies.
NIES, FRITZ. "Appetizer der bürgerlichen Küche: La Fontaine im Alltag," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 385–395.
ORIZET, JEAN. "Jean de La Fontaine ou la morale du plaisir." RDM (avril 1995), 131–39.
A l'occasion du tricentenaire de la mort de La Fontaine, Bercé se propose d'examiner "des images convenues qui s'attachent, aujourd'hui encore, à l'auteur des Fables, et des Contes mais aussi de Psyché, d'Adonis, ou du Songe de Vaux ...."
RUBIN, DAVID LEE. A Pact with Silence: Art and Thought in the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1991.
Review: E.G. Branan in FrF 18 (1993), 98–99: Reviewer appreciates R.'s all-inclusive definition of "fable" as both lyrical and didactic; its discourse is bipartite (apologue and exposition). If B. is not convinced that the fable passed from "sagesse to system" with La Fontaine, she does note R.'s successful demonstration of the poet's uniqueness vis-à-vis the models both Aesopic and Indian. R. also contends that La F.'s Fables cohere because of their didactic unity and draws a parallel between La F. and the baroque poets' "undoing of rigorous sequence in the lyric."
SLATER, MAYA. "Death in the Fables of La Fontaine," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 217–227.
S. concludes that "the poet is much more than a stoical figure who welcomes death calmly. He can also convey feelings of fear and denial, which coexist with the loftier attitude and which result in poetry that is more complex, more realistic and ultimately more human."
SWEETSER, MARIE ODILE. "Le poète et le petit prince: stratégies d'éducation dans Les compagnons d'Ulysse," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 509–523.
Author concludes that "l'ambivalence et l'ambiguïté restent bien la marque du poète, même dans une fable destinée à célébrer un jeune prince [le duc de Bourgogne] et à l'instruire."
VINCENT, MICHAEL. Figures of the Text: Reading and Writing (in) La Fontaine. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 191: Reviewer finds that V.'s method may make La F. both "more fascinating" and "less accessible." V.'s identification and decoding of 17th c. intertextual readings leads him to posit a reader "more or less disguised, in the text" plus "even more thickly disguised references to contemporary sayings, hieroglophics (sic) and emblems."
Review: J.-P. Collinet in RF 105 (1993), 443–444: Short but substantial essays in an excellent volume whose cover bears Grandville's illustration for Les Deux Pigeons. Treats, in addition, Le Fou qui vend la sagesse, Démocrite et les Abdéritains, etc.
Review: Roseann Runte in FR 68 (1995), 525: Focuses on Psyché, on selected fables: "Démocrite et les Abdéritains," "Les Deux Pigeons," "La Laitière et le pot de au lait," "Le Curé et la mort" (treated as a double fable). Close readings that are "clear, logical, original, and convincing." A book that "poses a flagstone on the pavement along the road to (re) constructing a true significance for the whole of LF's work as possessing a greater number of threads of unity than we have heretofore located."
WENTZLAFF EGGEBERT, CHRISTIAN. "Bilder für das Ohr: 'Plumage' und 'ramage' bei Lafontaine und Théophile de Viau," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 525–536.
MC BRIDE, ROBERT, ed. Lettre sur la comédie de l'Imposteur. Durham: U of Durham P, 1994.
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 95:2 (mars-avril 1995), 314: This edition attempts to prove La Mothe Le Vayer's authorship of the 1667 letter which defended Tartuffe after the play's initial interdiction in 1664. According to the reviewer, Mc B.'s proof consists of drawing parallels between the Lettre and La Mothe le Vayer's other writings on religious thought, and on the defense of the theatre. Echoing Mc B., L. reiterates the commonly-held notion that Molière himself may have co-authored the Lettre. Reviewer concludes by noting that while McB.'s hypothesis is "séduisante," and "l'ensemble souvant convaincant; les lecteurs jugeront si le débat est définitivement clos."
COLEMAN, JAMES A., ed. La Péruse: poésies complètes. Exeter: U of Exeter P, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 379: Important for students of French classical theatre, since La Péruse is above all remembered for his contribution to that field. Here C., editor in 1985 of La P.'s Médée, valiantly argues for a new appreciation of La P.'s lyric poetry.
BELLENGER, YVONNE, éd. Pierre de Larivey (1541–1619), Champenois, chanoine, traducteur, auteur de comédies et astrologue. Actes des sixièmes Journées rémoises et troyennes, 25–27 janvier 1991, organisées par le Centre de Recherche sur la littérature du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance de l'Université de Reims. Paris: Klincksieck, 1993.
Review: J. Emelina in PFSCL 22 (1995), 237–239: Some eight studies devoted to Larivey as a "pre Classical" author of comedies, a major translator of works from Italy and India, and an enigmatic "astrophile." According to the reviewer, this "passeur exceptionnel de la Renaissance" contributed much to the subsequent development of French literature.
Review: D. Perret in BHR 57 (1995), 287–88: Volume dedicated to R. Garapon contains papers which explore the "diverse interests and wide-ranging production" of Larivey.
BAKER, SUSAN READ. "Maxims, Moralists and the Problematic of Discontinuity in Seventeenth-Century France." FLS (Vol. 21, 1994) 35–43.
B. discusses the aesthetic and substantive character of the maxim, which she describes as "an exemplary discontinuous genre." Concentrating on La Rochefoucauld's Maximes, but also mentioning La Bruyère and Montaigne, B. asserts that "in the maxim and other discontinuous texts, writing itself is displayed as an art that literally imposes itself upon the reader." She contends that discontinuity in La Rochefoucauld's text "show[s] that the quest for total knowledge inscribed by Cartesianism must be abandoned."
BIASON, M.T. La Massima o il "saper dire." Palermo: Sellerio, 1990.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1081: A favorable review in which E. describes B.'s goal to "situer la maxime dans le champ littéraire des formes brèves." In the first chapter, B. defines the maxim and its "morphological, stylistic and logico-representative characteristics." The second chapter applies these theoretical notions to the Maximes, whereas the last section explores the context in which the maxim appeared in order to trace its "devenir historique." Strengths of the book include its observations on prosodic and phonetic repetition (parallelism, chiasmus, false symmetry, etc...,) as well as its critical bibliography. E. concludes, stating "On retiendra... le répertoire et la typologie des figures proposées, dont l'étendue trouverait peu d'équivalent dans les études en langue française sur les maximes."
CLARK, HENRY. La Rochefoucauld and the Language of Unmasking in Seventeenth century France. Geneva: Droz, 1994.
Review: Derek A. Watts in JES 25 (1995), 322–23: This "well documented study takes issue . . . with the prevailing orthodoxy [concerning the origin of LR.'s perspective on human nature], by pointing to other likely origins, all of them secular, of the systematically harsh views of man's nature, centred [sic] on the concept of amour propre . . . ." "With its many pages of original documentation and interpretation," says W., "this book makes a positive contribution to . . . LR. studies. It is not, however, satisfactory in all respects," according to the reviewer. Perceived drawbacks are discussed. "However, despite these shortcomings, here is a book which may be read with profit by all who are fascinated by a challenging problem that will doubtless never be solved."
HODGSON, RICHARD G. "Les 'divers degrés de la chaleur du sang': le corps et les passions chez La Rochefoucauld," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 239–247.
"Comme l'amour propre et beaucoup d'autres 'realia qui composent l'homme,' nos humeurs sont 'à couvert des yeux les plus pénétrants' et tout le mal qu'elles font reste presque totalement inaperçu tant que nous 'tournons toutes nos conduites' à satisfaire les passions qu'elles engendrent. Conception très pessimiste de la nature humaine, qui a fait de Nietzsche et de Lacan des lecteurs passionnés de La R."
WATTS, DEREK A. La Rochefoucauld, Maximes. Glasgow: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1993.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (Novembre-décembre 1994), 1081: E. describes W.'s work as an "ouvrage d'introduction, selon le principe de la collection qui présente brièvement le contexte historique et ésthétique de la publication des Maximes." Noting the similarity between W.'s approach and that of P. Bénichou and J. Starobinski, E. speaks of a critical perspective that emphasizes the "démolition de l'homme à travers une étude de la critique de la vertu héroique." For the reviewer, the value of W.'s work lies in its ability to "introduire le lecteur anglophone à l'histoire posthume des Maximes et à la réception de ce que J. Lafond a proposé d'appeler le `champ littéraire des formes brèves'."
PITASSI, MARIE-CRISTINA. "La Théologie au XVIIe siècle: violence ou modération?" BSHPF 141 (1995), 341–55.
Analyzes a group of short tracts that reveal his doctrine to be that truth can only be discovered in confrontation with error, thereby excluding all use of force, physical, verbal, or moral. "The originality of Le Clerc's formulation rests, first, in a dynamic conception of the truth, and second, in a redefinition of the notions of orthodoxy and heresy."
BELEVAL, YVON. Leibniz de l'âge classique aux lumières: lectures leibniziennes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995.
Posthumous publication of a second volume (302 pp.) of essays largely completed at the time of Beleval's death (1988).
MARSHALL, JOHN. John Lock. Resistance, Religion, and Responsibility. Cambridge: CUP, 1995.
Advertised as providing "a major new historical account of the development of political, religious, social and moral thought..."
BURKE, PETER. The Fabrication of Louis XIV. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992.
Review: C. R. Coats in RenQ 47 (1994), 976–979: Judged "important, provocative but uneven," B.'s volume is to be praised for its interdisciplinary methodology. Two sections are singled out as "especially provocative": treatments of "the iconographic response to Louis' Revocation of the Edict of Nantes" and "salacious representations during unpopular periods."
COUVREUR, MANUEL. Jean Baptiste Lully: Musique et dramaturgie au service du prince. Bruxelles: Vokaer, 1992.
Review: E. Woodrough in MLR 90 (1995), 190–92: Monograph treats literary and musical aspects of Lully's work and explains "how Lully progressed from the musick'd play to the Frenchified opera.
NADLER, STEVEN. Malebranche and Ideas. Oxford: OUP, 1992.
Review: Marjorie Grene in Isis 85 (1994), 800–1: Focuses on one question—the nature and function of "ideas" in Malebranche's epistemology, rectifying interpretations from Antoine Arnauld and Locke's commentaries to the present and rehabilitating in a (rather weak) final chapter Malebranche's theory of perceptual acquaintance. Useful historical work discusses the limits of M.'s adherence to Descartes and the relation between his Cartesianism and Augustinianism.
RODIS-LEWIS, GENEVIEVE, ed. Oeuvres. vol. 2. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
Review: Marjorie Grene in Isis 85 (1994), 800: "Excellence of scholarly apparatus makes volume a joy to use": all variants, meticulous and ample footnotes and introductory notices illuminate Malebranche's development and relation to other traditional and contemporary thinkers. Identification of biblical allusions is especially valuable. Editor "boasts" that she imposes no interpretation upon the texts.
ROBERTS, WILLIAM. "Maynard and the Death of a Daughter," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 267–285.
Five paintings establish the context of high child mortality as a general 17th c. fact, into which M's Ode "L'Astre du Jour" is placed. Detailed explication presents poem as a rejection of Malherbe's "Consolation," by an inconsolable father. Deceased daughter's portrait emerges as that of an idealized, adolescent Cornelian heroine. Emotions overcome reason, but ode follows a "tightly woven plan."
CAMINITI, LEA PENNAROLA, ed. Gilles Ménage: Lettres inédites à Pierre-Daniel Huet (1659–1692). Naples: Ligouri, 1993.
