FRENCH 17

• See French 17 (1995, 1994, 1993).

AYRES BENNETT, WENDY. A History of the French Language through Texts. New York: Routledge, 1996.

Review: J. E. Parker Jr. in Choice 33 (1996), 1787: "This work offers the reader an unusual study of the French language: it comments on selected philological points as they occur in 45 brief texts dating from 842 to 1986, texts ranging from literature to medical reports and legal documents. A. B. includes a brief glossary of philological terms and a complete and helpful list of references." In P.'s opinion, "[m]ost readers will find this volume useful in conjunction with, not in replacement of, standard histories of the French language such as Peter Rickard's A History of the French Language (2nd. rev. ed., 1989) or A. Ewert's The French Language (2nd ed., 1943)."

BARATIN, MARC and CHRISTIAN JACOB, eds. Le Pouvoir des bibliothèques. La mémoire des livres en Occident. Paris: Albin Michel, 1996.

BOTS, HANS and FRANÇOISE WAQUET. Commercium Litterarium. La Communication dans la République des Lettres/Forms of Communication in the Republic of Letters 1600–1750. Amsterdam/Maarssen: APA-Holland University Press, 1994.

Review: P. Wolfe in PFSCL 23 (1996), 664–665: Seventeen studies "de très haute qualité," according to the reviewer: the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the concept of experimental philosophy; religious problems; men, books, and institutions in the transmission of knowledge; the geography of the Republic of Letters; and the fragile nature of the Republic.

BOYSEN, GERHARD, éd. Actes du XIIe congrès des romanistes scandinaves I–II. Aalborg University Press, 1994.

Review: J. Pedersen in RevR 30 (1995), 115–17: Soixante-six communications individuelles dont une de B.-M. Kylander qui "étudie Don Garcie de Navarre 'une comédie manquée de Molière'."

CARON, PHILIPPE. Des "Belles Lettres" à la "Littérature". Une Archéologie des signes du savoir profane en langue française (1680–1760). Louvain-Paris: Ed. Peeters, 1992.

Review: J. Pedersen in RevR 29 (1994), 298–300: ". . . une étude méticuleuse de l'histoire sémantique du 'signe linguistique' littérature."

CATACH, NINA, éd. Dictionnaire historique de l'orthographe française. Paris: Larousse, 1994.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 7: "Fondé sur le recensement informatique de onze dictionnaires du XVIe siècle à nos jours, il présente l'histoire graphique de 18.000 mots, à l'exception naturellement de ceux récents . . . ."

Review: V. Mecking in NS 94 (1995), 724–25: Welcome historical dictionary of French orthography which will undoubtedly be considered as the standard. 17th c. specialists will appreciate treatment of roles of Malherbe, Vaugelas, and the Académie Française. Subject and alphabetical indices.

CHAMBERS, BETTY THOMAS. Bibliography of French Bibles. II. Seventeenth-Century French Language Editions of the Scripture. Geneva: Droz, 1994.

Review: B. Chédozeau in BHR 57 (1995), 733: "Ce second volume de la désormais célèbre Bibliography (premier volume paru en 1983 consacré aux XVe et XVI siècles) décrit quelque 677 éditions des Bibles protestants et catholiques (Ancien et/ou Nouveau Testament complets) publiées de 1601 à 1700 . . . ."

Review: Louis Desgraves in RFHL 84–85 (1994), 401–402: This impressive bibliography describes 675 editions of the main French versions of 17th-century French Bibles: the Protestant version of Geneva, the Catholic version of Louvain and the Jansenist version of Port-Royal. This volume represents "une contribution essentielle à une exacte connaissance de la diffusion de la Bible par les églises chrétiennes à l'époque classique".

Review: Bernard Roussel in BSHPF 240 (1994), 647–48: Description and analysis of translations between 1601 (No. 1001) and 1700 (No. 1675) located in 650 librairies. Standard reference work for the future. Reviewer gives a useful listing of research done of translations and cultural values of the Bible pertinent for 17th-century studies.

• See French 17 (1995).

CHEVALIER, MAXIME. "Les réticences des écrivains espagnols face à l'imprimerie au tournant du XVIIe siècle." RFHL 84–85 (1994), 351–358.

Most French writers enthusiastically accepted Gutenberg's invention: it was not, however, the case for the majority of Spanish authors. Many writers pleaded for more censorship in the case, for example, of pliegos or short narratives printed on a folded full printing page. In fact,they argued against the emergence of a popular culture and tradition. Even Cervantès's critique of pastoral novels can be partly interpreted as a nobiliary reaction against the spreading of easily available books.

CORSINI, SILVIO, ed. Le Livre à Lausanne. Cinq siècles d'édition et d'imprimerie, 1493–1993. Lausanne: Payot, 1993.

Review: Michel Reulos in BSHPF 139 (1993), 679–80: A separate chapter on books printed in the 17th century. Emphasis is given on interest for commercial contacts with France (as well as Geneva).

CRAHAY, ROLAND, MARIE-THERESE ISAAC, RENE PLISNIER. Bibliographie des éditions anciennes de Jean Bodin. Brussels: Académie Royale de Belgique, 1992.

Review: Denis Pallier in RFHL 84–85 (1994), 400–401: An exhaustive bibliography of Bodin's complete works. "Présenté très clairement", this publication took 16 years of extensive research. The last entry shows that Bodin ceased to be published in 1641: "[A]ppartenant à une période remarquable (...) de l'histoire politique française (...) Bodin n'avait pas les qualités de clarté et de concision d'un classique. Après le XVIIe siècle, son influence paraît intermittente et discrète".

DESGRAVES, LOUIS. L'Aquitaine aux XVIIe–XVIIIe siècles. Institutions et culture. Bordeaux: Fédération historique du Sud-Ouest, 1992.

Review: Christian Jouhaud in Annales 49 (1994) 443–44: The heart of this collection of reprinted articles (Part II) is a grouping of studies on the early booktrade, printing, and libraries in the southwest. Bibliography of author's writings (more than 300 items).

LE FRANÇAIS PRECLASSIQUE (1500–1560). Paris: Didier, 1990–1992.

Review: G. Ernst in ZRP 111 (1995), 695–97: Lexicology and lexicography are the focus of the three volumes of this periodical which originates at the Université Lumière - Lyon 2. Reviewer is surprised at the period designated as preclassical but appreciates the resource here and in the BFPC (Base du Français Préclassique), a section of FRANTEXT. Lacunae are noted, such as German language criticism.

• See French 17 (1992).

G.A.R.S. Recherches sur le français parlé. Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l'Université de Provence Aix-Marseille, 1992.

Review: J. Langenbacher-Liebgott in Archiv 232 (1995), 210–11: Judged informative and solid, this volume on spoken French by the Groupe Aixois de Recherches en Syntaxe includes an essay by S. Branca-Rossoff on "Les subjonctifs du roi Louis XIII."

GIRARDIN, CHANTAL. "Une doctrine jésuite de l'exemple. Le Dictionnaire royal augmenté de François-Antoine Pomey." LFr, 106 (mai 95), 21–34.

In 1671 François-Antoine Pomey published a French-Latin dictionary which reflects the changes of the lexicographical practices of the times. The originality of Pomey's dictionary consists partially in a new conception of the example, which now becomes a constitutive element of the dictionary. The author uses made-up examples to investigate syntactic structures, and Latin and French quotations for pedagogical and didactic purposes. In his various uses of examples and quotations we can see the emergence of their future role in modern single-language dictionaries.

ISIS 86, Supplement: Bibliography (1995).

Seventeenth Century entries, nos. 1734–2162.

KAPPLER, EMILE. "Le catalogue de la vente de la bibliothèque de Pierre Jurieu" (1713). BSHPF 142 (1996), 475–85.

Posthumous edition by René Kappler of the description of the newly found catalogue with a characterization of its contents as a theologian's library and samples of the records of bibliographical entries prepared on fiches for most of the 2,261 items.

KLAPP, OTTO. Bibliographie der französischen Literaturwissenschaft. Vol. 32 (1994). Frankfurt: V. Klostermann, 1995.

17th c. section, pp. 262–318.

KRAMER, JOHANNES. Das Französische in Deutschland. Eine Einführung, unter Mitarbeit von Sabine Kowallik. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1992.

Review: B. v. Gemmingen in Archiv 232 (1995), 211–12: Stimulating examination includes various perspectives on the "Romania submersa" in Germany. 17th c. cultural hegemony is basis for numerous borrowings from 1500 to 1789.

LEHMANN, ALISE. "La citation d'auteurs dans les dictionnaires de la fin du XVIIe siècle (Richelet et Furetière)." LFr, 106 (mai 95), 35–54.

The well-known opposition between dictionaries that quote the authors, Richelet and Furetière, and the dictionary of the Académie that refuses to do so, has as its counterpart an opposition dividing in turn Richelet and Furetière. In Richelet's dictionary (1690), quoting "good authors" ensures the description of good usage: he adheres "à l'usage, à la conception des bons auteurs et de l'Académie. In Furetière, (1690), quotations are quite rare and selective (they are in verse only). The author is "porté par son projet encyclopédique et son désir de transmettre les connaissances et la culture de son siècle", and his choice of verses is an expression of "sa sensibilité littéraire comme lexicographe écrivain".

LEROY-TURCAN, ISABELLE. Introduction à l'étude du Dictionnaire étymologique ou Origines de la langue françoise de Gilles Ménage (1694). Les Etymologies de Ménage: science et fantaisie. Lyon: Centre d'études linguistiques Jacques Goudet, 1991.

Review: P. Skarup in RevR 28 (1993), 310: L'auteur conclue que "Ménage a contribué dans une large mesure à faire avancer les études étymologiques, à la fois par sa méthode et par sa pratique. C'est Ménage qui a été le premier à fonder des étymologies françaises sur le latin vulgaire. Comme l'indique bien le sous-titre de l'ouvrage, il y a de la fantaisie dans les étymologies de Ménage, mais il y a également de la science."

• See French 17 (1995).

LEROY-TURCAN, ISABELLE et R. WOOLBRIDGE, éds. Gilles Ménage (1613–1692), grammairien et lexicographe. Le Rayonnement de son oeuvre linguistique. Lyon: SIEHLDA, 1995.

Review: P. Skarup in RevR 31 (1996), 145: Les actes d'un colloque organisé en mars 1994 sur Ménage à l'occasion du tricentenaire de son Dictionnaire étymologique ou Origines de la langue françoise. Ouvrage publié par la nouvelle Société Internationale d'Etudes Historiques et Linguistiques des Dictionnaires Anciens.

LIKNESS, CRAIG. "Significant European Scholarly Titles, 1993–94." Choice 33 (1995), 567–75.

Works listed and described include: Alexis Philonenko, Relire Descartes (Paris: Grancher, 1994) "A Study of D. and his Influence on German Philosophy"; Guy Bechtel, La Chair, le diable et le confesseur (Paris: Plon, 1994) "A General History of the Ecclesiastical Effort to Regulate Eexuality Through the Practice of Confession"; Robert Muchembled, Le Roi et la sorcière: L'Europe des bûchers (XVe XVIIIe siècles) (Paris: Desclée, 1993) Examines "the belief in sorcery in early modern Europe"; Michel Pernot, La Fronde (Paris: B. de Fallois, 1994); Eliane Viennot, Marguerite de Valois: Histoire d'une femme, histoire d'un mythe (Paris: Payot, 1993); Maurizio Viroli, Dalla politica alla ragion di stato: la scienza del governo tra XIII e XVII secolo (Roma: Donzelli, 1994) "A Study of the Origins of Modern Political Thought and Language"; Marc Ferro, Histoire des colonisations: Des conquêtes aux indépendances, XIIIe XXe siècles (Paris: Seuil, 1994) "A Comparative Historical Study of World Colonization that Includes a Useful Chronology and Filmography"; Antoine Schnapper, Curieux du grand siècle: Collections et collectionneurs dans la France du XVIIe siècle (Paris: Flammarion, 1994) "A Study of Art Collecting under the Old Régime."

MARTIN, HENRI-JEAN. Print, Power, and People in Seventeenth Century France. Tr.David Gerard. Metuchen, NJ/London: The Scarecrow Press, 1993.

Review: E. L. Eisenstein in RenQ 48 (1995), 626–28: Numerous problems are uncovered in this "muddled" translation which is judged unfaithful not only to the letter but also to the spirit of M.'s magisterial work. (Livre, pouvoirs et société à Paris au XVIIe siècle, Geneva: Droz, 2 vols., 1969).

MERLIN, HELENE. "Langue et souveraineté en France au XVIIe siècle." Annales 49 (1994), 369–94.

Beginning with conflicting, influential statements about the relationship of classical language and power by Barthes, and continuing in Fumaroli's account of "la langue royale" (Lieux de mémoire III), "lignes de faille" are sought in the standard socio-political narrative of the progressive imposition of Vaugelas and the Académie, first in the 16th-century language, then the "sauce du turbot" of the first moment of the Académie's influence. Language, it is importantly held, belongs to the people, not the king, and depends on its sovereignty. It is an "essential organ" of a body of speakers, not simply a sign of social distinction and responsible for the formation and manifestation of a community whose model is linguistic and not that of the absolute monarchy.

MYERS, ROBIN, and MICHAEL HARRIS, dirs. Censorship and the Control of Print in England and France. Winchester: St Paul's Bibliographies, 1992.

Review: Henri-Charles Martin in RFHL 84–85 (1994), 403: This book is part of a collection that publishes the proceedings of the annual Conference at Birbeck College (London). The main interest of this book is the collaborators's perspective: they do not study "le fonctionnement de la censure en tant qu'institution" but the way in which "les hommes et les groupes ont eu tendance à s'exprimer librement, compte tenu du "climat" de l'époque considérée". The analyses on seventeenth-century censorship concentrate on English cases only.

PARKES, M. B. Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993.

Review: Carol Percy in MP 93 (1995), 275–79: According to the reviewer, this book "is an even more ambitious work than its title suggests. P. describes how writers have sought 'to resolve structural uncertainties in a text, and to signal nuances of semantic significance' . . . for their readers. These goals can be accomplished by strategies other than punctuation." The author "takes most of his evidence from literary and religious texts, for he explicitly associates developments in punctuation and layout with changing attitudes to the written work in educational and religious traditions." "Despite its specialized character," says C. P., the book "will interest scholars from many disciplines." "One may quibble over some of the rather sweeping generalizations about orality and textuality," states the reviewer, "but the range of topics outlined in this valuable book, and P.'s emphasis on analyzing them in context and in combination, will interest anyone who cares about the historical transmission of texts."

RANCOEUR, RENE. Bibliographie de la littérature française (XVIIe–XXe siècles). Année 1995. Paris: A. Colin, 1996.

Announced as no.4 (July-August) of RHL (1996).

RESEARCH GUIDE TO EUROPEAN HISTORY BIOGRAPHY. 1450-present. Washington: Beacham Publishing, 1992–.

Review: S. J. Rabin in "Recent Bibliographical Tools . . . " RenQ 48 (1995), 203–208: vols. 1–4 treat "monarchs . . . military and political leaders, social reformers and explorers." Vols. 5–8 treat "artists, musicians, philosophers and religious leaders." Appendices, maps.

RICKARD, PETER. The French Language in the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge: D. S. Brewster, 1992.

Review: J. Pedersen in RevR 28 (1993), 310–11: Une anthologie qui comprend soixante extraits de textes groupés en sept catégories: orthographe et prononciation; grammaire; lexicographie; usage; stylistique; 'défense et illustration' de la langue française. Rickard "laisse, en effet, la parole aux écrivains de l'époque, nous offrant ainsi un tableau, riche et varié, des opinions alors dominantes concernant ce miroir de notre identité qu'a toujours été notre langue maternelle."

Review: Barbara Verwiebe in RJ 44 (1993), 227–28: Useful handbook that collects texts not previously available in one volume. 60 texts are grouped into seven sections (the origins of French, orthography and pronunciation, grammar, lexicography, usage, stylistics, eulogies of the language) allow for both a diachronic panorama of the development of literary language and the contemporary debates on it. Lengthy introduction discussing the significance of the extracts and notes (necessarily limited).

• See French 17 (1994).

ROBERTS, WILLIAM, ed. "Bibliography of North American Theses on Seventeenth-Century French Literature and Background (1995)." PFSCL 23 (1996), 717–743.

Listing of 13 new theses in progress and 181 completed. Includes analysis of the fine arts and music documents.

SCHAPIRA, CHARLOTTE. "De la grammaire au texte littéraire: valeurs grammaticales, sémantiques, stylistiques et pragmatiques de on en français classique." Neophil 79 (1995), 555–71.

Striking and thorough study examines linguistic data from dictionaries, stylistic values, "on" in the 17th c. compared with our day ("deux états de langue différents," pragmatic values, and "on" as a "outil dramatique." References to Corneille and Molière in particular illustrate "l'ampleur de son emploi dans le théâtre classique . . . [où] il crée des effets de style non seulement par sa présence, mais aussi par son absence." Useful bibliography.

SETTEKORN, WOLFGANG. Sprachnorm und Sprachnormierung in Frankreich. Einführung in die begrifflichen, historischen und materiellen Grundlagen. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1988.

Review: E. Radtke in RF 107 (1995), 172–74: Valuable treatment in needed research area of language norms. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss problem of norms in relation to principles. Chapters 3 and 4 treat pertinent moments in the history of the French language. Includes geographical, sociological and linguistic perspectives. 17th c. considerations focus on Vaugelas and on the role of the précieux.

TESNIERE, MARIE-HELENE and PROSSER GIFFORD, eds. Creating French Culture: Treasures from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. New Haven/Paris: Yale UP/Bibliothèque Nationale, 1995.

TUMPEL, CHRISTIAN. "L'iconographie du livre dans l'oeuvre de Rembrandt." RFHL 86–87 (1995), 191–217.

In 17th-century paintings, books and cabinets became a recurrent motif. Christian Tümpel analyses Rembrandt's works and examines his use of books as social, religious and philosophical symbols. It appears that in some paintings, books were an integral element of the pictorial technique: they enabled the painter to show the orientation of the source of light and create the serene and pensive atmosphere of some of his most celebrated pictures.

WOOLBRIDGE, TERENCE R. "Naissance et première floraison de l'exemple dans la lexicographie française: études historiques et typologiques." LFr 106 (1995). 8–34.

The first dictionaries of the French language —those by Estienne and Nicot in the 16th century and early 17th century— contain the gradual development of the set of functions of the exemplification of the headwork in context that remains characteristic of modern dictionaries. But in early dictionaries the example is frequently introduced by a copula —"comme, ainsi on dit, etc.—, whereas in modern dictionaries it is normally signified typographically by being printed in italics.

ZEDELMAIER, HELMUT. Bibliotheca universalis und Biblioteca selecta. Das Problem der Ordnung des gelehrten Wissens in der frühen Neuzeit. Köln/Weimar/Wien: Böhlau, 1992.

Review: N. Hammerstein in HZ 259 (1994), 495–96: Examines how knowledge was organized in the early modern era. Volume is divided into four chapters treating: libraries, classification according to humanist understanding, the value of the library in Counter Reformation sphere, and the relation between the library and history.

• See French 17 (1993).

BLACK, JEREMY. European Warfare 1660–1815. London: UCL Press, 1994.

Review: H. Duchhardt in HZ 261 (1995), 923–24: Appreciated for its clarity of presentation and its dependable materials, B.'s volume offers both qualitative and quantitative analyses and a truly European perspective on the subject.

• See French 17 (1995).

BOALCH, DONALD H. Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord, 1440–1840. Ed. Charles Mould; with an index of technical terms in seven languages byAndreas H. Roth. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.

Review: V. J. Panetta in Choice 33 (1996), 1608: P. explains that this is a "substantially expanded and reorganized" edition of a "venerable reference" (earlier editions were published in 1956 and 1974). In this edition, "the first [main section is] devoted to biographies of makers, the second setting forth the details of more than 2,000 surviving instruments." The editor "has assembled a wealth of additional data and commentary on individual instruments, supplied by informants from around the world. Unfortunately," says P., "the volume does not cover instruments by anonymous makers . . . , nor does it take into account all the important scholarship of the past two decades, yet the work is a unique and indispensable compendium."

BÖDEKER, HANS ERICH and ERNST HINRICHS, eds. Alteuropa - Ancien Régime - Frühe Neuzeit. Probleme und Methoden der Forschung. Stuttgart - Bad Cannstatt: Frommann - Holzboog, 1991.

Review: P. Fuchs in HZ 259 (1994), 491–93: Collection of essays based on an international and interdisciplinary colloquium in honor of Rudolf Vierhaus. Includes essays on French monarchy as well as political and social principles in France from 1680 to 1820.

BONNEY, RICHARD. The European Dynastic States, 1494–1660. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991.

Review: H. Rabe in HZ 259 (1994), 198–201: Short on German language sources, this volume is part of the collection "Short Oxford History of the Modern World." Reliable and richly informative, the study's strong point is political and international relations. Also noteworthy analyses of systems of government, populations, economy and society, cultural and intellectual life.

BONNEY, RICHARD and MARGARET. Jean-Roland Malet, premier historien des finances de la monarchie française. Paris: Comité pour l'Histoire économique et financière de la France, 1993.

Review: Jacques Néré in BSHPF 140 (1994), 488–89: 67 tables and 98 figures reproduced that provide the figures for expenses and income under Louis XIII and XIV drawn up by this client of the Colberts and pioneer in statistics. Insists on the limited understanding of the concept of "national debt," generally, and even the reality status of fiscality. An important contribution with few if any antecedents.

BOUCHER, PHILIP P. Cannibal Encounters. Europeans and Island Caribs, 1492–1763. Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1992.

Review: C. Schnurmann in HZ 261 (1995), 917–18: Colonial and metropolitan perspectives unite this interesting work which, although its title promises more than it delivers, is impressive for its extensive sources.

BOURGEON, JEAN-LOUIS. "Les 'Memoires' de Tavannes et la Saint-Barthélemy, mode d'emploi." BSHPF 142 (1996), 35–54.

Separates the life written in the 1620's by Jean de Tavannes of his father Gaspard from a series of the father's papers inserted into them that may serve (but have been overlooked) as historical documents. From these, B. publishes extracts and integrally a memoir of 22 Aug. 1572 significantly identifying the causes of the massacre. Follows up historian's research since 1989 and prefaces a work in progress.

BRADY, THOMAS A., JR., HEIKO A. OBERMAN and JAMES D. TRACY, eds. Handbook of European History 1400–1600. Vol. 1: Structures and Assertions. Leiden/New York/Köln: Brill, 1994.

Review: J. Petersohn in HZ 261 (1995), 817–19: Judged of certain interest, the volume nevertheless disappoints by its omission of numerous useful German language sources and its many printing errors. 17th c. scholars will want to note contributions on structures of everyday life, economics, rulers, popular beliefs, France from Charles VII to Henri IV, the art of war, taxation, and the sea. Includes indices of persons and places as well as appendices on coinage and on rulers from 1400–1650.

BRIGGS, ROBIN. "The Theatre State: Ceremony and Politics 1600–1660." SCFS 16 (1994), 15–33.

Discusses the complex interaction of ceremony, display, and politics for the period 1590s–1643. Reservations on interpretation of ceremonial by R. Giesey and S. Hanley. Endorses baroque description and finds especially useful H. Mechoulan's L'Etat baroque. Would-be revisionism with important distinctions that of necessity remain less than fully developed.

BROWN, JOHN RUSSELL, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995.

Review: Felicia Hardison Londré in TJ 48 (1996), 394–95: The editor's "introduction clearly sets forth what he wants his theatre history to be: a telling of the story of theatre that will also serve as a celebration of the theatre's greatest achievements. The latter goal justifies his use of multiple voices to tell that story, as each of the sixteen authors decides individually 'what seems most vital in their various parts of the past. . . . The result," says L., "is an inviting work, broad in scope and refreshing in the ways it draws upon the present state of knowledge and upon the first hand experience of each author." According to L., Peter Thomson's chapter (on "English Renaissance and Restoration Theatre") "and the subsequent one by William D. Howarth on 'French Renaissance and Neo Classical Theatre' are perhaps the finest in the book for sheer readability and for the smooth incorporation of myriad details that make familiar material seem fresh."

BROWN, JONATHAN. Kings & Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth Century Europe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995.

Review: Peter Burke in TLS 4840 (5 Jan 1996), 17: Lively and illuminating treatment of the "mega-collections" (1,500 or more paintings), curators, art dealers, which began as a series of lectures at the National Gallery (Washington). Richelieu, Mazarin, Louis XIV figure (with Charles I. Archduke Leopold, Philip IV). Considers Le Brun as a curator and Rubens as a dealer. Raising "awkward questions about art as a commodity is not the least of its merits." Fine illustrations (including nine paintings of collections themselves).

Review: P. Emison in Choice 33 (1996), 1112: "The Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, delivered yearly at the National Gallery of Art, are extremely prestigious, and their published versions should be a regular acquisition by any library," says E. "This volume is, if anything, more lavish in its production than normal," according to the reviewer: "photographs, nearly half of them in color, are integrated with the text, and margins are generous." The author of this book "describes collecting in the English, Spanish, Flemish, and French courts during the 17th century, reminding us that paintings were less valuable than lace. His account sticks largely to the level of documented fact and . . . of facts directly related to art transactions; the intersections of this with the realities of political and religious turmoil are glossed over lightly."

BRYSON, NORMAN, MICHAEL ANN HOLLY, and KEITH MOXEY, eds. Visual Culture: Images and Interpretations. Hanover: UP of New England, 1994.

Review: Mary Ann Caws in SoAR 60.4 (1995), 143–44: Essays in this volume treat "the gendering of language and perception." C. states that ". . . the best of these essays and they are a very good group indeed concern themselves with not just gender, but the kinds, sites, and results of transactions between seer and seen." C. discusses Mieke Bal's essay on Rembrandt: "Since readers acquainted with Panofsky on Poussin's Et in Arcadia Ego will be harking back and forth, remembering that voice from the tomb (doubly), the echoes heard and hinted at compose one of the earthly delights of reading all these essays." M. A. Holly's essay "on 'Wollflin and the Imagining of the Baroque' about the baroque ness of W.'s conception and writing of art history sets forth the argument that works of art form the writing of their own inward history, reflecting on each other."

BULST, NEITHARD, ROBERT DESCIMON, and ALAIN GUERREAU, eds. L'Etat ou le roi. Les Fondations de la modernité monarchique en France (XIVe–XVIIe siècles). Paris: Eds. de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 1996.

Papers from 1991 conference organized according to rituals, clienteles, space. Contributions by A. Bourrau, A. Guery, P.S. Lewis, M. Greengrass, A. Guerreau, D. Nordman; introduction and conclusion by R. Descimon. Of particular interest: W. Beik, "A Social Interpretation of the Reign of Louis XIV."

CARRIER, HUBERT. La Presse de la Fronde (1648–1653) Les Mazarinades. Vol. I: La Conquête de l'opinion; Vol II: Les hommes du livre. Geneva: Droz, 1989–1991.

Review: Christian Jouhaud in Annales 49 (1994): Monumental work of 20 years on some 5,000 items provides invaluable storehouse of information. Especially valuable in vol. II with studies of authorship (although 80% remain intractably anonymous), production and diffusion. The notion of "professionnels de l'ecriture" now needs further elaboration on this evidence, as do "clienteles." Many reservations on vol. I, including naive urban psychology (not problematized) and general lack of a critical sense of methodology.

• See French 17 (1993, 1992, 1990).

CARR GOMM, SARAH. The Dictionary of Symbols in Western Art. Facts on File, 1995.

Review: G. M. Herrmann in Choice 33 (1996), 1088: According to H., this "dictionary is an authoritative and easy to use guide to common symbols , primarily Christian, found in Western art. Besides the alphabetically arranged entries on such subjects as saints, martyrs, and mythical characters, there are panels on such topics as the muses, the virtues, and the zodiac. . . . There are 160 line drawings. The dictionary includes a guide to its use and a thoughtful foreword. An index of artists, including dates of works mentioned and their locations, ends the book. . . . There is considerable overlap," says the reviewer, "with Jennifer Speake's The Dent Dictionary of Symbols in Christian Art . . . , but C. G.'s dictionary is geared toward a more general treatment of symbolism.

CHARTIER, ROGER. Forms and Meanings: Texts, Performances, and Audiences from Codex to Computer. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.

Review: R. Cormier in Choice 33 (1996), 1122–23: After noting that "C.'s previous studies have focused on cultural history and the impact of the printed word on early modern European thought," the reviewer states that ". . . this provocative yet modest tome may not reach its intended audience. With little warning," says Cormier, "the two middle chapters deal in great detail with the first representation of . . . George Dandin, offered at Versailles before Louis XIV in 1668. Using a strategy that studies the gaps, the forms, and the receptions in contemporary accounts, C. proposes a new and sociohistorically fuller reading of the play. He illustrates the practice of dedicating a literary work to a prince, then considers the multiple perspectives of writing and political power in the age of court patronage. His first chapter, 'Representations of the Written Word,' "promises much but disappoints," in the reviewer's opinion, "when it fails to distinctly establish the crucial link between 17th century comedy and the revolution of late 20th century electronic representation." Cormier says that "[T]he author has profited from the work of Elizabeth Eisenstein (The Printing Press as an Agent of Change . . .), among others, but ignores Norbert Elias's pertinent classic The Court Society, tr. by Edmund Jephcott . . . as well as Richard Lanham's provocative The Electronic Word: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts . . . ."

CHASTEL, ANDRE. French Art. Vol II: The Renaissance, 1430–1620. Trans.Deke Dusinberre. Paris: Flammarion, 1996.

Review: David Ekserdjian in TLS 4873 (23 Aug. 1996), 21: Posthumous publication without final fine-tuning by the author: "a good book that could have been better." Distinguishes the manuscript illuminations and the so-called minor arts (enamels and stained glass) but shorts sculpture in similar forms. Attributions and iconography are sometimes not fully up-to-date.

Review: C. W. Talbot in Choice 33 (1996), 1112: "This posthumous publication by the distinguished French art historian, who died in 1990, first appeared in 1994 under the title L'art français: temps modernes, 1430–1620. Flammarion is issuing C.'s lengthy but unfinished manuscript in four profusely illustrated volumes. This one was preceded in 1994 by French Art: Prehistory to the Middle Ages . . . . The other two, still in preparation, are announced to appear as 'Art under the Ancien Régime 1620–1775' and 'The Age of Eloquence 1775–1820.' The present volume covers a period of French art that has been relatively less accessible through publications in English," says T., "than is the case with the periods treated by the three companion volumes. Moreover," adds the reviewer, "C. was, above all, an authority on the Renaissance. For both reasons this volume provides an especially welcome introduction to the subject."

CHRISTOUT, MARIE-FRANÇOISE, ed. Saint-Hubert: La manière de composer et faire réussir les ballets. Geneva: Minkoff, 1993.

Review: Guy Boquet in RHT 185 (1995), 91–92: A laser reproduction of a modest opuscule (32 pages) by the enigmatic Saint-Hubert, published in 1641 by François Targa at the "Galerie du Palais": "Ancien danseur plus familier avec le ballet que des théoriciens comme l'Abbé de Pure ou le jésuite Ménétrier, Saint-Hubert écrit en praticien et semble avoir assez de connaissances en peinture". In her introduction, Françoise Christout summarizes the history of "ballet de cour." The reviewer makes no judgement.

CHRISTOUT, MARIE-FRANÇOISE. Le Ballet occidental: naissance et métamorphose (XVIe–XXe siècles). Paris: Desjonquères, 1995.

Review: Guy Boquet in RHT 187 (1995), 287–288: "Dans ce bref survol d'une longue histoire" the author "peut déceler une suite de cycles." Among these cycles, she examines the "ballet de cour" and the "comédie-ballet" of the French seventeenth century. In short, it is a "brillante synthèse aux illustrations bien choisies."

CITTON, YVES. Impuissances. Défaillances masculines et pouvoir politique de Montaigne à Stendhal. Paris: Aubier, 1994.

Review: M. Brix in RF 107 (1995), 204–05: Finds C.'s treatment of this theme which is significant if seemingly marginal from a literary point of view. Considers Bussy-Rabutin's Histoire amoureuse des Gaules.

CLARK, SAMUEL. State and Status: The Rise of the State and Aristocratic Power in Western Europe. Montreal: McGill Queen's UP, 1995.

Review: D. R. Scopp in Choice 33 (1996), 1002: The author "examines 'two large European zones, southern Britain and its peripheries and the Paris region with its peripheries,' thereby including smaller, but still significant European nations in this remarkably clear, cohesive, and genuinely comparative study." C. focuses on "the uneven pace of 'differentiation' the process whereby status becomes distinct 'from other kinds of power, especially economic, cultural, political, and military power.' As he traces this pattern, he considers other sociopolitical and even geographic variables associated with aristocratic status and power. By illustrating the blurring and shifting of these variables over time, C. provides," according to S., "a crisper, more refined, historically valid perspective on aristocratic roles in the early modern Western European state. Strongly recommended," adds the reviewer, for "[U]pper division undergraduates and above."

CLAYTON, MARTIN. Poussin. Works on Paper. Drawings from the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. London: Merrell Holberton, 1995.

Review: P. Rosenberg and L.-A. Prat in Burlington Magazine 137 (1995), 690–691: Exhibition catalog containing reproductions of one of the most important collections of the artist's drawings.

CONISBEE, PHILIP. Georges de La Tour and his World. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996.

COPE, KEVIN, ed. 1650–1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era. Vol. 1. New York: AMS Press, 1994.

Review: Mona Scheuermann in SoAR 61.1 (1996), 166–69: S. finds that "[T]he inaugural volume of [this journal] is impressive. The essays are first rate, representing a broad range of scholarship in terms of subject matter but not, thankfully, in terms of approach. That is, the great preponderance of these essays represent solid work that is shaped by scholarly rather than political agendas," according to the reviewer. The editor "sees the focus of his journal demarcated not by what he considers arbitrary dates but by cultural criteria. 'Dedicated to the early modern era,' he explains, 'this journal will investigate both the idea of modernity and early modern ideas, whether those ideas are parading in the pageant of political culture, rattling in the alchemist's test tube, or expanding in the mind of a literary genius. It will amplify rather than evade the problem of periodicity, looking at the interval from Cromwell to Coleridge as a whole rather than bisecting it along an arbitrary axis' . . . . Interdisciplinary approaches are welcome . . . ."

COUTON, GEORGES. La chair et l'âme. Louis XIV entre ses maîtresses et Bossuet. Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1995.

Review: P. Hourcade in PFSCL 23 (1996), 672–673: A scholarly study of the king's love life. C. juxtaposes the various events of this history with B.'s sermons: "Aussi se comprend mieux l'arrière-fond de scrupule et de culpabilité confuse ou intermittente sur lequel s'est déroulée la vie galante de Louis XIV, . . . ." Overall the reviewer finds the study "convincing."

DAMS, BERND H., and ANDREW ZEGA. Pleasure Pavilions and Follies: In the Gardens of the Ancien Régime. Paris: Flammarion, 1995.

Review: T. J. McCormick in Choice 33 (1996), 1298: "Divided into four chronological sections by reign (from Louis XIII to Louis XVI), each preceded by a brief but excellent introduction, this is a serious study of the pavilions built in French gardens from 1630 to the Revolution," states the reviewer; "it is illustrated with excellent modern watercolors of each of the major ones, including those destroyed. . . . In keeping with current concerns, patronage and context are given considerable space. The building discussions include such famous chateaus [sic] as Richelieu, Marly, and . . . Versailles, . . . as well as 'independent' pavilions at Louveciennes, Chateloup, and La Chasse; buildings in such gardens as those at Ermenonville, the Désert de Retz, and the Parc Monceau are considered in detail. Lesser known buildings at Betz and Courbert are also included." This book "[S]hould have a wide appeal," says M., who "[H]ighly recommend[s]" it.