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 89–90: G. welcomes the publication of 233 letters from Ménage to Huet taken from manuscripts in Huet's dossier at the Bibliothèque Laurentienne. While the letters "portent la marque des évenements que le Parisien Ménage relate à son ami de province," they nonetheless comprise an active dialogue on intellectual issues. G. claims that the letters "sont avant tout à lire comme une conversation savante continuée, toute entière tournée vers des points de critique littéraire, linguistique et grammaticale." Of scholarly interest as well are the "excellente introduction," the notes, a complete index nominum and photographs of original manuscripts.
ALBANESE, RALPH, JR. Molière a l'école républicaine (1870–1914). Stanford: Anma Libri, 1992.
Review: K. Canvat in LR 47 (1993) 343: C. calls for other studies on different authors which would similarly document how the teaching of literature "participe à la construction de notre mémoire vive." A. demonstrates M.'s value as a "référence culturelle universelle" by political systems of both Left and Right. Highlights M.'s characters with whom students can readily identify and his ideal of "l'honnête homme" from which students can form "l'esprit (critique) et le jugement." Praiseworthy.
Review: Barbara Ching in CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991) 305–07: C. describes A'.s work as "ostensibly about the development of Republican pedagogic discourse on Molière out of university-based Molière criticism." Yet, she states that in addition, "the book actually provides an interesting analysis of French literary education... as well as an overview of Molière criticism from the Revolution to the end of the Third Republic." While C. does find fault with A. for minor stylistic and structural deficiencies, she calls A.'s work " a judicious blend of literary history, reception theory, sociology of knowledge and new historicism."
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 89 (1994), 1004–05: Study "examines the cult status of Molière in the early years of the Third Republic. The author analyzes the twin track tendency of Molière's scholarship towards the end of the nineteenth century: the new respectability of literary exegesis in university circles balanced by the phenomenal popularity of Moliere among the writers of the manuels scolaires."
ALBANESE, RALPH, JR. "Corps et corporéité dans les premières farces de Molière," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 211–220.
A Bakhtinian look at the "corps carnavalesque" in M.'s early plays.
BAMFORTH, STEPHEN, ed. Molière. Nottingham French Studies 33 (1994).
Review: J. F. Gaines in PFSCL 22 (1995), 626–627: Conference studies characterized by their "craftsmanship" and "timeliness." A volume containing "much valuable reading."
BARBIER, CHRISTOPHE. "Tartuffe au Soleil." Le Point (22 juillet 1995), 59.
"L'entreprise d'Ariane Mnouchkine [Le Tartuffe de Molière, mise en scène d'A. M., au parc des expositons de Châteaublanc], un Tartuffe chez les islamistes, ne passe pas la rampe." "Marketing et théâtre n'ont jamais fait bon ménage, [A. M.] le prouve après tant d'autres. A Avignon, intra muros, elle annonce un Tartuffe islamiste, Molière à Bab el Oued, le FIS à la cour du Roi Soleil." In B.'s opinion, "c'est un Maghreb de pacotille que déballe A. M. . . ."
BOUCQUEY, THIERRY. Mirages de la farce: Fête des fous, Bruegel et Molière. Amsterdam/Philadephia: John Benjamins, 1991.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 374: Using what he terms "une méthodologie idiomatico-théâtrale" to reinterpret the genre of farce, B. both demonstrates how M. is both tied to medieval farce and goes beyond it.
BOURQUI, CLAUDE. Polémique et stratégie dans le Dom Juan de Molière. PFSCL/Biblio 17 69 (1992).
Review: Marie-France Hilgar in FR 67 (1995), 514–15: Part I examines the relationship of Dom Juan with Tartuffe and the clerical opposition that existed from 1662–64. Maintains, against Molière, that he was in fact less interested in satire than in attacking the devout with ridicule. Part II concentrates on the strategies of the play, a "morale anti-dévote" and a punishment "pas crédible." The question remains why Molière "a choisi de jouer avec le feu."
BYL, SIMON. "Molière et la médecine antique." ECL 63 (1995), 55–66.
In the conflict that pitted the medical authority of the ancients against the "moderns" who turned to empirical evidence, M. sided with the latter.
CAIRNCROSS, JOHN. "Propos sur Tartuffe; Elomire Hypocondre," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 93–98.
C. corrects dates in M.'s life and works.
CALDER, ANDREW. Molière: The Theory and Practice of Comedy. London: Athlone, 1993.
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994) 1080: L. summarizes C.'s goal to "définir la nature, les structures et les enjeux de la comédie moliéresque, avec pour principal souci l'inscription de Molière dans son siècle." Molière, while inheriting a comic tradition, nonetheless brings a "new function" to comedy, "celle de mettre à nu les dysfonctionnements sociaux et moraux." This "comédie morale," essentially pessimistic in nature, precludes any kind of "prescriptive philosphy" or didacticism. L.'s final remark concerns the text's structure, that of "seize chapitres quasiment indépendants." While this type of organization may facilitate initial reading of the text, L. concludes that C.'s choice of structure "empêche la définition d'une véritable thèse sur le texte."
Review: N. A. Peacock in MLR 90 (1995), 188–89: "This study will challenge scholars to look afresh at the intellectual and moral context of Molière's work, and will give students a very useful introduction to the relationship between theatre and ideology." Reviewer finds C.'s exploration of religious satire in Tartuffe and Dom Juan particularly interesting.
CRONK, NICHOLAS. "Molière-Charpentier's Le Malade Imaginaire: The First opéra-comique?" FMLS 29 (1993), 216–231.
Exciting and cogent analysis of this "bold theatrical experiment," the "prototype opéra-comique" which promoted "a partial musical-theatrical aesthetic at the moment of opera's emergence in France." Recounts the rediscovery by John Powell and reviews the 1990 Jean-Marie Villégier production.
DANDREY, PATRICK. Dom Juan ou la critique de la raison comique. Paris: Champion, 1993.
Review: Benedicte Louvat in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1079: L. calls D.'s book a "stimulante étude" that proposes "une analyse en trois volets des liens qui unissent la forme de la pièce (cinq actes de prose, une structure éclaté, un registre mêlé)." The first part of the work centers on "la forme de l'éloge paradoxal," borrowed from "la rhétorique facétieuse" which structures the plays. Next, the author looks at the "éloge paradoxal" in relation to legend and folklore. The last section focuses on the notion that contrary to his predecessors and to Thomas Corneille, "Molière choisit la posture de l'indécision critique, ironique au sens plein, sans jamais tomber dans l'aporie d'un pyrrhonisme dogmatique." While generally agreeing with D., L. does object to "l'analyse qui est faite de l'utilisation des machines" which does not adequately reflect the "sens et réalité [donné] à la confrontation avec le divin."
Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 22 (1995), 254–256: D. studies the esthetics of paradox, irony and the openness of the work's structure, and models, especially that of Thomas Corneille, of the play, seeing in it a "poétique de l'interférence" à la Michel Serres. A study characterized by the reviewer as "sans précédent" in Molière studies because it turns to advantage both knowledge of the intellectual context of the 17th century and certain recent critical approaches.
Review: E. Van der Schueren in LR 48 (1994), 119–124: Considered "une heureuse surprise," D.'s masterful treatment "tend à retrouver autant la signification de cette pièce irregulière, bigarrée et paradoxale, que les raisons qui font en sorte que sa signification demeure 'indécise' . . . ." V. der S. highlights D. on "how to read M.:" "Dom Juan mérite d'être lu comme une critique de la raison comique à travers laquelle se trouve mise en question toute la stratégie d'émergence de la vérité dans le théâtre de Molière, et singulièrement toute lecture au premier degré de la philosophie raisonnable de ses raisonneurs."
DANDREY, PATRICK. Molière ou l'esthétique du ridicule. Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.
Review: P. Dostie in LR 48 (1994), 116–118: Highly appreciative review of D.'s global consideration of M.'s theatre in its relation to the overarching and paradoxal question of "une exigence noble, qui consiste à peindre les moeurs de son époque de façon vraisemblable, et le but profane de faire rire les honnêtes gens." Chapters focus on 1) "la poétique du ridicule", 2) "l'éthique du naturel," and 3) "l'humanité comique." Second chapter contains a section on the function of "le raisonneur." From Dostie's remarks ("solution choisie par Dandrey, le raisonneur ne serait-il pas un point de repère pour évaluer la difformité risible du héros?" It appears that Dandrey rejoins the long standing and convincing analysis by Francis Lawrence which found the raisonneurs to be "the ebullient spirits of the comedy of M. . . . whose ideas . . . catch and involve the intellect [and whose mockery] . . . comprehends and exposes all the complex involutions of the main character's fantasia" (The Nature and Function of the Raisonneur in Molière, 158–159).
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 89 (1994), 1004–05: A work of "admirable intellectual scope [which] permits an appreciation of Molière against the sweep of comic tradition." Reviewer has some difficulty with presentation and style, but judges work a valuable contribution to Moliéresque studies.
DICKSON, JESSE. "L'idéologie du rire ou, comment interpréter Le Misanthrope?" FR 68 (1995), 594–95.
Unpretentious but masterful speculative interpretation of the play as a staging of "honnêteté" in which the complicitous laughter of complacency, of aggressive satire, and of irony provide an uneasy harmony.
DOCK, STEPHEN VARICK. Costume and Fashion in the Plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Molière: A Seventeenth-Century Perspective. Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 1992.
Review: James S. Gaines in FR 67 (1994), 1068–69: "A solid, reasoned study," which extends analysis to the entire canon, giving a sense of the playwright's evolving use of costumes as an element that supplements the thematic and dialogic structures also presented in verbal and gestural form. Sumptuous illustrations.
Review: Perry Gethner in CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991), 297–99: G. considers D.'s work to be a "valuable study...[that] assembles in one volume, and for the first time, all the extant documentation relating to costumes in Molière's plays...plus over 100 illustrations." While "all these accounts and illustrations have been publishes before," G. praises D.'s meticulousness in assembling them "in one place." For G., "the most original feature of Dock's analysis...is his explanation of how specific costumes may have made such a powerful impact on the original audience that they overshadowed the plot and dialogue." Among the plays in question are Dom Juan, Le Sicilien, and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. Although G. does point out "a small number of factual errors," he views D.'s contribution as "a most welcome addition to Molière scholarship."
DUMOULIE, CAMILLE. Don Juan ou l'héroisme du désir. Paris: PUF, 1993.
Review: Sylvie Ballestra-Puech in IL 47:1 (jan-fév. 1994), 39–40: B.-P. describes D.'s goal as that of updating "les structures du mythe de Don Juan en évitant le double écueil du psychologisme et d'une analyse structurale qui réduirait le mythe à une pure forme, en négligeant la force qui l'anime: celle du désir." D.'s freudian/lacanian approach focuses in part on the relation between "Eros" and "la jouissance mystique," as well as on Molière's portrait in Don Juan of "la `folie de la raison'" and of "`cartesianisme vécu dans l'emportement du désir.'" B.-P.'s reaction is generally favorable, and concludes with the remark, "Si l'on admet la pertinence de l'approche choisie, on ne peut qu'être convaincu par la démonstration et apprécier la rigueur et la clarté dans l'utilisation des concepts psychanalitiques."
EMELINA, JEAN. "Insultes, injures et jurons dans les comédies de Molière." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 135–151.
In spite of the lack of a computerized concordance of M. and the lexical boundaries "floues et les appréciations délicates, surtout à trois siècles de distance," E. provides a fascinating study of the "gros mots" of M., insisting on their charm, theatrical function, and role as "le reflet d'une société . . . et un précieux témoignage sur une langue."
EMELINA, JEAN. "La beauté physique dans le théâtre de Molière: fragments de discours amoureux sur le corps," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 191–210.
"Constamment liée à l'amour sincère et réciproque, la vraie beauté n'est pas propice au rire mais au sourire et surtout à l'euphorie. Elle redit aux sceptiques l'optimisme de Molière, ce désir inlassable d'harmonie complète, morale, physique et sociale, qui sous tend l'action, dont elle est le couronnement, et qui fait de ses comédies un conte de fées domestique pour honnêtes gens."
FLECK, STEPHEN H. Music, Dance, and Laughter. Comic Creation in Molière's Comedy Ballets. PFSCL/Biblio 17 88 (1995).
Reviews comic theory (especially Gregory Bateson) and Molière, surveys the comedy ballets with separate chapters on Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and Le Malade imiginaire in order to reveal a"specific movement away from the uniquely comic toward a wider, thoroughgoing festivity." Includes tables of dance, music and comedy in the plays and bibliography (including discography and filmography).
GOODKIN, RICHARD E. "Between Genders, Between Genres: Célimène's Letter to Alceste in Molière's Le Misanthrope." RR 85:4 (November 1994) 553–572.
G. summarizes the thrust of his article saying that "Célimène's letter can be interpreted as epitomizing the differences between how men love and how women love. But it can also be read as a literary artifact situated at the cross-roads between classical theater and the incipient genre of the novel." After demonstrating that the recipient of Célimène's "mysterious letter" is Alceste, G. asks the question of why Célimène would write to Alceste if she had "no intention of sending [it]." The reasons lie in the notions of gender and genre. With respect to gender, Célimène, as a woman who loves out of sheer passion, Célimène cannot send her letter to Alceste because she does not believe that he, or any man, will continue to desire her once she has made herself available. The disparity between love and gender is echoed in the dissonance between the novel and the theater. As a genre, theatre cannot accomodate the letter in the same manner as the epistolary novel. Consequently, M. underscores the limitations of discourse within the play and within the genre.
GRIMM, JURGEN. Molière en son temps. PFSCL/Biblio 17 75 (1993).
Review: S. Bamforth in MLR 90 (1995), 752–53: French translation by B. Naudet and F. Londeix of Grimm's "concise and masterly study" of 1984 which adapted a socio-historical and philological approach. Reviewer finds the main strength of the work "in its combination of detailed contextualization with rigorous analysis of the plays themselves."
Review: J. -P. Collinet in RF 105 (1993), 452: Translation into French by Béatrice Naudet and Françoise Londeix of G.'s 1984 Molière, but with significant revisions and up-to-date bibliography. An important historical and sociological orientation complements a minute examination of the "oeuvre moliéresque, portant sur ses phases d'évolution, ses formes et ses thèmes."
Review: Marie-France Hilgar in FR 68 (1995), 526–27: 1984 work translated into French and updated to 1992. In four parts: Molière in his time, evolution of the theatre, sociology of comedy, "Molière texte et jeu," biblio and index. Periodization is 1663–1666, moving with social and political contexts as well as in relationship to Louis XIV. M. "adopte toujours la perspective de la cour;" résumés seem superfluous but overall "une étude solide dans son traditionalisme, une analyse qui sonne toujours juste et une des meilleures introductions au théâtre de Molière."
HORVILLE, ROBERT. "Les jeunes amoureux du théâtre de Molière: des monomaniaques comme les autres?" in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 245–260.
"Les jeunes amoureux appartiennent à la tonalité romanesque de la tragi comédie, tandis que les monomaniaques s'inscrivent dans une perspective résolument comique."
LANDRY, JEAN-PIERRE. "Le rire de Molière, comédie et honnêteté." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 153–163.
Situates "le rire moliéresque" in its rapport between the comedies and the world of the 17th c. Examines successively: 1)society with its new civility and promotion of comedy, 2) "le bon et le mauvais comédiens" and the role of the raisonneur, 3) "un rire de connivence" and harmonies between "le spectateur et le spectacle présenté."
MAZOUER, CHARLES. "Georges Dandin dans le Grand divertissement royal de Versailles (1668)," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 315–329.
". . . la question herméneutique de l'unicité ou non du point de vue du dramaturge . . . se présente assez différemment si l'on considère la comédie récitée seule de Georges Dandin, ou si l'on prend en compte la totalité du spectacle tel qu'il fut donné à Versailles en 1668, avec l'énorme partie musicale de Lully."
MAZOUER, CHARLES. Molière et ses comédies ballets. Paris: Klincksieck, 1993.
Review: J. Emelina in PFSCL 22 (1995), 282–284: Studies the "'symbiose' de la danse et de la musique avec le texte." According to reviewer, "tout ce versant de l'oeuvre de Molière a été et est encore, surtout en France, souvent oublié ou négligé. En le plaçant en pleine lumière, Charles Mazouer l'a légitimement et brillament remis à l'honneur. Il nous renforce par là même dans l'idée que la 'peinture de moeurs et de caractères' et la satire morale ne sont peut être la fin dernière de la comédie."
Review: Marie-Claude Canova-Green in IL 47:1 (jan- fév. 1995), 38–39: C.-G. calls M.'s work an "excellent ouvrage" constituting "la meilleure étude à ce jour des comédies-ballets de Molière." Of particular note according to the reviewer is M.'s "réhabilitation de ce genre mixte, longtemps décrié par le public." C.-G. states that M.'s goal in revisiting this genre is to "faire porter l'essentiel de son intention sur les parties musicales et dansées et de montrer comment les intermèdes...invitent en fait à une relecture de la comédie proprement dite."
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 86–87: According to L., author's work constitutes "un synthèse de son travail sur un genre souvent négligé par la critique, et qui occupe pourtant une place majeure dans l'oeuvre de Molière." Author emphasizes structure and technique over substance, defining first an "esthétique et une poétique du genre," then proceeding to a discussion of "ornements" as well as of the "forme de l'intermède" before dealing with "le sens né de ce mélange des arts." L. claims that while one may not be in entire agreement with author's argument, "l'ouvrage fournit un cadre dans lequel penser aujourd'hui le genre problématique de la comédie-ballet."
MCCANN, JOHN. "Harpagon: the Paradox of Miserliness." PFSCL 22 (1995), 555–569.
"Harpagon was much happier when he had given someone else his money. Furthermore, he acquired more riches since interest had to be paid on the loan. Consequently Harpagon spends much of the play trying to give his gold to someone else. This is why we find him funny. He is doing the opposite of what we expect a miser to do."
MIETHING, CHRISTOPH. "Amphitryon. Tragischer Mensch und komischer Gott," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 331–351.
MIRTU, MICHAELA. Dynamique des formes théâtrales dans l'oeuvre de Molière. Histoire d'une dissidence secrète. Paris: Presses Universitaires, 1990.
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1078: L. outlines M.'s project to "définir un `geste fondamental,' une thématique majeure du théâtre moliéresque en rapport avec les structures mentales et sociologiques de son public." The work, which examines, among other things, the "parcours du sens" on the "double plan du lisible et du visible" in La Critique de l'Ecole des Femmes, L'Impromptu de Versailles and Dom Juan, is nonetheless termed "souvent fort obscur" by the reviewer. Citing the text, L. questions "la pertinence scientifique d'une lecture qui s'attache a `trouver un code idéologique permettant à un spectateur roumain d'aujourd'hui[...lignes écrites dans les années 1980–87] d'approcher cette oeuvre du passé et sa charge contestataire.'"
MOLINIE, GEORGES. "Sémiotique du corps au XVIIe siècle," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 353–360.
Uses Les Femmes savantes and Le Malade imaginaire: ". . . il y a effectivement contradiction entre chaque ensemble de comportement énonciatif relativement au corps: la position de Chrysale est contradictoire avec celle d'Argan, et celle des servantes est contradictoire avec celles des intellectuelles, de même très rigoureusement que le déviant orgasme de ces dernières avec leurs propres propos."
PEACOCK, NOEL. Molière in Scotland (1945–1990). Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 1993.
Review: M. C. Canova Green in PFSCL 22 (1995), 287–288: A sociological study of the reception of translations and stage adaptations of Molière in Scotland since World War II: "la récente métamorphose de Molière en McMolière."
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1079–1080: L. describes the work's title as "déconcertant" because P.'s study deals with the adaptation of Molière's oeuvre in Scotland after the Second World War. Nonetheless, L. claims that "l'intérêt de cet ouvrage réside dans le questionnement portant sur les modalités de l'adaptation à l'étranger d'une oeuvre littéraire qui plus est l'oeuvre d'un poète au XVIIe siècle." In her conclusion, L. discusses the political context in which Molière's drama was appropriated in Scotland. She states, "il s'agit de donner des pièces une version spécifiquement écossaise, et non anglaise, voire d'opposer à la figure de Shakespeare un auteur dramatique sinon national, du moins naturalisé."
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 189–90: "Solid, workmanlike account" of nineteen Molière plays produced on the postwar Scottish stage. Each account provides information on the play's history and important modern French interpretations, "followed by an account of every production of the play in Scotland since the war, complete with reviews." Four categories: One Act Plays, Three Act Plays, Five Act Plays, Comédies Ballets.
Review: David Whitton in ThR 19 (1994), 273–74: "Looking at the reception of M. in a geographically and culturally delimited context, this book presents a two-fold interest. . . . [I]t supplies a fragment of the vast unwritten history of M. in performance" and ". . . the subject is also of interest for the light it throws on the recent development of Scottish theatre . . . ." "The study concentrates on the post-war years . . . ." "The aim of the book is to provide a record of the relevant activities and chart their reception." The reviewer notes that ". . . the study might be said to be more about adaptation and translation than about production. The performance analysis is summary, supplemented by copious extracts from newspaper reviews." Although W. "enjoyed this book" he is uncertain about the intended audience.
PEACOCK, NOEL. Molière in Scotland, 1945–1990. Glasgow: U of Glasgow French & German Publications, 1993.
Review: Christopher Smith in JES 25 (1995), 324–25: "P. categorizes his material first by formal sub genre and then chronologically within it, prefacing his discussion of each individual play with a brief introduction that situates it in M.'s career. After that, full information is given about each production, including details about the publication of the script and about critical response as reflected in newspaper cuttings."
PEACOCK, NEIL. Moliere: Les Femmes savantes. London: Grant and Cutler, 1990.
Review: Larry Riggs in FR 68 (1995), 137–38: Sound analyses, well-written. It is not justifiable to pretend, as Peacock does, that the play may be uncontaminated by ideology. It would generally have been possible "to present a more complex, pluralistic reading...without confusing neophyte critics" and better not "to have epxressed active hostility to...fruitfully innovative approaches to Molière."
PHALESE, HUBERT DE. Les mots de Molière. Paris: Nizet, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 375: De Phalèse (pseudonym of Pierre Fiala et al.) provides a useful tool for scholars focusing on quantitative structures and thematic analyses. Selective bibliography.
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 89 (1994), 1004–05: Volume in a series "which demonstrates the possibilities and pitfalls of applying computer techniques to literary criticism. Concerned exclusively with Molière's last four plays, it contains a dazzling array of computergenerated lists: these cover the historical context, contemporary writers, the speech patterns of each character, and analysis of themes such as theatricality, love, money, and medicine." Useful reference work.
PICH, EDGAR. Autour de l'Ecole des Femmes. Trois pièces de Molière. Une expérience du théâtre, une polémique. Lyon: A.L.D.R.U.I., 1993.
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 86: L. states that "le propos de cette courte étude est de retracer l'histoire de la querelle de L'Ecole des Femmes depuis la création de la pièce (1662)... jusqu'à la publication du dernier texte de la querelle au mois de mars 1664, un mois et demi avant l'interdiction du premier Tartuffe. While the first part of the work focuses on "les structures dramatiques" of L'Ecole, the second part "est plus explicitement centrée sur la querelle," with P. emphasizing the ways in which "Molière répond à ses adversaires, et dont la signification dépasse pourtant celle du seul discours polémique."