D'ARUNDEL DE CONDE, COMTE. Dictionnaire des Normands maintenus ou réhabilités par Lettres patentes (1600–1790). Rouen: La Mémoire normande, 1993.

Review: Denis Vatinel in BSHPF 139 (1993), 673–76: Supplements the author's dictionary of the Normand nobility (1975) with records of royal commissions for the full century. Part I contains the records of cases maintained and Part II rehabilitations by "lettres de relief de derogeance" including widows of commoners.

DAVIS, NATALIE ZEMON. Women on the Margins. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 56–57: D., "using memoirs and other sources, gives us the lives of three women, living 'on the margins' in the 17th century: Glikl as Judah Leib, Marie de l'Incarnation, and Maria Sibylla Merian, a Jewish merchant of Hamburg, [a] French Catholic mystic, and a German Protestant painter and naturalist. By 'margins' the author means that these women were removed from the centers of political power. With her characteristically deft skills as a storyteller, . . . D. brings her subjects alive in vivid stories that will surely be much discussed by historians."

Review: Londa Schriebinger in Isis 87 (1996), 359–60: A "masterful" setting of these lives into "rich intellectual, political, economic and religious contexts." Footnotes provide bibliographical guides at every point touched. Reviewer plays up the contrast of Marie de l'Incarnation's missionary goals to save the "unclothed Hurons" and the Protestant Marie Merian's field work in Surinam.

DEFFAIN, DOMINIQUE. Un voyageur français en Nouvelle-France au XVIIe siècle. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996.

Analyzes the ten accounts that Père Paul Le Jeune sent back (1632–1641), an accounting directed to the Order and to Richelieu and propaganda.

DEJEAN, JOAN. "Did the Seventeenth Century Invent Our Fin de Siècle? Or, the Creation of the Enlightenment That We May at Last Be Leaving Behind." CritI 22 (1996), 790–816.

D.'s essay is taken from the forthcoming study Ancients against Moderns: Culture Wars and the Making of a Fin de Siècle. The author contends that ". . . the initial fin de siècle, in seventeenth century France, was bound up with a period of intense intellectual controversy with striking resemblances to the conflict that is currently dividing American society the culture wars that are a sure sign that our fin de siècle is following the earlier French model rather than what is commonly considered the only pattern for a fin de siècle, the nineteenth century fall into decadence. "In fact," adds D., "the end of the seventeenth century in France may well be the only prior fin de siècle with any clear relation to the phenomenon Americans are living today."

DESSERT, DANIEL. La Royale. Vaisseaux et marins du Roi-Soleil. Paris: Fayard, 1996.

DIEFENDORF, BARBARA B. and CARLA HESSE, eds. Culture and Identity in Early Modern Europe (1500–1800): Essays in Honor of Natalie Zemon Davis. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1993.

Review: M. Heath in RenQ 48 (1995), 157–58: More than half of these essays dealing with spiritual, social and cultural identities treat France. Judged "an interesting mixture . . . of close-ups and panoramas, linked by the conviction that portrayal of the past cannot ignore the past's own perspectives." Includes a preface which develops the theoretical underpinnings and a bibliography of Davis' works.

DOUGLASS, FENNER. The Language of the Classical French Organ: A Musical Tradition before 1800. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995.

Review: J. M. Perrault in Choice 33 (1996), 958–59: "The original edition of this title . . . has become a standard work on the French baroque classical pipe organ. D. has made very few changes in this 'new and expanded' edition, but he has added a somewhat testy 16 page chapter ('Toward the Restoration of Grace in Early French Organ Ornamentation') and increased the bibliography from about 160 to 190 entries . . . . The purpose of the new chapter is to make the point that playing or hearing organs built in the classic period will do more to help the present day organist understand how to do the ornaments with proper grace than any amount of reading of treatises or instructional notes."

DUCHHARDT, HEINZ. Altes Reich und europäische Staatenwelt 1648–1806. München: Oldenbourg, 1990.

Review: U. Muhlack in HZ 261 (1995), 921–23: Focus is foreign policy of Germany; 17th c. specialists will appreciate treatment of the imperial politics of Louis XIV. Impressive by its historiographical presentation and its bilan of research, the volume makes an important contribution to the Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte.

DUCHENE, JACQUELINE. Henriette d'Angleterre, duchesse d'Orléans. Paris: Fayard, 1995.

Review: Marie-Odile Sweetser in FR 70 (1996), 111–12: Well written and documented life that animates the dramas of it as well as the important links offered in it with writers and artists.

EL ANNABI, HASSEN. Etre notaire à Paris au temps de Louis XIV. Henri Boutet, ses activités et sa clientèle (1693–1714). Tunis: Faculté des Sciences humaines et sociales, 1996.

ENOS, THERESA, ed. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition: Communication from Ancient Times to the Information Age. New York: Garland, 1996.

Review: R. H. Kieft in Choice 33 (1996), 1614: "As discourse bids to become the foundation of all the sciences, this admirable volume joins other literary, communication, cultural, gender, and ethnic/area studies works that have oozed up through recently opened cracks in the disciplinary terrain to overlay knowledge with new language oriented metadisciplinary maps. It presents [what K. calls] a suggestive array of 467 signed entries . . . for terms, people, historical periods, species (American Indian, electronic, feminist, religious) and valences (film, technology, science) of rhetoric, and such related topics as advertising, dialogics, and poetics. Entries have selective bibliographies and are both well chosen and lucidly written." In the reviewer's opinion, "[T]he cross reference structure is inadequate . . . . A master entry for 'Rhetoric' is oddly absent."

FARAGO, CLAIRE, ed. Reframing the Renaissance: Visual Culture in Europe and Latin America, 1450–1650. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 103: "This lavishly illustrated volume brings together the work of eminent art historians on the cultural interactions of the Old and New Worlds as they bear on artistic production. The essays explode the myth of an Eurocentric Renaissance by laying bare the manifold ways intellectual, economic, social the two worlds on either side of the Atlantic actually interpenetrated. A European Renaissance without the cultural presence of Latin America is unimaginable. Most impressive about this volume," says the reviewer, "is its willingness to debate matters of intense disagreement in art historicism, and to do so with the tools of theoretically informed approaches."

Review: J. Howett in Choice 33 (1996), 1367: The editor, says H., "has assembled an excellent anthology of essays on the period of the Italian Renaissance considered mainly from the point of view of various contemporary cultures and people the 'others' of that period." The reviewer states that "[T]he title probably comes from the concept of 'framing' used in some semiotic studies to avoid the idea that social history is a cause in the development of art. A 'frame' is merely a context or setting for art." "An important epilogue essay by the theorist W. J. T. Mitchell discusses the problem of cultural encounter." This volume is "[H]ighly recommended for anyone interested in the Renaissance and its global 'frame'."

FAVIER, RENE. Les Villes du Dauphine aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Grenoble: P.U.G., 1993.

FEINBERG, LESLIE. Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Rupaul. Boston: Beacon P, 1996.

Review: M. A. Gwynne in Choice 34 (1996), 545: "'Transgender' describes a person of either sex, defined by anatomy, who has 'transed the gender barrier' to play the role opposite that suggested by anatomy. Such terminology takes a bit of getting used to," declares F., "but this book quickly becomes engrossing. A cross cultural and historical overview of sex and gender, copiously illustrated and referenced, and peppered with personal insights, it argues that 'male' and 'female' are points on a continuum rather than poles . . . ." G. says that ". . . the book's main points are well taken. F. shows that transgender people were honored in some early societies, but that more often, they have been ostracized as antisocial or comic. The author asserts that their oppression is historically and culturally linked with other forms of discrimination based on race, class, and religion; that they have played important roles in social movements throughout history . . . . This is a consistently absorbing, clearly written, and cogently argued book," declares the reviewer.

FERAL, JOSETTE. Rencontres avec Ariane Mnouchkine: Dresser un monument à l'éphémère. Montréal: XYZ éditeur, 1995.

Review: Brian Singleton in ThR 21 (1996), 91: "Somewhat disturbing," in the reviewer's opinion, "has been the recent trend of the devoted disciples of European theatre practitioners turned gurus, less keen on cultural analysis than on blind defence of their spiritual leaders . . . . A. M.'s work has not escaped such hagiographic idolatry, but it is refreshing," says S., "to see that J. F.'s admiration permits a measure of critical distance." The reviewer is pleased "to see F.'s judicious editing of the interview tapes steer the reader to a clearer understanding of M.'s practice, of the relationship between actor and character, actor and space, actor and director . . . ."

FIERRO, ALFRED. Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris. Paris: Robert Laffont éd., 1995.

Review: Jean Lacoste in QL (16–30 juin 1996), 5–6: According to L., ". . . [l']érudition [d'A. F.] est impeccable . . . ." This imposing work ("1 580 pages serrées") contains "quatre livres sous un format commode. Il comprend: une histoire de Paris, qui . . . s'attache à décrire . . . les 'activités' des Parisiens (administration, économie, enseignement, etc.); puis, une chronologie ('Paris au jour le jour') . . . ; un dictionnaire alphabétique, composé de notes précises, mais sans sécheresse, qui laissent une large place aux citations des bons auteurs ([y compris] Boileau . . .) . . . . Une bibliographie de plus de trois cents pages modestement intitulée 'Guide des recherches' complète cet ouvrage de référence qui s'adresse à un public bien plus large que les historiens de métier, à tous ceux qui s'intéressent . . . à cette ville prodigieuse . . . ."

FIORINO, FULVIA. Viaggiatori francesi in Puglia dal quattrocento al settecento. Fasano: Schena Editore, 1993.

Review: G. Jucquois in LR 48 (1994), 377: Valuable insights on intercultural encounters of earlier days. Private as well as literary texts offer a complex and varying picture of the French traveler, from pilgrim to soldier, adventurer, artist, spy, historian, diplomat, etc.

FONTANA, JOSEP. The Distorted Past: A Reinterpretation of Europe. Trans.Colin Smith. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.

Review: P. G. Wallace in Choice 33 (1995), 669: "In this critical reinterpretation of 2,500 years of European history by a respected Spanish historian, F. argues that the modern self image of European culture was constructed through a series of distorted historical mirrors. For example, the Greeks forged their identity in contrast to a false image of the Persians as barbarians. In the following centuries, Europeans refined their sense of cultural superiority through biased impressions of Muslims and 'savage' peoples overseas. Within Europe itself, urban and political elites fashioned [an] image of civilization that excluded 'barbarous' peasants, heretics, and much of Eastern Europe. Ultimately, this distorted history of Europe colors contemporary faith in Western superiority and the apparent victory of Western capitalism while obscuring the multiple lessons of the past. F.'s dichotomies of class and culture are at times too facile," says the reviewer. "Nevertheless, this essay offers an excellent counterpoint to traditional Western civilization texts." This book is "[H]ighly recommended for libraries at all levels."

FRANKO, MARK. Dance as Text: Ideologies of the Baroque Body. New York: Cambridge UP, 1993.

Review: Margaret M. McGowan in TDR 40.2 (1996), 131–34: F.'s book is reviewed with Mary Lewis Shaw, Performance in the Texts of Mallarmé: The Passage from Art to Ritual ([University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1993). The author of Dance as Text "sets out to explore the formalized dance figures of the late Renaissance and early 17th century . . . ." "F., in his analyses of Renaissance dance texts, challenges the dominance of the Platonic paradigm and provides a new model that redefines the canon to include the burlesque with its greater sense of experimentation." "The role of the audience and the complex relations between the performance and its public are central concerns in both studies." "In Dance as Text, F. takes much further his earlier analyses from The Dancing Body in Renaissance Choreography (Birmingham, AL: Summa, 1986). He sets them in a theoretical framework based upon the rhetorical refinement of the word figura and definitions of movement given by the dancing masters Domenico and Cornazano . . . . F. also promotes burlesque ballet to a central place in his design, arguing that it was more experimental and more politically volatile than has hitherto been allowed."

FREY, LINDA, and MARSHA FREY, eds. The Treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession: An Historical and Critical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995.

Review: C. V. Stanley in Choice 33 (1996), 934–35: "Serving a unique purpose, this volume will appeal to a limited but very motivated user group. . . . A clear and scholarly introductory essay, a chronology, and a genealogical chart aid in the study of this complex subject. A substantial bibliography cites sources in several European languages. . . . An excellent, exceedingly useful resource for graduate collections in history."

GAGER, KRISTIN ELIZABETH. Blood Ties and Fictive Ties: Adoption and Family Life in Early Modern France. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996.

Review: J. E. Brink in Choice 33 (1996), 1849: "The long held contention that adoption was legally discouraged and finally disappeared in ancien régime France is successfully challenged here by a sample study of legal adoption. In 82 cases between 1540 and 1690, which were drawn up before several Parisian notaries, G. confronts legal principle with the social practice among merchant and artisanal sectors of society." According to B., the author "does a good job of steering the reader through the labyrinth of early modern civil law codes in her explanation of how the 'fictive tie' of adoption could carry provisions for inheritance in the face of the convention that property can only pass through 'blood ties.' This 'cultural portrait' opens an intriguing avenue in the burgeoning history of the family."

GALLOWAY, PATRICIA. Choctaw Genesis, 1500–1700. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1995.

Review: L. G. Moses in Choice 34 (1996), 194: M. judges this work to be "a remarkable synthesis of history, anthropology, and cartography. Questions about where and how the Choctaws lived in prehistory have rarely been asked, let alone answered satisfactorily," says the reviewer. "No study of Choctaw adaptation to the European presence, either before or after the more familiar removal period, can be complete without a consideration of what went before. This study attempts to fill that gap."

GATOUILLAT, FRANÇOISE et ROGER LEHNI. Le Vitrail en Alsace du XIe au XVIIIe siècle. Strasbourg: Editions du Signe, 1995.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 195: "Le présent volume . . . présente une sélection de vitraux alsaciens, tant religieux que civils, allant de la période romane au XVIIIe siècle." Abondamment illustré.

GELERNTER, MARK. Sources of Architectural Form: A Critical History of Western Design Theory. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1995.

Review: D. P. Doordan in Choice 33 (1996), 778: "The title of this book serves as an excellent description of its theme: theories concerning the genesis of architectural form. In clear prose, G. . . . surveys the history of various Western theories, from antiquity to the present, explaining the sources of form." D. contends that "[T]he author's thematic focus on the origins of architectural form is both the strength and the weakness of this text." According to the reviewer, "[R]eaders looking for a more comprehensive treatment of design theory, including discussions of professional identity, social ends, and ethical concerns, should consult Paul Alan Johnson's The Theory of Architecture: Concepts, Themes and Practices (1994)." G.'s study contains a "useful bibliography."

GOLDGAR, ANNE. Impolite Learning: Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680–1750. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995.

Review: T. J. Knight in Choice 33 (1996), 849: "G. extends recent social histories of Enlightenment intellectuals backward into the generation affected by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. She argues that in the transition from the érudits of 'the old Republic of Letters' to the philosophes of the new, the audience shifted from intellectuals themselves to a wider public; the aims, from personal status to social reform; the focus, from style to content; the behavior, from back scratching to backbiting; and the ethos, from mutual obligation to ideological confrontation. Extensively researched descriptions of dealings among scholars via correspondence, journal editing, book publishing, and personal visits enable G. to deduce the unwritten 'code' of the pre Enlightenment generation. "But for the most part," says G., "this scholarly old guard played by the old rules of going along to get along . . . . G.'s claim to have pushed beyond both traditional intellectual history and the social history of ideas seems well founded," in K.'s opinion. The reviewer adds that G.'s "claims that the Republic of Letters, at least in its older form, operated in only an ill organized 'public sphere' and that its denizens were not protobourgeois citoyens are likely to prove controversial, however."

GOLDSMITH, ELIZABETH C., and DENA GOODMAN, eds. Going Public: Women and Publishing in Early Modern France. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1995.

Review: C. E. Campbell in Choice 33 (1996), 1484–85: According to C., "[T]his collection adds valuable insight into French women from the 17th and 18th centuries. The 14 essays treat 'publishing' in its most literal meaning, i.e., putting something in print. Among the printed items are . . . literary works but also memoirs, guild tracts, legal briefs, letters, a manual on midwifery, and a 'lewd novel.' Because this volume can be considered both literature and history or cultural history, it could fall through the cracks and end up being ignored by both literary scholars and historians. "This would be unfortunate," declares the reviewer, "since both groups would profit from reading it." C. considers the book to be "[a] worthwhile addition in feminist scholarship . . . ."

Review: Biancamaria Fontana in TLS 4857 (3 May 1996), 12: In 17th-century salon life, women are protected and at home in a way they will not be during the course of the Enlightenment and with the vulnerability of public life. The essays collected here "present a picture which is far more intricate and problematic than that suggested by Habermas' ecumenical formula, one which does not lend itself to easy generalizations."

GOLDSTONE, JACK A. Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World. Berkeley/Los Angeles/Oxford: U of California P, 1991.

Review: P. Blicke in HZ 259 (1994), 811–12: Treats various origins of revolution and rebellion. France is included along with England and China but reviewer offers no more details on French aspects.

GREEN, AMY S. The Revisionist Stage: American Directors Reinvent Publishing in Early Modern France. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1996. New York: Cambridge UP, 1994.

Review: Ann Daly in TDR 40.1 (1996), 182: The author "coins the verb 'rewright' to describe what directors do when they reinterpret classic texts. Her study begins with a theoretical overview of rewrighting in the United States since 1968, proceeds with a summary of historical precedents in both America and Europe, and then focuses on productions of plays from a single period or by a single dramatist: Greek and Roman plays; Shakespeare; Molière; and opera. G. wraps up the study with a consideration of rewrighting in the context of postmodernism."

Review: Deborah Kaplan in TJ 47 (1995), 566–67: Two examples of recent interpretations of well known plays: "In Lear, a matriarch living in rural Georgia divides her property among her three working class sons at a family barbecue. At the end of The Misanthrope, Célimène sits alone in her room trying to shut out the sounds of yelling and gunfire, as the French Revolution breaks out in the streets below her window." K. informs us that this "well written and unpretentious book explores such revisionary productions of classic plays" as these modern stagings of works by Shakespeare and Molière. "Using the neologism 'rewrighting,' [G.] calls attention to the creative authority of conceptual directors, whose contributions to revivals have more than matched those of playwrights in recent years. Her book provides socio historical, intellectual, and theatrical contexts for these productions," according to K.; "it offers detailed analyses of their construction and reception; and it tackles the very difficult problem of how to assess them." "G.'s study focuses on the last twenty five years because, she argues, the late 1960s inaugurated the most radically revisionary productions. . . . [This book] includes chapters organized around revivals of works by [among others] . . . Molière . . . ." "G. is at her best," in K.'s opinion, ' when analyzing the intentions behind and impact of specific revivals. Her richest case studies for example, . . . Andrei Serban's The Miser (1989) incorporate material from interviews she did with the directors or from her own observations of rehearsals." "But while she is good at evaluating individual productions, G. does not provide the help her opening chapter seems to promise in developing new criteria for judgment," says K., according to whom G.'s "efforts to historicize are also sometimes unsatisfying." "Despite these reservations," adds K., "[this] is a useful and important book, . . . an essential guide to the theory and practice of performing classic plays in the late twentieth century. And G. is surely right," in K.'s view, "in her claims about the significance of this theatrical activity: however controversial they have been, directorial 'rewrightings' have revitalized classic plays, finding for them a new, contemporary audience. G.'s study is important too as a model of critical openness," declares K.

GRUMET, ROBERT S., ed. Northeastern Indian Lives, 1632–1816. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 1996.

Review: R. L. Haan in Choice 34 (1996), 527: "This collection of 16 life histories seeks to 'redirect attention' to some 'all but forgotten lives.' Ranging from the obscure . . . to the recognizable . . . , each of these studies draws on research in local records, oral traditions, and new models of cultural interaction to tell their stories. Each essay focuses on how one particular individual responded to the cultural changes that came with early European colonization in what is now Northeastern US."

GRUNEWALD, MICHEL, ed. Méditations/Vermittlungen. Aspects des relations franco-allemandes du XVIIe siècle à nos jours/Aspekte der deutsch-französischen Beziehungen vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart. 2 vols. Bern: Peter Lang, 1992.

Review: E. Reichel in Archiv 232 (1995), 239: Proceedings of the Saarbruck/Metz colloque of 26–28 April 1990 reunites perspectives of 44 specialists of Romance, Germanics, Philosophy, History and Comparative Studies. 17th c. specialists will appreciate reflections on the concept of "nation" and absolutism.

HARRIS-WARWICK, REBECCA and CAROL G. MARCH, eds. Musical Theatre at the Court of Louis XIV: Le Mariage de la Grosse Cathos. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1994.

Review: M.-C. Canova-Green in MLR 91 (1996), 720–21: "Rediscovered and edited by Rebecca Harris-Warwick and Carol G. March, the manuscript of this "mascarade" presents a number of extremely important aspects, well brought out by the editors, and of great significance both historically and aesthetically." Review: Dianne Dugaw in ECS 29.2 (1995–96), 230: A "splendid study that is sure to change dance and music scholarship." Uncovers important, previous ignored intersections between performance practice, signifying texts, social context, and aesthetics. Authors have cracked the Favier system of dance notation, giving historians of baroque dance an alternative to Feuillet's. The full libretto is included as well as Goussier's article "Choréographie" from L'Encyclopédie.

HART, CLIVE, and KAY GILLILAND STEVENSON. Heaven and the Flesh: Imagery of Desire from the Renaissance to the Rococo. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: E. K. Menon in Choice 34 (1996), 112–13: The authors of this book "deliver a fresh perspective on religious imagery (both visual and verbal) by exploring the connection between the twin desires of sexuality and ascent to heaven. Unfortunately," says M., "the classic artistic example, Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, has been omitted from the study (the authors chose to focus on English poetry, French and Italian easel painting, and baroque and rococo church decoration in Austria and southern Germany). Nevertheless, the authors have drawn on both archival and 'popular culture' to produce a lucid interweaving of Milton and Caravaggio with frankly pornographic poetry and book illustrations." According to the reviewer, "H. and S. should be commended for their unabashed discussion of sexualized religious imagery and exploration of desire from both heterosexual and homosexual viewpoints, although the latter is explored to a lesser extent. The authors do not impose a theoretical construct, preferring to respect the cultural context within the time period considered." M. declares that "[t]he lack of all too familiar Freudian interpretations results in an extremely refreshing presentation, as does the reading of the visual imagery by individuals whose primary training is seated in the verbal."

HARTMANN, PETER C., ed. Französische Könige und Kaiser der Neuzeit. Von Ludwig XII bis Napoleon III. 1498–1870. München: Beck, 1994.

Review: K. E. Born in RF 107 (1995), 204: B. finds conception of the book unsuccessful (it does not qualify as history), yet a number of the essays are good to excellent — in particular: Ilja Mieck on Henri III, Klaus Malettke on Louis XIV and Hinrichs on Henri IV. Rich "bibliographie raisonnée" of 25 pages.

HASKELL, FRANCIS. L'historien et les images. Trad. de l'anglais parAlain Tachet etLouis Evrard. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

Review: Jean Lacoste in QL (1er 15 juillet 1996), 14–15: 'Les oeuvres d'art qui, disait Ruskin, sont 'irréfutables' peuvent elles être traitées comme des documents historiques? Dans quelle mesure l'historien peut il se fier aux témoignages visuels qu'elles procurent? A cette question simple, mais fondamentale, . . . F. H. . . . donne une réponse nuancée, 'prudente,' non dépourvue de scepticisme, mais que nourrit une immense érudition de sorte que cet imposant volume de plus de 700 pages, abondamment et, surtout, judicieusement illustré, peut se lire comme la méditation d'un historien de l'art sur la genèse et la vocation particulière de sa discipline. C'est aussi," notes L., "une remarquable galerie de portraits d'érudits et de savants, depuis les 'premiers numismates' de la Renaissance jusqu'à J. Huizinga . . . ." The reviewer describes H.'s work as "[C]e livre passionnant, riche d'aperçus multiples, qui en font presque une histoire de la critique d'art depuis la Renaissance . . . ."

HENAFF, MARCEL. "Introduction: Politics on Stage." SubStance 25.2 (1996), 3–5.

"This special issue proposes to investigate the question of the theatricality of power, from the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment." H. refers to Jacqueline Lichtenstein's essay on Corneille's political plays. He also mentions Norbert Elias, "who relies heavily on Saint Simon's Mémoires of the reign of Louis XIV. In that era," says H., "ceremony definitively becomes a technique of staging spectacles."

HENAFF, MARCEL. "The Stage of Power." Trans.Jean Louis Morhange andMarie Line Allen. Substance 25.2 (1996), 7–29.

This article includes discussion of Louis XIV. "Indeed, we can trace the mutation between the ways of the medieval monarchy and those of the Renaissance and the early Modern Age at this juncture. A sort of confusion of genres follows, contemporary with the birth of Absolutism. Progressively, all aspects of the person of the king become public . . . . As Norbert Elias has noted, it is this tendency that Louis XIV took to its height in transforming the most ordinary of his private gestures . . . into public rituals. . . . As J. M. Apostolides has noted, it is no longer so much a matter of reaffirming the sacred origin of the monarchic office, whose principle remains a given, as of impressing subjects with the splendor of the king's image." Thus, H. remarks, ". . . the legitimacy of the monarchy is no longer assured by religious evidence, as it was previously, but must be produced by an elaborate process of persuasion and seduction. . . . The ceremonies of 'royal entrances' into cities, such as that of Louis XIV's entrance into Paris in 1660, or the lavish entertainment of the court (as in 1668), must all contribute to that persuasion and seduction. With its ostentatious luxury and sophisticated etiquette," adds H., "the court of Versailles presents itself as the permanent 'staging' of a power whose legitimacy seems to reside in its display . . . ." "Between the medieval monarchy and the monarchy of the early Modern Age," declares H., "something has changed profoundly: we have passed from belief to make believe."

HOFFMAN, PHILIP T. Growth in a Traditional Society. The French Countryside, 1450–1815. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1996.

Review: F. J. Baumgartner in Choice 34 (1996), 340: "In this revisionist work, H. persuasively argues that earlier historians of French agriculture were wrong in maintaining that the French peasantry was sunk in inertia and formed a barrier to agricultural improvement during the ancien régime. Basing his study largely on records of rent payments and contracts, . . . H. employs the methodology of economics to gauge the performance of French agriculture prior to 1789. . . . The records used for H.'s study . . . are too scattered in time and place to allow more than a tentative conclusion," says B., "and the title is misleading in that very few of the data are before 1600 or after 1789. . . . Undergraduates will find this book difficult going," in B.'s opinion, "but advanced scholars in economics and history will discover it rewards the effort to read it."

HOGG, IAN V. Battles: A Concise Dictionary. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1995.

Review: D. Auchter in Choice 34 (1996), 100: A. describes this dictionary as a work "whose strength lies in its succinct, easily understood writing style. Covering battles from all eras, more than 500 entries . . . provide the date, location, vital statistics, and outcome of the battle. Perhaps most useful," says A., "is the brief analysis of the significance of each battle, clearly stated in the entry. Separate appendixes provide a chronology of the development of weapons systems, biographies of notable military commanders, and five detailed battle plans. Many other reference works provide more comprehensive coverage . . . ," says A. But this volume "is a useful and inexpensive alternative for general and undergraduate libraries."

HOURCADE, PHILIPPE. Entre Pic et Rétif. Eustache Le Noble (1643–1711). Paris: Aux Amateurs de Livres-Klincksieck, 1990.

Review: M. Peterson in PFSCL 23 (1996), 684–687: According to reviewer, a "magistral livre" on this second-rank author. Of interest especially to cultural historians.

HULTS, LINDA C. The Print in the Western World: An Introductory History. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1996.

Review: P. Emison in Choice 34 (1996), 444: "The history of prints is a vital complement to the standard history of painting, sculpture, and architecture," says the reviewer, who adds that "anyone tackling this great chronicle should come away convinced of it. Profusely illustrated and equipped with basic bibliographic apparatus . . . , this [book] provides the long wished for replacement for A. Hyatt Mayor's pleasant but unpaginated and generally casual Prints & People . . . . More thoughtful and provocative than some of its sister surveys of the 'finer arts,' H.'s tome is enlivened by its reference to recent research literature, and it is qua subject unencumbered by canon." According to E., the book is "[E]ssential for all libraries."

JACKSON, SHANNON. "Civic Play Housekeeping: Gender, Theatre, and American Reform." TJ 48 (1996), 337–61.

"This essay is in part an attempt to theorize the relationship between highly local and intimate moments such as those recounted by Dorothy Mittelman Sigel and the large network of national and industrial forces charted in the historiography of the Progressive Era." In J.'s view ". . . the arena of theatre and performance . . . provides an illustrative means of reconciling various kinds of interpretive dilemmas in turn of the century American studies, particularly the tension in this field regarding the combined analysis of aesthetic and political practices. More specifically the case of Hull House theatre contributes to our understanding of the relationship between theatre and American social reform . . . ." The essay includes a photo of the program of Edith de Nancrède's Marionette Club's production (10 and 12 April 1920) of Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, and one in which cast members are performing a scene from this production of the play.

JAOUEN, FRANÇOISE, AND BENJAMIN SEMPLE, eds. Corps mystique, corps sacré. Textual Transfigurations of the Body from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

Review: S. Bold in PFSCL 23 (1996), 395–396: Studies of the figural and ideological treatment of the body in the first seven centuries of French literature. 17th century studies focus on the Catholic mystery of the Eucharist as transubstantion of Christ's body and the theocratic mystery of the "King's Two Bodies."

• See French 17 (1995).

JENKINS, RON. Subversive Laughter: The Liberating Power of Comedy. New York: Free P, 1994.

Review: Amy Seham in TDR 40.3 (1996), 192–97: Reviewed with Joel Schechter, Satiric Impersonations: From Aristophanes to the Guerrilla Girls (Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1994). "In [these books] . . . , both authors evince a passionate belief in the political efficacy of comic performance and laughter as 'subversive' or revolutionary acts." The two authors "use different approaches to present compelling examples of comedy as a potent weapon against oppression." In his book, "J. draws on years of firsthand experience to give readers an intimate, almost ethnographic view of several 'communities of laughter' throughout the world. The book's seven chapters and fourteen pages of photographs present a tour of comedy in seven countries on four continents. J.'s own training in the art of clowning enables him to report on his subjects not only as a scholar, but as a practitioner . . . ." After criticizing some aspects of the study, the reviewer calls it, nonetheless, "an important contribution to the field."

JEUX, SPORTS ET DIVERTISSEMENTS AU MOYEN AGE ET A L'AGE CLASSIQUE. Actes du 116e congrès national des sociétés savantes, section d'Histoire médiévale et de philologie, Chambéry, France, du 29 avril au 4 mai. Paris: C.T.H.S., 1994.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 172: Congrès qui "a donné lieu à dix-neuf communications consacrées soit à une vue d'ensemble, soit aux divers aspects (dans toute la France) du thème étudié." Ouvrage richement illustré.

JONES, COLIN. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 372: Judged "excellent" for its contribution to history and historiography, this exciting volume is equated to "a big exhibition of documents and artifacts on 'The making of France and Frenchness'."

• See French 17 (1995).

KAVANAGH, THOMAS M. "Gambling, Chance and the Discourse of Power in Ancien Régime France." RMS 37 (1994), 31–46.

A finely tuned, informative, reflection on the ways Foucault's reshaping of critical theory and historical analysis applied to gambling/chance. The discourse of moralists and aristocrats (e.g. Frain de Tremblay for the former) is intersected by early probability theorists (P. Remond de Montmort, A. de Moivre) in its movement toward the consolidation of it and statistical ethos. A valuable companion to the author's Chance and the Shadows of Enlightenment (1993).

KIELL, NORMAN. Food and Drink in Literature: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1995.

Review: N. R. Fitch in Choice 34 (1996), 432: "Timely and valuable and the first of its kind, this compendium recognizes a fast growing and underacknowledged interest in food and wine that has become an obsession in Western culture. The scope is international and literary (some television shows and films are included) and focuses on secondary sources (although [some] primary works . . . are included)." The book also contains "works in such areas as alcoholism, anorexia, bulimia, cannibalism, addiction, and sexuality." There are two sections in the volume: "200 pages on food, with twice as many references as the 123 pages on wine."

KINDLEBERGER, CHARLES P. World Economic Primacy: 1500 to 1990. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.

Review: R. Grossman in Choice 33 (1996), 1695: The author "assesses the factors that have allowed different countries to achieve economic primacy at different times during the past 500 years. . . . The book contains 12 chapters. The first three provide background on the cycle of economic primacy. Subsequent chapters focus, in roughly chronological order, on the various holders of economic primacy . . . [including France]. The book contains tables and graphs but is not extremely technical from an economic point of view," says G., in whose opinion "[T]his detailed, scholarly, and well referenced work will be a valuable addition to all libraries."

KIVY, PETER. Authenticities: Philosophical Reflections on Musical Performance. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1996.

Review: Roger Scruton in TLS 4847 (23 Feb. 1996), 20: "The best" of author's works on musical aesthetics, lively and accessible, with a keen sense of reality. A philosophical tour here reached the vantage point from which the modern habit of "authentic performance" can be surveyed and "found wanting."

LAWTON, DAVID. Blasphemy. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1993.

Review: Anne G. Myles in MP 93 (1996), 371–75: "L. is not writing a straightforward history of the transgressive speech acts that orthodoxy labels as blasphemy (he draws repeatedly on an existing history, Leonard W. Levy's Treason against God: A History of the Offense of Blasphemy [New York, 1981]). Rather, L. is attempting to 'write a fuller and contextualized study of the history of blasphemy as text' . . . and to follow that winding thread into patterns of hierarchy, interpretation, and resistance manifested in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic societies, from biblical Israel to the 1990s. At its best, such a project can give one a thrilling sense of coherence," says M., who believes that this book "measurably succeeds in this kind. The challenge it inevitably faces," notes the reviewer, "is that of striking a balance between the historically specific and the theoretically general. For the most part," in M.'s opinion, " the book succeeds here too, although its history is necessarily representative and broad." M. says that this book "is important and compelling reading for anyone concerned with the relationship between language, authority, and culture." M. argues that this study "could become one of the select group of works that influences the way that scholars in wide ranging fields think and communicate with each other about their material, its significance, and its connections."

LEBIGRE, ARLETTE. La vie judiciaire dans l'ancienne France. Paris: Complexe, 1996.

Review: Anne Muratori-Philip in Le Monde des Livres (2 May 1996), 7: Welcome reissue of now classic treatment of the place of law in everyday life that clears away many popular ideas/prejudices concerning injustices.

LEGENDRE, PIERRE. Trésor historique de l'Etat en France. L'Administration classique. Paris: Fayard, 1992.

Review: I. Mieck in HZ 261 (1995), 133: Clearly formulated, extensive and rich, this new augmented edition of L.'s 1968 Histoire de l'administration demonstrates that "la France relève, elle aussi de la logique du 'Jus Commune' élaboré par la scolastique médiévale."

LE PICHON, YANN. "De l'imitation créatrice." RDM (janvier 1996), 161–60.

A l'occasion du troisième centenaire de la mort de Jean de La Fontaine, Le Pichon se penche "sur l'imagination créatrice, l'interdépendance des arts et leurs corrélations . . . ." Il passe en revue l'exposition de la Bibliothèque nationale sur La Fontaine, surtout ses sources d'inspiration et ses illustrateurs [catalogue publié par la Bibliothèque nationale et Seuil]. Le Pichon commente favorablement aussi le livre de Robert Bared sur La Fontaine publié par Seuil.