POMMIER, RENE. Etudes sur Tartuffe. Paris: Sedes, 1994.
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 86: L. discusses P.'s conflicting approaches to this study, stating that P. "hésite ici entre le genre satirique du pamphlet, et celui, dépassioné et `objectif' de l'explication de texte. According to L., P. attacks Charles Mauron's readings as well as Roger Planchon's stage representations. The last part of P.'s study is devoted to "deconstructing" the contemporary thesis of Tartuffe as homosexual. With respect to the disparate tones of P.'s writing, L. states, "Si les propos de l'auteur ne manquent pas de pertinence... on est toutefois en droit de s'interroger sur l'utilité de la critique d'humeur qui s'y mêle."
PRADIER, HUGHES, éd. Voltaire: Vie de Molière avec de petits sommaires de ses pièces. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
Review: D. Shaw in MLR 89 (1994), 1004–05: First separate printing of Voltaire's Vie de Molière since 1884. Edition contains text, notes, postface. Reviewer cites need for more consistently informative footnotes.
RIGGS, LARRY W. "Corps/performance contre texte/prétention: l'anti transcendantalisme de Molière," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 221–235.
"M. ne cesse de nous rappeler que l'universalisme le plus 'raisonné' puise son énergie impérialiste dans des désirs très particuliers et très matériels. Au carrefour de la modernité, le comédien nous rappelle que la culture est la matérialisation de désirs, que toute activité humaine est une performance, et qu'aucune performance n'est désintéressée."
RIGGS, LARRY. "Desire, Discourse and Power: Molière's Unmasking of Hegemonic Ideology." RLA (Vol. VI, 1994) 144–150.
R. argues that "for Molière, it is important to denounce ideological ambitions that aim to institutionalize a kind of ventriloquism: a hegemony, in the etymological sense, in which all voices are instruments of the single, central voice of power." His discussion focuses on Les Femmes Savantes, Le Tartuffe, L'Ecole des Femmes, Dom Juan and Le Misanthrope.
RONZEAUD, PIERRE. Molière: Dom Juan. Paris: Klincksieck, 1993.
Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 22 (1995), 254–256: Studies of the character as a hero of modernity, of the play as a battlefield for religious debates, and of aspects of form in the play.
SMITH, CHRISTOPHER. "Curtain up for Le Nouveau Molieriste." SCFS 17 (1995), 223–25.
Account of the founding and editorial policies of the new serial publication. Contributors to vol. I (1994) and vol. II are included.
STENZEL, HARTMUT. "Espace public et naissance d'un esprit critique Molière et la querelle sur la moralité du théâtre," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 473–492.
According to S., one finds in M. "une conception selon laquelle raison, vérité et espace public seraient liés de façon inséparables. Raison et vérité sont présentées non seulement comme des conditions préalables à toute connaissance (au service de laquelle le théâtre est ici assimilé), mais il serait de leur obligation de dépasser les limites institutionnelles qui leur sont traditionnellement assignées."
STEINBERGER, DEBORAH BESS. "Molière and the Domestication of French Comedy." (New York University, 1994) DAI 56:1 213-A.
S. discusses a fundamental spatial shift in French drama from the "public square" to the "domestic interior" that occurred in the 1660s. Examining the themes of "domestication" in plays such as L'Ecole des Femmes, Tartuffe and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, S. "show[s] how this new setting breeds family plots dominated by the struggle to define, control and protect the domestic space while separating private from public affairs." Domestication of setting led to increased possibilities for female characters," and in turn led to the development of "two subgenres: the widow comedy and the comédie larmoyante," with the former portraying women as corrupted domestic managers, and the latter depicting them as "faithful wives and devoted mothers."
VERNET, MAX. Moliere côté jardin, côté cour. Paris: Nizet, 1991.
Review: P. Piret in LR 47 (1993), 309–312: Finds V.'s perspective "féconde" and the book "passionnant," although its presuppositions are judged "contestable." V. argues against a reduction of M. to his texts; a text should be read as "la trace de la représentation originelle." P. appreciates V.'s remarkable analysis of the place of the king in M.'s theatre."
WHITTON, DAVID, ed. Molière: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. London/New York: Grant & Cutler, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 384: Praised for its "excellent introduction," W.'s edition demonstrates the theatricality of the play as a "total art form" which "reinforces M.'s analysis of the flawed human psyche."
Review: N. A. Peacock in MLR 90 (1995), 188–89: W. provides a "useful mise-au-point of Molière's originality in developing the comédie-ballet as a genre." With regard to Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, W. thinks that "the subtle distinction between theoretical and performative coherence rescues Molière from the charge of a badly constructed work by showing his consummate ability to bring together in a tripartite structure a multimedia divertissement."
WHITTON, DAVID. Molière, Don [sic] Juan. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.
Review: S. Golub in Choice 33 (1995), 477: "This useful book focuses on the production history of Don Juan in various Western cultures, most notably France," as staged by numerous directors (e.g., Jouvet, Vilar, Chéreau). Also discussed are Russian, Swedish, German, and Czech interpretations. This "book helps to explain why M.'s static, Baroque machine play with its rationalist 'atheist' antihero became a magnet for intellectual discourse through the age of deconstruction." According to G., "W. successfully demonstrates through scenographic details how directional interpretation influences perception, and he emphasizes the responsibility to the past, present, and future that such interpretation entails."
GIRAUD, YVES. "Parlez-nous d'amour: roman et sentiment chez Nervèze." Trav de Lit 6 (1993), 103–124.
Persuasive examination of N.'s successful "histoires exemplaires," seeks a rehabilitation of an author whose work was widely read and edited in his time. The essential N. lies not in narration but in his "propos sur l'amour." Underscoring N.'s "analyse affective,"dimension poétique," "style emphatique," "manie d'apostropher,"his work should be viewed as "une des premières tentatives de roman psychologique" and as a "belle synthèse de ces diverses tendances de l'âge baroque."
JAMES, E.D. "Pierre Nicole and La Logique de Port-Royal. SCFS 17 (1995), 15–24.
Careful examination of Nicole's remarks indicate that certain identification of his particular contribution to the Logique remains elusive. Interested principally in "l'art de juger," logic is taken to be a "handmaiden for apologetics" and logical distinction "as pegs on which to hang propaganda against adversaries."
YARROW, P.J. "Fifty Years an Alien: Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse of Orleans, 1671–1722." SCFS 17 (1995), 111–24.
Skillfully mines the Palatine's letters for a striking portrait: a happy girlhood that ended with marriage (1671). The new and alien world is kept that by Madame who remains determinely German to the core, though not condemned to live wholly in the past.
ALBERT, MECHTHILD. "'Une ermite au milieu de la cour.' La mélancolie de Madame Palantine, in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 17–41.
"Confinée dans son aimable solitude, Madame sait transformer la mélancolie, attitude négative d'une résignation impuissante, en loisir tranquille. La tristesse morne ou désespérée fait place à une 'philosophie du présent.'"
PROBES, CHRISTINE MCCALL. "A Woman's Sentiments and Philosophy: the Maxims of Madame Palatine's Lettres françaises." PFSCL 22 (1995), 135–143.
According to the author, ". . . the maxim is rich in metaphors and images, a striking revealer of the woman behind the message, not unlike the quiproquo in a play, a revealer of a character's sentiments which would otherwise remain secret."
ADAMSON, DONALD. Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist and Thinker about God. New York: Macmillan/St. Martin's, 1995.
Review: J. Johnson in Choice 32 (1995), 1748–49: "A. surveys the full range of P.'s intellectual achievements, with special attention to his ideas in mathematics, physics, and religion. Though somewhat uneven in its overall approach, the book succeeds in two areas," according to J. "First, A. provides new insights and makes numerous interesting connections in his careful examination of P.'s religious philosophies (e.g., as revealed in the Provincial Letters and Thoughts). Second, the author is to be commended," says the reviewer, "for his thorough discussion of P.'s wager involving the cycloid and its related history." Includes "[a] helpful section of annotated notes and references, supported by an extensive index and a 'select' bibliography . . . ."
ARMOUR, LESLIE. "Infini Rien": Pascal's Wager and the Human Paradox. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U P, 1993.
Review: Bruce Edmunds in PFSCL 22 (1995), 235–236: Reviewer finds A.'s arguments interesting, suggestive, detailed, and carefully constructed. However, A.'s "attachment to a Pascal always in control of his own text causes him to overlook or explain away very important tensions."
BLAISE PASCAL, MATHEMATICIEN, PHYSICIEN, INGENIEUR. Clermont-Ferrand: Direction du Livre et de la Lecture et la Féderation Française de Cooperation entre Bibliothèques, 1993.
Review: Marc Escola IN RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1074–75: Published to commemorate the three hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the "machine arithmétique," this work is composed primarily of 1) "un rapide historique de R. Bérard sur le fonds pascalien de la Bibliothèque municipale et interuniveristaire de Clermont-Ferrand" and 2) "un exposé de F. Cardot sur l'oeuvre scientifique de Pascal et un catalogue de l'exposition."
CANTILLON, ALAIN. "Corpus Pascalis." YFS 86 (1994), 39–55.
"What lies here, in this series of books, and in these autobiographic pages, collected under the title Pensées, are not writings designated, through the metaphor of the name, as a body lying in a book/ genre; nor is it a corpse substituted for another which it would represent, through a real metaphor; it is the actual living body of Pascal dead, that is to say, the only body of Pascal present among the living since his death. Each editor tries to give this body its integrity and true aspect . . . ." C. views the Pensées as "a powerful historiographical object for a critique of the notion of corpus."
COURIER. Clermont-Ferrand: Centre International Blaise Pascal, 1994.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 95:2 (mars-avril 1995), 314: This work is comprised of papers on the Pensées given at a colloquium organized by the C.I.C.B. E. states that contributions included on "le modèle perspectif" and "la question du point de vue" (J. Mesnard). Additional topics examined were "le statut du sentiment dans l'apologétique" (A. McKenna), le concept d' "homme" (C. Meurillon) and the "fondement prophétique" (Ph. Sellier). The Actes also contain "deux pages d'informations sur l'actualité et les publications pascaliennes."
DAVIDSON, HUGH M. Pascal and the Arts of the Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1993.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994) 1076: D.'s study illuminates P.'s "attitude ou démarche intellectuelle" vis-à-vis three major areas of the philosopher's work 1) mathematics and physics 2) religious experience and theology and 3) controversies and "textes dialogiques." E. finds that "l'originalité de l'ouvrage consiste à replacer les différents travaux de Pascal dans l'épistèmé du XVIIe siècle et à postuler une `unité' de la méthode pascalienne." This "unité" manifests itself in the search for truth, a truth demonstrated through the exercise of three "arts libéraux" or "classiques," i.e., "la rhétorique, la dialectique et la géométrie."
Review: E. Moles in MLR 90 (1995), 753: "This study . . . analyses Pascal's novel 'heuristic matrix' by retracing those old staples of seventeenth-century stylistics: rhetoric, dialectic, and geometric." Reviewer notes that "problems in applying historical grids to Pascal's style are compounded" because of our own ignorance as to Pascal's training in these disciplines and by the unfinished state of his works. M. concludes: "thus it is doubly hard to avoid Davidson's trap of circularity in hypothesizing about his techniques."
Review: B. Norman, Jr. in FrF 19 (1994), 238–240: Judged "a pleasure to read, extremely instructive, worthy of our admiration . . . moving," D.'s volume examines "four fundamental intellectual operations : recovery or interpretation, discovery or invention, presentation or arrangement, integration or systematization . . . and the investigative art." Remarkable for its insights, it also "reminds us that scholarship in the humanities is indeed human, that what we write about should influence and improve our lives."
DESCOTES, DOMINIQUE. L'Argumentation chez Pascal. Paris: PUF, 1993.
Review: Fernand Hallyn in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995) 85–86: H. claims that among the studies on Pascal and rhetoric, "celle-ci se distingue par son ampleur, son originalité et sa profondeur." While the first part of D.'s work examines "l'evolution des idées générales de Pascal sur l'argumentation," the second part "est consacrée au `modèle géométrique' and its argumentative application. D. extends this model in the third part of the text, raising questions "d'ordre herméneutique et historique," while the fourth and last section discusses "la `stratégie' argumentative, c'est-à-dire la manipulation du lecteur par des techniques qui relèvent notamment de la fiction ou des conventions génériques." In general, H. compliments "la richesse de l'ouvrage" as well as "la rigueur de ses analyses ou de la qualité des son information." The only drawback is the lack of an index, "non seulement des noms, mais des passages analysés."
DESCOTES, DOMINIQUE. Pascal. Biographie et étude de l'oeuvre. Paris: Albin Michel, 1994.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1074: E. begins his review by describing the general format of Albin Michel's "Classiques" collection, which consists of "une biographie substentielle de l'auteur, suivie d'une étude de l'oeuvre." The "étude de l'oeuvre" section is made up of "fiches thèmes" that give a thematic summary of particular texts, along with "fiches oeuvres" that provide a general overview of an author's major works. E. claims that this format allows Descotes to "présenter un Pascal ouvert à la diversité même de l'oeuvre." D.'s text is divided into five sections 1) scientific works 2) theology 3) esthetics and two essays on the Provinciales and the Pensées in which D. explores the genesis and history of these two texts.
Review: F. Lagarde in PFSCL 22 (1995), 257–258: An introduction for students to the great ideas and themes of Pascal's work: narration of the life and sections on science, religion, literature, Les Provinciales, and the Pensées. Reviewer finds that "tout Pascal est impeccablement présent" in the volume but that there is no conclusion.
FORCE, PIERRE. "Pascal's War Machine." PFSCL 22 (1995), 147–156.
Studies the link between polemics and literature in the years preceding the Classical period: the fundamentally polemical nature of religious literature and the weapon of authority in Pascal's battle with the Jesuits. F. concludes that "the polemic between Pascal and the Jesuits crystallizes the differences between two conceptions of authority, which are most evident when one looks at the way in which an author's name is used. For Pascal, an author's name is relevant only when the writer has been witness to something. The Jesuits go the other way. They extend the hermeneutic method used in the reading of Holy Scripture to all authors religious or secular. Therefore, the author's name becomes the first source of meaning and consistency."
FORCE, PIERRE. "Maladies de l'âme et maladies du corps chez Pascal," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 77–86.
Pascal and the Jesuits on body and spirit: "Il y a donc pour Pascal une sorte de chiasme entre la situation des Jésuites et celle des vrais chrétiens. Les vrais chrétiens sont unis spirituellement et divers corporellement. Les Jésuites sont unis corporellement et divisés spirituellement. La conviction de Pascal, en accord avec la tradition métaphysique, est que ce chiasme a quelque chose de nécessaire. . . . La maladie n'est pas tant un manque de contrôle de l'âme sur le corps que l'attribution d'une âme à ce qui n'est pas corps."
GOYET, THERESE, ed. L'accès aux Pensées de Pascal. Paris: Klincksieck, 1993.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1075: This work represents the publication of papers presented at a "colloque scientifique et pédagogique" held in Clermont-Ferrand. Among the studies published are J. Mesnard's exposé on "la conscience de l'homme Pascal," A. McKenna's "histoire posthume des Pensées," Ph. Sellier's comments on "la théologie et le christianisme augustinien de Pascal," as well as an analysis of the word "corps" by C. Meurillon. The teaching of Pascal in secondary schools is also addressed in the collection, helping to define the notions of "modernité" and "accès" in terms of Pascal.
Review: William Marceau in FR 68 (1995), 139–40: Admirable contribution to Pascal studies and a study in the pedagogical sense made in a double colloquium of specialists and secondary teachers. The specialists include Jean Mesnard on the journey from Platonism to Augustinianism; Antony McKenna on Brunschvicq and Kant; Philippe Sellier on theology, i.e. "fundamental," G. Ferreyrolles on the politics and on notions of childhood, Michel Lioure on 20th-century admirers; T. Goyet on fr. 149–430 with special interest to paleographers. Good illustrations.
HAMMOND, NICHOLAS. Playing with Truth: Language and the Human Condition in Pascal's Pensées. New York: Oxford UP, 1994.
Review: M. R. Bonfini in Choice 32 (1995), 948: "This book is about language as a persuasive process and how far 'language communicates meaning about reality.'" According to B., "H.'s introduction is dense and unnecessarily heavy, yet it could be useful to scholars who wish to review theories on the original composition, chronology, and arrangement of P.'s Pensées. H. uses key lexical concepts from which to develop an exegesis of terms, proffering insights into the Pascalian universe and suggesting what might have been the progression of the author's thought." "The body of the work is divided into three parts: relevance of language and order in the persuasive process, examination of the six key terms, relationship of the key terms with truth." B. considers the bibliography to be "excellent."
KIM, HYUNG-KIL. De l'Art de persuader dans les Pensées de Pascal. Paris: Nizet, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 87: The great value of H.-K.'s study is the helpful focus on persuasion which necessarily complemented P.'s theological considerations.
Review: Anthony R. Pugh in FR 67 (1994), 680–81: Hypothesis is that the rules for persuasiveness outlined in the second section of "De l'esprit géometrique"—hypothesis, definition, demonstraton, conclusion—will work for the Apologia of the Pensées. "Only fitfully successful." "Little to offer the serious student of Pascal."
LEVI, HONOR, ed and trans. Blaise Pascal. The Pensées and Other Writings. Oxford/New York: Oxford U P, 1995.
Based on the Mesnard Oeuvres complètes (1964–92) and the Sellier Les Pensées (1976).
MC KENNA, A. Entre Descartes et Gassendi. La première édition des Pensées de Pascal. Paris/Oxford: Universitas/Voltaire Foundation, 1993.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1073–74: E. finds Mc K.'s work to be "un travail rigoureux, à bien des égards passionant." Mc K.'s thesis is to view the publication of the Pensées as "un moment décisif dans le conflit qui oppose au XVIIe siècle un rationalisme chrétien renouvelé par Descartes, à un pyrrhonisme allié à l'augustinisme et influencé par Gassendi." Summarizing Mc K., E. describes the "lecture pascalienne de Descartes," noting that the influence of gassendiste thought on the Logique of Port-Royal, and the subsequent impact of the Logique on the first edition of the Pensées.
MENGOTTI, PASCALE et JEAN MESNARD, éds. Entretien avec M. de Sacy. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1994.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1076–77: The full title of the text in question, Entretien avec M. de Sacy sur Epictète et Montaigne is ascribed to a "morceau découpé in the Memoires of the port-royaliste Nicolas Fontaine." Most readers are aware of the text's existence via J. Mesnard's enclusion of it in his Oeuvres Complètes of Pascal. However, the reviewer states that P. Mengotti unearthed an unknown manuscript of the Entretien at the biliothèque de l'Institut de France. The manuscript, bearing "l'original autographe de Fontaine," is published and analyzed by Mengotti and Mesnard, whose contributions include "Un appendice [qui] relève les leçons nouvelles les plus intéressantes en les confrontant au texte."
MESNARD, JEAN, ed. Les Pensées de Pascal, 2e edition. Paris: S.E.D.E.S., 1993.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1076: E. begins his review by remarking, "on doit à J. Mesnard l'introduction la mieux informée et la plus synthétique, la plus `classique' aux Pensées de Pascal." Noting M.'s inclusion of variants in the second edition, E. comments that in addition, "`la chronique posthume des Pensées' et la bibilographie s'y trouvent mises à jour." The appendices "s'ouvrent désormais aux nouvelles méthodes des études pascaliennes," while providing insight into current scholarship on the editorial aspects of the Pensées.
RONZEAUD, P., ed. "Pascal, Pensées." Littératures classiques 20 (1994).
Review: Marc Escola. RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1077. The collection assembles papers given on Pascal at two colloquia organized by the CMR 17: the first in Marseille, November 1993, the second at the Sorbonne, January 1994. Among the entries included are L. Thirouin's remarks on "le défaut d'une droite méthode," A. McKenna's comments on "une question de cohérence," J. Mesnard's work on "les structures binaires et ternaires dans les Pensées," and J. Morel's reflections on the "modernité" of Pascal. As no particular thematic or structural element links the essays, the reviewer summarizes his comments on the collection by calling it "une liasse d'informations, donc il appartient au lecteur de mettre en oeuvre."
SALVAYRE, LYDIE. La Puissance des mouches. Paris: Seuil, 1994.
Review: Jean Patrice Dupin in QL (16–30 septembre 1995), 13–14: "Personnage principal du quatrième roman de L. S., un meurtrier raconte sa vie par bribes, son dégoût des autres et sa passion pour Blaise Pascal." This character "nourrit une fascination sans limites" for the Pensées of P. The criminal is quoted: "'Une sorte de logique implacable,' précise t il, 's'est emparée de mon esprit dès lors que je me suis mis à lire B. P., c'est à dire à penser,' et cette 'logique implacable' voudrait que les propos de P. soient directement applicables à toutes les situations de la vie quotidienne, ce qui souvent n'ira pas sans mal."
SELLIER, PHILIPPE. "Une Préface 'retrouvée' de l'Apologie pascalienne." Trav de Lit 6 (1993), 149–158.
Groundbreaking study on the perennial subject of P.'sordre. Thematic and philological considerations permit S. to establish P.'s "Préface de la seconde partie."
WETSEL, DAVID. "Pascal and the Polemics of Christian Orthodoxy." PFSCL 22 (1995), 157–167.
Studies the theological basis of the religious debates: "as Pascal sees it, the received Christian vision of the world and of human nature can neither be altered nor expanded without doing violence to that precious deposit of Revelation inherited from Scripture, the Primitive Church and the Fathers. In stubbornly adhering to this traditional position, Pascal resists the radical change in worldview from a mental universe reflecting the finite world to one grounded in the idea of an infinite universe that came to dominate the Classical period in France."
WETSEL, DAVID, ed. Meaning, Structure and History in the Pensées of Pascal. PFSCL/Biblio 17 56 (1994).
Review: Van Kelly in FR 68 (1995), 731–32: Series of papers offered at Portland State University; Wetsel on exegesis in the service of apology emphasizes the "reconstructive," and in "Pascal on Disbelief," poses the paradigm of conversion; P. Sellier gives a thematic analysis of flow and process; Sara Metzer, an aporetic reading of the Fall; Pierre Force, "Ordre et signification chez Pascal" focuses on hidden meanings and P.'s determination to show the Bible as cryptogram: Charles Natroli examines the difference between logical demonstration and "subject-oriented" rhetoric of persuasion. The collection is recommended for "allowing interpretation to circulate."
CHAUVEAU, JEAN PIERRE. "La fin d'un rêve: Les ambitions épiques de Charles Perrault," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 109–122.
Views the failure of the Adam as an indication of P.'s personal troubles and of those of an entire generation forced to confront a new world no longer regulated by an immutable Christian dogma.
DELAVAULT, CAROLE NATHALIE. "Généalogie et subversion dans les `Contes' de Charles Perrault. (Tulane University, 1994) DAI 55:9 2854-A.