LEPPERT, RICHARD. Art and the Committed Eye: The Cultural Functions of Imagery. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996.

Review: A. Pappas in Choice 33 (1996), 1631: The author "takes an interesting tack in this study," according to P., in that "[H]e addresses the history of certain image types (money, death, and especially the human body) in an effort to illuminate the cultural function of socialized looking, looking at art. L.'s first two chapters are notable," says the reviewer, "for their clear exposition of the stakes involved and serve as a theoretical overview . . . . The remainder of the book treats each topic through short readings of specific images, mostly culled from western Europe of the 16th through 19th centuries. Although the brevity of each discussion and L.'s reliance on secondary source material may leave specialists a bit uneasy," in P.'s opinion, the work might be used "in a variety of undergraduate courses. L.'s clear, highly readable prose enhances the usefulness of his text as well as its accessibility to the nonspecialist. This book," adds P., "is a fine complement to any general survey text or to standard period surveys from the Renaissance to the modern era."

LERNER, GERDA. The Creation of Feminist Consciousness from the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy. New York/Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993.

Review: H. Röckelein in HZ 259 (1994), 720–21: Defines feminist consciousness as "the awareness . . . [of belonging] to a subordinate group, . . . of having "suffered wrongs as a group," that this is not a natural but "societally determined" condition, that "they must join with other women to remedy these wrongs . . . and provide an alternate vision of societal organization." In a series of individual portraits, including some lesser known women, L. investigates expressions of this feminist consciousness. Reviewer hopes with L. that "we will at last be able to construct a new recorded History based on a synthesis of traditional (Men's) History and the History of women."

MAAG, KARIN. Seminary or University?: The Genevan Academy and Reformed Higher Education, 1560–1620. Scolar, 1995.

Review: D. R. Skopp in Choice 33 (1996), 1700: "Geneva's determination to school pure, erudite, effective Calvinist ministers led to its renowned Academy in 1559. . . . [I]t withstood sieges, financial stress, plagues, and personnel problems in the period under consideration. M. mines the records of the 'small council, the city's ruling magistrates' to describe these vicissitudes, especially as they affected the schola publica, the Academy's higher level. By comparing its history with institutions in France . . . [and elsewhere], M. deepens understanding of the network of early reformed higher education, particularly in Geneva . . . ." According to the reviewer, "[N]either M.'s anecdotal information nor her use of the incomplete statistical record provide more than a glimpse of the day to day life of the Academy. Readers learn little about the actual educational experiences of its 2,741 matriculated students, or about the even greater numbers of students at the other examined institutions." However, the book is "[R]ecommended for libraries specializing in the Reformation and early modern Europe."

MAJOR, J. RUSSELL. From Renaissance Monarchy to Absolute Monarchy: French Kings, Nobles and Estates. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995.

Review: Theodore K. Rabb in TLS 4849 (8 March 1996), 5–6: Radically alters earlier narratives, first by the inclusion of hundreds of records of representative regional and national assemblies; recasting Louis XIII as "one of the principal architects of the absolute monarchy" (as much or more so than Richelieu); by focusing on the Robe nobility as more obstructionist than landed old nobility. If the picture of Louis XIV's position of power in the mid-1670's looks familiar, the paths to it look considerably different. Excellent index.

• See French 17 (1995).

MARIN, LOUIS. To Destroy Painting. Trans.Mette Hjort. Chicago: Univ. Of Chicago Press, 1995.

Review: Norman Bryson in BookForm (Fall-Winter 1995), 24–25: Fine situation of Marin in terms of art history with emphasis on his work as a guide to its development and that of painting. The Poussin-Caravaggio relation is central and Poussin's consequent stance as Marin sets it out in "Et in Arcadia ego."

MAKARIAN, CHRISTIAN. "Académie française: Les Secrets d'un sanctuaire." Le Point (10 août 1996), 62–71.

This article includes several color photos (provided by Robert Van der Hilst). There are also detailed color drawings (of Grande Salle, Petite Salle, Bibliothèque de l'Institut, La Coupole, Bibliothèque Mazarine, Appartements privés). "Un lieu de coteries et de jalousies, un mode de fonctionnement critiqué, un décorum désuet, autant de clichés qui ridiculisent la vénérable institution." "De toutes les institutions que le monde entier nous envie, selon le lieu commun du chauvinisme," says M., "l'Académie française est en apparence la plus connue. En apparence seulement, car on répand à son sujet toutes sortes de clichés."

MALANDAIN, PIERRE. "Auteur, autorité sous l'Ancien Régime." RSH 238 (1995), 7–11.

Introduction to thematically related articles in this issue, collected by P. M. "Ainsi réunies, ces quinze études font revenir des thèmes qui sont autant d'éléments constitutifs d'une définition de l'auteur: conscience, expérience, initiative, invention, usurpation, responsabilité, propriété, jeu... [sic]; pour peu qu'on puisse l'élaborer, cette définition se distinguerait . . . de celle que devait consacrer, au XIXe siècle, 'le sacre de l'écrivain,' et déconstruire, à partir de 1960, 'la nouvelle critique.'" M. notes that these articles "jalonnent un parcours chronologique où il n'est pas interdit de repérer des cheminements et des relais, de voir, en particulier, le couple auteur oeuvre se transformer d'une manière de plus en plus nette en couple auteur lecteur."

McNEILL, WILLIAM H. Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 44: "The author calls this short, but wide ranging and thought provoking book, which makes very large claims for the importance of rhythmic movements by communities in the development of human civilization, a 'reconnaissance.' That it is a mind stretching exploration of the thesis that 'keeping together in time' army drill, village dances, and the like consolidates group solidarity by making us feel good about ourselves and the group and thus was critical for social cohesion and group survival in the past. M. points to dance as a precursor to religion and as an element in the development of ever more complex societies."

Review: E. F. Gelbard in Choice 33 (1996), 1628: "This scholarly and creative exploration of the largely unresearched phenomenon of shared euphoria aroused by unison movement moves across the disciplines of dance, history, sociology, and psychology. M. . . . expands his personal response to military drill during WWII by researching, imagining, and hypothesizing about the role of 'muscular bonding' in human evolution. . . . The author follows the practice of group movement around the world and across the centuries, citing both obscure and well known manifestations . . . . In the end, it appears that dance, religion, and warfare are unified in their reliance on the preverbal, visceral response to movement. The author argues that such a powerful, though seldom articulated, human phenomenon deserves further investigation. Highly recommended for all collections."

MC TIGHE, SHEILA. Nicolas Poussin's Landscape Allegories. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

MENTA, ED. The Magic World behind the Curtain: Andrei Serban in the American Theatre. New York: P. Lang, 1995.

Review: Kazimierz Braun in TJ 48 (1996), 390–91: This study, volume 5 in the series Artists and Issues in the Theater, "concentrates on A.S.'s American career, but also explores both its Romanian and international aspects. It is clearly and logically structured," says B., "and its scholarly apparatus is solid and detailed, comprising sources, notes, bibliography, and productions lists . . . ." "In the chapter about 'New Fabulism' (a term coined by Mel Gussow to describe S.'s emphasis on cyclical cultural rituals of birth, death, and regeneration, celebrated in 'an overall atmosphere of playfulness, fancy, and fun,' M. sagaciously analyses . . . An Evening of Molière Farces . . . [among other productions]." Menta's "background as a director allows him to comprehend fully S.'s theatre work at each stage, and his rigorous yet broad scholarly research permits him to situate S.'s work within theatre history and contemporary culture," notes B.

Review: Jennifer Moore in TheatreS 41 (1996), 57–59: This study "focuses on Romanian director A. S. and the inspiration behind his work in the American theatre. The book examines his early avant garde productions to his re staging of Shakespeare and Chekhov. Evidence of M.'s knowledgeable enthusiasm on the subject asserts itself throughout the book," says J. M., who adds that "his vivid recounting of fifteen productions is absolutely riveting." Among the productions that M. discusses is "Sganarelle: An Evening of Molière Farces." According to the reviewer, "[f]or anyone studying the work of A. S., . . . this book provides an authoritative and entertaining read."

MEROT, ALAIN. French Painting in the Seventeenth Century. Trans.Caroline Beamish. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1996.

Review: Marc Jordan in TLS 4873 (23 Aug. 1996), 20–21: "Useful and able synthesis" that goes well beyond Blunt's long-standard (rev. 1973) construction, "intelligently and clearly written with copious illustration." Combines broadly chronological narrative with thematic chapters, e.g. on the Academy, genres, changing relationships of painters. Underpinned with enlightening references to the political, social, and cultural history of the century. Reviewer gives valuable overview of factors effecting changes in the writing of art history since the 1970s. First published in 1994 in French.

Review: D. Posner in Choice 33 (1996), 1300: This book is described as "an excellent, up to date account of the history of painting in the years from the reign [of] Henri IV to the death of Louis XIV. Richly illustrated with well chosen images, it will," in the reviewer's opinion, "be of great use in any courses dealing with the subject. While giving ample space to the major painters of the time, M. calls much needed attention to lesser known figures, many active in centers outside of Paris, and many occupied with work in the 'minor' genres of portraiture, landscape, and still life. The book is mainly descriptive rather than interpretative," says P., "and it raises the question of whether the paintings of the period, seen here as so emphatically diverse in character, display any common 'French' denominator."

• See French 17 (1995).

MEYER, JEAN. Frankreich im Zeitalter des Absolutismus, 1515–1789. Trans.Friedel Weinert. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1990.

Review: I. Mieck in HZ 259 (1994), 504–06: Welcome translation of volume 3 in the Histoire de France series edited by Jean Favier in 7 volumes. Time period covered here is 1515–1789 or the period of Absolutism. Includes treatment of kings and subjects, the power of the masses, the art of governing, the French people, and fluctuations of the period.

MOFFITT, JOHN F., and SANTIAGO SEBASTIÁN. O Brave New People: The European Invention of the American Indian. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1996.

Review: J. C. Arndt in Choice 34 (1996), 526: The authors "focus on European perceptions of the American Indian in the immediate postcontact period. Through examination of the artistic depictions of Native Americans, the authors argue that European views of New World peoples were shaped by preexisting notions that had deep historical roots, and that these perceptions evolved to fit European motives. The authors . . . begin with a lengthy discussion of European attitudes before contact. They demonstrate that following the meeting of cultures, the humanists' initial identification of a long lost Eden ultimately became a world view that justified the conquest of Native American 'savagery' by European 'civilization.' Despite a sound approach to sources and some solid observations, this work suffers from some glaring deficiencies," according to the reviewer. "A general criticism is the book's unevenness . . . . Furthermore," notes A., "the authors occasionally appear to accept only those historical facts and interpretations that suit their argument."

MOLLAT DU JOURDIN, MICHEL. Europa und das Meer. Trans.Ursula Scholz. München: Beck, 1993.

Review: F.-J. Kos in HZ 260 (1995), 155–56: Worthwhile comprehensive treatment of relationship between Europe and the sea is translated from the French. Perspectives range from the geographical to the biographical (the lives of people who were dependent on the sea — for example, fishermen). Finally M. considers how people portrayed the sea in literature, paintings and music.

MONTAGU, JENNIFER. "The Expression of Passions: The Origin and Influence of Charles Le Brun's "Conférence sur l'expression générale et particulière'." New Haven: Yale U P, 1994.

Review: A. Colantuono in Art Bulletin 78 (1996), 356–358: A study of the artist's theory of visual expression and its impact on later 17th- and 18th-century artistic practice. Reviewer calls the book "exemplary in every sense."

• See French 17 (1995).

MOOTE, A. LLOYD. Louis XIII, the Just. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: U of California P, 1989.

Review: I. Mieck in HZ 259 (1994), 220–21. Excellent biography draws its methodology from the "histoire des mentalités" and benefits from the Annales historiography. Two biographical chapters are followed by a third on "French Absolutism in the Making" and a fourth on "The Legacy of Louis XIII." Good bibliography and detailed name and subject index. 16 illustrations and 5 maps.

MORICEAU, JEAN-MARC. Les fermiers de l'Ile-de-France. L'ascension d'un patronat agricole (XVe–XVIIIe siècles). Paris: Fayard, 1994.

Review: Dominique Dinet in RHEF 81 (1995), 466–67: Vast panorama (and 1,069 pp.) that is solidly documented, shaped by a new methodolody (genealogy, cultural history, administrative analysis) and other research conducted since the 1960s. Contains an important presentation of the "crisis" of the 17th century at the time of the Fronde.

MORRIS, NORVAL, and DAVID J. ROTHMAN, eds. The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.

Review: P. T. Smith in Choice 33 (1996), 1563: "In a handsomely illustrated, large format," this volume includes "14 essays on various aspects of punishment in Western society . . . . The word punishment in the subtitle is more descriptive of the book," according to S., "since the institution of prison as it is presently known is an expensive invention of the industrial age, and is only part of this story." The reviewer states that "[S]tudents of the subject have hitherto had to turn either to specialized books or articles, or to unscholarly descriptive accounts. Here, the editors have taken a middle path of having separate essays summarize the subjects in the light of modern research, providing very full bibliographies. Each chapter stands on its own, and each is highly readable," says S., adding that "[S]cholars of the period will also find much to enlighten them."

O'REGAN, MICHAEL. "Spectacle and Literature in Condé's Funeral Ceremonies." SCFS 16 (1994), 83–93.

Presentation of the "total spectacle" of the two ceremonies as "among the finest fusions of spectacle and literature" with a fine situation of Bossuet's funeral oration. Interesting on double duty of funeral decor for the stage. Illustrations would have much enhanced the evocation of scene.

ORSER, CHARLES E. A Historical Archaeology of the Modern World. New York: Plenum, 1996.

Review: D. B. Landon in Choice 34 (1996), 182: "In a primarily theoretical work, O. outlines a research program for historical archaeology emphasizing a global perspective and a focus on past networks of interaction. In his 'mutualist' approach, the goal is not to describe a specific culture, but to understand the interconnected webs of social relations that create history. O. argues that since the late 15th century, social relations have been shaped by four historical factors that should be the primary focus of research: colonialism, Eurocentrism, capitalism, and modernity." Having cited what the reviewer considers to be weaknesses in O.'s analysis, L. says: "[t]hese problems are fairly minor and do not decrease the value of this bold overview of the potential contributions of an explicitly global historical archaeology."

PAGDEN, ANTHONY. Lords of All the World: Ideologies of Empire in Spain, Britain and France, c. 1500 c. 1800. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1995.

Review: R. J. Palin in Choice 33 (1996), 1197–98: "By masterfully tracing the arguments that fueled and shaped empire building in the Americas, P. . . . thoroughly explains distinctions among Spanish, French, and British patterns of colonization." "Although most thinkers recognized that a transition from conquest to preservation was necessary, execution of that transition proved troublesome. In [what the reviewer calls] a brilliant analysis of the evolution of empires, P. shows how problems of immigration, overextension, cultural cohesion, and greed undermined the European imperial order. A discussion on federation concludes this well written and important book," notes R. J. P., who "[H]ighly recommend[s]" the volume "for all academic collections."

Review: Richard Tuck in TLS 4860 (24 May 1996), 15: Expanded Carlyle Lectures (Oxford, 1993) exploring the theories of legitimation used in annexing the New World and the self-doubt that besets them in a consistently comparative perspective and differentiation of North and South America. Whereas Spain used just war theory and occupied as sovereigns, Britain and France (to a lesser extent) base themselves on rights of farmers over hunters. Organization followed accordingly. A center-piece in on-going debates with many unpublished secondary sources, unique in its survey, and acute in its judgments.

PARKER, DAVID. Class and State in Ancien Régime France. The Road to Modernity. London: Routledge, 1996.

Review: John Hardman in TLS 4880 (11 Oct. 1996), 31–32: Whether or not the author's recycled Marxist approach is accepted, a valuable synthesis of recent work on 17th-century France is given here, at its best on the comparison of British institutions (Parliament, common law) that were not protections or foundations for French monarchs who found as Charles I did that those on whom they depended did not share their opinions.

PASTER, GAIL KERN. The Body Embarrassed: Drama and the Disciplines of Shame in Early Modern England. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1993.

Review: Linda Woodbridge in MP 93 (1996), 378–81: "Wedding the early modern theory of four bodily humors to twentieth century psychoanalysis, G. P. traces through Shakespeare's contemporaries the subjective experience of bodiliness, that 'most rudimentary form of self presence' . . . . She devotes one chapter each to urine, blood, and excrement and two chapters to breast feeding, drawing on physiological texts, conduct books, obstetrical handbooks, almanacs, witchcraft documents, scatological jest books, and a wealth of other contemporary evidence. She strives to move these bodily discourses out of the scholarly footnotes on 'background' and into a more central place in our thinking, by teasing out from obstetrical advice and dirty jokes some underlying cultural anxieties and preoccupations of the early modern period in England." "Particularly admirable," in the opinion of W., "is P.'s feminist and distinctly unfestive rereading of that linchpin of Bakhtinian carnival theory, the birth of Gargantua . . . ." This is, according to W., "an important book . . . [that] unquestionably addresses some fundamental issues."

PASTOUREAU, MICHEL. Traité d'Héraldique. Préface deJean Hubert. 2nd edition. Paris: Picard, 1993.

Review: L. Biewer in HZ 260 (1995), 496–97: B. notes limitation to French published research but appreciates this convincing and clearly arranged book. Excellently illustrated with a glossary of important terms and name and subject indices.

PATSCHOVSKY, ALEXANDER and HORST RABE, eds. Die Universität in Alteuropa. Konstanz: Universitätsverlag, 1994.

Review: A. Schindling in HZ 261 (1995), 819–21: Collection of a series of lectures from 1992 at the U of Constance which celebrated the anniversary of its founding. This wide ranging volume is praised as an excellent and stimulating bilan. 17th c. scholars will appreciate perspectives on the European university and the spirit of knowledge.

PIERRARD, JEAN. "Dans la lumière de Vermeer." Le Point (2 décembre 1995), 56–66.

This cover story, which announces an exposition opening first in Washington, then in the Hague, includes color reproductions of works by V. "Le génie de V. est dans cette invention d'une peinture à l'horizon d'homme et non plus seulement de monarque ou de prince d'Eglise." In V.'s paintings, says P., "l'approche très septentrionale de la réalité se heurte sans cesse à l'idéal italien; chez lui, la lumière du Nord fait bonne figure avec une maîtrise de l'espace scandée par l'esprit de la Renaissance transalpine." "La guerre déclarée par Louis XIV à la Hollande brise net la carrière de l'artiste. Tout à coup, V. ne trouve plus d'acheteurs."

PIERRARD, JEAN. "Des livres de rêve." Le Point (9 décembre 1995), 62–64.

P. comments on a variety of coffee table books. "[Les] beaux livres de fin d'année . . . abordent tous les thèmes. Une caractéristique, cependant: nombreux sont cette année les beaux livres dans lesquels l'illustration se veut plus importante que le texte." The volumes that P. discusses here "se feuillettent plus qu'ils ne se lisent." Books briefly discussed include: André Chastel, L'Art français: Ancien Régime, 1620–1775 (Flammarion): "Historien quand il le faut, plus à l'aise dans l'architecture classique que dans le gothique, . . . A. C. signe là le meilleur volume de son Art français. Un excellent livre . . . dont les reproductions sont parfois excessivement sombres;" John Steer and Anthony White, Atlas de l'art occidental (Citadelles Mazenod): "Une très bonne et très utile idée: raconter l'histoire de l'art occidental avec des cartes. . . . Entre la carte et l'écrit, un échange de savoir précis et précieux qui, chaque fois, éclaire une période de l'histoire de l'art, des premiers âges celtiques à l'art abstrait américain;" Soeur Wendy Beckett, Histoire de la peinture (Solar): ". . . en matière de peinture son regard [celui de cette "religieuse britannique"] est particulièrement perçant . . . . Clair et pédagogique," says P.

POUZET, REGINE, ed. Charles IX. Récit d'histoire par Louis Dauphin et Bossuet. Clermont-Ferrand: Adosa, 1993.

Review: O. Ranum in PFSCL 23 (1996), 408–409: An edition that clarifies the existence of the text: "[T]he account of Charles IX's reign was to be the culmination of a much larger project of learning French history by the prince as he wrote. This edition reveals that while having research and writing techniques in place, Bossuet actually learned the later history of the sixteenth century along with his royal student."

PREAUD, MAXIME. Antoine Lepautre, Jacques Lepautre et Jean Lepautre (I) (Bibliothèque Nationale. Inventaire du fonds français. Graveurs du XVIIe siècle. XI). Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1993.

Review: S. Loire in Burlington Magazine 138 (1996), 198: Volume 11 of the alphabetical repertory, the first of 3 volumes on the Lepautre. Many prints of considerable documentary value, including items depicting the monarchy of Louis XIV.

RANUM, OREST. La Fronde. Trans.Paul Chemla. Paris: Seuil, 1995.

Review: H. Carrier in PFSCL 23 (1996), 410–413: A very important study centered around the political problems involved in the revolution.

• See French 17 (1995).

REINELT, JANELLE, and JOSEPH ROACH, eds. Critical Theory and Performance. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1992.

Review: James M. Harding in ThR 21 (1996), 89–90: "Although [this book] offers the first comprehensive introduction to critical theory's impact on the study of theatre, drama and performance, the volume is by no means solely relevant to theatre scholars. Indeed," says H., "there is a rhetorical suggestion of this wider relevance in the editors' explanation that recent challenges to genre distinctions and disciplinary divisions hampered their categorization of the book's twenty six essays. These essays not only explore the convergence of critical theory and performance studies; the volume as a whole provides a general introduction to critical theory using the study of drama, theatre and performance as an organizing principle."

REMER, GARY. Humanism and the Rhetoric of Toleration. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1996.

Review: R. W. Cape Jr. in Choice 34 (1996), 263–64: C. calls this book "an exceptionally lucid account of the intellectual and political tradition underlying the idea of religious toleration and the implications of that tradition for contemporary policy on free speech. [R.] traces the idea of toleration to the Renaissance humanists and their commitment to the precepts of classical rhetoric on debating both sides of an issue, decorum in expressing one's views, preference for dialogue . . . , and prudent reasoning." Thinkers discussed include Jean Bodin. The author "traces the vicissitudes of the fortunes of both rhetoric and toleration." According to C., "[t]his wide ranging, thoroughly researched, and systematically argued book makes an important contribution to the history of rhetoric, political theory, and Western intellectual history." The reviewer "[h]ighly recommend[s]" R.'s study for an "[u]pper division undergraduate through professional" audience.

RICHARD, MARIE. Jacques Callot. Les Misères et les Malheurs de la guerre, 1633. Nantes: Musées Départementaux de Loire-Atlantique, 1992.

Review: Charles Teissyre in RFHL 84–85 (1994), 402: M. Richard used the latest historical and scientific research on Callot with very convincing results: "le présent catalogue accorde une place de choix aux livres susceptibles de restituer l'environnement de l'oeuvre exposée". One must admire "la sûreté de l'information et l'élégance de la mise en page," and, in particular, the integral reproduction "des dix-huit gravures des Misères (...) de la guerre, rendues dans des dimensions presqu'identiques (sic) aux formats réels".

RICHET, DENIS. De la Réforme à la Révolution, Etudes sur la France moderne. Préface dePierre Goubert. Paris: Aubier, 1991.

Review: P. Fuchs in HZ 260 (1995), 582–84: Stimulating, thoughtful scholarship by the well known author of La Révolution in the collection Les Grandes Heures de l'Histoire de France (1965, 73, 87, 89) and of La France Moderne: L'esprit des institutions (1973, 80). Of particular interest here are analyses of the Fronde, the Grande Mademoiselle, the Ligue, "La France religieuse," French Oratory, Jansenism, the "bourgeoisie d'offices" and the "noblesse de robe," the "serviteurs du roi/de l'Etat," as well as comparisons between England of 1640 and France of 1789.

ROELKER, NANCY LYMAN. One King, One Faith: The Parlement of Paris and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century. Berkeley: U of California P, 1996.

Review: E. Peters in Choice 34 (1996), 520: "R.'s posthumously published study of the role of the Parlement of Paris in the complex world of the reformations, the wars of religion, and the triumph of Henri IV is immediately the standard work on the subjects of religion and constitutionalism in 16th century France. R. argues persuasively," says P., "that the role of the members of the Parlement over several generations in asserting both the historical identity of the Gallican Church and the constitutional position of the monarchy in France determined both the survival of a particular kind of Catholicism in France and paved the way for the constitutional changes of the 17th century." P. considers this book to be "[A] model of the new and exciting kinds of constitutional history that have been developed for the study of late medieval and early modern Europe."

ROOT, HILTON L. The Fountain of Privilege: Political Foundations of Markets in Old Régime France and England. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Review: Ferdinand Mount in TLS 4843 (26 Jan. 1996), 30: Mixes economic theory and social history, "invigorating for both disciplines," while downplaying the misleading suppositions of moral economy and "mentalites." The Kings of France lacked the credit (which Parliament backed up) for sustained long-term economic growth through the ability to keep political contracts. The free market was disabled by cronyism and blocked access for peasants (with more unrest over it than has been admitted). Process for grievances and dispute settlement were wanting at all levels. Root is "surely right in restoring the political element to its old prominence."

• See French 17 (1995).

ROSSO, CORRADO. Felicità vo cercando. Saggi in storia delle idee. Ravenna: Longo Editore, 1993.

Review: G. Jucquois in LR 48 (1994), 380: A valuable text which brings together essays published separately, all of which treat the idea of happiness from early modern times to today. Reviewer hopes that the Europeanization of education will see broader inclusion of subjects such as these which are eminently interdisciplinary and useful.

SANDERS, BARRY. Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.

Review: S. I. Bellman in Choice 33 (1996), 945: "This is a welcome addition to the literature on humor and laughter in relation to culture," says B. "S. takes readers on a romp through Western culture, via practice and theory of laughter. He begins his inquiry into what has made people laugh and with what effect with the ancient Hebrews and the Torah. He then moves through the ancient Greeks, the early rhetoricians, the medieval world of the church fathers and carnival, Chaucer and his period, Shakespeare and the Renaissance, Swift, and into modern times. . . . This challenging, highly informative, but by no means hilarious study includes a very extensive bibliography."

SARMANT, THIERRY. Le cabinet des médailles de la Bibliothèque Nationale 1661–1848. Mémoires et documents de l'Ecole des Chartes 40. Paris: Ecole des Chartes, 1994.

Review: M. Jones in Burlington Magazine 137 (1995), 692–693: A history of the institution providing insight into Louis XIV's attitudes.

SAUGERA, ERIC. Bordeaux port négrier, XVIIe–XIXe siècles. Karthala éd., 1995.

Review: Yves Bénot in QL (16–30 septembre 1996), 23–24: "Parmi les cinq principaux ports de France qui se sont consacrés à la traite des Noirs . . . , Bordeaux est celui qui a le plus de mal à assumer son passé, ayant plutôt tendance à l'occulter le plus possible." According to Y. B., the author "montre que Bordeaux ne s'est lancé dans l'armement négrier qu'après les autres, à partir de la mort de Louis XIV." "Le livre suit les vicissitudes de la traite bordelaise, contrariée plus d'une fois par les guerres entre la France et l'Angleterre, mais qui est particulièrement intense entre 1782 et la fin de 1792; dans ces années, les négriers bordelais comme tous ceux de France ont l'avantage de bénéficier de primes que nous appellerions des subventions d'Etat."

SAWYER, JEFFREY K. Printed Poison. Pamphlet Propaganda, Faction, Politics and the Public Sphere in Early 17th-century France. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Review: Christian Jouhaud in Annales 49 (1994), 444–45: Welcome examination of the accumulated pamphlets of 1614–18 (with some 300 in 1615) that confirms their responses to a cascade of striking events. Examination is not as objects but as indicators of political pressures and culture, seems too abstract to be very fertile and would have profited from considerations of social production.

• See French 17 (1993, 1992, 1991).

SCHECHTER, JOEL. Satiric Impersonations: From Aristophanes to the Guerrilla Girls. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1994.

Review: Amy Seham in TDR 40.3 (1996), 192–97: Reviewed with Ron Jenkins, Subversive Laughter . . . (Free P, 1994). In his book, "J. S. considers mimicry and satire as political acts, shifting between discussions of the politics of performance and the performance of politics. Like [R.] J., [J.] S. sees laughter and irreverence as a tool for the subversion of oppressive hierarchies." The reviewer states that "[S]cholars and practitioners alike will find [these two studies] useful and readable texts for the study of comic performance. J. and S. offer valuable insights based on their own experiences and original research and infused with their passion for progressive politics. Both books recognize comedy's relationship to power and knowledge and both authors encourage readers to make their laughter heard."

SCHLEIFER, MARTHA FURMAN, and SYLVIA GLICKMAN, eds. Women Composers: Music through the Ages. Vol. 1: Composers Born before 1599. New York: Prentice Hall International, 1996.

Review: J. L. Patterson in Choice 34 (1996), 438, 440: "Part of a 12 volume set intended to cover all eras and describe the work of women composers who are absent from most music anthologies and reference works, this first volume is devoted to 19 women composers born before 1599. The entries, written and signed by scholars, are arranged chronologically and generally consist of a biographical essay that includes commentary on the composer's work, a bibliography, translations of texts set by the composer, and musical scores. Unfortunately," says P., "the entries are not uniform; some lack discographies or lists of extant works." "The strength of the series is that for the first time a sizable collection of music by women composers will be available in one high qualty reference collection. Highly recommended [by the reviewer] for music libraries that can afford all 12 volumes."

SCHMIDT, CARL B. The Livrets of Jean-Baptiste Lully's Tragédies Lyriques: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Performers' Editions-Broude Brothers, 1995.

Review: B. Norman in PFSCL 23 (1996), 703–704: Reviewer call this a "gold mine of information and a remarkable testimony to the immense popularity of the opera libretto as a literary form."

SCHNAPPER, ANTOINE. Curieux du grand siècle. Les collections d'art en France au XVIIe siècle. Paris: Flammarion, 1994.

Review: G. Warwick in Burlington Magazine 137 (1995), 693–694: An empirical study of individual collections. S. contends that collections are best studied as the product of individual preference. According to reviewer, the study raises urgent methodological questions about the history of collecting.

SCHNEIDER, NORBERT. The Art of the Portrait. Munich: Taschen, 1996.

Interesting views of Rigaud's art.

SCOTT, KATIE. The Rococo Interior: Decoration and Social Spaces in Early Eighteenth Century Paris. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1995.

Review: T. J. McCormick in Choice 33 (1996), 1466: "Fiske Kimball's The Creation of the Rococo (1943) was the first detailed study of the development that led from the style Louis XIV to the genre pittoresque in French interior design in the first half of the 18th century. Some of K.'s ideas have been superseded," says M., adding, however, that K.'s "book remains a pioneering work on the subject. The same can be said of Michel Gallet's Paris: Domestic Architecture of the Eighteenth Century (. . . 1972) . . . . Both works are concerned primarily with style and biography." The author of The Rococo Interior "builds on these as well as others, but she is equally concerned with the technological, political, social, and economic concerns and movements as they relate to the architecture the actual creation and building, the functions, and the symbolism of the buildings as well as their stylistic development. . . . This carefully balanced, first rate study never loses sight of the work of art," according to the reviewer, who states that the book has "[s]uperb black and white and color illustrations" as well as "very complete notes and bibliography."

SEIFERT, LEWIS C. "Eroticizing the Fronde: Sexual Deviance and Political Disorder in the 'Mazarinades'." ECr 35 (1995), 22–36.

Well documented study argues "that the Fronde had momentous and ambiguous effects on the cultural representations of . . . sexuality." The pornographic pamphlets range in tone from the violent to the humorous or burlesque. Concludes that "the satire of sexual deviance evokes the violence of political disorder as well as the violence of political order."

SILBIGER, ALEXANDER, ed. Keyboard Music before 1700. Schirmer Books/Prentice Hall International, 1995.

Review: E. Gaub in Choice 33 (1996), 1488: "Although music has been written for keyboard instruments since the late 14th century, the literature for organ, harpsichord, and clavichord composed before 1700 is relatively unknown to present day audiences," according to G. The author of this volume "takes some first steps toward forming a canon of pre Bach keyboard music. The book's five sections, each written by a specialist in the music of a particular region (. . . Bruce Gustafson [contributed the section] on France . . .) focus on a selection of 'the composers and pieces that we believe still have most to offer in terms of artistic interest and value'." G. considers this book to be "an essential purchase because its state of the art scholarship approaches this wonderful music entirely on its own terms."

SNODIN, MICHAEL, and MAURICE HOWARD. Ornament: A Social History since 1450. New Haven, CT: Yale UP / Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996.

Review: I. Spalatin in Choice 34 (1996), 115–16: "The stated aim of this expertly written book is to open up discussion of ornament in the area of what might be defined as social history in Europe since the mid 15th century. This is explored through a series of six thematic chapters. Among the topics discussed are ornament and printed image, architectural decoration, the human figure, domestic interiors, and ornament in public and popular culture. Victoria and Albert Museum becomes alive in this large, scholarly book, which is illustrated with excellent color or black and white images on nearly every page." "Highly recommended. General; undergraduate . . . through professional."

SORELIUS, GUNNAR and MICHAEL SRIGLEY, eds. Cultural Exchange between European Nations during the Renaissance. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell International, 1994.

Review: R. A. Foakes in Archiv 232 (1995), 382–83: While praising all of the essays as meritorious, F. questions the term "culture" as a 19th c. concept being applied to the Renaissance as well as "European" to that same period since, as F. declares, "no one appears to have thought of himself as European before the mid-seventeenth century." The 18 essays are the proceedings of the 1993 Uppsala symposium on cultural exchange in Europe between 1500–1715.

STOKSTAD, MARILYN. Art History. New York: Abrams, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 81: "Some day somebody will write a fascinating sociological study of the art historical textbook, but this is not the place." According to the reviewer, this book "is another ten pound, elephantine survey of European art from its prehistory to modernism (with Asian and African thrown in, de rigueur) and the requisite plates in color and boxes filled with historical or technical bites that add to the story. A glossary of terms rounds out this highly conventional book, which resembles all the other 'surveys' cranked out by Abrams."

STRAHLE, GRAHAM. An Early Music Dictionary: Musical Terms from British Sources, 1500–1740. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: S. D. Atwell in Choice 33 (1996), 1104: This book, described as "[w]ell researched and exhaustive, . . . combines rigorous scholarship with ease of reading, and presents material clearly and concisely. The work includes terminology found in French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish dictionaries . . . published in England in the later 16th and 17th centuries, as well as treatise extracts and other miscellaneous writings on music. S. examines terminology in primary sources, covering the areas of theory and composition, genres, instruments, and performance." Although he writes from an "understandably British" angle, S. "includes a plethora of foreign musical terms commonly associated with Continental sources." A., who "recommend[s]" this book "for upper division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and practitioners," considers it "indispensable for academic and research libraries desiring to bolster their Renaissance and Baroque music reference collections."

THROWER, NORMAN J. W. Maps & Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1996.

Review: G. J. Martin in Choice 34 (1996), 182: "T.'s work is a revision of his Maps and Man . . . ." Since he wrote that study "a revolution of ideas and apparatus has overtaken the field of cartography, including the application of the computer. T. believes that the study of the maps provides a needed knowledge for both general readers and geographers. The work treats maps of preliterate peoples, of classical antiquity, early maps of east and South Asia, and cartography in Europe and Islam in the Middle Ages. There are also summaries of cartography in the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the 19th and 20th centuries. Appendixes include selected map projections . . . , a list of isograms, and a glossary of cartographically related terms. The endnotes are useful," says M., "as are map reproductions and the index. The whole constitutes an unusually valuable addition to the literature. All levels."

THUILLIER, GUY. La première école d'administration. L'Académie politique de Louis XIV. Preface byBruno Neveu. Geneva/Paris: Droz-Champion, 1996.

TIMMERMANS, LINDA. L'accès des femmes à la culture (1598–1715). Un débat d'idées de Saint François de Sales à la Marquise de Lambert. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1993.

Review: G. Jucquois in LR 48 (1994), 382–83: Underscores the relevance of the question today, in traditional societies such as the Maghreb. T's revised Thèse de doctorat distinguishes between "la culture profane" and "la culture religieuse" as it demonstrates that the 17th c. was not "antiféministe." T's study offers valuable perspectives as well on the male role. J. mentions in this regard Pierre Darmon's 1979 work on the subject, and the more recent one by Yves Citton, 1994. Impressive 80 page bibliography (in spite of omission noted by J. of Geneviève Reynes' 1987 book Couvents de femmes . . . ), an index of names and a detailed table of contents complete T's welcome study.

• See French 17 (1995).

TOEPEL, ACHIM, ed. John Law. Handel, Geld und Banken. Berlin: Akademie, 1992.

Review: G. Sälter in HZ 260 (1995), 220–22: German translation of important writings of John Law (1671–1729) is based on the Oeuvres complètes edited by Paul Harsin in 1934.

TREXLER, RICHARD C. Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order, and the European Conquest of the Americas. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 88: "By exploring Spanish writings about the sexual proclivities of Americans, T. sets out to compare European and American sexual behavior around the time of conquest. Second, asserting that discourse on sexuality is primarily a discourse about hierarchies, he explores the relation between power and eros. Finally, he attempts to discern the relationship between sexuality, power and ideas about cultural conquest. Deviant sexual practices justified conquest and the need to convert Americans to Western belief systems. At the same time, asserting the masculine strength of a group also justified complete domination. European culture also confined the discourse available to label the sexual behavior of conquered groups. Exploring the means by which the powerful used both women and boys to foster their own status opens a dialogue into the current relationship between sexual coercion and power."

TURNER, MARGARET E. Imagining Culture: New World Narrative and the Writing of Canada. Montreal: McGill Queen's UP, 1995.

Review: A. L. McLeod in Choice 33 (1996), 1315: "T.'s introduction restates the ideas of several recent literary theorists . . . and proposes that the discovery of the new world was important not geographically but as 'an act of perception and imagination' and that postcolonial peoples find tension between 'imported (and imposed) language' and the surroundings." According to M., "[t]he author does not seem to appreciate the fact that the soldiers and settlers use their native language and that the indigenes do not write, and she fails to acknowledge that the 'imperial' languages are themselves amalgams of many cultural sources."

TURNER, JAMES GRANTHAM, ed. Sexuality and Gender in Early Modern Europe: Institutions, Texts, Images. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993.

Review: Piero Garofalo in TJ 47 (1995), 435–36: "The authors [of the 14 essays in this collection] share in the premise that sex, gender and subjectivity are social constructs and, responding to Foucault's challenge for a new history of sexuality, investigate a broad range of interconnected topics including female subjectivity and representation, sexual politics and appropriation of voice in the creation of just such a history." "Donna [sic] Stanton's essay, 'Recuperating Women and the Man behind the Screen,' challenges Bakhtin's assertion that Caquet (cackle) texts, where a male narrator eavesdrops on women's conversations, represent an abandonment of grotesque realism for bourgeois literature. The gaze of the narrator penetrates the private space to recuperate a subversive discourse which he can then critique in the public space to restore patriarchal rule." "'The Geography of Love in Seventeenth century Women's Fiction' by James F. Gaines and Josephine A. Roberts explores the creation of a new cartography based on the reassessment of physical and emotional space in Mary Wroth's Urania and Madeleine de Scudéry's Clélie. The texts construct an amatory geography that displaces the central position of the love object with the 'production of truth on the part of the lover.' These power relationships operate in a space of ill defined and arbitrary boundaries that deny the possibility of complete possession." G. states that "T. is to be commended for creating an engaging, coherent and extremely suggestive text that provides new perspectives for future research." The reviewer does regret that the essays gathered in this collection focus exclusively on Italy, England, and France. "Under such a broad rubric it's disappointing that other, more marginalized voices of early modern Europe couldn't be included." But for G. "[t]his limitation . . . only serves to underline T.'s thesis: our work has just begun."

VAN KLEY, DALE. The Religious Origins of the French Revolution. From Calvin to the Civil Constitution, 1560–1791. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996.

Review: John Hardman in TLS 4880 (11 Oct. 1996), 31–32: Presents a "dazzling series of theses and antitheses dividing and combining kaleidoscopically over two centuries." Charts the beginning of the end in the Wars of Religion; the destructive force in Jansenism, in which "hijaking" Parlement became more deadly than either institution could have been. Often paradoxical, as is the key to Jansenist discourse. In his own terms, the author is not able to establish a demonstrable link between "Jansenist input and the end result."

VENNING, TIMOTHY. Cromwellian Foreign Policy. New York: St. Martin's, 1995.

Review: M. C. Noonkester in Choice 33 (1995), 672: "To his credit," states the reviewer, "V. relies on precise analysis to clarify the Cromwellian achievement. Neither bold nor flashy, his study disposes of received conclusions regarding the foreign policy of the Protectorate toward the Netherlands, the Baltic countries, and the 'Two Crowns' of France and Spain. . . . C. emerges here as a formidable ruler who was nevertheless limited partly by deficiencies of perception but mostly by financial constraints, the factionalism of army politics, and fear for survival of his regime amid threats of Royalist counterrevolution. . . . This study," says N., "will be extremely useful for specialists in 17th century history, but the publisher should be concerned . . . about the number of typographical errors it contains."

VERGE-FRANCESCHI, MICHEL. Abraham Duquesne. Huguenot et marin du roi soleil. Paris: Eds. France-Empire, 1990. Preface byFrançois Bluche.

Review: Marcel Ducasse in BSHPF 140 (1994), 156–57: Does not supersede the monumental study by Auguste Jal in military matters but does in sociology. A new account of the connections with Colbert.

VERGE-FRANCESCHI, MICHEL, ed. Philippe de Villette-Mursay, mes campagnes de mer sous Louis XIV. Preface byFrançois Bluche. Paris: Tallandier, 1991.

Review: Marcel Ducasse in BSHPF 140 (1994), 157–58: Part I offers a biography (1632–1707); II, memoirs interesting more for administrative and "career" perspectives than for autobiographical details; III, dictionary of sailors, administrators, with much helpful information.

WALZ, RAINER. Hexenglaube und magische Kommunikation im Dorf der Frühen Neuzeit. Paderborn/München/Wien: Schöningh, 1993.

Review: I. Ahrendt-Schulte in HZ 261 (1995), 911–12: Mixed review of this volume which approaches the subject from sociological and communication perspectives.

WEBER, EDITH. Histoire de la musique française de 1500 à 1650. Paris: SEDES, 1996.

Review: Roger Zuber in BSHPF 142 (1996), 137: A valuable, straightforwardly chronological introduction, with a glossary and fine index. Tables present foreign influences. Ch. VI, "Perspectives d'avenir, 1600–1650" follows from chapter treatments of the musical heritage ca. 1500, the Renaissance, humanism, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation.

WELLER, PHILIP. "Stylization and Power: Declamation and the Rhetorical Moment in 'tragédie' and 'tragédie en musique'." SCFS 16 (1994), 179–94.

Shows that Lully's recitative far from being a clumsy and inflated type of diction was a flexible instrument that provided the intelligent singer with what was needed, as well as being a good written record of a lost way of using the language on stage.

WIKANDER, MATTHEW H. Princes to Act: Royal Audience and Royal Performance, 1578–1792. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1993.

Review: Steven Mullaney in MP 93 (1995), 244–48: According to M., this book "is an ambitious study in its design, ranging over more than two hundred years and examining selected plays performed at court in England, France, and Sweden during the reigns of six different monarchs." The author argues that "monarchy and theater were mutually dependent institutions throughout this period and across these national boundaries. Theater relied on the court for royal sponsorship and was also seriously invested in the 'royal mystique' of the king's two bodies. Indeed, W. presents early modern theater as both an educative mirror and a partial embodiment of the monarch." W. treats "what he calls 'royal performances': plays not only acted before royal audiences but also representing, as characters, monarchs in action." Works discussed include Corneille's Cinna and Molière's Tartuffe. In M.'s opinion, ". . . the detailed critical work . . . [in chapters on Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Gustavus Adolphus III] is compelling and persuasive only when it is not being marshalled to support the larger claims of the book." M. contends that "W.'s effort to persuade us that such a wide range of national and court theaters can be viewed as a single tradition defined by fundamentally royalist institutions . . . falters due to the many historical and theatrical distinctions, large and small, that are intentionally blurred or ignored in the service of his argument."

WILLIAMS, GERHILD SCHOLZ. Defining Dominion: The Discourse of Magic and Witchcraft in Early Modern France and Germany. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1995.

Review: J. Harrie in Choice 34 (1996), 189: "Using texts from the period 1400–1650 . . . , [W.] argues that magic as an intellectual and cultural language was used by Europeans to explain the unknown, including witchcraft, the discoveries of the New World, and religious diversity. It was also applied to women, aliens, religious dissenters, and heretics, in an effort to control them by marginalizing them. . . . Methodologically, the book is informed by George Lakoff's notion of experiential realism and other contemporary theories of cultural discourse." H. says that the book's "conceptual framework and dense prose make it of greatest interest to advanced students and specialists in literature and gender studies."

WOOLF, STUART, ed. Domestic Strategies: Work and Family in France and Italy 1600–1800. Cambridge/New York/Port Chester: Cambridge UP, 1991.

Review: P. Fuchs in HZ 260 (1995), 219–20: Collection of five essays originates with the research project "Work and Family in Pre-Industrial Europe" of the European University Institute. Includes L. Fontaine's essay on the Huguenot migration.

WUNDER, HEIDE. "Er ist die Sonn, sie ist der Mond". Frauen in der Frühen Neuzeit. München: Beck, 1992.

Review: U. A. J. Becher in HZ 259 (1994), 810–11. Fills a lacuna since research on this theme has concentrated on 19th and 20th c. W. sees his work as a part of a new history embracing both sexes. B. praises treatment of sources in this vivid picture of women's progress in 15th through 18th centuries.

• See French 17 (1995).

BYRNE, PETER, and LESLIE HOULDEN, eds. Companion Encyclopedia of Theology. New York: Routledge, 1995.

Review: K. R. Mehaffey in Choice 34 (1996), 426: "The editors intend this volume as a comprehensive guide to Christian theology in the context of Western tradition and modern thought. The Companion focuses on theology rather than social history . . . . Although most collections would be better served by the more specific information in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought . . . , the present encyclopedia would provide a good supplementary text," according to M.

CAHIER, GABRIELLA et MATTEO CAMPAGNOLO, éds. Registres de la Compagnie des Pasteurs, tome XII (1614–1616). Genève: Droz, 1995.

• See French 17 (1995, 93, 92).

CHARNLEY, JOY. "Antoinette Bourignon in Scotland." PFSCL 23 (1996), 651–658.

The short-lived but real influence in Scotland of the native of Flanders known for her emphasis on the need for personal contact with God and her view that all existing churches were corrupt.

CHEVALIER, FRANÇOISE. Prêcher sous l'Edit de Nantes. La prédication réformée au XVIIe siècle. Geneva: Labor et Fidès, 1994. Preface byPierre Chaunu.

Review: Henri Dubief in BSHPF 140 (1994), 648–49: Useful compilation from 350 sermons of the semantic fields of key terms with some disappointing results in general conclusions (use of fathers of church beyond Augustine, for example) and a key problem of historical value when it is a matter of nondesignated, synchronic use of four generations of preachers.

Review: Marc Venard in RHEF 81 (1995), 478–79: Expresses doubts on the value of information given in tables and regrets absence of an index. Searching through the collected sermons themselves leaves uncertainties about the generalizations of non-polemical discourse and particular instances of it like references to the Revocation itself, to reformers, the extent and resonances of certain Biblical references.

CHEVALIER, FRANÇOISE. "Le Synode national de Loudun (Décembre 1659-janvier 1660) d'après les témoignages du Commissiare du Roi Jacques Collas de la Madelène et du pasteur Jacques Couet du Viviers." BSHPF 142 (1996), 225–75.

Valuable reconstruction of the last national synod before the Revocation showing the control over doctrinal discussion and procedural matters by the Royal Commissioner visible in his report as well as the temperaments of many of the 56 participants from letters addressed to Pastor Paul Ferry by his grandson (Couet). Interesting depiction of Alexandre Morus, Amyrault, and of Catholic "missionary" predication/contestation in Loudun during the synod.

CHEVALLIER, MARJOLAINE. Pierre Poiret, 1649–1719. Du protestantisme à la mystique. Geneva: Labor et Fidès, 1994.

Review: Marianne Carbonnier-Burkard in BSHPF 142 (1996), 137–39: Successful condensation of state doctoral dissertation (1988): Part I traces the life, travels, intellectual co-ordinants (Descartes, Tauler, the Imitation), but especially conversion in 1676 by lifelong dedication to the prophecies of Antionette Bourignon, which he later edited. Part II presents a synthesis of texts that cohere in doctrine, "commentés avec finesse et sympathie."

CONRAD, LAWRENCE I., MICHAEL NEVE, VIVIAN NUTTON, and ANDREW WEAR. The Western Medical Tradition: 800 B.C. to A.D. 1800. Cambridge/N.Y.: CUP, 1995.

Review: Caroline Hannaway in Isis 87 (1966), 528–29: Recommended as the best available survey. Chapter VI, on medicine in early modern Europe is by Andrew Wear. Well organized, vivid, readable.

COOK, PATRICIA, ed. Philosophical Imagination and Cultural Memory: Appropriating Historical Traditions. London: Academic and University Publishers Group, 1993.

Review: Joseph Margolis in PhQ 46 (1996), 527–30: Essay by George R. Lucas Jr. "distinguishes neatly but simply three conceptions of the use of philosophy's history in philosophy . . . ." L. discusses Descartes, among other philosophers.

COOPER, DAVID E. World Philosophies: An Historical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.

Review: R. H. Nash in Choice 33 (1996), 1323: The author "provides an example of what the next generation of history of philosophy texts may look like, namely, a severely abbreviated treatment of Western thinkers coupled with new material on Asian and African thinkers." N. makes several negative comments about the book. "Any attempt to understand the whole of either Western philosophy or Asian thought is a daunting task," notes the reviewer. "To force students to attempt both in one course and one textbook seems unwise. Professors of philosophy and graduate students may appreciate the effort to place Western thought in a larger worldwide context," adds N., "but the book will not help many beginning students."

COURCELLES, DOMINIQUE. Le Sang de Port-Royal. Paris: L'Herne, 1994.

Review: René Tavenaux in RHEF 81 (1995), 475–76: Concentrates on the life of Mère Angelique and the drama of the destruction of the order. Ambitions to link these embodiments with the entirety of Jansenism are undermined by the documentary resources used for the history and complexity of the subject.

CROMBIE, A.C. Science, Art and Nature in Medieval and Modern Thought. London-Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon Press, 1996.

Collected papers (516 pp.). For contents see Isis 87 (1996), 400.

CRUICKSHANK, JOHN. "The Acarie Circle." SCFS 16 (1994), 49–58.

Illuminating portrait of an intelligent and spiritual woman whose life was wholly governed by God but included an impressive range of intellectual qualities and administrative skills. Useful evaluation of her salon, contacts, relationship with Bérulle.

DEAR, PETER. Discipline and Experience. The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1996.

Review: Michael Hunter in TLS 4876 (13 Sept. 1996): At its best in explanation of the limited understanding of the concept of experiment which persisted among Aristotelians but persisted for those like Mersenne, and even Pascal, and also in tracing the increasing claims for mathematics as model against the denigrations and reservations of professional natural philosophers. Contains "valuable information and argument" but is sometimes "disappointingly narrow in its conception" and "arcane."

DES CHENES, DENNIS. Physiologia: Natural Philosophy in Late Aristotelian and Cartesian Thought. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1996.

Review: M. H. Chaplin in Choice 34 (1996), 320: This study provides "a detailed and close examination of 16th and early 17th century Aristotelian philosophy of nature, both in its own right and as the wellspring for Cartesian thought. In a clear and rigorous manner, D. C. examines the principles of Aristotle's Physics . . . as they were discussed and debated in Renaissance Aristotelianism . . . . Descartes learned his philosophy from Scholastic texts and knew Scholasticism well: this book makes explicit in an erudite and yet extremely lucid style the influences of his schooling and the nature of his departure from the Aristotelian teleological philosophy of nature. As such," says C., "it is a contribution to both the history of science and the history of philosophy: in particular, it elucidates much of Aristotle's own thinking. . . . No one else has done this work," notes the reviewer, who adds that "it has been done superbly here." The book includes what is described as an "[e]xcellent bibliography."

DILMAN, ILHAM. Existentialist Critiques of Cartesianism. London: Macmillan, 1993.

Review: Gregory McCulloch in PhQ 46 (1996), 241–43: "This book both describes and continues the opposition of Wittgensteinian and especially existentialist thinking to 'Cartesianism,' the familiar problematic which . . . still dominates much anglophone philosophy. The radically isolated thinking subject; the externality of the physical world; the subsequent running sore of scepticism about this world and, beyond that, about any other isolated subjects it may contain: D. undertakes to explain the opposition to these features of Cartesianism, and to construct a more viable account of our life and nature." Although, says M., "[t]his is a job that some consider to have been completed," the reviewer contends that "a proper completion, which is certainly needed, will meet and beat contemporary Cartesians on their own ground." M. asserts that the author of the book being reviewed "has not made the best of the opportunity. Overall," in M.'s opinion, "the construction job is handled rather better than the description of the demolition, but everywhere the argumentation is neither deep nor detailed enough for someone who wants to be convinced."

DIXON, LAURINDA S. Perilous Chastity: Women and Illness in Pre-Enlightenment Art and Medicine. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1995.

Review: Ian MacLean in Isis 87 (1996), 352: Examines the genre painting motif of doctors' visits to women (1650–1700) and their real control over women's bodies through the accumulated lore concerning furor uterinus. Reviewer disagrees on revived currency of the "wandering womb" theory in 17th-century theory and practice and urges consideration of framing reasons for the re-publication and reading of outdated medical texts. This study may catalyze others on the contradiction on learned medical opinion but does not offer "compelling new evidence on medical or even cultural history."

DUVIGNACQ-GLESSEN, MARIE-ANGE. L'Ordre de la visitation à Paris aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1994.

Review: Isabelle Brian in Annales 50 (1995), 1199–1202: Carefully examined study of the foundation, functioning, and influence of the three Parisian convents. Sociological inquiry, skillfully used here continues the work of Roger Devos on the Annecy house and the research of Dominique Dinnet on urban religious establishments.

Review: Dominique Dinet in RHEF 82 (1996), 212–14: Regrets that the Chaillot convent was not included with consideration of the founding, maintenance, influence of the three Parisian houses. All available documentation has been consulted and although the sociological statistics could have been more clearly presented all areas are strongly recommended in this account, especially the section on the day-to-day management of affairs. "Pages très fines et très sûres" on St. François de Sales.

Review: M. Rowan in PFSCL 23 (1996), 372–373: A well-organized and rigorous study of the daily life and expanding influence, especially in terms of feminine spirituality, of the three houses founded in Paris. Bibliography and index.

EDMUNDSON, MARK. Literature against Philosophy, Plato to Derrida: A Defense of Poetry. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: H. L. Carrigan, Jr. in Choice 33 (1996), 1787–88: "What are the consequences of privileging theory over literature? E.'s deftly and tightly woven tapestry traces the threads of the contemporary struggle between literature and theory to Plato's banishment of the poets from the Republic. In a series of brilliantly argued reflections on critical terms like presence and blindness and insight, the author . . . demonstrates the various ways that poetry, here a synecdoche for any creative cultural experience, defends itself against the life draining powers of critical theory. In particular," says the reviewer, "E. uses Romantic poetry to challenge the reductionist readings of deconstruction, feminism, psychoanalysis, and new historicism. E.'s elegant essay sounds a clarion call for a conversation between theory and poetry in which the voice of poetry both challenges theory and sustains itself." C. judges this work to be "[m]asterful cultural criticism in the tradition of Leavis and Trilling . . . ."

Review: Paul M. Hedeen in P&L 20 (1996), 538–40: "In this age of suspicion," says H., "it is refreshing to meet a believer like M. E. . . . His analysis of sophisticated doubters is impressive for its respectful tone. E. models how a traditional literary intellectual uses, rather than bests, not only what important philosophers promise, but also what literature delivers." The author "helps us decide which philosophers deserve attention, and which, finally, are weak interpreters of, and poor competitors for, the literatures they claim to know."

ELLINGTON, DONNA SPIVEY. "Impassioned Mother or Passive Icon: The Virgin's Role in Late Medieval and Early Modern Passion Sermons." RenQ 48 (1995), 227–261.

Part of an ongoing study of Marian sermons linking Marian devotion variations, broader developments in European religious life and the growth of literacy. In François de Sales, the Virgin is silent and suffering at Calvary. For Cardinal Bellarmine Christ's suffering is intensified by his mother's. A "model of emotional and physical control," Mary has become submissive — for political or religious authorities the "perfect role model."

FATIO, OLIVIER, et al, eds. Jacques Flournois, Journal (1675–1692). Geneva: Droz, 1994.

Review: Elisabeth Labrousse in BSHPF 140 (1994), 484–85: Not a personal journal but rather rigorously "objective" annals of happenings concerning Geneva, interesting as a special angle on European diplomacy and its problems during a difficult time for Geneva. Notes are especially praised for "une richesse d'information, qui fait une belle leçon d'histoire sur bien des aspects de l'Ancien Régime."

FELDHAY, RIVKA. Galileo and the Church: Political Inquisition or Critical Dialogue? New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: J. McClellan III in Choice 33 (1996), 1156: "This book enriches G. studies," according to M., "by examining conflicting philosophical and institutional currents within the Catholic Church leading up to G.'s trial in 1633. F. rejects any interpretation of the trial as part of a 'war' (or even 'conflict') between contemporary science and religion. Following G. de Santillana (The Crime of Galileo, 1955), she sees the trial in terms of power struggles between the Jesuit and Dominican orders. The strength of this work," in M.'s judgment, "lies in its detailed exposition of the theological, epistemological, political, and institutional differences between these rival intellectual élites and the evolution of their respective 'cultural fields' within the Counter Reformation church." As M. explains, F.'s "argument is that the Jesuits became the natural mediators of G.'s new science within the Church, but that they were ultimately forced by G.'s intransigent Copernicanism to cooperate with traditionalists in his condemnation."

FERRE, FREDERICK. Being and Value: Toward a Constructive Postmodern Metaphysics. Albany: State U of New York P, 1996.

Review: J. Hoffman in Choice 34 (1996), 140: "The first two parts of this book are encapsulated historical surveys of what F. calls premodern metaphysics (from the Greeks to the Renaissance) and modern metaphysics (from the Renaissance to the present), respectively. The third part is devoted to sketching a possible successor to the modern world view, a world view the author believes to be expiring. Thus, this book is a combination of the history of philosophy and a kind of philosophical futurism." F. argues for an "ecological world model." According to the reviewer, F.'s "claims for the ecological world model do not persuade; and his division of the history of metaphysical thinking into premodern and modern and his characterization of those periods of thought oversimplify the rich variety of ontologies found in both periods."

GENEVA, ANN. Astrology and the Seventeenth Century Mind: William Lilly and the Language of the Stars. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1995.

Review: R. Palter in Choice 33 (1996), 1156–57: "In this account of the leading English astrologer of the 17th century, the author's stance is 'one of enlightened but sympathetic agnosticism,' which does not preclude her characterizing L.'s subject matter as a 'body of knowledge' more akin, G. thinks, to the art of medical diagnosis than to astronomy or mathematics but nevertheless somehow deriving 'semi scientific ratification' from a 'grounding in astronomy and mathematics,' even while 'impervious to quantifiable analysis' and 'not ultimately susceptible to empirical methods or proofs'." "Astonishingly," says P., "G. is impressed by the fact that, unlike L., the modern physicist whose work she cites attaches no astrological significance to parhelia ["mock suns" or "sundogs"]. But a contemporary of L.'s, René Descartes, in the last section of his Meteorology (1637), attempts to explain mock suns in terms of refraction by ice in clouds, with not a hint of astrological considerations." P. contends that "G.'s valuable analysis of L.'s writings is marred by her slighting of the history of science both before and after the 17th century."

GILLY, CARLOS. Adam Haslmayr: Der erste Verkünder des Manifeste der Rosenkreuzer. Amsterdam: Biblioteca Philosophica Hermetica, 1994.

Review: Joscelyn Godwin in Isis 87 (1996), 354: Important study establishing that the Fama and Confessio were written ca. 1610 for private circulation in Johnann Valentin Andreae's circle. Demythologizes the Rosicrucians but at the same time shows the human and intellectual realities of its founders and through a splendid biblio. contributes to knowledge of pansophy and its blend of science and esoteric philosophy (extending in influence from Paracelsus to the early Royal Society).

GODARD DE DONVILLE, LOUISE, ed. La satire en vers au XVIIe siècle. Littératures classiques, no. 24 (printemps 1995). Paris: Klincksieck, 1995.

Review: J. Marmier in PFSCL 23 (1996), 382–385: Studies of the satiric tradition and Latin heritage, of Jacques Du Lorens, François Gacon, and Boileau, of the differences between satire and related phenomena, and a concluding essay on verse satire. Reviewer calls the volume "un grand pas à la recherche sur la satire du XVIIe siècle."

GORDON, DANIEL. Citizens without Sovereignty: Equality and Sociability in French Thought, 1670–1789. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1994.

Review: Patrick Henry in P&L 20 (1996), 279–82: "Under examination here is the early modern period in France from Louis XIV to the French Revolution when kings ruled absolutely and citizens were without sovereignty. Discarding the traditional image of the Enlightenment as the absolute enemy of absolutism, G., in this sense, follows Norbert Elias and Robert Darnton who treat the Enlightenment as part of an elitist and hierarchic establishment. More specifically, . . . G. portrays the invention of a 'nonpolitical polis' . . . , an ideological social space where, despite political inequality, citizens could practice social equality in a hierarchical régime. The rise of this 'nondemocratic egalitarian ethos' . . . brought with it a new cult of sociability . . . ." This book, in H.'s view, "is a well written, original, interesting, and illuminating interdisciplinary study of vital interest to philosophers, historians, and teachers of literature of the early modern period in France. It breaks new ground," adds the reviewer, "because G. consistently refuses easy dichotomies that have frustrated our attempts to understand the relationship between absolutism and the Enlightenment." The reviewer's "only quibble with the book itself concerns its bleak conclusion that does not necessarily flow from what precedes it."

GRAYLING, A. C., ed. Philosophy: A Guide through the Subject. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.

Review: R. H. Nash in Choice 33 (1996), 963: "Several philosophers at the University of London conceived the idea of a jointly written introduction, guide, map, and companion to philosophy. The result is a rather user friendly work," says N., "though lower division undergraduates will at times lack the necessary foundation to follow the discussion. Eleven rather long essays by different authors deal with several major areas of philosophy." Descartes is among the philosophers discussed. "Understandably," states the reviewer, "such essays cannot be very comprehensive." N. adds, however, that the volume "is an excellent resource for graduate students preparing for comprehensive exams. Each essay contains a good bibliography. The book's usefulness is enhanced by a detailed index."

HALICZER, STEPHEN. Sexuality in the Confessional: A Sacrament Profaned. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.

Review: E. Peters in Choice 33 (1996), 1704: In P.'s view, this "book is a major contribution to the history of sexuality in early modern Europe and to the growing literature on the vast database for social and cultural history offered by the records of the Spanish Inquisition." This book is described as "the most important contribution to the study of sexual solicitation in the confessional since H. C. Lea's Auricular Confession and Indulgences, published exactly 100 years ago. H. draws astutely on the best techniques of modern social history," says P.; "his database of 223 cases allows him to offer a rich and detailed picture of the life and people behind the data." The author "concludes with a wide ranging consideration of 17th and 18th century sexuality, from new methods of clerical training to the sexual fantasies of both male clergy and the women penitents they solicited. The final chapter considers the topic of sexual solicitation in the anticlerical literature of the 18th through the 20th centuries."

HANKINS, THOMAS L., and ROBERT J. SILVERMAN. Instruments and the Imagination. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995.

Review: A. B. Stewart in Choice 33 (1996), 1157: "A historical study (1600–1900) is provided of instruments, both those devised to entertain and mystify and those designed to illustrate hidden analogies of nature and to heighten the sensual experience of nature." Includes discussion of "sunflower clock" (Kircher, 1633), "magic lantern," "ocular harpsichord (never built)," "aeolian harp," and "stereoscope." According to the reviewer, the authors "present a detailed, convincing case that a new view of the history of science comes from focusing on instrumentation rather than theory. A major contribution," says A. B. S., "not just to the history of unusual instruments but to the history of science itself."

HANLON, GREGORY. Confession and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century France. Catholic and Protestant Coexistence in Aquitaine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

Review: Jacques Poujol in BSHPF 142 (1996), 321–22: Meticulously documented and presented study that has "tout pour devenir le 'Montaillou' des relations entre catholiques et protestants," "mine foissonante de faits et d'idees." Reviewer regrets the needlessly aggressive tone of the introduction.

HANSEN, HANS V., and ROBERT C. PINTO, eds. Fallacies: Classical and Contemporary Readings. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1995.

Review: F. Wilson in Choice 33 (1996), 1491: "This anthology concerns fallacies in reasoning." Thinkers represented in the volume include Arnauld. "The selection of classical sources is reasonable," says W., "and the more recent essays are generally well written. . . . [T]he intended audience for the volume seems to be those interested in the theory and teaching of fallacies who want a nice and compact introduction to the state of the art. For these it is quite a satisfactory collection," according to the reviewer, who adds that the volume includes a "[g]ood bibliography."

HELLER, HENRY. Labour, Science and Technology in France, 1500–1620. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996.

Review: J. E. Brink in Choice 34 (1996), 518: According to B., "H.'s study convincingly challenges Fernand Braudel's 'distortion of the understanding of capitalism' through his environmental determinism at the expense of conscious political decisions. H. counters this concept through a careful chronicle of the crown's support for a new science of empiricism and for technology that championed practical application of scientific principles. He also directly dismisses LeRoy Ladurie's claim of a stagnant economy during the 16th century by asserting that the innovation and efficiency of a middle class was riding the crest of economic dynamism in the first half of the century, and was actually encouraged by the crisis of the post 1560 period." B. notes that the author's "conclusions lead to his blistering attack on second generation annales historians and his reintroduction of conjunctural factors as the driving forces in the ancient regime." B. predicts that "[t]his important advance in social and economic history will be the subject of much seminar room debate."

HOUZARD, CELINE. La Communauté protestante de Paris sous la régence d'Anne d'Autriche, 1643–1653: état des sources. Mémoire dactyographié de DEA, Université de Paris, année 1994–1995.

Review: Elisabeth Labrousse in BSHPF 142 (1996), 322: Very valuable repertory of manuscripts and printed sources. Useful concentration on the Galland family and especially Auguste II whose fortune as synod observer was made by Richelieu.

HOUZARD, CELINE. "La Communauté protestante de Saint-Germain-des-Près (1635–1640)." BSHPF 142 (1996), 389–440.

Overview summarizing research on some 300 notarial files (for 1994 D.E.A.). Family alliances are set out in this Protestant-friendly area, economic standing, quality of life sketched out in details of cooperative research underway in view of a more extensive accounting for this Paris community.

JARDINE, N., J.A. SECORD, and E.C. SPRAY, eds. Cultures of Natural History. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

Review: Keith Thomas in TLS 4875 (6 Sept., 1996), 28–29: 26 essays, "absorbing and handsomely illustrated," that trace developments from the emblematic natural history of Gesner and an opening essay on it by William Ashworth as cultural phenomena including the collections of the "culture of curiosity" of the early-modern period, the influence of patrons and entrepreneurs, provincial learned societies. An excellent chapter on Linnaeus.

KETNER, KENNETH LAINE. A Thief of Peirce: The Letters of Kenneth Laine Ketner and Walker Percy. Ed. Patrick H. Samway. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1995.

Review: J. P. Baumgaertner in Choice 33 (1996), 1304–05: "From 1984 to 1990, novelist W. P. and philosopher K. L. K. carried on a lively correspondence, which concentrated on the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce (1834–1914)," who "attempted to replace the Cartesian mind/body dualism with a philosophy of relational patterns. His emphasis on language theory was of particular interest to [W.] P., who strove to reconcile science and religion in his own theories of language. [W.] P. discovered in K. an interpreter for some of the vagaries of [C. S.] P.'s style." According to B., the editor "has collected valuable material for Percy scholars and for students of language theory."

KRUMENACHER, YVES, ed. Journal de Jean Migault ou malheurs d'une famille protestante du Poitou victime de la Révocation de l'édit de Nantes (1682–1689). Paris: Eds de Paris-Max Chaleil, 1995.

Review: Elisabeth Labrousse in RSHPF 142 (1996), 139–40: Newly collated ed. replacing the Weiss/Cluzot ed. (1910). Despite the title this movingly recorded family drama "transcrit . . . une jubilation pieuse."

LAISSUS, YVES. Le Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 79–80: Des témoignages et documents célèbrent l'histoire "d'un des plus anciens organismes scientifiques officiels de la France fondé par un édit royal en 1635" (le Jardin royal des plantes médicinales).

LANDAU, IDDO. "How Androcentric Is Western Philosophy?" PhQ 46 (1996), 48–59.

Citing the "regular and oft repeated claim in feminist theory that Western philosophy is androcentric, i.e., suits men's experiences and minds more than women's, or involves discrimination against women, or is geared towards dominating them," L. asserts that ". . . the literature on this subject includes hardly any critique of the notion that philosophy is androcentric. . . . The androcentricity of philosophy," says L., "seems to be a subject on which there is argumentation only on one side of the debate." The author's "aim in this paper is to take a step towards redressing this situation." L. "present[s] and examine[s] five central arguments for the androcentricity of philosophy . . . , [and] claim[s] that none of them succeeds in showing that philosophy is pervasively androcentric, and only one argument succeeds," according to L., "in showing some philosophies to be non pervasively androcentric." L. discusses the philosophy of Descartes as interpreted by Genevieve Lloyd (The Man of Reason [London: Methuen, 1984]) and by Jana Thompson ("Women and the High Priests of Reason," Radical Philosophy 39 [1983]). L. notes that these critics "make historical claims: they maintain that D.'s philosophy exercised actual historical influence towards the exclusion of women from the circles of learning. However," L. asserts, "they present no historical evidence for their arguments. They do not make out historically the hypothesis that women were more involved in learning and public life before Cartesianism than after it. Nor do they show that, if women's status did change at the time Cartesianism arose, this was not the result of some unrelated economic or social changes." "Even if it were shown . . . that Cartesianism has been used for androcentric purposes, or has been associated with androcentric views," says L., "we should reject these uses and associations, not Cartesianism itself." L. concludes: "Condemning philosophy as pervasively androcentric is based on a homogenizing, simplistic view, which takes all philosophy and all men to speak in one voice, and all women in another."

LANDGRAF, EDGAR. "Experience: An Untimely Subject." Semiotica 111 (1996), 347–356.