D. "situates Perrault's Contes within their historical and literary context." She contends that "geneaology is used in the Contes to represent (desired) shifts in the nature of the familial, political and social structures." Giving a breakdown of her five chapters, D. mentions that with the theme of geneaology, the thesis explores the notions of genre, paternity and the law. The concluding chapter provides a detailed analysis of Barbe bleue.
PICON, ANTOINE, ed. Charles Perrault, Mémoires de ma vie. Paris: Editions Macula, 1993.
Review: J. Barchilon in PFSCL 22 (1995), 672–673: Reviewer deems this a "travail en tous points excellent." Illustrations.
LEROY, JEAN-PIERRE, éd. Pichou: L'Infidèle confidente, tragi-comédie (1631). Geneva: Droz, 1991.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 383: This careful edition of a text which "ably symbolises the nature of French tragi-comedy in the 1620's and 1630's" and reminds us of the "action, dynamism and surprise" which characterized the genre.
FRAISSE, BERNARD. "Splendeurs et faiblesses de Poussin." RDM (décembre 1994), 165–70.
Revue de l'exposition des tableaux de Poussin au Grand Palais à l'occasion du quatre centième anniversaire de la naissance de l'artiste.
LE PICHON, YANN. "Une vendange de livres d'anges, gardiens des arts." RDM (janvier 1995), 142–48.
L'auteur passe en revue une série d'ouvrages récemment parus sur Poussin, y compris ceux de J. Thuillier, A. Chastel, G. Bazin, A. Schnapper, O. Bätschmann, et A. Mérot.
BROOKS, WILLIAM, BUFORD NORMAN, and JEANNE MORGAN ZARUCCHI, eds. Philippe Quinault, Alceste, suivi de La Querelle d'Alceste: Anciens et Modernes avant 1680. Genève: Droz, 1994.
Review: P. Gethner in PFSCL 22 (1995), 636–637: An edition of the opera libretti and the texts representing the earliest French theoretical reflection on opera and the first significant preliminary skirmish of the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. Of interest also to students of the development of French classical drama.
ALBANESE, RALPH, JR. "La poétique de l'espace dans Andromaque." AJFS 32.1 (1995), 6–16.
A. montre que la multiplicité des références au port, à la mer et au palais de Pyrrhus ... témoignent d'une volonté de conférer une valeur poétique au décor verbal de la pièce. Racine convie le lecteur/spectateur à méditer sur la mer en tant qu'espace libérateur, offrant une sorte de salut géographique imaginaire.
BARNWELL, H.T. "Variants and Variations in Racinian Tragedy." SCFS 17 (1995), 181–97.
Valuable focusing on the significance of the revisions of 1669–73 of the plays before Britannicus and of their orientation in terms of future developments of the specifically Racinian tragic vision experienced by Racine in the writing of Britannicus.
COLLINET, JEAN PIERRE, ed. Jean Racine, Andromaque. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 22 (1995), 680–683: This "Folio" edition reprints the Picard preface to the Pléiade edition of the play and contains a "dossier" that updates that of C's 1982 edition of the complete works. An excellent edition.
DANDREY, PATRICK. "Le dénouement d'Andromaque ou l'éloge de la régence," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 135–145.
"Tragédie de la chaîne des amours impossibles, Andromaque est aussi l'évocation des malheurs qu'enfante une solution de continuité dynastique due à un désastre militaire, . . . . La tragédie de R. offrait ainsi aux batailles de la Fronde les lettres de noblesse que ce surnom puéril ne leur avait guère permis d'acquérir."
DUBU, JEAN. Racine aux miroirs. Paris: SEDES, 1992.
Review: A. Soare in PFSCL 22 (1995), 259–260: Studies published separately during a 30 year period. Reviewer calls this "une fête pour les raciniens."
FORESTIER, GEORGES, éd. Jean Racine. Bajazet. Paris: Librarie générale française, 1992.
Review: P. Dostie in LR 48 (1994), 147–149: Considered in a joint review with F.'s edition of Suréna, both volumes are appreciated for their critical apparatus which D. finds "concis, néanmoins riche et stimulant." In his introduction, F. mesures the complexity of a tragedy such as R.'s Bajazet as he demonstrates "comment Racine a réussi à concilier . . . l'esthétique galante en vogue avec le drame tragique."
FRANKE, WILLIAM. "Hermeneutic Catastrophe in Racine: The Epistemological Predicament of 17th Century Tragedy." RF 105 (1993), 315–331.
Compellingly considers Racine against the background of the beginnings of modern philosophy. F. treats passages from R. representing logic, subjective isolation, the "regard," love, the distrust of discourse as he "delineate[s] R.'s rendition of the tragedy of loss of hermeneutic access to the meaning of things." Argues that "R.'s work will stand primarily for its exposition of the epistemological tragedy of the 17th c."
GUENOUN, SOLANGE. Archaïque Racine. New York: Peter Lang, 1993.
Review: C. Venesoen in PFSCL 22 (1995), 273–275: A Jungian et al. psychoanalytical approach to the author. Reviewer brands this "une étude 'clanique'"; those who belong to the clan will approve, those who don't may not be able to follow.
GUENOUN, SOLANGE. "Mélancolie, hystérie ou le refus classique de la division dans Phèdre de Racine." FLS (Vol. 21, 1994) 55–66.
For G., the idea of "fragmentation" is framed "dans le contexte général d'une interrogation sur la subjectivité classique, dans sa dimension psycho-sexuelle et politique." She views Hippolyte's "melancholy" and Phèdre's "hysteria" as resulting not only from the accursed births of both characters, but from Thésée's "crimes" of neglect, poor judgment and absence. In Hippolyte's love for Aricie and Phèdre's passion for Hippolyte, G. sees "la naissance de ce qu'on pourrait appeler le sujet moderne défini ici comme sujet séparé, qui refuse...de renoncer à un idéal imaginaire." It is this "sujet séparé" that leads to the emergence in the seventeenth century of "la culture de la séparation...[et] celle de la division."
HAWCROFT, MICHAEL. Word as Action: Racine, Rhetoric, and Theatrical Language. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 29 (1993), 180–181: Judged "fresh and powerful" in its approach, reviewer finds this demonstration of R.'s art of persuasion as a complement to David Maskell's Racine: a Theatrical Reading (1991) which focuses on non-verbal aspects.
Review: Marc Escola in RHL 94:6 (novembre-décembre 1994), 1082: E. signals the similarity between H.'s critical perspective, and that of scholarship in French, i.e., the work of A. Kibédi-Varga, G. Declercq, and G. Forestier. H.'s objective is to "aborder la dramaturgie racinienne en acte, [on the stage], dans les termes d'une théorie des `actes verbaux.' Taking as his point of departure d'Aubignac's dictum of "Parler, c'est agir," H., in his opening chapter, provides a two-tiered theoretical perspective in which rhetoric is examined first in terms of communication between characters, and secondly as a function of audience. Succeeding chapters explore the notions of inventio and dispositio in plays such as Les Plaideurs, Esther, Britannicus and Mithridate. Favorably reviewing W.'s monograph, E. concludes, "l'étude de M. Howcraft permet de souligner à la fois l'unité structurelle du corpus racinien et son originialité en regard de la production tragique contemporaine."
JAMES, EDWARD and GILLIAN JONDORF. Racine: Phèdre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.
Review: Christopher Smith in JES 25 (1995), 321–22: The authors' "starting point is a consideration of the Euripidean and Senecan inheritance, and this is followed by sketches of the historical background and the conventions of regular drama. The pace has to be fast." (The book is 113 pages long.) "The aspects singled out for special discussion are . . . diction, irony, rhythm, rhyme, imagery, mythology and characterization, which leads . . . to presentations of the major roles in the play." "A final chapter looks at the influence of Phèdre on later generations."
LEWIS, PHILIP. "La mort de Phèdre," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 181–196.
"Thanks to Hippolyte's death that offers a living representative to his father, Thésée can draw back from this imagined proximity to death that Phèdre's obscurely liberating demise seems to have made possible for him; he can revert, in the world of human relations, to the consecretation of his son's death as sacrifice, which he does by declaring his adoption of Aricie. Thésée's final move away from Hippolyte toward Aricie is his own enactment of Phèdre's lesson on the necessity of respecting her death."
MASKELL, DAVID. Racine: A Theatrical Reading. Oxford: Clarendon P., 1991.
Review: J.H. Périvier in FrF 18 (1993), 96–97: Reviewer finds it "utile et bon" that Maskell reminds us, convincingly, that R. wrote for the stage. As M. examines, by category, questions such as "le jeu dramatique," decor, costume, lighting, he illuminates the dynamic between the word and the visual in R.'s text. Well-rounded study incorporates esthetic and historical considerations as well as theatrical practice of R.'s time.
MONSON, DON A. "Aricie." MP 93 (1995), 54–72.
"L'utilisation que fait Racine d'A. montre une certaine symétrie par rapport à son traitement d'Oenone. . . . Pour important qu'il soit, le rôle d'Oenone reste limité essentiellement à une seule fonction bien précise par rapport à Phèdre, alors qu'A., une fois inventée, assume plusieurs fonctions importantes qui touchent tous les personnages principaux de la pièce. Il n'est sans doute pas exagéré de dire que, de toutes les contributions de R. à la légende de P., aucune n'est plus intimement liée à sa conception tragique du sujet que l'emploi qu'il fait du personnage d'A."
MONTBERTRAND, GERARD. "La mort dans les gènes, une biocritique du théâtre de Racine: La Thébaïde et Phèdre," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 233–249.
Looking at the biological and physical aspects of death, the study "consiste à remonter inductivement de l'infrastructure biologique d'une oeuvre à sa superstructure sociale, idéologique et esthétique, afin d'examiner les rapports entre ces niveaux."
NASSICHUK, JOHN. "Hantise d'Oedipe dans la Thébaïde: quelques réflexions sur la modernité de Racine." PFSCL 22 (1995), 539–554.
N. tries to qualify T. Reiss' claim that R. is a "penseur de la modernité': ". . . la négativité politico ontologique qu'explore la première pièce de Racine n'exclut pas un élément de présence positive fondamental."
NEPOTE DESMARRES, FANNY. "Esther et Athalie au terme de la vision racinienne du pouvoir," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 361–373.
The two plays derive their significance from the very fact that they belong to a minor theatrical genre: ". . . étant des oeuvres articulatoires entre représentation scénique et 'liturgie,' elles formulent une des facettes du diagnostic ultime de ce XVIIe siècle français sur l'essence du pouvoir, et constituent une esquisse de synthèse de l'esprit classique."
NIDERST, ALAIN. "Le corps tragique chez Racine et ses rivaux," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 265–270.
"Entre l'approche intellectualiste ou précieuse de Corneille et de Le Clerc et l'expressionisme presque mélodramatique, en tout cas presque crébillonien, de Pradon, R. parvient a marier le sens et le concret. Son corps incarne des passions et donc exprime une philosophie, tout en chariant la corporéité réelle."
PARISH, RICHARD, ed. Jean Racine, Bérénice. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 22 (1995), 680–683: P's preface compares the play to Corneille's Tite et Bérénice and concludes that R's play is an "anti tragédie." Contains a notice (reviews the reception of the play), historique et poétique de la mise en scène, chronologie, bibliographie, and notes. An excellent edition.
PARISH, RICHARD. Racine: The Limits of Tragedy. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 74 (1993).
Review: J. Campbell in MLR 90 (1995), 440–41: "This painstaking commentary has as its main perspective Racine's handling of some of the conventions of French classical tragedy." Topics covered include conformity with tragic genre, themes of absence presence and order/disorder, and language.