Review article of Genevieve Lloyd's Being in Time: Selves and Narrators in Philosophy and Literature (London: Routledge, 1993). "Although [G. L.'s] readings of traditional philosophical and modern literary texts her book includes chapters on . . . Descartes [among numerous others] . . . call up the hermeneutic tradition of a pre deconstructive (re )construction of text, she neither shies away from nor hastily condemns Derrida's thought. Rather, L. engages thematically some of the issues most closely associated with deconstruction. Her survey L.'s book barely accounts for the secondary literature pertinent to her chosen texts of this tremendous body of literature is arranged around three issues: Being in Time addresses questions of temporality and their relation to consciousness; the modern and, according to L., not so modern fragmentation of the self; and, finally, the intersection of philosophy and literature." "L.'s investigation . . . proceeds not poststructurally but hermeneutically. This is to say, in very general terms, that she does not emphasize processes of signification," notes E. L.

LAURSEN, JOHN CHRISTIAN, ed. New Essays on the Political Thought of the Huguenots of the Refuge. The Hague: Brill, 1995.

Review: Solange Deyon in BSHPF 142 (1996), 322–24: Collection of essays focused on "intermédiares culturelles," relations with France, internal politics. In the first, the "remarquable étude" of F. Brühlmeir, "Natural Law and Early Thought" demonstrates the importance of substantive glosses as worthy of attention as Puffeddorf's text. Part II raises questions of institutional integrity for a later period. The last contains T.J. Hochstrasser on the Bayle-Jurieu controversy in reference to the writings of Grotius. Laursen presents the clandestine text by M. Ricotier — Dissertation sur le mensonge officieux. New areas of research are opened by these perspectives.

LERNER, MICHEL-PIERRE. Tommaso Campanella en France: Au XVIIe siècle. Naples: Istuto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici, 1995.

Review: William L. Hine in Isis 87 (1996), 545–46: Discusses C.'s reputation in France before his move there in 1634 (dismal with Mersenne, somewhat better with Gassendi, his loss of reputation after outspokenness and oppositions to mechanistic philosophy were on the scene, attitudes toward him at death and influence posthumously (little). Appendices include the Sorbonne's evaluation of his work, poems in his honor, the horoscope he drew up for Louis XIII. Reviewer suggests this study is timely, since "C.'s view of nature as sentient may seem more relevant today." Copious footnotes are a good bibliographical guide.

LHOTE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS AND DANIELLE JOYAL, eds. Correspondance de Peiresc and Aleandro. II (1619–1620). Clermont-Ferrand: Editions Adosa, 1995.

Review: J. Tolbert in PFSCL 23 (1996), 690–691: A volume that contributes to Peiresc's role in the development and communication of a new science: "P.'s role as a gatekeeper in correspondence networks, controlling the content and flow of information, has become clarified with the publication of his exchanges with Aleandro. Questions remain as to his exact role in the development of the New Science and the influence of his humanist learning on approaches and methods he used in the study of natural philosophy."

LONG, KATHLEEN PERRY. "Salomon Trismosin and Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement: The Sexual Politics of Alchemy in Early Modern France." ECr 35 (1995), 9–21.

Examines the "relentlessly gendered" rhetoric of alchemy. Trismosin's Aureum Vellus "emphasized the significance of gender difference." Science is compared to a nurturing maternal figure; "the philosopher relates to his process as the infant relates to its mother." Images of sexual union are found central to the hermetic works of Nuysement.

MACLEAR, J. F., ed. Church and State in the Modern Age: A Documentary History. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.

Review: R. W. Rousseau in Choice 33 (1996), 1327: "M. succeeds well," according to R., "in his stated purpose of collecting important documents on church state relations from the early 17th century to the present. These texts mirror the intricate interplay among Catholic and Protestant churches as they pursue an equally complex interplay with a variety of modern states, themselves in the process of formation and change. . . . Carefully edited and translated where needed, and followed by suggestions for background and reference, the documents in this book become a vade mecum of a central core of modern church state documentation." "For anyone . . . interested or involved in modern church state questions," says R., "this is an indispensable reference."

MANCOSU, PAOLO. Philosophy of Mathematics and Mathematical Practice in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.

Review: R. L. Pour in Choice 34 (1996), 318: "It might be argued that the advent of modern mathematics occurred in the 17th century, a period marked by a transition from classical Greek mathematics to a radical new approach. M.'s book is the only work to date," says P., "that conducts an in depth exploration of the connection between the philosophy and practice of mathematics in the 17th century. His basic premise is that the quintessential nature of both the philosophy of mathematics and its practice in that century is exemplified by the introduction of analytic and infinitary methods. . . . His treatment of the work of Descartes, as with other mathematicians and topics, is marked by the careful use of original quotations and actual examples of the appropriate mathematics." According to the reviewer, "[s]tudents of the history of mathematics and philosophers of mathematics will find this a valuable addition to the literature."

MARCHETTI, PAOLO. Testi contra se. L'Imputato come fonte di prova nel processo penale dell'eta moderne. Milan: Giuffre, 1994.

Review: Simone Cerutti in Annales 51 (1996), 680–82: Welcome new treatment of the place of confession within the system of legal evidence in a European context, in which developments within juridical writings reveal over long period of time (13th through 17th centuries) the preparation for philosophical debates on torture of the Enlightenment. The working distinction of degree of certainty tends to make judgments much less monolithic than has been supposed. Does not go to the extreme of discounting the Enlightenment view as a "fairy tale" but "propose une révision radicale de la chronologique la plus assise des systèmes de preuves tout au long de l'Ancien Régime."

MAUTNER, THOMAS. A Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell Reference, 1995.

Review: J. R. Luttrell in Choice 33 (1996), 1775: "The goal of this new dictionary of philosophy is to give 'information that will make it easier to come to terms with philosophical texts.' It is plainly intended for newcomers to philosophy . . . . The scope is confined to Western philosophy. The entries are written in an easily accessible, conversational style, with short sentences and abundant use of illustrative examples. It is chiefly in this regard," says L., "that M.'s book differs from its most prominent contemporary rivals, Simon Blackburn's The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy . . . and The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, ed. by Robert Audi . . . . These, especially the latter, have a more academic style and treat concepts in greater depth, while M. is more colloquial than either and includes more terms. Recommended for general readers and undergraduates."

MCGREW, TIMOTHY J. The Foundations of Knowledge. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield Adams Books, 1996.

Review: J. White in Choice 34 (1996), 294: "This book speaks primarily to informed philosophers acquainted with recent developments in the theory of knowledge. Generally speaking," says W., "these developments run against the grain of traditional epistemology. M. . . . agrees with just about everybody else that from the 17th through the early 20th centuries there was a 'large area of consensus' regarding the problems of knowledge and the conditions to be placed upon adequate solutions to those problems." He also agrees that this consensus has been largely destroyed by a series of powerful arguments against a claim central to traditional epistemology: that knowledge is based on or derived from 'foundations' or 'underpinnings' in some way immune to reasonable doubt. The chief beauty of M.'s work," in the reviewer's opinion, "resides in the careful way in which he lays out the basic elements of traditional theory and shows that numerous objections by some of its most well known critics notably Kuhn and Rorty do not hold up under careful scrutiny."

MELANGES OFFERTS A ROBERT SAUZET. Foi, Fidélité, Amitié. 2 vols. Tours: Pubs. De l'Université de Tours, 1995.

Review: Michel Reulos in RSHPF 142 (1996), 141–42: List of publications followed by essays under the three title terms; of special interest Marie-Hélène Froeschlé-Chopart on Jansenist priests in Montpellier, Henri Michel on Bishop François Bouquet of Montpellier (1655–1676), Denis Crouset on the anti-Protestant interventions of the dukes of Lorraine; Miriam Yardeni, "La Querelle de la nouvelle version des psaumes dans le refuge huguenot," examining negative reactions to Conrart's translation; in the last part an essay on friendship according to Arnauld d'Andilly.

MENDUS, SUSAN. "How Androcentric Is Western Philosophy? A Reply." PhQ 46 (1996), 60–66.

M. reacts to Iddo Landau's essay in the same issue of PhQ (48–59). M. undertakes "to do two things: first, to explain why the distinction between the pervasive and the non pervasive may be more difficult to sustain than L. allows; and second, to present a counter example to his conclusion that all that can be shown is that 'some philosophies are non pervasively androcentric.'" For M., "[t]he chief difficulty in L.'s account is that he insists on supposing that there is [a "clear and definitive answer to . . . questions" raised in his essay] . . ."; M. contends that, "from a feminist perspective, [this entails asking] a misguided question. It is even more unfortunate," adds M., "that [L.] then proceeds to give what is, from almost any perspective, a misleadingly simple answer."

MENTZER, RAYMOND A., ed. Sin and Calvinists. Morals, Controls and the Consistory in the Reformed Tradition. Kirksville: Sixteenth Century Essays&Studies, vol. 32, 1994.

Review: M. Engammare in BHR 57 (1995), 795–98: "L'ensemble des communications peut sembler dispersé, les problématiques ou les périodes ne se recoupant pas exactement, il n'en offre pas moins un tableau saisissant par les premiers résultats récoltés et invite à entreprendre de nouvelles recherches sur les pratiques religieuses et sociales des communautés réformées aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles." P. Chareyre "évalue très bien le climat de suspicion pesant sur la communauté gardoise ...." R. Mentzer étudie l'excommunication dans le sud-ouest de la France.

MORGAIN, STEPHANIE. Pierre de Bérulle et les Carmélites de France. La querelle du gouvernement, 1583–1629. Paris: Eds. Du Cerf, 1996.

Review: Bernard Hours in RHEF 82 (1996), 210–12: Brings a full command of documentation, new sources, and calm to a polemic that dates back to abbé Houssaye (1872). Divides polemic into three periods, the first in Spain before the arrival of the order in France. Sympathies go, without triumphalism, to Bérulle.

NAUDIN, PIERRE. "Le péché, la grâce et le temps: le problème du délai de la conversion chez quelques prédicateurs de l'âge classique." TL 8 (1995), 183–91.

Stimulating treatment of the "alliance conflictuelle" of sin, grace and time suggests that the theme was so preponderant because their wise instructions were not taken to heart. Literary references (to Des Grieux and Don Juan, for example) complement the reflection of N., based on some thirteen preachers, including, to be sure, Bossuet, Bourdaloue and Massillon.

NEVEU, BRUNO. Erudition et religion aux XVII–XVIIIe siècles. Paris: Albin-Michel, 1994.

Review: J. Delumeau in CRa (novembre-décembre 1994), 889–91: "L'ouvrage de Bruno Neveu, riche de connaissances, remarquablement écrit, très nuancé dans ses jugements, paraît une contribution de haut niveau à une meilleure connaissance de la religion érudite du XVIIe siècle et de la 'crise de la conscience' européenne qui marqua l'ouverture du XVIIIe."

• See French 17 (1995).

NEVEU, BRUNO. "Quelques orientations de la théologie catholique au XVIIe siècle." SCFS 16 (1994), 35–47.

Valuable outline of the effects on the teaching of theology at all levels made by the clash of positive and speculative methods, recusant practices; the relationship of Rome and Parisian theological/teaching institutions, bishops. The lack of a comprehensive guide to this educational world is regretted.

PARKINSON, G.H.R., ed. The Renaissance and 17th Century Rationalism. London/New York: Routledge, 1993.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 498–99: Highly favorable review of the fourth volume of the Routledge History of Philosophy. The volume deals the with cultural and scientific contexts of works "[qui] ont marqué la tradition philosophique occidentale." Among the philosophers discussed are Bacon, Descartes, Gassendi, Hobbes and Spinoza. While E. "regrets" what he calls "l'absence de toute référence à ce que les allemands appellent la 'moralistique'," he endorses the collection, noting its chronology, indices, and glossary.

• See French 17 (1995).

PITASSI, MARIA-CHRISTINA. Le Christ entre orthodoxie et lumières. Geneva: Droz, 1994.

Review: Yves Krumenacker in BSHPF 142 (1996), 324–25: Geneva colloquium (1994) that greatly enriches the contexts, scope, and complex reality of the period as previously viewed by religious and secular historians. Contains treatments of the controversies of Malebranche and of Fenélon in 1687, Abbadie's Christs, 1684–1714, the evolution of the Christology of Newton, early trinitarians, the antichristian fictions centering in 1700–1714, and pietistic texts.

PITASSI, MARIA-CHRISTINA. "La Théologie au XVIIe siècle: violence ou modération?" BSHPF 141 (1995), 341–55.

Examines a group of texts by Jean Le Clerc from 1698–1701 excluding any means of force whatever from notions of orthodoxy or majority belief as a way of discovering truth. The originality is seen as lying in the dynamic conception of truth and a redifinition of the notions of orthodoxy and heresy.

PRAPRIAT, ELRICK. Eduquer et punir. Généologie du discours psychologique. Nancy: PU de Nancy, 1994.

Review: Jean-Clément Martin in Annales 51 (1996), 682–83: Centered on anecdotal information from 17th-century memoirs and other writers, applies the Foucauldian schema without the "épaisseur historique" of primary documentation. Overemphasis on means of punishment, a main organizing principle, without relevant contexts of punishments.

RANFT, PATRICIA. Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe. New York: St. Martin's, 1996.

Review: M. Lichtmann in Choice 34 (1996), 146: "R. seeks to present here 'a selective history of Christian religious societies for Western women from their origin until the seventeenth century' in order to contribute to an evaluation of women's position in Western history. Drawing on the scholarship on religious women available only in the last generation, her study takes the form of a survey and taxonomy of major events, orders, and persons concerned with women's religious life." The book includes discussion of "new religious orders in the early modern period." "With its scant 131 pages of text covering such a lengthy time span, and with little 'academic paraphernalia' . . . , this study provides an introductory reference useful for a general readership and in lower division undergraduate libraries," according to L.

RAVITCH, NORMAN. The Catholic Church and the French Nation, 1589–1989. London/New York: Routledge, 1990.

Review: I Mieck in HZ 261 (1995), 134: Extensive treatment of the changing relationship between the Catholic church and the French nation from the assassination of Henri III to the second Vatican Council. 17th c. section focuses on the church as an efficient instrument of political and social conformity which served "the needs of the State and monarchy." M. has high praise for the reflective and precise presentation with dependable subject and name indices, but regrets that the 12 page bibliography does not contain any items in the German language.

RATTANSI, PIYO and ANTONIO CLERICUZIO, eds. Alchemy and Chemistry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Dordrecht-Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994.

Review: Charles Webster in Isis 87 (1996), 353–54: Nine papers from Warburg Institute Conference (1989) that cumulatively illustrate the conformity of alchemy and chemistry from the medieval treatises through the 17th century and include richly detailed studies on early 17th-century alchemists (Raphael Eglinus and Michael Meir by Bruce T. Moran and Alrich Neimann).

RIOUX, JEAN-ANTOINE, éd. Le Jardin des plantes de Montpellier. Toulouse: Odyssée, 1994.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 108–09: L'histoire de l'installation du Grand Jardin de simples à Montpellier en 1593 et de son fonctionnement à travers quatre siècles.

ROSA, SUSAN. "Seventeenth-Century Catholic Polemic and the Rise of Cultural Rationalism: An Example from the Empire." JHI 57 (1996), 87–107.

Argues that 17th-century "Catholic controversialists were true to their thomistic heritage in attempting to demonstrate reason's indispensability to faith." The use of reason to shore up religious truth undermines that truth.

SAUZET, ROBERT, éd. Les frontières religieuses en Europe du XVe au XVIIe siècle. Actes du XXXIe colloque international d'études humanistes de Tours. Paris: Vrin, 1992.

Review: F. Lestringant in BHR 58 (1996), 295–98: "On peut regretter que la métaphore de la frontière, dans sa double acception de limite arbitraire et d'horizon ouvert, ne soit pas filée de manière plus rigoureuse et plus systématique au long d'un recueil où les cartes sont rares et schématiques, et qui comporte sa part inévitable de disparate. Il y avait là en effet une idée-force, une idée à coup sûr novatrice qui aurait permis une relecture en profondeur du phénomène des Réformés européennes en fonction de critères géographiques et anthropologiques. Or l'on constate que parmi les trente-deux contributeurs de ce copieux volume, tous éminents historiens des religions, assez peu en définitive se sont pliés à l'exercice de réflexion et de révision méthodologiques que leur suggérait le thème proposé. L'ensemble se divise en trois grands volets. 'Nommer l'autre,' 'refuser l'autre' et 'vivre avec l'autre' . . . ."

SCHERER, JACQUES. Dramaturgies du vrai faux. Paris: PUF, 1994.

Review: Robert Horville in RSH 242 (1996), 169–71: "Cet ouvrage . . . aborde des domaines d'une grande diversité à partir d'une réflexion sur ce que l'auteur appelle le vrai faux. . . . Pour J. S., le vrai et le faux ne s'opposent pas, mais constituent deux façons d'envisager les réalités, correspondant à deux postures complémentaires et non contradictoires devant le monde." Covering numerous topics, S. "en vient enfin au théâtre qu'il considère comme le royaume privilégié du vrai faux. La fameuse notion de vraisemblance, appui fondamental des théories dramaturgiques du XVIIe siècle, s'en trouve, en particulier, éclairée. Le vraisemblable, en tant qu'émanation de l'opinion, n'est ni vrai ni faux, et donc, à la fois vrai et faux."

SERRES, MICHEL. Eloge de la philosophie en langue française. Paris: Fayard, 1996.

Review: A. Zavriew in RDM (mai 1996), 169–73: ". . . en somme, le prospectus—tardif—du 'Corpus des oeuvres de philosophie en langue française' [une centaine de volumes] que Fayard publie depuis plus de dix ans. Serres "nous entraîne dans un étonnant parcours, une longue 'randonnée' . . . , au cours de laquelle nous voyons défiler un vaste panorama de pensées et de penseurs qui excède largement les textes publiés dans le Corpus."

SERRES, MICHEL, ed. A History of Scientific Thought: Elements of a History of Science. Oxford: Blackwell Reference, 1995.

Review: M. Schiff in Choice 33 (1996), 1330: This collection is described as a "rather unexpectedly eccentric, though fascinating, volume." "For S.," says the reviewer, "the history of science describes the multiple byways and bifurcations, some enshrined, some forgotten, leading to and away from some of the great totemic discoveries as well as those thoroughfares' intersections with the great nonscientific events of human history here, essentially Western history." According to the reviewer, this book is "[t]o be read with considerable enlightenment, and maybe a touch of skeptical reserve."

SOLOMON, ROBERT C., and KATHLEEN M. HIGGINS. A Short History of Philosophy. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.

Review: R. H. Nash in Choice 33 (1996), 1324: According to the reviewer, "[t]his is another in what appears to be a trend toward histories of philosophy that edit out material dealing with dead white European males and add discussions of Asian and African systems. The book invites comparison," says N., "with David Cooper's World Philosophies . . . , which is less objective, equally messy in its organization, but better written." N. contends that S. and H. "attempt to do too much in too little space. The result is a book that is cluttered. . . . This is not a good first book for beginning students in philosophy," declares N.: "too much integration produces only a rather tasteless stew."

SOMAN, ALFRED. Sorcellerie et justice criminelle: le Parlement de Paris (16e–18e siècles). Hampshire-Brookfield: Variorum, 1992.

Review: Robert Discimon in Annales 51 (1996), 679–80: Pays tribute to the pioneering archival career of this organizer of the Parlement's criminal archives and interpretations of the Enlightenment's less than flattering views of criminal procedures before the Ordonnance of 1670 presented in this collection of essays. It is not the progress of reason and science that decriminalizes sorcery over the period 1580–1624, but reasons inherent to magistrates' culture. "L'oeuvre . . . décrit un schéma strict de la structure et de l'évolution complexe des pratiques judiciaires." One of the best sources for viewing the profound evolution of criminal justice in modern France.

• See French 17 (1993).

STOREY, ROBERT. "Comedy, Its Theorists, and the Evolutionary Perspective." Criticism 38 (1996), 407–41.

"Researchers today in the various life sciences are gradually writing in a consensus about the importance of evolution as their guiding conceptual paradigm . . . . With very few exceptions most notably, Joseph Carroll, whose Evolution and Literary Theory marks a revolutionary advance in the field theorists of literature continue to work in ignorance of this development . . . . Evolutionists have come to understand that, if the human being is ever to be correctly understood, it must be seen within the continuum of the mammalian order, and must be acknowledged, moreover, to share much of its motivational structure with its phylogenetically close that is, primate kin. In short, it must be regarded as an evolved organism . . . ." The article includes a brief discussion of Molière's Tartuffe and the character of Orgon.

SUTTON, GEOFFREY V. Science for a Polite Society: Gender, Culture, and the Demonstration of Enlightenment. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1995.

Review: Wilbur Applebaum in Isis 87 (1996), 546–47: The story begins with Renaudot's Bureau d'Adresse, taken to be the most influential initiator of fashionable natural philosophizing before the moment of Fontenelle's reflection on the "seed bed" of the Enlightenment in fashionable salons. "Rich in illuminating detail" and a "valuable contribution to our knowledge of popular science in France."

Review: F. Potter in Choice 33 (1996), 1332: "This fascinating reexamination of the origins of modern science in the 17th and 18th centuries emphasizes the popularization of new science ideas via demonstrations in the literary salons of France rather than through accounts from laboratories of scientists. In those days, to be an 'enlightened' thinker meant that one accepted the concept that political and economic reform for the lasting benefit of humanity arose from the methods of scientific endeavor. So why not espouse these new ideas in the drawing rooms of the dilettante aristocrats? Herein," says P., "one sees René Descartes from a different perspective and learns about some of the great science demonstrators, such as Pierre Polinière and Jean Antoine Nollet." P. states that "[t]he notes, bibliography, index, and several dozen drawings are of significant help."

TAVERNEAUX, R. Le Catholicisme dans la France classique (1610–1715). Paris: S.E.D.E.S., 1994.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 499–500: E. praises the book, which, he claims, is "destiné aux étudiants en histoire moderne et en sciences religieuses," as well as "aux étudiants en littérature." Of note is the work's "composition" which is divided into small chapters on "les pratiques liturgiques et les dévotions collectives," as well as analysis of larger religious themes such as "le gallicanisme, l'augustinisme et le jansénisime." E. also mentions the index, the detail of the table of contents, as well as the "riche bibliographie analytique."

TIMMERMANS, BENOIT. La Résolution des problèmes de Descartes à Kant. L'Analyse à l'âge de la révolution scientifique. Paris: P.U.F., 1995.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 82: S'il [l'auteur] parle de résolution de problèmes, c'est que le mot résolution se donne pour la traduction latine du mot grec ana-lusis. Cela lui permet de reconstruire la liaison, qui se révèle intime, entre analyse et questionnement." Selon l'auteur, "Descartes prétend que l'analyse montre la vraie voie selon laquelle une chose a été pensée."

TIMMS, EDWARD. "The Christian Satirist: A Contradiction in Terms?" FMLS 31 (1995), 101–16.

Addresses the extent to which "religious writers have succeeded in resolving the dilemma between Christian principles and effective satirical tools of scorn and ridicule. Surveys periods from the Renaissance to our day; 17th c. writers considered "in which a serious ethical purpose sanctioned the irreverent satirical impulse" include Boileau, Pascal and La Bruyère. Although Christian charity is lacking "both in the ironic earlier letters and in the more direct invective [of the latter ones]," the oblique strategy of Pascal is praised as supremely effective.

TULLY, JAMES, ed. Philosophy in an Age of Pluralism: The Philosophy of Charles Taylor in Question. New York: Cambridge UP, 1994.

Review: Alasdair MacIntyre in PhQ 46 (1996), 522–24: "This book," says M., "belongs to a now familiar genre: a variety of commentators expound and criticize different aspects of the work of some notable philosopher, and that philosopher then replies. Such books are most successful when their contributors both enable us to read the relevant texts more insightfully and also extend and deepen debate between the philosophers and their critics. By these standards," in M.'s opinion, "this is a highly successful book, and J. T. is to be complimented on his editing." "The provocative pieces by Susan James, Clifford Geertz and Daniel Weinstock invite Taylor to reconsider certain crucial questions," one of which is "how Descartes' place in the history of the self is to be understood . . . ."

ULMER, GREGORY L. Heuretics: The Logic of Invention. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1994.

Review: Alain Gabon in SubStance 25.1 (1996), 146–51: "In Applied Grammatology (1985), U. had outlined the contours of a 'postmodernized pedagogy' by arguing for the necessity to carry the concepts of Derrida's Grammatology into practice. His objective was to reduce the enormous gap between our contemporary understanding of reading, writing and epistemology and the current institutional state of our academic and pedagogical practices. In other words, to achieve a paradigm shift that would bring educational practices into line with contemporary epistemology." "Heuretics . . . continues the project of Applied Grammatology, which would constitute something like its general framework. (. . . [O]ne of its main ideas . . . [is] that the classroom must be turned from a 'place of reproduction' into a 'place of invention.') First, Heuretics sets out to deconstruct the methods and metaphors of research in the Western tradition, from Plato's Phaedrus to Descartes's Discourse on Method. Here," says the reviewer, "U. accomplishes for the thought and history of research and invention what Derrida has achieved for the history of writing." U.'s book, says G., "is a dense, complex and bold enterprise that addresses issues of technology, media, pedagogy and research in a postmodern perspective . . . . Its greatest achievement is to provide an operational alternative to analytical instrumental thought and abstract reason and the academic modes of reading, thinking, writing and teaching associated with it. Above all," in G.'s view, "the exemplary value the lesson of the private and collective hypertext it contains (the performed tableau vivant) resides in the way it manages to harness a potentially explosive and chaotic array of data, information, texts, theories and memories into the creation of a monstrously and marvelously baroque architecture of excess."

VAN DER SCHOOR, R.J.M. The Irenical Theology of Théophile Brachet de La Milletière. Leiden/N.Y.: Brill, 1995.

Review: Elisabeth Labrousse in BSHPF 141 (1995), 451–52: "Auteur chimerique," a "lay theologian" (oddly supported by Richelieu and Mazarin), the protestant polemics and tracts for the years 1634–45 are brought into coherence. Reviewer regrets that the catholic writings, after conversion, are not included. Much new manuscript documentation.

• See 3 French 17 (1995).

VENARD, MARC and HERIBERT SMOLINSKY, eds. Die Geschichte des Christentums. Religion - Politik - Kultur. Vol 8: Die Zeit der Konfessionen (1530–1620/30). Freiburg/Basel/Wien: Herder, 1992.

Review: P. T. Lang in HZ 259 (1994), 820: Volume 8 of a 14 volume exhaustive scholarly illustrated history of Christianity. Admirable command of material and wealth of perspectives.

WADDINGTON, RAYMOND B. and ARTHUR H. WILLIAMSON, eds. The Expulsion of the Jews, 1492 and After. New York/London: Garland Publishing, 1994.

Review: S. J. Rabin in "Recent Bibliographical Tools . . . " RenQ 48 (1995), 203–08: Varied collection of essays treats custom, law, religious interactions (Jews and Moslems), the Inquisition, heresy, medical ethics and numerous other topics.

WALZ, RAINER. "Der vormoderne Antisemitismus: Religiöser Fanatismus oder Rassenwahn?" HZ 260 (1995), 719–48.

Elucidates various types of antisemitism prevalent before modern times. References to 17th c. include the idea that qualities which classify an individual in society are transmitted hereditarily, by blood, R. is quoting A. Jouanna's L'idée de race en France au XVIème et au début du XVIIème siècle). Impressive documentation ranges far and wide; an example for 17th c. is R. Mousnier. J.P. Labatut and Y. Durand. Problèmes de stratification sociales.

WASHBURN, DENNIS YULAN. "Pedant, Prelate or Pillar of Society: The Role of the Physician as Reflected in Molière's Medical Satire." (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1995) DAI (April 1996), 3992.

Thesis examines "works on medecine in France in the Seventeenth Century," and then moves to "a comprehensive study of the physician's role as depicted in the comedies of Molière." W. looks at the portrayal of the physician from the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century, while focusing on "the physician's social position . . . as representative of the French socio-politicial establishment."

WATSON, RICHARD. The Philosopher's Demise: Learning French. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1995.

Review: Patrick Henry in P&L 19 (1995), 420–23: W. is described as "[a]n internationally known expert on caving and the life and works of Descartes . . . ." This book "is the final part of a very loosely woven trilogy that is neither traditional philosophical discourse nor fiction. These are certainly lighter texts than the ones on Cartesian metaphysics indeed," says H., "they are all funny but they also contain a good deal of practical philosophy." Among other things, W. "exposes the farcical nature of academic conferences in France and pillories the chauvinistic Descartes specialists who won't waste their time talking to foreign scholars. . . . He offers a scathing attack on French pedagogy as it is practiced at the Alliance Française where one is forced to follow rules rigidly and creativity is punished." "By the time we finish [this book], we realize that, in part, the rigidity of the French Descartes, c'est la France [reference to "[a] recent title"] can indeed be blamed on Descartes. Even W. admits it: 'I fear, alas, that some of this madness for rules and order stems from my hero, Descartes.' He cites a telling maxim from the Discours de la méthode: 'to be as firm and decisive in my actions as I could, and to follow even the most doubtful opinions, once I had adopted them' . . . ."

WELLCOME INSTITUTE. The Western Medical Tradition, 800 BC to AD 1800, by members of the Academic Unit, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London/New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: G. Eknoyan in Choice 33 (1996), 1680: "This survey of the history of Western medicine, from the Greeks to the end of the 18th century, is written by five members of the Wellcome Institute. More than a narrative of the course of events, this is an analytical exposition of the development of medicine within the social and demographic changes of its times. Although [the story is] well told, the space devoted to analysis limits that allotted to narrative; as such, readers unfamiliar with the period may get lost, at least in some parts of the book," according to E. (of the Baylor College of Medicine). "The illustrations . . . are reproduced superbly and enrich the written text," says the reviewer. The book is judged to be "an impressive addition to the available traditional narrative texts on the history of medicine, but a difficult read for the beginner."

WILSON, CATHERINE. The Invisible World: Early Modern Philosophy and the Invention of the Microscope. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995.

Review: L. C. Archie in Choice 33 (1996), 1150: "In this complex study of the beginnings of microscopy, W. . . . skillfully integrates the consequent 17th century developments in scientific, philosophic, and religious thought. Noting that the expansion of the visible to the miscroscopic world of observation provided little substantial advancement in theoretical knowledge, the author identifies three significant shifts of interest that, nevertheless, genuinely advanced intellectual thought. First, of course, the microscope opened up a whole new world of observation beyond the macroscopic range of the visible. Second, occult interpretations of natural processes were seen to be inappropriate, since the increasing objectification of nature ostensibly posed a threat to Christian interpretations of God's interaction with the world. Finally, ingenious mechanical models of the subvisible realm were seen to be fictions and were abandoned. . . . The story of how science was done is shown to be 'an uneasy compromise between experience and intelligibility.' This comprehensive account of early microscopy," says the reviewer, "is notable for its depth of research and importance for the history of ideas."

Review: Rose-Marie Sargent in Isis 87 (1996), 170–71: Ambitious essay on the microscope's revelation of the intractibility of fact. Working with it, and the new sense of limits, leads to a shaping of the scientific world-view in elaboration of metaphysical and epistemological positions. "Extremely challenging and suggestive descriptions."

WILSON, ROBERT A. Cartesian Psychology and Physical Minds: Individualism and the Sciences of the Mind. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: H. Storl in Choice 33 (1996), 1326: "The viability of individualism is a central question in the philosophy of mind. Individualism is the view that the nature of mental states is 'narrow' that is, a study of mental states need not concern itself with considerations external to the individual. Thus," notes S., "the individuation or classification of mental states does not 'presuppose anything in particular about the external world of the individual who has those states.'" The reviewer judges this book to be "a powerful addition to the debate concerning individualism," seeing it as a study whose "value lies in its clear presentation and much needed critical summary of recent developments in individualism. . . . The text is highly recommended [by S.] for philosophers, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and others . . . ."

WOJCIEHOWSKI, DOLORA A. Old Masters, New Subjects: Early Modern and Poststructuralist Theories of Will. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1995.

Review: A. Rabil, Jr. in Choice 33 (1996), 776: "By 'old masters,' W. . . . means the time in history (early modern or Renaissance) when people self consciously felt themselves to be unified, centered, autonomous, and free. The phrase 'new subjects' of the title refers to contemporary readers: decentered (unable to possess full autonomy and fully conscious of this limitation) but directed toward some form of freedom and mastery. What unite old masters and new subjects are discourses on the will (the issue of freedom vs. determinism) by the old masters humanists (Petrarch), scientists (Galileo), and theologians (Luther, Ignatius Loyola, Teresa) read through the eyes of new subjects. The connecting point between old masters and new subjects is the sense the old masters had of their own uncertainties on which they built their sense of certainty the latter an achievement of the rhetoric of the will."

WOLTERSTORFF, NICHOLAS. John Locke and the Ethics of Belief. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996.

Review: P. K. Moser in Choice 34 (1996), 143: The author "expounds J. L.'s contribution to the ethics of belief, the discipline concerning how we ought to regulate our beliefs." "The book's four chapters consider rationality in everyday life . . . , Hume's attack, L.'s originality (including a discussion of how Descartes's project differed), and L. and the making of modern philosophy. Clearly written," according to M., "the book makes a valiant effort to understand L. on his own terms with regard to the rational regulation of belief." M. calls this work "an important contribution to scholarship on L.'s ethics of belief."

YGAUNIN, JEAN. La femme et le prêtre: thème littéraire. Paris: Nizet, 1993.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 192: Praises choice of theme as insightful but finds that the book "misses its own self-created opportunity." Wide-ranging texts from medieval times to our day.

YOLTON, JOHN W. Perception and Reality: A History from Descartes to Kant. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1996.

Review: R. H. Evans in Choice 34 (1996), 295–96: "In this book," says the reviewer, "Y. . . . reconfirms his reputation as perhaps the best current scholar on 17th and 18th century philosophy; it builds upon his Perceptual Acquaintance from Descartes to Reid (1984). Everyone interested in the problem of perception needs to study this work," according to E.; "it covers not just the major and minor philosophers from D. to K. but has penetrating critiques of such contemporaries as J. J. Gibson, J. J. Valberg, Richard Rorty, and Colin McGinn. Y.'s aim is not just historical; he is looking for the clearest statements of direct realism, the position he finds most adequate. . . . This is not easy stuff, but the writing is superbly clear, and the quotations and references to current scholarship clarify both the context and the importance of the contemporary debate." The book is "[r]ecommended for all philosophers and psychologists interested in perception and the idealism realism debates in the 17th and 18th centuries."

• See French 17 (1995).

BEC, PIERRE. Pour un autre soleil . . . Le sonnet occitan des origines à nos jours. Une anthologie. Orléans: Paradigme, 1994.

Review: J.-F. Courouau in RLR 99 (1995), 146–51: Title refers to Jacques Roubaud's 1990 anthology of the French sonnet, Soleil du soleil, and Bec's volume provides its occitan complement. Part I includes works from the Middle Ages through the 18th c.; part II, works from 19th and 20th c.. Reviewer indicates certain problems with translations into French and datation but is generally appreciative. Critical apparatus includes "repères bio-bibliographiques" for each of the 102 authors as well as glossary for rare occitan words. 17th c. scholars will rediscover the love sonnets of Jacòb de Gassion (1578–1635).

BELLENGER, YVONNE, éd. Du Bellay devant la critique de 1550 à nos jours. OeC 20.1 (1995).

Review: F. Rouget in BHR 57 (1995), 787–88: Le troisième volet de cet ouvrage "présente la fortune que Du Bellay connut après sa mort." Au XVIIe siècle en France, "on ne trouve que de rares pièces parmi les oeuvres que rassemblent les anthologies poétiques . . . ." Ouvrage de référence utile "qui permet de voir le chemin parcouru par la critique et de dresser un état des lieux."