Review: Quentin Hope in FR 68 (1995), 733–34: "Often subtle, and always detailed and thoughtful," beginning with the "limits of the genre" (refs. to Bérénice and Athalie), then "the duality of focus" (Iphigénie and Britannicus), finally impact of space and place—the "limits of the stage" (Andromague, Mithridate). Ch. 3 on the limits of order sets a paradox extended to examination of the language of characters ("limits of the word"). Thorough knowledge of scholarship but "most impressive in his complete and intimate knowledge of Racine's plays."
POT, OLIVIER. "Phèdre ou le suicide de la tragédie." Trav de Lit 6 (1993), 159–172.
Richly evocative study is a "lecture métathéâtrale," which posits the suicide of the heroine as "l'acte de décès d'un genre." Inspired by Marc Fumaroli's suggestion that Phèdre's voice is the voice of the tragic muse, Pot investigates aspects of scene, language and the "monstre" of Phèdre, asking if the latter does not represent "la limite impossible de la tragédie tentée par l'opéra?"
ROHOU, JEAN. Jean Racine: bilan critique. Paris: Nathan, 1994.
Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 22 (1995), 680–683: Four sections: réception de l'oeuvre de R.; vision, structures, thèmes, et style; cinq chefs d'oeuvre parmi d'autres; and guide bibliographique. Rohou considers Mauron's interpretation of R. to be fundamental and the reviewer finds that "Rohou's recourse to Mauron is a reasoned and reasonable one . . . ."
ROHOU, JEAN. L'évolution du tragique racinien. Paris: SEDES, 1991.
Review: Stella Cohen-Scali in FR 68 (1995), 1092–93: Examines the 11 plays in successive chs. first from the actantial/dramatic structuration that yields a progression of subjects and especially of "psychology" of the human condition, wherein the dramaturgy (or exchanges of dialogue and events) signifies through presentation of "vision"—suffocation, fragmentation, effacement of individual—passion gives way to conscience. The triangular mechanism "objet-désir-interdiction" provides for an "analyse objective" of dramatic functioning.
SURBER, CHRISTIAN. Parole, personnage et référence dans le théâtre de Jean Racine. Geneva: Droz, 1992.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 382: Based on modern linguistic and intertexual theory, S.'s challenging study asks surprising questions which lead the reader to possible fresh interpretations. The "remarkable" and "closely argued" work "does not seek to impose readings of Racine but to "délimite[r] le champ de la question."
Review: Philip Koch in FR 68 (1994), 339–40: Modest results of "structuralo-saussurienne" analysis regarding "la parole racinienne" and characters' language but extensive "au sens de sources, d'intertextualité avouées et inavouées de la part de R." Chapter 3 is rich in allegorical and typological treatment of characters through intertextual references. Inclusion of Les Plaideurs is welcome. "Riche d'apercus nouveaux... "perspectives inattendue."
VERNIER-DANEHY, CECILE ROSE MARIE. "Pour une lecture à rebours: La rime chez Racine." (University of Virginia, 1994) DAI 55:10 3208-A.
D. summarizes her work as "semantic and poetic analysis of end-rhymes and internal rhymes in Racine's tragedies." The power of the rhyme-word lies in its remanence, "which enables it to persist in the reader's mind, long after it has been uttered." Of special significance to D. are "nominal rhymes," or "rhymes that include a proper name." She contends that such rhymes are important to characterization, designating, among other things, a particular character's function. D. also examines "internal rhymes," stating how "they become a powerful rhetorical device through their ability to upset the structure of the alexandine... and therefore, create new rhythms that underline and express emotions and passions more forcefully."
WOSHINSKY, BARBARA R. "Words and Music in Esther." CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991) 81–89.
W. discusses the score Jean-Baptiste Moreau wrote for Esther. She examines the conflicting aesthetic debate over the role of music in poetry and drama, citing first Mme. de Sévigné, who believed in the synthesis of the arts. W. also states the opposing view held by Boileau and Raymond Picard, for whom "the presence of music only devalues and distracts attention from words, or, in the worst case, makes them incomprehensible." Taking these contrasting notions into consideration, W. suggests that music enhanced the performance of Esther, helping Racine achieve his goal to "lier, comme dans les anciennes tragédies grecques, le choeur et le chant avec l'action..." The article concludes with photographic reproductions of Moreau's score as they appeared in the "entr'acte" and the finale, III.9.
MAZOUER, CHARLES, ed. Jean François Regnard, Le légataire universel suivi de La critique du légataire. Genéve: Droz, 1994.
Review: W. Brooks in PFSCL 22 (1995), 657–659: A worthy edition of a play which more than any other by the author is filled by joyous humour: the unprepossessing immorality of the end of Louis XIV's reign. Introduction, notes, and index.
KITE, BARRY, ed. Jean Rotrou, La soeur. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1994.
Review: P. Gethner in PFSCL 22 (1995), 655–656: According to reviewer, a "servicable, if not always sufficiently careful, edition" of R.s last and greatest comedy and which had gone out of print.
VUILLEMIN, JEAN CLAUDE. Baroquisme et théâtralité: le théâtre de Jean Rotrou. PFSCL/Biblio 17 81 (1994).
Review: A. Howe in PFSCL 22 (1995), 687–689: Argues effectively for a baroque rather than a classical staging of R.'s plays. According to reviewer, an "absorbing, challenging, and illuminating study."
Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 95:2 (Mars-avril), 312–13: According to L., V.'s work is centered on the theme of love, and the study of "la dramaturgie rotrouesque." Much of this dramatic focus is on the dynamic between the "représentation de l'amour" and "l'amour de la représentation." In turn, this duality is grounded in the baroque concept of theatrum mundi. While L. finds value in V.'s analysis, the reviewer states "il nous semble que l'auteur ne propose une lecture véritablement nouvelle et cohérente de l'oeuvre." L. remarks that the premises of chapters 1 and 2, founded upon baroque, and sociological viewpoints, respectively, are lost by the author as the study unfolds.
WATTS, DEREK A., ed. Jean Rotrou: Venceslas. Exeter: U of Exeter, 1990.
Review: Anon. in FMLS 30 (1994), 383: Judged excellent, this edition treats, in its introduction, R.'s asthetic, his adaptation of Rojas Zorilla, and genre definitions.
ACKERMAN, SIMONE. "Saint Simon et Louis XIV: la cérémonie des adieux," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 127–134.
The author's grief over the death of the king: S. S. "reste perdant à son rendez vous avec l'Histoire mais gagne sur le tableau de la littérature, où parfois les pires intentions remportent leur meilleure récompense."
ASSAF, FRANCIS. "Du dehors et du dedans: la mort de Louis XIV vue par Saint Simon et par les frères Anthoine," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 135–144.
Contrasts the two versions of the king's death, the one "magnifique" and the other "roturier." The brothers' version, however, is interesting in that it is not entirely external nor objective.
GUTWIRTH, MARCEL. "Saint Simon nécrologue: la notice Fénelon," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 159–164.
". . . S. S., témoin impartial à force de partialités contradictoires, est en mesure de tracer ce portrait de la fin où rien ne manque. Pas plus que dans la physionomie si parlante de Fénelon les contraires ne s'y combattent."
SANKO, HELENE N. "La mort des grands et des particuliers dans les Mémoires (volume V) de Saint Simon," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 145–157.
A study of the accounts of some 140 different deaths: "L'atmosphère qui règne auprès des mourants dans les Mémoires de S. S. est le plus souvent celle de l'impatience d'en avoir fini."
STEFANOVSKA, MALINA. "Un 'solipse' absolu: le portrait de Louis XIV par Saint Simon," in Actes de Lexington. PFSCL/Biblio 17 87 (1995), 119–125.
"Le motif du retranchement égoïste dans le portrait du roi traduit une non coïncidence entre l'objet (la personne royale) et son cadre (la figure théorique du monarque), et révèle un 'jeu' que j'attribue à la tension entre l'idéologie de S. S. et le genre littéraire qu'il pratique."
GIRAUD, YVES, ed. Roman comique. Paris: Librairie Générale Française, 1994.
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 95:2 (mars-avril 1995) 313: Reviewer observes that this edition is more complete than its predecessor (GF 1981). Appearing in this new edition is the "texte intégral de la Troisième partie" which is believed to have been contributed by d'Offray after Scarron's death. Reviewer continues his description of this edition's enhanced scholarship, saying that Giraud has added "une annotation plus importante [ainsi qu'] un dossier augmenté comportant chronologie, bibliographie littéraire et iconographique..." He concludes with the remark that Giraud's introduction gives "une excellente mise au point d'histoire littéraire ainsi qu'une étude narratologique."
SCHOELL, KONRAD. "Die Autorität des Erzählers und die Authentizität des Erzählten Erzählstrategien in Scarrons Novellen," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 461–472.
BINET, CHRISTIAN and DOMINIQUE MONCOND'HUY, eds. Le Cabinet de Monsieur de Scudery. Paris: Klincksieck, 1991.
Review: Michael G. Paulson in FR 67 (1993), 353–54: Clear text, helpful notes on painters and paintings (with tables), pertinent biographical account and history of the genre. Prose works related to the collection are incoluded although the relationship is not always clear. "A solid work of scholarship, useful to all dix-septiemistes."
DUTERTRE, EVELINE and DOMINIQUE MONCOND'HUY, eds. Le Prince déguisé; La Mort de César. Paris: STFM, 1992.
Review: Donna Kuizenga in FR 68 (1995), 732–33: These two carefully annotated critical eds. contribute significantly to the histories of the theatre, of aesthetics, and S.'s development as an "adapteur de talent." The first (1635), presented by Dutertre, is "le type même" of the baroque tragedy and S.'s most successful play in the vein; the second (also, 1635), presented by Moncond'huy is "regular" and ideologically dedicated to Richelieu.
PELLEGRINI, ROSA GALLI. "Animaux mythiques...animaux comiques dans la poésie de Georges de Scudéry: L'évolution d'une mentalité." CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991), 125–33.
P. traces the movement of S.'s animal imagery which, in early poems such as Le Printemps à Philis and L'Hermitage, represents "une parfaite symbiose...entre animal et nature." However, P. suggests that when S. personally moved away from rural life to integrate himself into Parisian society, his depiction of animals changed, with relatively dignified animals of the wood such as the buck giving way to "comic" and "vulgar" animals like the ass, the ewe and the pig. In her conclusion, P. contends that S.'s shift mirrors an aesthetic movement from the baroque to the rococo. The baroque, "porteuse de significations," yields to the rococo, defined by "imagerie decorative" and "la préciosité."
BIANCARDI, ELISA. "Madeleine de Scudéry et son cercle: spécificité socioculturelle et créativité littéraire." PFSCL 22 (1995), 415–429.
Studies the relationship between the art of conversation and literary production.
LEINER, WOLFGANG. "Bemerkungen zu einem Vorwort: Madeleine de Scudérys '"Les jeux" servant de préface à Mathilde," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 301–314.
DESPRECHINS, ANNE. "Madame de Sévigné sourde au langage des formes," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 147–155.
What Mme de Sévigné did not appreciate in the plastic or visual arts: . . . elle nous a paru illustrer de façon remarquable la contradiction entre l'art et l'artisanat de son époque, . . . ."
DOSTIE, PIERRE. "Fouquet sur la sellette: le procès d'un héros cornélien dans la Correspondance de Mme de Sévigné." PFSCL 22 (1995), 583–595.
Studies the Fouquet financial scandal, concluding that Fouquet undergoes a change in Mme de Sévigné's letters: "Le surhomme se dissout; . . . . Un nouveau modèle l'homme naturel suppléra le demi dieu."