BERCHTOLD, J., C. LUCKEN, and S. SCHOETTKE, eds. Désordres du jeu poétiques ludiques. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 277: Judged inviting, this study, which includes a postface on literature as game by Michel Butor, examines gaming and chance in multiple contexts from medieval times to our own day.

BERGER, GUNTER. Pour et contre le roman. Anthologie du discours théorique sur la fiction narrative en prose du XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17 92 (1996).

Includes 37 excerpts, notes, bibliography, and index of terms.

BERTRAND, DOMINIQUE. Dire le rire à l'âge classique. Représenter pour mieux contrôler. Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l'Université de Provence, 1995.

Review: J. Emelina in PFSCL 23 (1996), 355–357: A vast corpus of material on laughter from all fields from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century. B. describes an evolution from the Renaissance "'sagesse' du rire, . . . sa 'dimension sacrée immémoriale' et . . . la truculence dionysiaque rabelaisienne" to the "rire domestiqué" of the 17th century: "voilà le libérateur promu au rôle de chien de garde d'une élite qui raille le rire non policé et tout ce qui s'écarte de son idéal!"

Review: Jean Emelina in RHL 96.1 (1996) 138–39: E. salutes the general trend of studying laughter in the Grand Siècle, and has particular praise for B.'s book "[qui] rassemble et exploite une infinité d'études et de documents sur la question [du rire]." Among these documents are medical, philosphical and literary texts. While Molière is mentioned as an obvious case study, B. also applies the concept of "rire" to Bossuet, La Bruyère and Madame de Sévigné. E's reception is quite warm, as he concludes, "remercions vivement Dominique Bertrand pour cette étude très riche . . . qui nous aide à mieux comprendre et apprécier une civilisation, une culture et une littérature."

BERTRAND, DOMINIQUE. "La Crise burlesque ou l'auteur réinventé." RSH 238 (1995), 97–109.

"Une corrélation a pu être établie entre les périodes d'engouement majeur pour le style burlesque et les moments de crise politique et sociale aiguë: Fronde, révolutions anglaises. Si les textes burlesques comportent des éléments de contestation de l'autorité politique et sociale, ils transgressent surtout les normes littéraires, faisant fi du bon usage et travestissant les modèles antiques." "L'écriture burlesque manifeste une crise complexe de l'auctoritas reposant sur le prestige culturel incontestable attaché, depuis l'humanisme, à l'héritage antique." "Nombre d'auteurs burlesques ont désacralisé l'écriture," says B., "inscrivant la question de l'auteur dans une problématique sociale dérisoire. Néanmoins, le nihilisme à l'égard des prestiges de la poésie est rarement absolu . . . ." "La 'crise' burlesque a contribué à l'affirmation d'une conscience littéraire, consacrant une émergence conflictuelle de l'auteur, qui tente de se démarquer du poids des autorités culturelles et des hypothèques de la dépendance économique. A ces auteurs oubliés, parfois maudits, dans notre histoire littéraire, revient le mérite d'avoir soulevé des questions majeures: Qu'est ce qu'un auteur? Qu'est ce qu'écrire? . . . L'auteur burlesque réaffirme son besoin essentiel de ce double que constitue le lecteur."

BEUGNOT, BERNARD. La Mémoire du texte. Essais de poétique classique. Paris: Champion, 1994.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 501: The work consists of a "nombre d'articles ici recueillis [marquant] une date dans le renouvellement des études sur les poétiques et les rhétoriques classiques." E. views the work in terms of various sections, of which the "première partie examine les rapports que la littérature entretient avec ce qu'elle se donne comme son propre passé." The second part deals with "l'histoire des formes et des pratiques de lecture," while the third part, "s'attache plus précisément à ces fondements d'une poétique et d'une rhétorique de la memoria."

Review: Ronald Tobin in FR 69 (1996), 807–8: Compliments this collective volume of essays, whose new liminary piece "Mnemosyne chez les classiques" demonstrates the central importance of intertextuality as mediator of culture and history. Part I collects pieces under "Figures du temps," treating the 17th century's relationship with the past and reprints the "fort remarquable" ... "Statut des ana." Part II centers on the history of forms including examinations of the "entretien" and the problematic nature of keys, allegory, epistolarity, and a far-ranging essay on "Specularité classique. Part IV, on poetics and rhetoric, treats parody, sententia, commonplaces, the rhetoric of scientific discourse, ending with a memorable "Eloge historique de l'édition."

• See French 17 (1995).

BEUGNOT, BERNARD, éd. "La Notion du monde au XVIIe siècle." Littératures classiques 22 (automne, 1994).

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 501–02: Review discusses the work's multiple definitions of the term "monde" in the seventeenth century. E. claims that B.'s edition suggests several "pistes bibliographiques" as well as "différents lieux," where the world "se donne comme lieu de discours antagonistes, comme lieu de clivages, [et] de fractures . . . . Among the authors examined are Ronsard, Descartes, Gassendi, Cyrano, and Guez de Balzac. E. highly recommends the work, concluding, "Cette nouvelle livraison de Littératures classiques, soigneusement composée, offre ainsi une constellation de contributions pour une galaxie de significations."

BIGGS, HENRY PARKMAN. "A Statistical Analysis of the Metrics of the Classic French Decasyllable and the Classic French Alexandrine." (University of California, Los Angeles, 1996) DAI, June 1996, 4793.

Author states that his study "is based on the prose and poetry of four Renaissance poets, namely Scève, Du Bellay, Ronsard and Tyard, as well as the poetry from Racine's Iphigénie. This work differs from previous treatments of meter in that it profiles statistically the placement of stress and break placement in these metrical traditions, an approach also termed the Russian method, and seeks to understand these results in concert with the theoretical approach of generative metrics."

BLANCHARD, W. SCOTT. Scholars' Bedlam: Menippean Satire in the Renaissance. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell UP, 1995.

Review: Kendrick Prewitt in SoAR 61.1 (1996), 159–62: "B.'s close readings of this 'formless form' in . . . [works of numerous authors, including Agrippa,] go beyond the normative genre criticism that might be implied in his title to larger questions about intellectual trends, culture, and politics. In all these readings," says the reviewer, "B. finds in Menippean forms an ironic commentary against intellectual systems, particularly against decadent forms of both scholasticism and, later, humanism. Menippean satire, in other words, served as a helpful corrective against overly systematic thought and provided a vehicle for social protest." "In his conclusion, B. briefly examines some post Renaissance Menippean satires, especially the eighteenth century mock heroics of Dryden and Swift." P. finds that B.'s "historiography is conventional enough, but overall," P. adds, "the study establishes a provocative connection between a wide range of texts. B. provides a needed accounting for the flourishing of Menippean satire in the Renaissance, and his points are compelling enough to make one wonder why such a study hasn't been written before."

BLANCHARD, JEAN-VINCENT. "Le Baroque a-t-il cru à ses machines? Fétischisme de l'artifice au XVIIe siècle." CdDS 6.1 (1993) 23–36.

This article concerns itself with the idea of "la désillusion," described as "le plaisir de découvrir que l'on a été trompé" in the "théâtre à machines." B. deals with how machines created illusions and how these illusions were perceived. Citing the poetics of Le Bernin and Tesauro, B. suggests that "la plus parfaite illusion, plutôt que d'absorber complètement le spectateur, attire fatalement l'attention sur son artifice." In his examination of Italian theatre and Corneille, B. argues that "la réflexion sur l'artifice est aussi fondée sur une appréciation technique de la machinerie." B. concludes that in the "théâtre à machines" is a fetischism in which the desire for artifice ironically translates into a "culte de l'idéologie" that reflects the political economy of the period.

BLOOM, HAROLD. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Review: John J. Burke, Jr. in SoAR 61.1 (1996), 129–33: High praise for this "truly wonderful book." The reviewer sees H. B. as "above all a great teacher, and his book offers us the chance to sit in on one of his seminars." "It is the range and the depth of [B.'s] reading [in the Western Canon] that gives him his authority and credibility both as teacher and as critic," according to J. B. The author "begins his discussion of the Western Canon not with the classics but instead with Dante or with what he describes as the advent of the modern period. He then ranges through English, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Scandinavian, Russian, Portuguese, and American literatures." "B. assigns preeminence in the Western Canon to four authors Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, and (with a touch of hesitation) Tolstoy . . . . Shakespeare, however, is by far the largest and strongest of them all." The reviewer, questioning B.'s view of the canon as "a transhistorical or Platonic reality," points out "that canons change." Following Walter Pater, the author "maintains that canonical originality manifests itself to us as 'strangeness' . . . "; J. B. finds this formula partly true, but inadequate as descriptive of the entire canon. The reviewer likewise disputes B.'s contention that ". . . aesthetic considerations alone . . . should determine what we read."

BOLDUC, BENOIT, ed. Andromède délivrée: intermède anonyme (1623). Preface byFrancoise Siguret.

Review: Donna Kuizenga in FR 69 (1966), 479–80: Thoroughly edited text with introductory situation of the genre of "intermède," thematic treatment of the Ovidian material, relationship to other texts in the tradition. Worthy restoration of an interesting dramatic text.

BOQUET, GUY. "Shakespeare, Marivaux et les autres..." RHT 189–190 (1996), 65–122.

A survey of Jean-Louis Barrault's "mises en scènes" and career. He preferred Racine to Corneille, and his stagings of Phèdre and Bérénice offfered a new interpretation of these plays. He also gave new life to Molière's "comédies-ballets" by stressing their theatrical dimension.

BRAIDER, CHRISTOPHER. Refiguring the Real: Picture and Modernity in Word and Image 1400–1700. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.

Review: J. M. Greenstein in RenQ 48 (1995), 661–62: Found "ambitious but unsuccessful," B.'s study disregards historical context and is less than convincing in its analyses of paintings. G. does admit that "some of B.'s positions are attractive."

BRAY, BERNARD AND CHRISTOPH STROSETZKI, eds. Art de la lettre, art de la conversation à l'époque classique en France. Paris: Klincksieck, 1995.

Review: P. Sommella in PFSCL 23 (1996), 666–669: An important collection of conference papers on the two forms of expression.

BRIOT, FREDERIC. Usage du monde, usage de soi. Enquête sur les mémorialistes d'Ancien Régime. Paris: Seuil, 1994.

Review: Jean Garapon in RHL 95.6 (1995), 1032–3: Favorable review in which G. states that "F. Briot nous offre ici une synthèse très dense et nouvelle, par son ampleur, dont on peut dire sans grand chance de se tromper qu'elle fera date dans la compréhension du genre des mémoires, à côté d'ouvrages classiques." Among the mémorialistes examined are Commynes, Retz and Saint-Simon. Despite some flaws such as the absence of 1) an index and 2)references for quotes, G. highly recommends the work, saying that the reader "y trouvera par ailleurs de nombreuses idées neuves, qui en rendent la lecture souvent stimulante, et offrent à la recherche de riches perspectives."

BRIOT, FREDERIC. "Comment croire les mémorialistes sur parole." RSH 238 (1995), 53–64.

"Comment croire les mémorialistes sur parole: la formule n'est pas ici une question, et s'apparenterait plutôt à une proposition de lecture. . . . Ce problème pourrait s'énoncer ainsi: si les mémorialistes ne font guère autorité, c'est en fonction de leur position même de témoin. Or cette position de témoin n'est pas pour eux le résultat d'une contrainte, mais l'affirmation même de la singularité de leur récit: ne raconter que ce que l'on a vu, entendu, senti ou pressenti soi même." Numerous writers are cited in this essay (e.g., Retz, Bussy Rabutin, Brienne le jeune, Furetière, Mme de Caylus, Mlle de Montpensier). "Les Mémoires livrent bien une vérité, mais comme par effraction." According to B., ". . . la vérité dans les textes ne repose pas sur ce dont [le mémorialiste] témoigne, mais sur l'acte de témoigner; non point la 'chose vue,' mais la vision même. Rien ne sert donc de le diaboliser, en lui reprochant ses erreurs, ses oublis, ses mensonges. Il convient tout au contraire de comprendre la logique de tous ces écarts, logique personnelle à chaque fois. Les yeux de l'illusion permettent une véritable élaboration de soi."

BRIOT, FREDERIC. "Synthèse of round table discussion held at Univ. de Lille III in Oct. 1994 on subject of 'Auteur, autorité sous l'Ancien Régime'." RSH 238 (1995), 211–13.

Participants included Pierre Malandain, the 15 scholars whose essays he collected for this issue of RSH, and several other writers. F. B. concludes: "Les réflexions et les interventions tentèrent . . . de circonscrire cette question de l'auteur dans un double foyer, poétique et historique. . . . Dans la constitution de l'auteur, la critique joue un rôle important, tout comme l'institution scolaire et universitaire. De plus la tentation est forte de parler de son auteur, et d'en parler avec autorité, façon . . . de faire revenir toutes les questions évoquées ci dessus, non plus au niveau de ceux dont on parle, mais de ceux qui en parlent."

BRODY, JULES. Lectures Classiques. Charlottesville, VA: Rookwood Press, 1996.

EMF Monographs. Collected historical, thematic, psychoanalytical and philological essays on aspects of French Classicism treating, among other authors, Molière, Racine, Madame de La Fayette, La Rochefoucauld, Perrault, and Pascal.

BROOKS, WILLIAM, éd. Le Théâtre et l'opéra vus par les gazetiers Robinet et Laurent (1670–1678). PFSCL/Biblio 17 17 (1993).

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 1000–1001: "This Robinet volume contains virtually all the material relating to plays, operas, authors, and performers in the verse newsletters of Robinet and Laurent published between 1670 and 1678." Reviewer finds this volume "a rich store of contemporary comment relating to the closing years of French classicism" but regrets that the letters were not published in their entirety.

BRUNEL, PIERRE. "La fable est-elle une 'forme simple'?" RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 9–10.

B. présente l'idée que la fable n'est pas une "forme simple," mais plutôt une forme complexe qui n'exclut pas la poésie, la fantaisie, et fluidité musicale.

BUSHNELL, REBECCA W. A Culture of Teaching: Early Modern Humanism in Theory and Practice. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1996.

CASTAGNO, PAUL C. The Early Commedia Dell'Arte 1550–1621. Bern: Peter Lang, 1995.

Review: L. R. N. Ashley in BHR 57 (1995), 672: C. "takes up in great detail, with useful illustrations, the mannerist context of the early commedia dell'arte 1550–1621, principally in Italy but with some attention to the influence of these traveling comedians in other countries."

CAVILLAC, CECILE. "Vraisemblance pragmatique et autorité fictionnelle." Poétique 101 (1995), 23–43.

Sets against an analysis of Don Quixote the 17th-century French debate on verisimilitude around the "épopée en prose: le roman regulier français" seen in the moment of the Valincour-Charnes exchange (1678–79).

CERTEAU, Michel de. The Mystic Fable. Vol. I: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Trans.Michael B. Smith. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1992.

Review: Robert Boenig in SCN 52.3–4 (Fall-Winter 94), 44–45: Michel de Certeau is known for his pioneering work in "critical theory", in other words, "the application of abstractions through the medium of interdisciplinary methodology to texts that may or may not be traditional members of an accepted canon." In this collection of essays, he gives "voice to alterity- the voice of the other," and a "theoretical definition of mystic speech." However, "The Mystic Fable is not a history of mysticism in the 16th and 17th centuries". There are studies of lesser known French mystics like Jean-Joseph Surin and Labadie.

CHANG, HELENE. "La vérité comique: Les Provinciales, Le Neveu de Rameau et à La Recherche du temps perdu." (University of California, Los Angeles, 1995) DAI (March 1996) 3602.

The purpose of this dissertation is to "mettre au point une théorie du comique à partir des exemples concrets et, ce faisant, de dégager la spécificité comique de chaque écrit." With respect to Pascal, "Le comique pascalien ou 'significatif' est d'ordre moralisateur. S'il tourne en ridicule les jésuites, c'est afin de les faire revenir de leur folie. L'antiphrase, langage par excellence des Petites Lettres, ne désarçonne pas le lecteur, son message étant clair."

CHARTIER, ROGER. "Pouvoirs et limites de la représentation." Annales 49 (1994), 407–18.

Important meditation that includes Marin's last seminar in 1991–92 in which three lines of concern are examined: the proper distinction of historical modes, the interrelationships between these modes and particular aesthetic codes, the irreducibility of different styles of representation (e.g., text and image).

CHAUVEAU, JEAN-PIERRE, ed. L'épître en vers au XVIIe siècle. Littératures classiques 18 (1993).

Review: Pascal Debailly in IL 48.1 (1996) 36–37: Favorable review of a volume, which, according to D., "vient combler un vide dans l'histoire littéraire du XVIIe siècle. Si toutes les formes de la lettre en prose ont été beaucoup étudiées, l'épître en vers n'a pas jusqu'à présent fait l'objet de grands travaux d'ensemble." Among the contributions mentioned are Roger Duchêne's and Jean-Pierre Chauveau's articles on the definition of the épître, Eric Méchoulan's piece on how the public and private spheres shape the notion of milieu in the épître, and Frédéric Briot's study on the development of the épître during the Fronde. The study concludes with Allen Wood's essay on the épître in Boileau, as well as Jean Marmier's analysis of the épître au livre, i.e., paratextual épîtres such as prefaces and notices.

CHAUVEAU, JEAN-PIERRE. "Du Bellay dans les recueils collectifs et anthologies des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. OeC 21.1 (1995), 97–102.

"Cette étude n'a d'autre prétention que d'apporter une pierre à l'histoire de la 'réception', ou, plus simplement, de la fortune de Du Bellay au cours des siècles dits classiques."

CLARK, KATHLEEN, éd. Réception critique des libertinages au XVIIe siècle. OeC 20.3 (OeC), 177–294.

Numéro consacré à un groupe de libertins représentatifs "dont l'oeuvre et la fortune critique méritent d'être examinés avec un regard neuf." Sept articles: Godard de Donville, "L'oeuvre de Théophile de Viau aux feux croisés du 'libertinage'"; François Lagarde, "La réhabilitation de Saint-Amant"; Madeleine Alcover, "Sisyphe au Parnasse: La réception des oeuvres de Cyrano aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles"; Martha M. Houle, "'L'Heure du berger sonne': La casuistique au service du plaisir dans les Contes de La Fontaine"; Allen G. Wood, "Boileau, the Croix Blanche, and Satire I"; Henriette Goldwyn, "Les Mémoires d'une 'affranchie'": Mme du Noyer"; James Grantham Turner, " 'Aloisia Sigea' in France and England: Female Authorship and the reception of Chorier's Erotica."

CLARK, KATHLEEN COLLINS. "Laughing at Love: Epicurean Themes and Epigrammatic Verse. Théophile to La Fontaine." PFSCL 23 (1996), 463–472.

Demonstrates convincingly that the change in poetry's social function, the triumph of theater, the importance of Paris salons, and the superiority of reason and logic over inspiration contributed to the rise of epigrammatic verse during the century: "What distinguishes those epigrams written by such poets as Théophile, Saint-Pavin, La Fontaine is not only their urbane wit, but their ludic flair and intellectual brio."

CLAVILIER, MICHELE et DANIELLE DUCHEFDELAVILLE. Commedia dell'arte. Le Jeu masqué. Grenoble: Presses universitaires de Grenoble, 1994.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 14–15: "Les auteurs examinent successivement l'aspect historique de cette pratique théâtrale qu'est la commedia dell'arte, depuis ses origines latines jusqu'à Giorgio Strehler, puis ses différentes composantes . . . ."

COHEN, MITCHELL. The Wager of Lucien Goldmann: Tragedy, Dialectics and a Hidden God. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1994.

Review: David Wetsel in P&L 19 (1995), 409–10: "Still controversial after thirty five years, G.'s theories concerning the Pensées . . . have never been accepted by mainstream Pascal scholarship." "Most pascalisants have erroneously assumed that G.'s reading of P. represented nothing more than the imposition of Marxist theory upon the text of the Pensées. Among the revelations of M. C.'s new study," says W., "is that, to the contrary, P. represents one of the essential formative influences on G. himself . . . ." "Students of P. will be particularly fascinated by C.'s revealing analysis of G.'s The Hidden God in the first section of chapter six of his study." W. calls this book "[t]he product of a painstaking excavation of G.'s philosophical development . . . ." "A critic both of existentialism and of structuralism, G. is portrayed by C. as the leading representative of Western Marxism's need to reinvent itself." The reviewer "recommend[s] [C.'s book] to all students of modern France as well as to [his] fellow pascalisants . . . ."

COLIN, A., ed. Annales Histoire, Sciences Sociales. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, (1994).

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.1 (1996), 137–38: E. opens his review with the central question the volume poses: "De quoi fait-on l'histoire quand on prend la littérature comme objet d'analyse historique?" The key becomes that of "contextualisation," defined in terms of public, author, and the "politics of language." Even with the emphasis on contextualization, E. points out that attempts to define a "champ littéraire" are limited. In general, while E. commends the volume for presenting a "véritable discours de la méthode," he disagrees with a critical approach in which the concept of "histoire littéraire" is distinguished from "une interrogation proprement théorique sur les conditions de possibilités de cette historicité des oeuvres et de leurs contextualisations successives."

CONESA, GABRIEL. La comédie de l'âge classique (1630–1715). Paris: Seuil, 1995.

Review: C. Mazouer in PFSCL 23 (1996), 367–369: Reviewer finds this to be a "panorama à la fois informé et personnel de la comédie du siècle classique."

CONLEY, TOM. The Graphic Unconscious in Early Modern French Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992.

Review: Michael Randall in SubStance 25.2 (1996), 132–36: This book "serves a much needed function in contemporary Renaissance scholarship, by showing how the familiar space of French sixteenth century literature is inhabited by a 'foreignness.' The author . . . creates this 'heterology,' as the term is used by Michel de Certeau, by emphasizing the spatial character of French Renaissance literature. C. shows how texts by writers such as Marot, Rabelais, Ronsard, and Montaigne can be seen as possessing not only a hidden allegorical meaning, but also a hidden sense of patterns and designs made up of letters that compose the words themselves. . . . [This book] demonstrates how the graphics of the early modern printed page, when the very concept of printing was itself a new and troubling phenomenon, allow the literature of the period to be read, or more properly seen, in an equally new and provocative way."

CONNERY, BRIAN A., and KIRK COMBE, eds. Theorizing Satire: Essays and Literary Criticism. New York: St. Martin's, 1995.

Review: F. C. Kaplan in Choice 33 (1996), 1126: In this collection, "which purports to 'theorize' satire, the sympathies of the editors and contributors clearly lie with the goals of the satirists they study," says K., "rather than with the schools of theory they ostensibly represent. Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism (1957) is the theoretical parent of this collection," according to K., whereas "Gilbert Highet's Anatomy of Satire (1962) and John Bullitt's Jonathan Swift and the Anatomy of Satire (1953) are conspicuously absent." A number of "definitive satirists" are not discussed in the volume. "Generally, the focus is on British writers of the 17th and 18th centuries." K. notes that "[t]heoretical variety brings 'diversity' to this collection."

COOK, ALBERT. The Reach of Poetry. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue UP, 1995.

Review: J. D. McGowan in Choice 33 (1996), 945: "The 'reach' of poetry C. . . . explores in this . . . [study] extends from the epigrammatic to the oracular, and from the contemporary in America and Europe backward to the classic (Pindar, Alcman) by way of the Elizabethans, Dante, and the troubadours. C. also explores and demonstrates the immense reach of his own interests and learning. This can be daunting to the less learned reader. . . . This is a book to be taken slowly," says M. "But persevere," the reviewer advises, because "C. has a lot to say about poetry, both to those adept in comparative literature and theory and to those whose learning only begins to match his own."

COURSE, DIDIER JEAN. "Le Sceptre et le diamant: Metamorphoses du pouvoir et genèse d'un imaginaire moderne (1560–1685)." (University of Pittsburgh, 1995) DAI 56109, March 1996.

Author contends that jewelry is "a vast metaphor that help[s] define the mentality of an epoch." Study focuses on "love and erotic poetry" specifically the "school of Fontainebleau and the Neo-Petrarchan movement." Jewelry was also used as a metaphor for women, the Crown, and the "celestial court."

DALLA VALLE, DANIELA. Aspects de la pastorale dans l'italianisme du XVIIe siècle. Paris: Champion, 1995.

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996), 141: The volume consists of articles published between 1968 and 1986 dealing with the link between the "pastorale" and music. L. states that V.'s goal is to "analyse[r] la constitution du genre de la pastorale . . . à la lumière de l'influence italienne." Among other things, V.'s text looks at the fortunes of Tasso's, Guarini's and Bonarelli's works in France, as well as the structure of the "Echo," and the theoretical and poetic tenets of the genre.

DAVID, GAIL. Female Heroism in the Pastoral. New York/London: Garland Press, 1991.

Review: Twyla Meding in EMF 2 (1996), 187–91: M. summarizes G.'s project as the effort to "conjoin contrastive study of the pastoral hero/heroine with current feminist theory." The book deals with "both continental and British prose fiction," ranging from Sannazaro to George Eliot. With respect to seventeenth-century France, M. discusses the potential applicability of D.'s "inverted female pattern" of heroism to L'Astrée and the Princesse de Clèves. The results of such an application, M. contends, would be mixed. In general, while D.'s thesis would stimulate debate, M. maintains that the volume "proves dissapointing in its recourse to inaccuracies to bolster its conclusions. Such imprecision effectively sabotages the work's critical worth, inviting reexamination of its premises and conclusions."

DE JEAN, JOAN. Tender Geographies: Women and the Origins of the Novel in France. New York: Columbia UP, 1991.

Review: Mitchell Greenberg in EMF 2 (1996), 196–200: G. reacts quite favorably to D.'s attempt "to concentrate, in a series of sequential chapters, on the most prominent of . . . women writers whose lives and writings trace a parabola of resistance to the hegemonic drive of absolutism." According to G., "the major social parabola that overrides the individual chapters of De Jean's book describes the central role of "marriage," a complex social and economic network, as it changes the position of the woman-writing subject and thus the thematic concerns of the novels themselves." Of special note is De Jean's last chapter, which describes "the imposition of the 'Classical' (i.e., masculinist, Absolutist) model of subjectivity, over the 'other'" defined as the writing by women in the salons.

• See French 17 (1995, 1994).

DELMAS, CHRISTIAN. La Tragédie de l'âge classique (1553–1770). Paris: Seuil, 1994.

Review: Pierre Pasquier in IL 48.1 (1996), 34: Favorable review of a work that deals with "la production tragique de la Cléopâtre de Jodelle (1553) à l'ultime pièce de Voltaire (Irène, 1778)." While P. faults D. for not analyzing in detail the "renaissance" of tragedy, as well as the failed attempt to establish a devotional tragedy in the 1630s, he finds the volume quite valuable. Citing the utility of the index, bibliography and illustrations, P. states that "le livre de Christian Delmas constitue donc un excellent ouvrage de vulgarisation au meilleur sens du terme." P. concludes, "il [l'ouvrage] met à la disposition d'un très large lectorat une synthèse originale et nuancée, tirant profit des derniers acquis de la critique et illustrée avec un remarquable discernement."

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 91 (1996), 473–74: ". . . this work falls between two stools. It seems uncertain whether it is trying to be a work of scholarship or a student handbook. But as an impressionistic account of classical tragedy containing an unusual amount of iconographic material, the volume is remarkable."

Review: M.-O. Sweetser in PFSCL 23 (1996), 370–371: Reviewer says this study "s'adresse à un public lassé d'une approche trop rigide qui insistait sur la stricte codification du genre, liée à celle d'un ordre monarchique absolutiste." A highly recommended study.

DIDIER, BEATRICE, éd. Les grandes dates de la littérature française. Paris: P.U.F., 1994.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 41–42: "Cette chronologie, où chaque siècle, depuis le XVIe, a été traité par une personnalité différente, se substitue à une autre, signée Chassang et Senninger, dans la même collection et sous le même titre, laquelle avait fait l'objet de mises à jour." Renouvellement des perspectives du XVIIe siècle dans une moindre mesure que des XVIe et XVIIIe siècles; trop de subjectivité à l'égard des titres exclus/retenus du XXe siècle. On suggère un titre plus modeste: Annales de la littérature française.

DI PIERO, THOMAS. Dangerous Truths, Criminal Passions. The Evolution of the French Novel, 1569–1791. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1992.

Review: Eglal Henein in EMF 2 (1996), 175–181: H. summarizes D.'s work as an attempt to "examine[r] un problème ontologique, la vérité, et un problème politique, le développement de la bourgeoisie." Another goal of the work is the effort to "rapproche[r] [les] romans du XVIIe et du XVIIIe." Despite reservations about D.'s assertion that L'Astrée "oppose fortune et mérite," and the lack of a definition of "tromperie," H. welcomes the volume. "Ce livre érudit, généreux et ambitieux, sans être toujours convaincant, reste intéressant et suggestif."

Review: J. W. Lew in ECr 35 (1995), 103–04: Reviewer sees application beyond France, since quite a few of the texts D. examines were well known and influential outside of France. L. appreciates the convincing contextualization but has a number of questions in response to this assessment of the 17th c. novel "engaged in a continual polemic with the discursive configuration of power."

DOODY, MARGARET ANNE. The True Story of the Novel. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1996.

Review: Lorna Sage in TLS 4871 (9 Aug. 1996), 5–6: This revisionist history (intended as an "anti-Ian Watt" as well as an anti-Bakhtine) seeks (Part I) the origin in antiquity of a mythic form (Novel) that performs a liberation rite; traces its afterlife, adaptation, translation, and dissemination (Part II), including its occultation by modern narratives of the development of the novel in the 17th and 18th centuries; and recurring "Tropes of the Novel" that keep its multiplicity alive (Part III). Reviewer is extremely negative on all parts. Description of texts, "gullible and at times careless" becomes something of a cross between Gnosticism and "New Age Mysteries." The exclusions enacted by the "new domestic novel over the dark powers of the Novel's voyage inward is supposed as systematic and mischevious ("as though turning Harold Bloom's rival canon on its head"). The matrix of tropes finally set in place looks much like being back in the Women's Room with Marilyn French. This overall "marshy, semi-fictional, semi-scholarly land that has been reclaimed for credulity by our habits of revisionism."

DOTOLI, GIOVANNI. Perspectives de la recherche sur le XVIIe siècle français aujourd'hui. Fasano/Paris: Schena/Nizet, 1994.

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 91 (1996), 721–22: "This volume from the prolific pen of Giovanni Dotoli contains twelve short essays on potential lines of research in the area of French seventeenth-century literature and art. Each essay focuses on the most recent (1975–94) work in the relevant area and suggests further avenue of exploration."

• See French 17 (1995).

DUCHENE, ROGER et PIERRE RONZEAUD, éds. Ordre et contestation au temps des classiques. Actes du 21e colloque du Centre Méridional de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle jumelé avec le 23e colloque de la North American Society for Seventeenth Century French Literature (Marseille, 19–23 juin 1991). PFSCL/Biblio 17 73 (1992).

Review: C. J. Gossip in MLR 90 (1995), 997–98: Two-volume collection of fifty papers contains "new insights and juxtapositions in its re-examination of a wide range of aspects of classicism and the latter's links with authority, conformity, and dissent." Among the authors treated: Molière, Boileau, Poullain de la Barre, Perrault, Mme de LaFayette, Pascal, Racine, Nicole.

• See French 17 (1994).

EDMUNDSON, MARK. Literature against Philosophy, Plato to Derrida: A Defense of Poetry. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 46, 48: This "book examines the age old struggle between poets and philosophers, revisiting its familiar Platonic origins and demonstrating how this privileging of the knowing, anti poetic stance has been taken up and intensified by philosopher critics within the university structure during the past 25 years. Turning his interrogative gaze on both his profession and himself, E. seeks to show the real limitations of recent critical trends which seek to either shore up academic authority or merely describe literary works, without fully responding to the renovating power of poetry (what he calls 'revitalizing cultural activity'). Sketching out a potentially new role for literary critics, he invites us," according to the reviewer, "to put aside rigid preconceived formulations and the simple response to a literary work of 'What is it?' in favor of the more interesting question 'What can one do with it?'"

EGGINTON, WILLIAM. "An Epistemology of the Stage: Theatricality and Subjectivity in Early Modern Spain." NLH 27 (1996), 391–413.

Analyzes the early 17th-century structural shift to "multilateral representational function." The viewing subject, split as well as unified with the "scene" of the stage is only potentially controllable at this moment when the new functionality is in place. Passing references to contemporary French differences.

ELLRODT, ROBERT. "Literary History and the Search for Certainty." NLH (1996), 529–43.

Useful, up-to-date and suggestive review across methodologies' claims, including Gassendi's empirical view of historical truth, "a still sensible middle way between extremes," others of which are here identified, with an interesting concluding analysis of the author's own Poètes métaphysiques anglais. 3 vols. (1960).

FENOALTEA, DORANNE and DAVID L. RUBIN, eds. The Ladder of Hidden Designs: Structure and Integration of the French Lyric Sequence. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1991.

Review: Warren Motte in FR 69 (1995), 323–24: Essays exploring "how aspects of arrangement in a book of poems give rise to significance at the level of the work." Catherine Ingold focuses on the role of metaphor in the four seasons by Saint-Amant. Rubin examines Book 7 of the Fables and finds in it poetic rhetoric used to elaborate, test, and ground a stable norm for the sequence.

• See French 17 (1995, 1994).

FORSYTH, ELLIOTT CHRISTOPHER. La tragédie française de Jodelle à Corneille, 1553–1640. Le theme de la vengeance. Ed. revue et augm. Paris: Champion-Slatkine, 1994.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 16–17: "L'important ouvrage de E. Ch. Forsyth, publié une première fois en 1962, et réédité avec une préface, laquelle fait excellemement le point sur la recherche en ce domaine depuis plus de trente ans, replace la tragédie française préclassique dans l'évolution du genre, en étudiant tout particulièrement le thème de la vengeance . . . ."

Review: Edmund Campion in FR 69 (1996), 477–78: Important 1962 study reissued with an extensive bibliographical up-date and introductory discussion of research on revenge plays (from Cléôpatre to Horace) since its first publication. Welcomely republished, this study "will maintain scholarly interest in many important but relatively neglected French tragedies."

Review: K. Schoell in PFSCL 23 (1996), 682–683: An updated Slatkine reprint of the 1962 study. Reviewer says that, despite what is now a somewhat narrow definition of the baroque, "cette étude reste valable sur le plan de la méthodologie: démontrant l'intérêt d'un thème central, et sur le plan de l'histoire littéraire pour laquelle l'évolution de la Renaissance au classicisme reste toujours une phase cruciale."

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 1000–1001: "The Forsyth volume is essentially a reprint of the author's masterly 1962 study of the theme of revenge in the tragedy of the period.. To the original text is added a preface in which the author brings his original work up to date through an analysis of the main works in the field published over the past three decades." Two valuable bibliographical supplements: an updated list of the tragedies of the period and an excellent general bibliography.

• See French 17 (1995, 94).

FREEMAN, HENRY G., éd. Twenty Years of French Criticism, FLS, Vingt Ans Après. A Memorial Volume for Philip A. Wadsworth (1913–1992). Birmingham, Alabama: Summa, 1994.

Review: F. Lagarde in OeC 21.1 (1996), 172–75: Ce recueil d'une trentaine d'articles "porte non pas sur la critique telle qu'elle se pratique en France, mais sur la critique universitaire américaine des vingt dernières années ayant portée sur la littérature et la culture françaises." Voir: "l'étude valéryenne de Philip Wadsworth sur La Fontaine et l'idéal classique [qui] met en lumière l'originalité du poète"; et l'article de Hugh Davidson qui "dresse un remarquable, et bien connu, tableau de la critique au XVIIe siècle."

FREEMAN, HENRY C. and SUZANNE HOUYHOUX, eds. Discontinuity and Fragmentation in French Literature. Atlanta: Eds. Rodopi, 1994.