DUCHENE, ROGER. Madame de Sévigné et la lettre d'amour. Nouvelle édition augmentée. Bibliographie revue parGeneviève Haroche-Bouzinac. Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.
Review: Marie-Odile Sweetser in FR 67 (1994), 867–68: Welcomes the republication of this basic book in Sévigné research, which is augmented by an introduction by Duchêne (recounting critical debate since first publication), a final chapter "La lettre et l'information," republished from Ouaderni dei seicento (1983), as well as the biblio. of Duchêne's writings.
LADENSON, ELIZABETH AKHIMOFF. "The Law of the Letter: Proust and Madame de Sévigné." (Columbia University, 1994) DAI 55:6, 1577-A.
"Using psychoanalytic theory and arguing that an examination of the role of Sévigné in Proust's novel reveals configurations of sexuality and gender that are not otherwise apparent, the dissertation proposes a reading of the Recherche centered on the status of Sévigné's letters as exemplary of a female economy of epistolary and erotic exchange from which the male observer/narrator is by definition excluded." The succeeding chapters examine Sévingé's correspondance in terms of 1) publication history and the metaphor of maternal power 2) the "establish[ment] of female epistolary commerce" 3) "Proust's depiction of lesbianism" 4) esthetics and the idea of artistic antecedents and 5) "Sévigné's letters as an "impossible utopian model of perfect communication."
THOMMERET, LOIC Y. "Du greffe à la mise en scène: Mme de Sévigné et le procès de Fouquet." PFSCL 22 (1995), 597–610.
Studies the effects of the Fouquet financial scandal on Mme de Sévigné.
JORDENS, CAMILLE,trans. Le pèlerin chérubinique. Paris: Albin Michel 1994.
Review: Bernard Chédozeau in IL 47:1 (jan-fév 1994) 40–41. C. recommends this work, une des grandes oeuvres du baroque allemand," because it constitutes one of the principal sources for literary, theological and philosphical works in the centuries that followed. This account of a lutheran convert to tridentine capitalism carries theological importance beause it describes "la montée de l'âme vers le désert mystique où réside dans le silence la nue Déité, le Dieu auquel les religions institutionelles ne semblent pas conduire." Despite the new translation's merit, C. regrets J.'s neglect of the old H. Plard translation (1946) as well as the appearance of a few stylistic shortcomings.
DE VOS, WIM. "Corps constitués et corps monstrueux allégoriques de la rhétorique de Charles Sorel," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). Paris Seattle Tübingen: PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 361–374.
Studies the metaphorical role played by the body in Francion: ". . . le songe apparaît comme une clef de lecture pour le récit. En même temps qu'il met en scène des choses invraisemblables, le songe concrétise deux termes entre lesquels se situe notre interprétation rhétorique . . .: le corps/Corps et le monstre."
FROIDEFOND, DOMINIQUE. "La fonction de Raymond dans les sept premiers livres du Francion." PFSCL 22 (1995), 479–490.
The character's role in teaching Francion lessons in prudence, thus helping him avoid censorship.
FROIDEFOND, DOMINIQUE. "Etude de trois personnages carnavalesques dans le Francion de Sorel: Valentin, Collinet et Hortensius." SYM 48 (1994), 184–202.
La présence de Valentin, Collinet et Hortensius "se regroupant tout au long du roman dans l'edition de 1623 et de 1626, on peut dire que ce thème du carnaval constitue par conséquent un des fils conducteurs. . . . Toutefois, la perte de ces trois personnages carnavalesques dans la troisieme edition de 1663 . . . indique qu'avec le temps et une idéologie de plus en plus restrictive, Sorel s'éloigne de l'héritage carnavalesque qui se définit par sa liberté."
MAIGNE, VINCENETTE. Le Manuscrit 673. Paris: Klincksieck, 1994.
Review: Roger Zuber in BSHPF 141 (1995), 276–77: Critical ed. of Monmergue MS. with 16 unpublished anecdotes, a lengthy introduction on the linguistic, stylistic, and prosodic forms contained in this "vaste anthologie." A "savante publication" in the best tradition of scholarship.
ABRAHAM, CLAUDE. "Tristan et la geste de Gaston," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 9–15.
T.'s falling out with his prince-protector.
ASSAF, FRANCIS, ed. Actes d'Athens. Tristan L'Hermite. Tallemant des Réaux. Actes du XXIVe Collogue de la NASSCFL. Athens, GA, 1993. PFSCL/Biblio 17 77 (1993).
Review: Jean-Pierre Chauveau in CTH 16 (1994), 64: Includes Richard Goodkin, "La Mort d'Hypolite," which in relation with Racine's "récit," sees a drift from the baroque to classicism; Gloria Onyeoziri, "Les terreurs nocturnes," a semiotic examination of T.'s lyrics; Nina Eckstein, "Language, Power, and Gender in T.'s La Mariane and La Mort de Sénèque"; Helen L. Harrison, "T., Exchange, and the Undermining the Tyrant"; Antoine Soare, "Les inquietudes cornéliennes de T." examining T.'s anxiety to escape humanist tragedy and "la belle mort" traditions.
CAHIERS TRISTAN L'HERMITE 16 (1994).
Bibliography and chronicle of the Societe d'Amis for 1993. Articles are entered separately in this edition of French 17.
CHAUVEAU, JEAN-PIERRE and BENOIT DE CORNULIER, "Sur la métrique de Tristan." CTH 16 (1994), 48–60.
Valuable comprehensive study of the different stanzaic structures of 434 poems. Final section outlines the legacies of Malherbe and of Théophile.
GUICHEMERRE, ROGER. "Deux conseillers perfides dans le théâtre de Tristan." CTH 16 (1994), 21–27:
Outlines the roles as "mauvaises conseillères" of Salomé (Mariane) and Sabine Poppe (La Mort de Sénèque) and their allegorical political significance, then contrasts their use unfavorably with the Corneille of Cinna.
MALLET, NICOLE. "Osman et les politiques." CTH 16 (1994), 39–47.
Presents Osman, IV, i, 920–1020 as the basis for a political commentary on the play published posthumously (written ca. 1647) resulting from an ideology "monarchiste, entre idéalisme et opportunisme."
MERLIN, HELENE. "La Marianne ou l'obscurcissement du politique." CTH 16 (1994), 13–19.
Traces the orienting power, for political allegory, of Caussin's La Cour sainte. A subtle and important political analysis that offers an interesting application of Merlin's recent large study (see above, Part IV).
MONCOND'HUY, DOMINIQUE. "Eblouissement et désillusion; représentations du politique dans le théâtre de Tristan l'Hermite." CTH 16 (1994), 5–10.
The apparent absence of theoretical political discussion in T.'s plays is shown through solar metaphors to be a political act. The Sun is darkened, by his melancholy, to "sujets aveugles où le souverain tombe dans l'illusion de sa propre représentation."
PREVOT, JACQUES, ed. Tristan l'Hermite, Le page disgracié. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Review: F. Assaf in PFSCL 22 (1995), 678–679: The "Folio" edition with introduction, chronology, notes, and bibliography. According to reviewer, it is a "well-presented, inexpensive edition."
Review: Alain Génetiot in RHL 95:2 (Mars-avril 1995) 312. G. calls P.'s edition "la première édition de poche du roman autobiographique de Tristan d'après le texte de 1643." The edition distinguishes itself because "on trouvera les clefs données par Jean-Baptiste L'Hermite à l'occasion de la rédition posthume du roman de son frère en 1667." G. states that the preface "souligne la modernité de ce `roman de l'échec' à la première personne, autobiographie en partie fictive qui doit beaucoup à la réfléxion `libertine' sur l'instabilité du monde."
WILLIAMS, CHARLES G.S. Valincour: The Limits of honnêteté. Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1991.
Review: Faith Beasley in CdDS 5:2 (Fall 1991), 285–87: B. praises W.'s study of V.'s life and works, calling the text "a meticulous and comprehensive piecing together of a variety of sources that provides a general context for this figure and a detailed portrait of his works." Of special note is W.'s discussion of the later years of Louis XIV's reign, V.'s objection to the Princesse de Clèves, and V.'s "activities in the French Academy." Other parts of the work examine V.'s poetry, literary criticism, and his work as a historian. B. concludes that "Valincour is an extremely erudite, rich, provocative and comprehensive work that is also very enjoyable reading."
Review: Jacques Chupeau in RHL 95:1 (Janvier-février 1995), 88–89: In a review quite favorable to W's study, C. mentions the general desire on the part of scholars for additional research on Valincour. C. welcomes W.'s book with the remark, "grâce au travail exhaustif et miniutieux du professeur Williams, ce voeu est aujourd'hui satisfait, et le fort bel ouvrage de notre collègue américain restera...un livre de référence." C. agrees with W. that among the traits which comprised honnêteté for a man like Valincour are "[l'] engagement au service de la religion et du roi, [le] sens de la mesure, [la] rigoureuse probité, la fermeté [du] jugement et l'étendue [des] connaissances." Despite minor typographical and stylistic oversights, and the absence of a conclusion, C. finds the work to be "skillfully" and "carefully" done, rendering its merit unquestioned.
GREWE, ANDREA. "La poésie de Théophile de Viau. Une poésie subjective," in "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien zur französischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994), 215–227.
Two factors that explain T.'s subjectivity: ". . . la conviction que la règle générale doit être vérifiée et authentifiée par le cas individuel et l'expérience personnelle . . . [et] un procédé littéraire pour augmenter la crédibilité et la vraisemblance de la poésie grâce à la fiction qu'elle serait le témoignage authentique de la vie de son auteur."
SABA, GUIDO. "Les 'épîtres en vers' de Théophile de Viau." Tra Lit 7 (1994), 103–118.
Although Théophile does not define his compositions as "épître," S. convincingly demonstrates that this genre, as the elegy, is "l'instrument le plus favorable pour exprimer son monde intérieur dans sa riche complexité." In the line of Horace, and less often Ovid, Théophile's "épîtres constituent curieusement l'antécédent véritable aux Epîtres de Boileau." Close analyses demonstrate that the four compositions which follow "L'Elégie à une dame" in the 1622 edition "correspondent pleinement, dans leur diversité de tons et de contenus, aux caractères essentiels requis par Sébillet."
BOURSIER, NICOLE. "Le corps de Henriette Sylvie," in Actes du premier colloque conjointement organisé par la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature et le Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. University of California, Santa Barbara (17–19 mars 1994). PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995), 271–280.
"Dans ce roman mémoires par lettres, alors, au delà des rivalités sexuelles et d'une certaine coloration féminisante que prend le texte dans les moments les plus sombres, apparaîtrait un désir pur, neutre, de libération, que symboliserait le corps de Sylvie: . . . ."
KLEIN, NANCY DEIGHTON. The Female Protagonist in the Nouvelles of Mme de Villedieu. New York: Peter Lang, 1992.
Review: Elizabeth Woodrough in JES 97 (1995), 73–74: "The chief difficulty with Mme de V. is simply getting access to the texts. . . . Critical guides are therefore invaluable," says W., "particularly where, as here, they reproduce paratextual information and extracts." K.'s study "is . . . the first [book] to turn the spotlight on the articulation of gender and genre in [V.'s] work . . . . By setting a selection of her nouvelles in the historical perspective of the evolution of the genre in the earlier part of the century . . . , K. intends to show . . . that the special role of Mme de V.'s heroines is 'to inflect the narrative with a coded discourse that might be termed "feminine".'" "Although it may be neat to compare five of her tales with five earlier examples by other authors, the exclusion of her most important works like Les Désordres de l'amour is difficult to justify," in the reviewer's opinion. "The most interesting aspects of this book, such as the sections on the embryonic epistolary novel, are not necessarily confined within the main theme."
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