Review: Ernest Strum in FR 69 (1996), 473–74: Collected papers of the FLS 1993 conference. Especially cited as of interest is Susan Baker's paper on La Rochefoucauld and Ross Chambers's introductory essay, "The Et cetera Principle" developing Barthes's exhortation to seek out "le désordre de l'oeuvre." 17th-century contributions are listed separately.

GETHNER, PERRY, éd. Femmes dramaturges en France (1650–1750): Pièces choisies. PFSCL/Biblio 17 79 (1993).

Review: Claire Carlin in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 243–44: Carlin states, "Perry Gethner has performed a wonderful service for seventeenth and eighteenth-century French studies. We are at last able to show our students texts by female dramatists who were successful in all dramatic genres." Among the playwrights included in the volume are Françoise Pascal, Marie-Catherine Desjardins, Anne de La Roche-Guilhen, and Françoise de Graffigny. Reviewer concludes that "Gethner's book adds an essential element to the body of rediscovered texts by women."

Review: Jean-Marc Civardi in IL 48.1 (1996) 30–33: A lengthy review that primarily summarizes plays by the "Femmes dramaturges" in question. In general, however, C. commends G.'s work, stating "Ce volume vient heureusement compléter les diverses anthologies existantes avec un choix de pièces rarement rééditées mais intéressant dans sa diversité. Les notices qui précèdent chaque oeuvre sont également fort utiles car elles donnent l'essentiel de la bibliographie la plus récente." C. especially praises G.'s choice of seventeenth-century plays, and discusses works such as Françoise Pascal's L'Amoureux extravagant, Madame de Villedieu's Le Favori and Catherine Bernard's Laodamie reine d'Epire.

Review: J. Clarke in MLR 91 (1996), 216–17: Invaluable survey of six plays by women dramatists: L'Amoureux extravagant, 1657 (Françoise Pascal); Le Favori, 1665 (Marie-Catherine Desjardins); Rare-en-tout, 1677 (Anne de La Roche-Guilhen); Laodamie reine d'Epire, 1688 (Catherine Bernard); Arrie et Pétus, 1702 (Marie-Anne Barbier); Cénie, 1750 (Françoise de Graffigny). Excellent general introduction examines "such issues as the social class and marital status of the subjects and the education of women and their role in literary society."

Review: K. Schoell in RF 106 (1994), 358: Praised for extending knowledge of French classical literature, this edition makes available six of the best French plays by women in the 17th and 18th c. G. includes a general introduction, a bibliography of French women dramatists of the period, and, for each play, biographical information about the author, historical and aesthetic indications, details on sources and representations, a glossary and other critical apparatus. The six plays demonstrate the good quality and diversity of theater by women. Volume includes a farce, a comedy ballet, a tragicomedy, two tragedies and a "drame."

• See French 17 (1995, 94).

GODARD DE DONVILLE, LOUISE. "Mode et sentiment de culpabilité au XVIIe siècle." TL 8 (1995), 151–69.

Seminal treatment by long standing critic of "la mode" (Signification de la mode sous Louis XIII. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 1976) traces evolution of the concept from an authoritative goddess to "mode falsificatrice." Examines culpability alongside virtue and "la vie de société" and "l'importance du 'paraître'."

GODARD DE DONVILLE, LOUISE, ed. La satire en vers au XVIIe siècle. Littératures Classiques 24 (1995).

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996) 325–26: Volume deals primarily with the question of why this "genre florissant au Grand Siècle ne touche guère le lecteur moderne?" One possible answer suggested is that the satirical poet "exige de son lecteur une écoute attentive" much like that of a "prédicateur." In general, the compendium raises the issues of humanism, Latin antecedents, and the "critique de l'éloquence." D, recommends the work, praising its bibliography and calling it a "stimulant aperçu d'un pan parfois méconnu de la production littéraire du XVIIe siècle."

GOLDGAR, ANNE. Impolite Learning: Conduct and Community in the Republic of Letters, 1680–1750. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996.

Review: Roger Chartier in TLS 4872 (16 Aug. 1996), 12: Reconstruction of the values of scholars in an institutionalization of scholarly sociability following the Revocation and in response to royal and societal pressures, with "great attention to detail and close reading of a wide range of sources." "Undoubtedly the best researched and most perceptive study ever written on the Republic of Letters." Special attention to Bayle and Basnage.

Review: David Sturdy in Isis 87 (1996), 362–63: "Elegantly conceived, erudite in exposition, and based upon an impressive range of sources," the community traced here in its ideals is at its height and already in decline as seen through the Huguenot exiles in the Netherlands. Interesting compromises of ideals and business are presented by following many cases of contracts with printers and editing of journals. The defining qualities undergo challenges also from patronage with "national" interests and in the mockery of Voltaire.

GOODKIN, RICHARD. The Tragic Middle: Racine, Aristotle, Euripedes. Madison: U. of Wisconsin P., 1991.

Review: David Maskell in EMF 2 (1996). 211–13. After outlining G.'s basic line of inquiry based on the Aristotelian concepts of "virtuous middle" and "excluded middle," M. states that G. "offers a detailed discussion of these logical and ethical concepts in relation to the characters and passages from the tragedies." Yet, M. suggests that G.'s "preoccupation with virtuous middle and excluded middle leads to some neglect of the plays as a whole." M. cites what he feels is an incomplete analysis of Jocaste's attempt in La Thébaïde to bring about a compromise between her brothers. He also finds incomplete G.'s contention that Andromaque's plot to marry Pyrrhus then kill herself represents "the first tragic middle in Racine's theatre." Of note, however, are G.'s analysis of word-play, as well as his comments on Euripedes.

GRAFTON, ANTHONY. Defenders of the Text: The Traditions of Scholarship in an Age of Science, 1450–1800. Cambridge and London: Harvard UP, 1991.

Review: C. Kallendorf in RenQ 48 (1995), 177–79: Demonstrates coexistence and collaboration of humanism and science. K. finds these essays elegant if less than tightly unified.

• See French 17 (1991)

GREENBERG, MITCHELL. Subjectivity and Subjugation in Seventeenth-Century Drama and Prose. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992.

Review: R. Albanese in ECr 35 (1995), 86–87: Judged "a major contribution to seventeenth-century French studies," G.'s study focuses "on the self as it becomes subjugated by patriarchal imperatives" as it applies contemporary theory (feminist psychoanalysis takes precedence) to mostly canonical 17th c. texts. A. appreciates G.'s "subtle interconnections between sexual and political order" in Tartuffe, for example. Reviewer fills in references to literary criticism omitted by G.

• See French 17 (1995).

GRIMM, JÜRGEN, et al., eds. Französische Literaturgeschichte. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1991.

Review: G. Holtus in ZRP 111 (1995), 84–87: Praiseworthy and of eminent usefulness to students and specialists alike, this history of literature demonstrates effectively social and political dimensions. G. is responsible for the classical section. Includes bibliography and indices of author, person and work.

GUICHEMERRE, ROGER, ed. Dom Carlos et autres nouvelles françaises du XVIIe siècle. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996), 144: According to L., the purpose of the volume is to "rassemble[r] . . . quelques spécimens caractéristiques de la nouvelle au XVIIe siècle." Among the "nouvelles" mentioned are works by Sorel, Camus, Boursault and Madame de Villedieu. L. describes the "nouvelles" as portraying a "réalisme cru et violent," recalling the baroque and an "écriture imagée" that evokes the Princesse de Clèves. Concluding the review, L. praises the choice of texts, and mentions the "appareil critique" which, while modest, gives readers insights into the genre, the authors, and historical references.

GUTWIRTH, MARCEL. Laughing Matter: An Essay on the Comic. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1993.

Review: M. Smith in JAAC 54 (1996), 86–88: An exploration of why we laugh with examples drawn from 17th-century France. Reviewer finds many of Gutwirth's analyses important but calls them "blinkered" because they do not take the violent antirationalism of laughter far enough.

• See French 17 (1995, 1994).

HARDISON, O. B., and LEON GOLDEN, eds. Horace for Students of Literature: The "Ars poetica" and Its Tradition. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 1995.

Review: E. R. Mix in Choice 33 (1996), 1123: This volume, published after the death of O. B. H., "again reveals [the late scholar's] mastery of literary criticism in historical and philosophical contexts. In addition to G.'s excellent English prose version of the Ars one finds here the texts of five later works, each suggesting . . . the influence of Horace as critic. These post Horatian writers, ranging from Geoffrey de Vinsauf (Fl. c. 1202) to Wallace Stevens, have not been selected for their servility to Horace. Rather, [O. B.] H.'s rich and spirited commentaries search out important differences as well as echoes and similarities. These commentaries, along with the notes to the texts, are both illuminating and enjoyable," says M. "The advanced student will find the host of references to other sources and comments useful. Committed postmodernists may well beware."

HARRIS, WENDELL V. Literary Meaning: Reclaiming the Study of Literature. New York: New York U P, 1996.

Review: C. S. Cox in Choice 33 (1996), 1788: "In this clearly written and accessible book, H. . . . sets out to expose the inadequacies of current methods and trends in literary criticism, which he describes as 'intellectual debris.' The book's greatest strength," says the reviewer, "is its lucid presentation of critical works, which are then shown to be compromised by fallacies and flaws. Nine chapters of discussion consider four main schools Hermeticism, hermeneutics, new pragmatism, and new historicism and their impact on scholarship, professional discourse, and publication longevity." This book "may prove useful in provoking further debate, as interested scholars, teachers, and students set out to critique the book's own fallacies and trendiness while defending their own interests. Not an essential book," in the opinion of C., "but one that is likely to find an interested audience among upper division undergraduates, graduates, and researchers."

HARRISON, HELEN L. Pistoles/paroles: Money and Language in Seventeenth-Century French Comedy. Charlottesville, VA: Rookwood Press, 1996.

EMF Monographs. Study focuses on the interplay of money and language as a system of exchange and on laughter as it relates to theatre and the spectators' economic status.

HARNEIT, RODOLF. "Absurde Verse—paradoxe Prosa: Ungereimpt Alternativan zum Alexandrinertheater im frühen 17. Jahrhundert: Zu Theorie und Geschichte zweier vergessener Innovationsversuche." RJ 44 (1993), 139–63.

Establishes bibliography of tragedies in prose and investigates the nature of the experimental nature of their claims. Periodizes by reference to the patronage of Marie de Medici and of Richelieu. Interesting commentary on Puget de La Serre.

HART, CLIVE and KAY G. STEVENSON. Heaven and the Flesh: Imagery of Desire from the Renaissance to the Rococo. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

HART, JONATHAN, ed. Reading the Renaissance: Culture, Poetics, and Drama. New York: Garland, 1996.

Review: E. D. Hill in Choice 34 (1996), 118–19: Mixed assessment. The editor of this collection "made several poor choices," according to E. D. H., "one being to leave quotations from foreign languages untranslated. Another bad idea was to include a paper of his own that is both the longest and the weakest in the volume. Several eminent scholars contribute pieces that recycle notions they have handled elsewhere. But this volume does feature some attractive and original critical performances," declares the reviewer. One of the "valuable comparative papers" in the volume deals with Hamlet and Racine's Phèdre. The reviewer states that "[g]raduate students and faculty need to have this volume on hand."

HAUSMANN, FRANK-RUTGER, CHRISTOPH MIETHING, AND MARGARETE ZIMMERMANN, eds. "Diversité, c'est ma devise." Studien sur franzosischen Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts. PFSCL/Biblio 17 86 (1994).

Review: J.-P. Collinet in RF 107 (1995), 215–17: Judged varied, dense and worthy of Jürgen Grimm in whose honor it was assembled, the volume includes some thematic and general studies as well as others on genres of poetry, theatre, narrative and epistolary literature. It borrows its motto from La Fontaine and studies of the latter occupy a prominent place. Volume impresses by its high quality of scholarship and authoritativeness.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996), 324: D. summarizes the volume as follows, "J. Grimm se voit honoré d'un riche volume de Mélanges: la bibliographie détaillée des ouvrages et des articles qui ont jalonné sa carrière de chercheur y fait suite à trente-quatre études offertes par ses collègues, disciples et amis. Volume contains articles on La Fontaine, Racine, La Bruyère, Cyrano, and Scarron, among others.

Review: J. Marmier in PFSCL 23 (1996), 392–394: A Festschrift containing 34 studies.

HENRY, FREEMAN G., ed. French Literature Series, Vol. XXII: Perceptions of Values. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi, 1995.

HUNT, LYNN, ed. The Invention of Pornography. Obscenity and the Origins of Modernity. New York: Zone Books, 1993.

Review: Stephan K. Schindler in ECS 29 (1995), 112–113: Highly praised collection of essays that includes Paula Finden on Italian Renaissance pornography at the "intersections of sexuality, politics, and learning" and Joan Dejean on the heritage of the origins of the politics of pornography in L'Ecole des filles.

JENSEN, KATHARINE ANN. Writing Love: Letters, Women, and the Novel in France, 1605–1776. Carbondale/Edwardsville: University of Southern Illinois UP, 1995.

Review: H. Harrison in PFSCL 23 (1996), 688–689: A study of "Epistolary Woman" as a widespread model of femininity: "In their writings and even in their lives, women recreated the drama of the loving, misused, and dependent figures whose love letters won critical approbation." Reviewer states that the study is "of great value not only for gender studies but for all scholars of 17th- or 18th-century literature and culture.

JOUCLA, VERONIQUE. "Vers une métamorphose au quotidien: l'évolution du portrait de la femme hypocrite dans la satire au début du XVIIe siècle." PFSCL 23 (1996), 263–277.

"Les satiriques font évoluer sous nos yeux des bourgeoises ou des femmes du monde pour qui la dévotion est un fard supplémentaire et une forme d'élégance."

KAPP, VOLKER, ed. Les lieux de mémoire et la fabrique de l'oeuvre. Actes du 1er Colloque du Centre International de Rencontres sur le XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17 80 (1993).

Review: Jean-Marc Civardi in IL 48.1 (1996) 33–35: Favorable review of the papers presented in Kiel by the new CIR during the summer of 1993. The conference discussed topics ranging from poetry to religion to mathematics. Over thirty summaries are given, with all papers dealing with the concept of ars memoriae. C. concludes by saying "ce recueil d'actes est donc très cohérent dans sa diversité, et peut être consulté par ceux qui s'intéressent à la littérature aussi bien qu'à l'histoire puisque le concept de "lieu de mémoire" ressortit à l'un et l'autre domaine."

• See French 17 (1995).

KINTZLER, CATHERINE. Poétique de l'Opéra français, de Corneille à Rousseau. Paris: Minerve, 1991.

Review: François Moureau in RHT 45 (1993), 90–92: Based on a thesis presented at La Sorbonne, this book offers a "contribution majeure" on the comparative aesthetics of Opera and Drama. Instead of analyzing the libretto and the musical score separately, she studies "l'articulation du langage dramatique et de la musique", and that approach results in "une des parties les plus originales et les plus profondes de cet ouvrage." Rich with historical and aesthetic insights, the final reflection on the Opera's epithémè —the philosophical conditions underlying an artistic production— "rassemble la matière foisonnante d'une étude combinant savamment le goût littéraire, la science des textes et la sûreté du jugement philosophique exactement informé".

LAGARDE, FRANÇOIS. La persuasion et ses effets. Essai sur la réception en France au dix-septième siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17 91 (1996).

Rhetoric and persuasion during the Classical period, including political and religious considerations.

LA GORCE, JEROME DE. L'Opéra à Paris au temps de Louis XIV. Histoire d'un théâtre. Paris: Desjonquères, 1992.

Review: Marie-Françoise Christout in RHT 45 (1993), 85–86: Except for Nuitter's and Thoinon's works in the late 19th century, there is no complete and methodical study of "l'histoire administrative de l'Opéra sous le règne de Louis XIV." The results of de La Gorce's endeavor are remarkable: "solidement documentée et contée d'une plume alerte, cette histoire (...) éclaire de façon nouvelle une époque (...) complexe et apporte de précieux renseignements tant sur le répertoire que les artistes, le public et les conditions mêmes du spectacle". All in all, it is an "ouvrage de consultation facile" and a "précieuse source de références."

• See French 17 (1995).

LANGER, ULLRICH. Perfect Friendship: Studies in Literature and Moral Philosoophy from Bocaccio to Corneille. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: T. Peach in MLR 91 (1996), 214–15: Thought-provoking study "focuses on friendship narratives to be found in Rabelais's Pantagruel, in Marguerite's Heptaméron, in Montaigne of course, in La Princesse de Clèves, and in Corneille's Cinna and Rodogune . . . ." Other French and Italian authors of the period treated more briefly.

Review: S. Rendall in FrF 20 (1995), 245–46: Considered a "generous, humane book . . . clear, graceful . . . accessible to a wide audience." L. examines classical and medieval concepts and their reformulation and challenges. 17th c. texts include Cinna and La Princesse de Clèves.

• See French 17 (1995).

LEWIS, JAYNE ELIZABETH. The English Fable: Aesop and Literary Culture, 1651–1740. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

LLOYD, ROSEMARY. Closer & Closer Apart: Jealousy in Literature. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1995.

Review: S. A. Parker in Choice 33 (1996), 1470: "Sexual jealousy as a literary device provides a vehicle for the exploration of self, Other, roles, society, and gender in this mature and elegantly written study. L. . . . explores sexual jealousy as a vehicle of control and explains the postsentimental reality of the 19th century, which replaced loyalty to family name or feudal possession by a husband with new obsessions about individual importance. Not a thematic or psychological study, this inquiry into the early modern presentation of sexual jealousy builds on recent critical precepts, rejecting current phallocentric theories, which refuse to account for female desire . . . . Using an eclectic choice of texts but grounded in French fiction, this study presents a series of jealous protagonists who provide readers with techniques of decoding, interpreting, and assessing information in texts. . . . Contains a useful bibliography and index," notes P., who "[h]ighly recommend[s]" L.'s book "for all upper division collections in fiction and gender studies."

LYONS, JOHN D. "The Barbarous Ancients: French Classical Poetics and the Attack on Ancient Tragedy." MLN 110 (1995), 1135–47.

"This rapid survey of classical modernist poetics suggests that we need to ponder the extent to which the formal and aesthetic constraints on seventeenth-century tragedy are in large part an attempt to limit the political impact of ancient tragedy with its extreme and negative representation of the prince. Although d'Aubignac or La Mesnardière probably had little direct impact on the writing of Corneille or Racine, their poetic doctrines help us understand the importance of keeping the barbarous ancients at a distance."

MANTERO, ANNE. "Colletet et la Vie de Joachim du Bellay." OeC 20.1 (1995), 87–95.

"La Vie de Joachim du Bellay, n'apporte pas seulement le témoignage du goût, au milieu du XVIIe siècle, d'un lecteur averti s'il en fût, d'un érudit sans doute, mais aussi d'un académicien qui n'était pas à l'écart des modes littéraires de son temps. Dans ces pages, Guillaume Colletet prend directement pour un des thèmes de sa réflexion la destinée critique du poète."

MANTERO, ANNE. La muse théologienne. Poésie et théologie en France de 1629 à 1680. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1995.

Review: G. Hope in PFSCL 23 (1996), 694–697: Examines the neglected French devotional poetry: "This book does succeed . . . in bringing this complex and distant poetry into close and intriguing context; in a word, M. makes this poetry readable."

MARGOLIN, JEAN-CLAUDE. "La fonction de la fabula dans la pensée d'Erasme de Rotterdam." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 21–44.

Erasme apprécie la valeur pédagogigue des fables et "il étend le concept de fabula à toutes histoires, aux contes, aux légendes et aux mythes.

MARIN, CATHERINE. "Une lecture des contes de fées de la fin du XVIIe siècle: A la lumière de la libre pensée." PFSCL 23 (1996), 477–490.

Despite their appearance of traditionalism, tales written by women reveal the influence of free thought: "les conteuses ont fait de leurs héroïnes des 'esprits forts' luttant pour leur propre réalisation, des individus à part entière qui prennent leur destin en main."

MARKS, ELAINE. Merrano as Metaphor: The Jewish Presence in French Writing. New York: Columbia UP, 1996.

Review: G. Moskos in Choice 33 (1996), 1317: "In this provocative and timely book, M. . . . uses history, literary theory, and psychoanalysis to 'take note of a Jewish presence without establishing a rigid Jewish difference.' She examines a wide range of authors from Garnier and Racine to Cohen and Derrida to demonstrate the inevitability of intertextuality and assimilation in literary texts. M. views this 'contamination' as a positive condition, for it opens up the space of the 'Maranno,' the metaphor she has chosen to express the value of multiple identities. (Marrano is the name Christians gave to Jews in Medieval Spain who converted to Christianity in order to escape persecution, but who remained faithful to Judaism.)" According to G. M., the author "provides intelligent and meticulous readings that deftly illustrate the links between antisemitism, misogyny, homophobia, and the 'death of God.' At the same time, the book is a passionate and persuasive attempt to complicate simplistic notions of identity politics. . . . The book is beautifully written and compelling," says the reviewer. "M.'s arguments will likely be controversial, but no one can deny their power to captivate and challenge the reader."

MATHIS, GENEVIEVE. "Séduction et pulsion de mort au théâtre, de Molière à Bernstein." RHT 187 (1995), 199–212.

A comparative study of the male protagonists in Molière's Misanthrope and Dom Juan, Marivaux's L'Épreuve, and Bernstein's Mélo. The author analyzes the "éléments névrotiques" of the male "complexe de séduction", and concludes that, in Molière, Dom Juan and Alceste, though they appear dissimilar at first glance, are overwhelmed by the spiral of neurosis, and "poursuivent le but inconscient de se retirer de la vie."

MAY, GEORGES. La Perruque de Dom Juan, ou du bon usage des énigmes dans la littérature de l'âge classique. Paris: Klincksieck, 1995.

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 91 (1996), 726–27: May "follows the riddle theme across the seventeenth and eighteenth centures and argues that its function developes from Cotin's innocuous verse puzzles into the bogus naivety of the Lettres persanes and the Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville." Reviewer feels that "the author could have been more specific about the place of each text in the development from parlour game to political weapon" but regards this work as an interesting contribution "to a neglected aspect of the classical age."

MAZOUER, CHARLES. "'La Rosaure, impératrice de Constantinople' (1658)." PFSCL 23 (1996), 561–573.

Uses the scant documents available about the play to look at the theatrical esthetics of the period, showing that the performance represented Italian, baroque, and "total" spectacles: ". . . le succès des pièces à machines a cohabité avec les efforts des théoriciens [of Classicism] . . . ."

MAZOUER, CHARLES, éd. Evariste Gherardi: Le Théâtre italien. Vol. I. Paris: Société des Textes Français Modernes, 1994.

Review: J. Clarke in MLR 91 (1996), 722–23: "Gherardi's Recueil of French scenes from fifty-five plays performed on the stage of the Comédie Italienne in Paris was published in 1700, three years after the Italian actors had been expelled from the capital. Charles Mazouer here presents scenes from just three plays: Fatouville's Le Banqueroutier, Palaprat's La Fille au bon sens, and Boffrand's Les Bains de la Porte Saint-Bernard. Each is accompanied by an introduction and detailed notes."

Review: Donna Kuizenga in FR 69 (1996), 1010–11: Three plays selected from the collection published by G. after the Italiens' expulsion in 1697 shows three stages in the historical collaboration of French and Italian theatrical traditions. Fatouville's Le Banqueroutier, the commedia characters in loosely connected scenes; Palaprat's accomplished La Fille au bon sens, a complete synthesis of styles in a coherent three-acter; Boisfranc's Les Bains de la Porte Bernard incorporating Italian physical acting—especially in the role of Harlequin rewritten by G. "Ample and intelligent" introduction and notes. Text in revised modern French.

• See French 17 (1995).

MC BRIDE, ROBERT and NOEL PEACOCK, éds. Le Nouveau Moliériste, I (1994). Glasgow: Universities of Glasgow and Ulster, 1994.

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 91 (1996), 218–19: "Le Nouveau Moliériste is a worthy attempt at re-establishing a journal devoted entirely to Molière. It consists of seventeen articles on Molière, followed by reviews of half a dozen recent performances of his plays and no fewer than forty pages of book reviews. The title pays slightly ambiguous homage to its predecessor, Le Moliériste, published from 1879 to 1889 by the Comédie Française librarian, Georges Monval." The 1995 volume will be devoted to the theme of religion; the 1996 volume will treat the theme of theatricality.

• See French 17 (1995).

MC MAHON, ELISE NOEL. "Cultural Materialism and Seventeenth-Century French Literature." (Duke University, 1995) DAI (November 1995), 1811.

According to the author, "this study takes a cultural materialist approach to four works of seventeenth-century French literature: Corneille's Médée, La Fontaine's Fables, Molière's Bourgeois gentilhomme, and Racine's Phèdre, and locates each within a particular historical discourse focusing on the human body."

MCQUEEN ANDREW. "Combler non combler: Achèvement et résistance dans l'Histoire des amours de Cléante et Bélise, avec le recueil de ses lettres." PFSCL 23 (1996), 279–302.

"En mettant en question l'achèvement imposé par des modèles narratifs traditionnels,[the work] . . . ouvre un espace pour une action libre, et éventuellement pour la création d'un nouveau modèle de la vie, un modèle sans clôture monologique."

MELTZER, FRANÇOISE. Hot Property: The Stakes and Claims of Literary Originality. Chicago/London: U of Chicago P, 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 285: Meltzer pairs authors such as Descartes and Freud "to explore the anxiety of originality." Reviewer notes the "care not to majoritise minority status per se" and describes the agenda of the book as "a dismantling of the gynophobic, masculinist exclusivity of creativity."

MENKE, ANNE M. "Authorizing the Illicit, or How to Create Works of Lasting Insignificance." ECr 35 (1995), 84–100.

Does not argue for the inclusion of works such as Vénus dans le cloître, L'Ecole des filles . . . or Le Satyre sotadique . . . in the canon, but examines pertinent "conditions of production and distribution." Claims that "the demotion of sex to . . . the literary underground was effected simultaneously with the formation of the doctrine of Classicism." Also reflects on the effect of the academies, the salons and author's rights on "the underdevelopment of erotic fiction."

MERLIN, HELÈNE. "L'auteur et la figure absolutiste: Richelieu, Balzac et Corneille." RSH 238 (1995), 85–96.

"Je me propose de montrer ici comment, au début du XVIIe siècle, la figure de l'auteur s'élabore notamment par référence au modèle absolutiste de l'autorité."

MONTANDON, ALAIN. "Sur les fables allemandes au XVIIIe siècle." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 119–132.

Studies German writers of fables (Stoppe, Hagedorn, Gellert, Lichtwer, Lessing) who, according to M. are more influenced by La Motte than by La Fontaine.

MOUREAU, FRANÇOIS. De Gherardi à Watteau. Présence d'Arlequin sous Louis XIV. Paris: Klincksieck, 1992.

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 47 (1995), 185–186: This collection of previously published articles has two sides: on the first hand, six chapters on "l'Ancien théâtre italien" in Paris, as presented by Evariste Gherardi in his six volume series on Italian Comedy in 1700 —Gherardi played the Arlecchino character in the Italian troupe—, and, on the other hand, six chapters investigating the manner "dont le peintre Watteau a rêvé le théâtre italien". In the first part, Moureau analyzes the moral vision of the Italian theatre as staged in Paris between 1693 and 1696, and shows how that aesthetics of "spectacle" was quite different from its French counterpart: "une très solide bibliographie (...) et un index achèvent ce (...) passionnant recueil, qui servira de base à tous ceux qui s'intéressent à la présence des acteurs italiens à Paris".

MOURIER-CASILE, PASCALINE and DOMINIQUE MONCOND'HUY, eds. Lisible/Visible: problématiques. Semaine Texte/Image. Poitiers, 27 jan. -1 fev. 1992. La Licorne 23. Poitiers: URF de langues et littératures, 1992.

Review: Monique Yaari in FR 69 (1996), 501–2: Brilliant introduction by B. Vouillous, "L'Evidence descriptive," on Lessing and his heritage in distinction from the classical Aristotelian/Horatian tradition and by René Demoris on the readibility of the visible and its subversion by Le Brun and by Poussin. "Etude érudite" by Cl. Belavoine on emblems. D. Desirat presents the main theses of Dubos; D. Moncond'huy, "Le poète commanditaire au peintre aux 16e et 17e siècles"; Ch. Biet, Jesuit pedagogy.

MURATORE, MARY JO. Mimesis and Metatextuality in the French Neo-classical Text: Reflexive Readings of La Fontaine, Molière, Racine, Guilleragues, Madame de La Fayette, Scarron, Cyrano de Bergerac and Perrault. Geneva: Droz, 1994.

Review: Frédéric Briot in IL 48.1 (1996) 35–36: A generally critical review in which B. describes the theoretical approaches taken as inconsistent and "uneven." Specifically, the key term "mimesis" is never clearly explained. Citing other examples of the book's "unevenness," B. states that "La question des genres, et donc des codes qu'ils impliquent des polémiques qu'ils génèrent aurait sans doute mérité d'être prise en considération de façon plus centrale." Reviewer also finds fault with the author's reliance on a number of anglo-saxon commentaries, which are "bien mal connus [en France]."

Review: J.-P. Collinet in RF 107 (1995), 221–22: Mimesis and metatextuality provide the "fil conducteur" which assures the unity of M.'s volume. Even if the content of these two concepts seems at times "flottant," the volume is an "agréable promenade . . . très enrichissante."

• See French 17 (1995).

NEAL, LISA, and STEVEN RENDALL. "Polyphonic Narrative in Early Modern France: A Question of Literary History." RR 87.3 (1996) 297–306.

Article focuses on Bakhtinian polyvocality and frame narrative, while mentioning writers from Marguerite de Navarre to Rousseau. With respect to the seventeenth century, article touches upon d'Urfé, Sorel, and Madame de Lafayette, among others. L'Astrée presents an ambiguous form of polyvocality, since "the frame narrative is the fundamental structural principle of L'Astrée . . . [and] allows the author to knit a series of discrete episodes into a single narrative. Yet, the various characters speak in the same registers and belong to the same linguistic class or "sociolect." In their discussion of Francion, authors discuss plurivocality and heteroglossia in terms of dream narrative and "the broad range of sociolects" represented in characters such as Agathe. The Princessse de Clèves represents a kind of counter-example to the polyphonic novel of the period as its "secondary stories constitute only about 14% of La Princesse," and "as in L'Astrée, the secondary sources do not introduce different voices of languages into the narrative." Authors also mention Guilleragues, stating that the Lettres portugaises have a polyphonic potential that goes unrealized.

NIDERST, ALAIN, éd. Hommes et animaux dans la littérature francaise. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1994.

Review: R Reynolds-Cornell in BHR 58 (1996), 254–58: "This publication of the University of Rouen's Research Center for the History of Ideas and of Sensitivity represents a wide range of specializations, but the common purpose of its authors, philosophers, historians and 'littéraires,' is to substantiate the relatioship between 'human nature' and 'animal nature' and the import of texts that resort to 'animality' to speak to us about 'humanity'."

NUSSBAUM, MARTHA C. Poetic Justice: The Literary Imagination and Public Life. Boston: Beacon P, 1996.

Review: H. L. Carrigan, Jr. in Choice 34 (1996), 118: "Contending that contemporary public discourse is too often restricted by the narrow bounds of pseudoscientific theorizing and the rhetoric of rationalism, N. . . . issues a clarion call for the introduction of the literary imagination into discourses of public life like law and economics." N. "argues that reading novels creates in readers an imaginative sympathy for the lives of others. . . . As she does in Love's Knowledge (1990), N. demonstrates the ways in which reading imaginative literature is an ethical act and reinvigorates the life of culture." C. recommends this study for "[a]ll academic collections."

OBERHELMAN, STEVEN M., VAN KELLY, and RICHARD J. GOLSAN, eds. Epic and Epoch: Essays on the Interpretation and History of a Genre. Lubbock: Texas Tech UP, 1994.

Review: David Fredrick in SoAR 61.1 (1996), 136–38: "In fourteen essays, this volume traces the vicissitudes of epic from Homer through the mid twentieth century; it illustrates well the diversity of the genre and the elusiveness of its formal definition. But it sometimes fails to engage 'epoch,' a term which suggests literary periods and their specific social hierarchies. . . . Omissions also cripple the volume's pursuit of its theme . . . ," according to F. "U. Langer finds that the epic in early modern France becomes a tedious social gesture whose repetition is a symptom of decline; d'Aubigné's Tragiques is the exception, escaping boredom because it attacks the royal court."

PAGLIARI, ROBERTA. "Lettere inedite del duca di Montausier a Madame de Sablé." SFr 113 (38.2),(Maggio-Agosto 94), 265–271.

A critical and historical presentation of five unpublished letters (1639–1641) from the Duke of Montausier to Madame de Sablé, and one note (1678) to Doctor Vallant. They are fine examples of 'lettres mondaines' and appear to be close transcriptions of 'conversations de salon".

PARUSSA, GABRIELLA. Les recueils français de fables ésopiques au XVIIe siècle. Genève: Slatkine, 1993.

Review: A. Gier in ZRP 110 (1994), 772–73: Welcome treatment of this genre whose master is La Fontaine. Includes several "fabulistes occasionnels" as well. Sections on translations of fables, the history of the genre and new editions of old collections complete the volume.

PASQUIER, PIERRE. La mimésis dans l'esthétique théâtrale du XVIIe siècle. Paris: Klincksieck, 1995.

Review: Roger Zuber in RHL 96.3 (1996), 496–97: Favorable review in which Z. praises B. for insisting on "règles" at a time when "la tendance est plutôt d'étudier le classicisme sous la forme du goût." Of note are P.'s study of classicism "dans un bon dialogue avec le baroque," as well as his analysis of "l'importance de Chapelain," and the general influence of Aristotle.

PLANTIE, JACQUELINE. La Mode du portrait littéraire en France (1641–1681). Paris: Champion 1994.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.1 (1996) 139–40: E. welcomes the work, praising "la vigoreuse précision" and the "richesse séminale de l'enquête de Plantié." The "mode du portrait" is examined in many authors, but among the most prominent are Georges and Madeleine de Scudéry, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Bussy-Rabutin and La Bruyère. From a thematic standpoint, one key issue becomes the relationship between "caractère" and "portrait." It is this notion of "caractère," and its moral ambiguity that helps produce a "crise du portrait" in the second half of the Grand Siècle. On the whole, E. highly recommends the book, calling it "un indispensable outil de travail."

• See French 17 (1995).

RAY, WILLIAM. Story and History. Narrative Authority and Social Identity in the Eighteenth-Century French and English Novel. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990.

Review: G. Jucquois in LR 48 (1994), 384–85: Successfully underscores and analyzes a number of themes particular to La Princesse de Clèves and the individual, his/her power, seduction, dreams, etc. The relation between fiction and history is considered as integral to the hermeneutic of a work.

RIGHTER, WILLIAM. The Myth of Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 380. Judged "somewhat ponderous at times," Righter's study reveals inconsistencies and blind spots as it demolishes "a gamut of critical theories from New Criticism to Deconstruction."

ROMANOWSKI, S., and M. BILEZIKIAN, eds. Homage to Paul Bénichou. Birmingham (Alabama): Summa Publications, Inc., 1994.

Review: Edmund J. Campion in FR 69 (1996), 1009–10: Informative introduction on Bénichou and 18 essays focusing, like his scholarship, on a search for ethical, philosophical, and social values. Of special mention are Timothy Reiss and Eleonore Zimmerman on Racine's first two tragedies, Barbara Woshinski on sacred space in Esther, Judd Hubert on fairy tales, Charles G.S. Williams, on Motteville's sense of history, Ralph Albanese on 19th-century reception of Molière.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 500–01: E. introduces the work, saying, "Ce recueil vient illustrer la vitalité des grands thèmes de l'oeuvre de P. Bénichou près de cinquante ans après la parution des Morales du Grand Siècle. The volume privileges theatre, dealing primarily with Corneille, Racine and Molière, but does touch upon La Fontaine's Fables, as well as fairy tales.

Review: M.-O. Sweetsesr in PFSCL 23 (1996), 414–415: A festschrift by American scholars.

RUBIN, DAVID LEE, ed. EMF: Studies in Early Modern France. Vol. 1. Word and Image. Charlottesville: Rookwood Press, 1994.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996), 326–27: D. commends the work, the successor to Continuum, saying, "Ce premier volume, de haute tenue, s'attache aux rapports entre expressions verbale et picturale. Reviewer notes G. Molinié's "rédefinition de la notion de Baroque," as well as D. Russell's and D. Judovitz's study of emblematics, and the discussion of ekphrasis by D. Cosper, D. Kuizenga and M. Vincent. Of note also are J. Gaines's and J. Morgan Zarucchi's contributions on "les figurations de l'absolutisme monarchique."

RUSSO, ELENA. Skeptical Selves: Empiricism and Modernity in the French Novel. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1996.

Review: P. Koch in Choice 34 (1996), 133–34: "Though Western thought has always oscillated between Platonic idealism and Aristotelian realism, their opposition has continued to intensify since the advent, in the late 17th century, of reality oriented empiricism with its insistence on individual experience rather than universal categories. In support of this thesis, R. . . . offers the examples of three first person novels: Prévost's Histoire d'une Grecque moderne (1740), Constant's Adolphe (1816), and des Forêts's Le Bavard (1946)." "Like so many contemporary critical works, this [study] can be considered philosophy illustrated by literature, or the reverse. However classified, the present study is well worth the reader's investment," says K.

SAFTY, ESSAM. "Les sources grecques et latines des principaux topoi des consolations contre la mort dans la poésie baroque." PFSCL 23 (1996), 303–328.

Studies the ancient sources of devout humanism and the reconciliation of paganism and Christianity.

SAINT-JACQUES, DENIS and ALAIN VIALA. "A propos du champ littéraire." Annales 49 (1994), 395–406.

Questions the application of Bourdieu's notion of literary field in pre-ninetheenth-century areas and outside France. Seeks a clearly historical methodology that might properly contribute to a general history of litteratures.

SALWA, PIOTR and EWA DOROTA ZOLKIEWSKA, eds. Narrations brèves, mélanges de littérature ancienne offerts à Krystyna Kasprzyk. Genève: Droz, 1993.

Review: H. C. Jacobs in RF 106 (1994), 329–31: Festchrift of twenty-seven essays on the European short narrative from the Middle Ages to the 18th c. Includes a contribution by R. Guichemerre on Segrais and history.

SANGSUE, DANIEL. La parodie. Paris: Hachette, 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 382: Judged a "helpful aid to students of French literature," this pocket book has as its ambition "the definition of parody from antiquity to the present."

SCHÖPFLIN, KARIN. Theater im Theater. Formen und Funktionen eines dramatischen Phänomens im Wandel. Frankfurt a. M.: Lang, 1993.

Review: C. Bachmann in Archiv 106 (1994), 315–18: Important and needed study offers both historical dimension and analyses of the "theatre in theatre" phenomena. Comprehensive, yet impressive treatment of individual works. 17th c. scholars will appreciate references to Rotrou, Scudéry, Corneille and Molière.

SERROY, J., ed. Romanciers du XVIIe siècle. Littératures Classiques 15 (Octobre 1995).

Review: Marc Escola in IL 47.5 (1995) 38–39: E. calls the collection "une copieuse livraison [qui] se veut . . . un bilan des travaux entrepris durant ces trente dernières années sur le genre romanesque au XVIIe siècle." According to E., "Le Grand Siècle apparaît non seulement comme 'le siècle du roman,' mais bien plutôt comme le siècle des romans." E. then lists brief summaries of the 23 essays appearing in the volume. Describing the essays as "bien informés," E. stresses the different types of novels covered, "de l'Epique à l'Héroique, en passant par le Comique, l'Historique, le Galant, le Bourgeois, l'Ironique."

SHANKMAN, STEVEN. In Search of the Classic. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1995.

Review: Edward E. Foster in P&L 20 (1996), 256–57: In this book, says the reviewer, S. "forthrightly argues that the classic is, of its nature, something that always exists in quest and tension. The classic is not to be located merely in classical antiquity or in the tastes of a privileged class. Though S. grants that these often are associated with the literary classic, he finds the nature of the classic rather in the nature of literature as a state of metaxis or 'in betweenness.' His examinations of classical, neo classical, and modern works define various aspects of this 'in betweenness,' the state of tension that exists in the truly classic at any point in the history of literature." The author "uses Habermas's notion of classic literature as enduring and independent of time and Vogelin's concept of metaxis as foundational for his sprawling, yet lucid, inquiry into the idea of the classic in Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Pindar, Virgil, Dryden, Defoe, Swift, Valery [sic], and others, and in the traditions of the epic, ode, pastoral, and lyric." "Fundamental is the view that classic literature has the greatest power to represent human experience. . . . Literature is neither an abstract kernelization of truth nor an anthology of the things of experience but an analogical conjunction of the two extremes therefore tension, therefore continual quest."

• See French 17 (1995).

SIMON, ALFRED. "Parcours du coeur battant." RDM (juiillet-aout 1996), 61–80.

Chronologie du festival d'Avignon à l'occasion de son cinquantième anniversaire.

SPIER, PETER. "Seventeenth-Century Translations of Spanish 'baroque' texts." SCFS 16 (1994), 119–33.

Concentrates on the complex process of assimilation, adaptation, and acculturation brought into play by translations of Quevedo's Buscon (1633) and Aleman's Guzman de Alfarache (1619–20). Presentation derives from author's recent, unpublished thesis, The Spanish Picaresque Novel in French Translation (Oxford, 1990).

STANTON, DOMNA C. "Sexual Pleasure and Sacred Law: Transgression and Complicity in Vénus dans le cloître." ECr 35 (1995), 67–83.

Disagrees with Lynn Hunt's "predominantly 'subversive' view of 'pornographic' texts in the period 1500–1800" and contests her assertion that 'pornography' 'stagnated' in the period 1665–1740. Vénus dans le cloître dramatizes an ironic mixture of sacred and sexual meanings. S. finds that texts like this and others such as Dom Juan or La Fontaine's Contes et nouvelles are characterized by "transgressions and complicities [which] expose the limits and blindspots of 'oppositional' sexual discourse."

STATEN, HENRY. Eros in Mourning: Homer to Lacan. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995.

Review: John Michael Crafton in SoAR 60.4 (1995), 144–47: In this book S. treats "the representation of love and mourning in selected texts of the major canon of Western literature. S. surveys the various ways that eros and mourning are inextricably linked and the consequent development of different attempts at transcendence as a means of escaping the trap of what he calls throughout the book 'the dialectic of mourning.'" "The chapter on Hamlet and La Princesse de Clèves reveals the crippling tragic effects of the inability to deal with a full awareness of the connection between sexuality and the flesh. While this chapter is very short and offers very few surprises," in C.'s view, "that on Paradise Lost is the stunning centerpiece of this theme. Here S. argues that Milton synthesizes the tradition of courtly love and thanatoerotophobia (S.'s term) and deconstructs it; in S.'s hands it seems that Milton is of Derrida's party without knowing it."

• See French 17 (1995).

STAUDER, THOMAS. Die literarische Travestie. Terminologische Systematik und paradigmatische Analyse (Deutschland, England, Frankreich, Italien). Frankfurt: Lang, 1993.

Review: Wolfgang Karrer in ZFSL 106 (1996), 103–4: Essay on definition of national styles. Treats the French tradition from Scarron through Voltaire. The Fronde is the principal context for treatment of Scarron.

STEINBRUGGE, LIESELOTTE. The Moral Sex: Women's Nature in the French Enlightenment. Trans.Pamela E. Selwyn. Oxford: OUP, 1996.

Review: Biancamaria Fontana in TLS 4857 (3 May 1996), 12: Traces the breakdown of the pioneering "Cartesian anthropology" of Poulain de la Barre (reason has no sex or gender and therefore there cannot be disparity) through the increasingly "sensualist" clarifications of physical and physiological sexuality leading to relegation of the female to a sub-species and reinforcement of beliefs in separate roles and historical experiences. Reviewer strongly stresses a partial account of historical evidence offered for this view by La Méttrie, Helvétius, Buffon, and especially Condorcet.

STENZEL, H. Die französische "Klassik." Literaturische Modernisierung und absolutischer Staat. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgeselschaft, 1995.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 500: For E., the originality of the study lies in its examination of "[le] classicisme louis-quatorzien." In this examination, S.'s study of Boileau "permet de mettre en évidence que la constitution du premier champ littéraire peut apparaître à la fois comme partagé d'une diversité de discours et repli d'une littérature institutionellement revalorisée sur un domaine de maîtrise qui n'est pas immédiatement idéologique ou politique." The work also discusses Chapelain, Balzac, and the "Querelle du Cid." E. concludes by calling the book "très synthétique," while praising its bibliography.

SWEETSER, MARIE-ODILE. "Visions de l'autre dans la tragédie classique: le Romain et l'Oriental." FLS 23 (1996), 51–65.

S. summarizes her goal as follows, "On se propose d'examiner la représentation de l'autre, le Romain et l'Oriental chez Corneille et chez Racine, dans les premières pièces 'romaines' des années 1640, Horace et Cinna d'une part, et l'autre dans Bajazet." In Corneille's case, the choice of Roman venues and characters comes from a pragmatic desire to appeal to Richelieu, and from an esthetic desire to evoke a sense of "la légende" and "l'histoire." Racine, by evoking the violence and cruelty of the Ottoman regime in Bajazet accomplishes the same political goals as Corneille. S. concludes, "Racine créait une horreur et une terreur du despotisme oriental . . . [et] célébrait par contraste les vertus d'un monarque légitime, gouvernant dans le cadre des lois."

TER HORST, ROBERT. "Epic Descent: The Filiations of Don Juan." MLN 111 (1996), 255–74.

Study focuses on the connections between José Zorrilla's Don Juan Tenorio and Tirso de Molina's El burlador de Sevilla. The author finds that "Molière fundamentally alters the issue of Don Juan by portraying him as a rationalist ('deux et deux sont quatre') unbeliever derived from French seventeenth-century atheist philosophy, libertinage, against which he is to serve as a dire example. The French Don Juan, however, follows in the Tirsian tradition by validating his existence at the expense of others."

THOMAS, FRANCIS-NOEL. The Writer Writing. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.

Review: Eglal Henein in EMF 2 (1996), 175–81: H. discusses T.'s work mainly in terms of the Princesse de Clèves. T.'s thesis bases itself in part on Jack Austin's distinction between authorial "intention and purposes." In general, H. finds fault with T.'s reliance on Bussy-Rabutin as a critical point of departure. The reviewer also chides T. for ignoring "la critique de Mme de La Fayette après 1970," and points to recent works such as those by Patrick Henry and Thomas Di Piero as examples of arguments that would undercut T.'s assertion that "le but d'un roman n'est pas d'être différent."

TOBIN, RONALD W., ed. Le corps au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17 89 (1995).

Review: J. Marmier in PFSCL 23 (1996), 705–708: A wide variety of conference papers showing that the body did indeed occupy a place in the literature of the period.

TRUCHET, JACQUES et ANDRE BLANC. Théâtre du XVIIe siècle, III. Paris: Gallimard, 1992.

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 47 (1995), 92–96: Though the reviewer has some reservations on the choice of comedies, —"nos éditeurs sont peut-être encore tributaires d'un modèle classique; on les aurait aimés plus audacieux"—, on typographical mistakes, and on the length and perspective of the 400 pages of notes "composées en petits caractères", he insists that such minor flaws are unavoidable and stresses the "travail considérable et indispensable" of "les savants et patients éditeurs" and admires "la richesse du volume" which will allow "la redécouverte et la plus juste évaluation d'un répertoire trop oublié".

• See French 17 (1995).

VAN DELFT, LOUIS. Littérature et anthropologie: nature humaine et caractère à l'âge classique. Paris: PUF, 1993.

Review: Anne Laure in IL 47.5 (1995), 36–38: According to L., it is the notion of "caractère" that guides Van D.'s study of anthropology in the neo-classical era. L. praises Van D. For the "ampleur" of his point of view, in which "caractère," and its analogue "morale" are studied in terms of unique subjects such as typography, cartography and anatomy. With respect to seventeenth-century France, any notion of "caractère" would forcibly include La Bruyère, whose work Van D. catagorizes as belonging to "l'encyclopédisme de la Renaissance." Les Caractères corresponds to Van D.'s theoretical model because "La Bruyère cartographie. Il anatomise. Il estampe. Il grave." In general, L.'s reaction is quite favorable, as she concludes, "C'était un audacieux pari que de trouver le point archimédien de cet univers composite, et de relire le monde—et La Bruyère—dans cette riche et complexe perspective."

Review: Marie-Odile Sweetser in FR 69 (1996), 634–35: Highest praise for a "passionant ouvrage" with "erudition, vues neuves, ouverture à bien des domaines généralement séparés, remarquable sensibilité aux valeurs esthétiques. Part I traces the traditions of the Theophrastian fixed character in contrast to the open one of Montaigne. Includes "brilliant chapter" (VI) on La Rochefoucauld; II focuses on the dissolution of character and La Bruyère's evolution; III, "Litterature et anatomie" combines medical science, painting, and "anatomie morale" issuing from Gracian in the search for macro-/micro-cosm correspondences.

VAN DER CRUYSSE, DIRK. "Connaissance ou méconnaissance de l'Orient? Images du Siam dans la littérature louis-quatorzienne." FLS 23 (1996), 67–82.

Author begins by summarizing the failed attempt by Louis XIV to colonize Siam in the latter half of the century. After describing the revolt of the Siamese against the French in 1688, the author describes the "corpus très riche de textes français consacrés au Siam, rédigés entre 1662 and 1688." Among the texts mentioned are works by missionaries such as Pierre Lambert de La Motte and Jacques de Bourges, as well as Guy Tachard's Voyage de Siam des Pères Jésuites. Discussing these works, the author concludes that "le discours français consacré au Siam illustre des distorsions optiques inévitables dues surtout à l'emprise de la religion sur les mentalités collectives et la pensée individuelle."

VENUTI, LAWRENCE. The Translator's Invisibility: A History of Translation. London: Routledge, 1996.

Review: Terry Hale in TLS 4875 (6 Sept. 1996), 8–9: Includes examples from the early-modern period on in an all-embracing theory of translation according to which the translation tends to conceal or redirect in an active component of local cultural values—a "domestication" inscribed in the text.

VELAY-VALLANTIN, CATHERINE. L'histoire des contes. Paris: Fayard, 1992.

Review: Laurence Harf-Lancner in Annales 49 (1994), 441–43: French discussion in rich detail concentrating on the mingling of the written and oral traditions in six stories, among which the 17th-century Barbe-Bleue (Perrault), Geneviève de Brabant (Père de Cériziers), Marmoisan (Marie L'Heritier).

WARNER, MARINA. From the Beast to the Blonde. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1995.

Review: Anon. in VQR 72 (1996), 84: "In this detailed and engaging study, W. traces the origins of the fairy tale and its tellers going as far back as the classical Sibyl and neatly bringing us up to date by including contemporary writers . . . . What follows is a study that touches on the religious, mythical, and secular influences which have shaped both the story and the storyteller. The importance of the link between women's history and storytelling is explained by W. . . . The focus of this critical study is on fairy tales with family dramas at their heart. In the process," declares the reviewer, "W. herself becomes a spellbinding teller of women's history. Through meticulous gathering of information and intelligent analysis of the tales, W. goes beyond any previous studies . . . . This book is a brilliant scholarly work which makes it essential reading for specialists and anyone interested in the genre and in history from a feminist point of view."

WARNER, MARINA, ed. Wonder Tales. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.

Graceful translations into English by G. Adair, J. Ashberry, R. Bolt, T. Cave, and A. S. Byatt of six fairy tales by Catherine D'Aulnoy, Marie-Jeanne L'Heritier de Villandon, Henriette-Julie de Murat, and Charles Perrault. Well-informed introduction discusses authors and the genre.

WATERSON, KAROLYN, ed. Réflexions sur le genre moraliste au dix-septième siècle. Dalhousie French Studies 27 (1994).

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (mars-avril 1996), 326. D. welcomes the volume, saying, "la recherche sur les formes et la portée des genres moraux au dix-septième siècle, très active ces derniers temps, s'enrichit de neuf études formant . . . [un] recueil riche de perspectives nouvelles sur les plus illustres des 'moralistes français'." Among the articles mentioned are J. Lafond's essay on La Rochefoucauld's apology of "la mondanité," M. Escola's study of "Rhétorique et discontinuité" in the Caractères, and B. Papasogli's discussion of "souvenirs imperceptibles" in Lamy.

• See French 17 (1995).

WATT, IAN. Myths of Modern Individualism: Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Robinson Crusoe. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996.

Review: K. P. Mulcahy in Choice 33 (1996), 1788–89: The author "examines four literary characters who have attained mythic status in Western culture." "W. notes that he is writing for a general audience rather than specialists, but his erudition and breadth of mind are fully evident as he traces these four figures from their origins through their transformations in the Romantic era to their most recent literary incarnations." M. praises the book, saying it "is intellectual and literary history at its best. Recommended for all collections."

WEINBERG, M. GRAZIA SUMELI. "The Myth of Don Juan and Feminine Sensibility: A New Turning Point?" JES 26 (1996), 141–51.

Noting that ". . . the absence of a universally accepted version of D. J. has encouraged authors throughout the centuries to present this male figure in ever different and novel ways," W. discusses "a play entitled Don Juan, by . . . Dacia Maraini, published in 1976. M., perhaps the best known feminist writer in Italy," according to W., "freely adapts characters and scenes from all her predecessors [Molière's Dom Juan is one of numerous versions W. had cited] while retaining the essential parts of the story . . . ." W., referring to Shoshana Felman on "the problematic of promising in Molière's play Dom Juan," says that F. is one of the "women literary theorists whose works will help to shed some light on Maraini's play." Maraini's "characterization of D. J. owes much to Molière's . . . ," says W., but the Italian playwright "shows how, . . . by appropriating language for pure enjoyment, Juan turns the system of patriarchy on its head, revealing its basic contradictions and weaknesses."

WELLER, FRANZ-RUDOLF. "Literaturwissenschaftliche und literaturdidaktische Neuerscheinungen. Eine Sammelbesprechung mit Blick auf den Französischunterricht." NS 94 (1995), 175–206.

Review article surveys a number of collections dealing with French literature from various perspectives: themes, sources, literary history, canon or reading lists, student editions. Thoughtful essay raises pertinent questions such as: "Why is Corneille's L'Illusion preferred over Le Cid [or] . . . Moliere's Tartuffe . . . over L'Avare?."

WENTZLAFF-EGGBERT, CHRISTIAN, ed. Le langage littéraire au XVIIe siècle: De la rhétorique à la littérature. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1991.

Review: Catherine Grisé in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 257–59: Quoting W.-E., G. summarizes the work as "a collection of 22 articles dealing with the evolution of literature during the course of the seventeenth century towards a more genre-based view of literary expression as well as towards the establishment of fixed criteria for new esthetics of taste." Among the most noted essays are contributions from Bernard Bray on the "epistolary," Robert Garapon on "the rhetoric of comedy," as well as Aaron Kibedi Varga on "prose fiction," Jean Mesnard on "philosphical language" and Jürgen Grimm on "La Fontaine's indirect rhetoric." G. criticizes "the lack of any apparent order (dispositio) in the presentation of these articles," but suggests that "Most of the articles are stimulating and informative."

WOODROUGH, ELIZABETH, ed. Women in European Theatre. Oxford: Intellect Books, 1995.

Review: P. Gethner in PFSCL 23 (1996), 711–712: Includes articles on women theatre professionals in 17th-century France and Aphra Behn and Madame de Villedieu.

ZANGER, ABBY E. "Writing about Sex and . . . " ECr 35 (1995), 3–8.

Z. is guest editor of this issue which focuses on 17th c. France, a century "widely accepted as one of the turning points in the history of erotic writings." Since the body is a symbol of society, the subject is vast, extending to alchemy, political disorder, writing itself, the intertext, and so forth. Purpose of this issue was "to challenge . . . or entice the reader . . . to continue exploring this largely uncharted field."

ZIPES, JACK. Fairy Tale as Myth: Myth as Fairy Tale. Lexington, KY: UP of Kentucky, 1994.

Review: Elizabeth A. Warner in JES 26 (1996), 210–11: W. says that this "book [is] . . . not . . . about the traditional oral folk tale but about the literary folk tale and, in particular, about the manipulation in literate cultures of what have come to be regarded, often erroneously, as quintessential folk tale situations and propositions. [Z.'s] set of essays begins with the sanitization of the traditional magic tales (Zaubermärchen) for the French salons of the seventeenth century, where the folk tale was transformed into a paradigm for 'proper behaviour,' a means to practise the verbal wit and social skills of high society ladies. Z. reminds us that what we have often come to regard as the canonical versions of many famous tales . . . are in fact no such thing."

• See French 17 (1995).

ZUBER, ROGER. Les Belles infidèles et la formation du goût classique. Paris: Albin Michel, 1995.

Review: P. Hourcade in PFSCL 23 (1996), 713: A reprint of the 1968 study of the influence of translations on Classicism.

• See Part III: Pitassi, Maria

ACARIE

• See Part III: Cruickshank, John

AMYRAULT

• See Part III:  Chevalier, Françoise

ARNAULD, ANGELIQUE

• See Part III:  Courcelles, Dominique

ARNAULD

CARR, THOMAS M. JR. ed. Réflexions sur l'éloquence des prédicateurs (1695). Philippe Goibaut du Bois, Avertissement en tête des Sermons de Saint Augustin. Geneva: Droz, 1992.

Review: Charles Teisseyre in RHEF 81 (1995), 338–39: Welcomes the publication of the Du Bois text with Arnauld's. An ample historical introduction sets the context ably. The editing "offre toutes les garanties de rigueur textuelle."

• See French 17 (1995, 1994, 1993)

KREMER, LEMAR J., ed. Interpreting Arnauld. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

MOREAU, DENIS. "Arnauld, les idées et les vérités éternelles." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 131–156.

In his acceptance of the thesis called "creation of eternal truths" and in his refusal of the univocity of knowledge between God and man, and the univocity of being, we should see Arnauld's loyalty to Descartes, and the theologian's unique position in the history of cartesianism. The author asks if scholars should not find in his works an authentic "cartesian theology."

• See also Part III:  Hansen, Hans V.
• Part V:  Descartes; Ariew, Roger
• Pascal; Darriulat, Jacques

AUVRAY

DEBAISEUX, MARTINE. "Les Egarements du Récit ou le Récit des Egarements: 'La Pourmenade de l'Ame Dévote de Jean Auvray'." CdDs 6.1 (1992) 139–61.

At the beginning of her article, D. states "le but de mon analyse est de montrer le côté traditionel de ce texte par rapport à la poésie religieuse de son époque, mais aussi la distance que l'auteur prend par rapport à ses modèles dans cette suite de mises en scène d'une grande variété ayant pour objet commun la contemplation du Christ." D. associates the "dramatisation" of Auvray's work with the phases of Ignatian meditation, and discusses how the three parts of the Pourmenade are linked through what she calls a "lecture analogique qui se base sur la mise en oeuvre de correspondances ou de contrastes significatifs."

BALZAC

JEHASSE, JEAN and BERNARD YON, eds. Guez de Balzac, Epistolae selectae 1650. Saint-Etienne: U de Saint-Etienne, 1990.

Review: M. Mund-Dopchie in LR 48 (1994), 379: A fine contribution to Balzac studies and to neo-Latin studies as well, this edition includes a French translation, notes, index and introduction. M.-D. appreciates the situation of the 35 unedited and 20 re-edited letters in the context of the period with all its humanistic themes. J. and Y. "font surgir avec science et finesse . . . tout le milieu du libertinage érudit."

• See also Part IV:  Beugnot, Bernard
• Merlin, Hélène
• Stenzel, H.
• See also Part V:  Chapelain; Jouhaud, Christian
• Descartes; Cavaille, J.-P.

BARBIER, ANNE-MARIE

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

BARCLAY

FUMAROLI, MARC. "A Scottish Voltaire: John Barclay and the Character of Nations." Trans.Maya Slater. TLS 4842 (19 Jan. 1996), 16–17:

Densely suggestive presentation of B.'s Icon animorum (1612), dedicated to Louis XIII (Trans. L'Examen des esprits, 1617, 1624) as a hybrid text—memory book and prudential manual as well as anthropology and sociology summing up the traditions of Castiglione, Huarte, Bodin, and foreshadowing the moralistes. Stresses the harmony lying beyond the diversity of natural types; his Francophilia; observation of the French nobility and participation in the nobility of "lettres." A bedside book of Richelieu (as was the Argentis), B.'s views offer an educational and reforming model of a kind of "European education"... "in essence waiting to be discovered."

BASNAGE

• See Part IV:  Goldgar, Anne

BAYLE

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/Maarssen: Holland Univ. Press, 1994.

Review: Roger Zuber in BSHPF 140 (1994), 650–51: Extremely useful listing of authors and books reviewed by Bayle. The critic is, as a young man, yet in the Erasmian mold, an "homme orchestre," whose vast readings and correspondence are detailed here with precision. The editor may be seen as a minister (not a priest) and the republic of letters as his church. Good analysis of irony as a means of polemic against the Revocation.

• See French 17 (1995)
• See also Part III:  Laursen, John C.
• Part IV:  Goldgar, Anne

BERNARD, CATHERINE

PIVA, FRANCO, éd. Catherine Bernard: Oeuvres. Tome I: Romans et nouvelles. Fasano/Paris: Schena-Nizet, 1993.

Review: J.-P. Collinet in RF 107 (1995), 217–18: Rejoices in this publication which will hopefully soon be followed by B.'s theatre and poetry. Judged opportune and very fine, P.'s edition includes an excellently documented introduction.

Review: Simone Dosmond in IL 48.1 (1996), 37: D. commends this edition of Bernard's novels and "nouvelles," which, she says, will help "mieux . . . connaître et apprécier un auteur qui gagnerait à être redécouvert." Among the works mentioned in the edition are Frédéric de Sicile, Eléonor d'Yvrée, Le Comte d'Amboise and Inès de Cordoue. D. praises P.'s attention to editorial detail, mentioning "d'abondantes notes infrapaginales [qui] font ressortir de variantes parfois infimes et [qui] dégagent avec une remarquable minutie les sources littéraires ou historiques auxquelles la romancière a puisé." From a thematic standpoint, the volume highlights B.'s pessimism, which, D. argues, "contraste avec l'optimisme de Madeleine de Scudéry, [et qui] correspond bien à l'esprit fin de siècle."

Review: Nina Eckstein in FR 69 (1996), 482–83: Contains the youthful Frédéric de Sicile and the four novels included under the heading "Les malheurs de l'amour" (1687–96). A copiously documented introduction maintains B.'s sole authorship and with a skillful comparison with Mme de Lafayette's techniques demonstrates B.'s significant place in the development of prose fiction. Notes on sources, glossary, and index are carefully prepared and may contribute to a deserved wider readership for these "sparse, polished gems, tracing the ineluctable defeat of love."

Review: M. Grevlund in RevR 30 (1995), 148–150: "Une heureuse initiative franco-italienne remet sur le marché les oeuvres en prose de Catherine Bernard. Un second tome comprendra ses poésies et les deux tragédies Laodamie et Brutus.

Review: M. Hall in MLR 90 (1995), 1002: ". . . it is clear that the editor has successfully launched a project that will introduce an important and neglected author to a wider range of readers. All Bernard's narrative fiction is contained in this volume, in particular, the three 'nouvelles historiques' (Eléonor d'Yvrée, Le Comte d'Amboise, and Inès de Cordoue) on which any assessment of her worth and historical importance as a novelist must rest."

Review: Roger Zuber in BSHPF 140 (1994), 484: Welcomes this first collective edition.

• See French 17 (1995)
• See also Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

BERULLE

• See Part III:  Morgain, Stephanie

BOILEAU

LEWIS, PHILIP. "Fragmented Text and Continuous Reading: A Longinian Text and Some of its Implications." FLS 21 (1994), 25–33.

Examines Boileau's translation of Sapho. His "honnête liberté" there, as in the larger issue of the gaps in Longinus' text, is not simply a desire for continual/organic shape; it represents from inside the creative act the movement of the sublime. Fine close reading and a very striking characterization of the "sublime."

WOOD, ALLEN G. "Boileau, the 'Croix Blanche,' and 'Satire I'." OeC 20.3 (1995), 263–272.

"It is important, therefore, to examine further this critical period surrounding the publication of the Satires in 1666 as it relates to Boileau's involvement with the Croix Blanche in order to comprehend better the initial reception of his texts and to examine moral isues raised in the satires and the polemics surrounding their publication. Since Boileau was identified as a débauché, the significance of the term and the details of Boileau's life at this time call for greater clarification."

WYGANT, AMY. "Boileau and the Sound of Satire." FMLS 31 (1995), 128–39.

Compellingly argues that B's Prologue d'opéra is not a failed opera prologue but rather a small gem of satire." Special attention is paid to B.'s rhyming ideal; the poet's practice here of a " 'meta-rime-sécurité' . . . is, itself, satiric."

• See also Part III:  Godard de Donville, Louise
• Timms, Edward
• Part IV:  Bertrand, Dominique
• Chauveau, Jean-Pierre
• Clark, Kathleen
• Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Stenzel, H.

BOISFRANC

• See Part IV:  Mazouer, Charles

BOSSUET

COUTON, GEORGES. La Chair et l'âme. Louis XIV entre ses maîtresses et Bossuet. Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1995.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996) 324–25: D. states that in this work, "il s'agit d'une chronique des amours de Louis XIV entre 1661 et 1685." The originality of the volume, however, lies in Bossuet's reaction to the king's extra-marital relationships. B. describes C.'s approach as that of a "décryptage des sermons et des oraisons prononcés par Bossuet tout au long de ces années." The focus is on Bossuet's "langage figuré," and his use of "figures bibliques" in which the orator invites the king to "faire retour sur lui-même, à se repentir."

FLASCHE, HANS. "Bossuet und Pascal: Zum Nachleben der Lehre von Erfahrung des Herzens." RJ 45 (1994), 117–41.

Dense, eloquent and suggestive, examination of Bossuet's panegyrics and sermons comparing and contrasting the "ordre du coeur." Builds on insights of Strowski but substantially renews earlier treatments. Sustained use of Saint François de Sales.

LOCKWOOD, RICHARD. "Figures of Power: Rhetoric and Political Theory in Bossuet." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 125–37.

L. examines the manner in which Bossuet tries to reconcile humanity's fall with the divine right of kings. For L., the central question is "[h]ow does this abyss of emptiness [that is human depravity] relate to the plenitude and presence which, in Bossuet's political theory, make kings the ultimate example of Godly authority on Earth?" Studying Bossuet's funeral orations for the Henriettas of France and England, L. states that this seemingly political problem is a rhetorical one, and concludes that the ultimate answer lies "not [in] preachers, but [in] the listener, who must insure that the preacher's words have effect," when arguing the legitimacy of divine right.

MEYER, JEAN. Bossuet. Paris: Plon, 1993.

Review: Georges Asselineau and Therese Goyet in RHEF 81 (1995), 476–77: Reviewers give a substantial number of corrections of fact and in some cases interpretation. General reservations prevail concerning a certain rhetorical drift that takes Meyer, despite understanding for B.'s "passions créatrices," away from the shaping vocation, business, and actions of his life.

• See French 17 (1993).
• See also Part II:  O'Regan, Michael
• Pouzet, Régine
• Part III:  Naudin, Pierre
• Part V:  François de Sales; Bordes, Hélène

BOUILLAU

NELLEN, HENK J.M. Ismael Bouillau (1605–1694): Astronome, épistolier, nouvelliste et intermédiaire scientifique: ses rapports avec les milieux du 'libertinage erudit'. Amsterdam: APA, 1994.

Review: Robert A. Hatch in Isis 86 (1995), 645–46: Massive undertaking displaying remarkable archival skills in tracing the life in greater detail than has previously been done, even while omitting work as astronomer and mathematician. Part II focuses on five representative correspondents and interchanges with them (Jacques Dupuy, Heinsius, J.-A. Portner, Stanislas Lubienietzki, Johannes Hevelius) and is of interest for discussion of epistolary genres. Pintard's characterization of B. is now superseded: B. was in no way a freethinker or non-conformist. The reviewer is preparing a calendar of the B. correspondence.

Review: Jacques Solé in RHEF 81 (1995), 477–78: Appreciative summary of the newly detailed life, stressing travel, disappointments in terms of official recognition, respectful distancing from power and conservatism ("conformiste et pusillanime"). The choice of correspondence is seen as revealing of overall intellectual concerns. This study, "très probe, très fouillée, et bien informée," nonetheless leaves open matters of future research on the network of correspondents, his functions as "informateur politique," the forms of his curiosity. Agrees that Pintard's characterization has been superseded.

BOURDALOUE

• See Part Part III:  Naudin, Pierre

BOURIGNON, ANTOINETTE

• See Part III:  Chevalier, Marjolaine

BOURSAULT

• See Part IV:  Guichemerre, Roger

BUSSY-RABUTIN

• See Part II:  Citton, Yves
• Part IV:  Briot, Frédéric
• Plantié, Jacqueline
• Thomas, Francis-Noèl
• Part V:  Scudéry, Madeleine; Niderst, Alain
• Sévigné; Bray, Bernard
• Sévigné; Duchêne, Toger

CALLOT

• See Part II:  Richard, Marie

CAMUS

• See Part IV:  Guichemerre, Roger

CERIZIERS

• See Part IV:  Velay-Vallantin, Catherine

CHALLE, ROBERT

CORMIER, JACQUES et MICHELE WEIL, éds. Continuation de l'histoire de l'admirable Don Quichotte de La Manche. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: R. Howells in MLR 90 (1995), 1004–1005: Critical edition by two of Frédéric Deloffre's collaborators clearly sets out "the wider bibliographical complexities" of the work's history. The editors argue persuasively through stylistic evidence that Challe is the author of the 1713 Volume VI, the Continuation.

Review: H. Klüppelholz in RF 107 (1995), 224–26: Welcome edition fills a genuine need as it treats historical and literary approaches to the text, presents the 1713 version of the Continuation and includes significant critical apparatus (bibliography, textual variants, grammar, indices of name and theme).

CHAPELAIN

JOUHAUD, CHRISTIAN. "Sur le statut d'homme de lettres au XVIIe siècle." Annales 49 (1994), 311–47.

Examines primarily the 809 letters to some 109 correspondents written from 1632 to 1640. A welcome renewel of material clarifying C.'s self-image as a man of letters. Important section on "Amicus amico: Guez de Balzac."

• See also Part IV:  Pasquier, Pierre
• Stenzel, H.

CHORIER, NICOLAS

LEIBACHER-OUVRARD, LISE. "Transtextualité et construction de la sexualité: la Satyra sotadica de Chorier." ECr 35 (1995), 51–66.

L.-O. establishes numerous classical references as she analyzes the "jeux transtextuels" and demonstrates that the Satyre is a "roman philosophique et libertin" as well as an erotic novel.

TURNER, JAMES GRANTHAM. ''Aloisia Sigea' in France and England: Female Authorship and the Reception of Chorier's Erotica." OeC 20.3 (1995), 281–294.

"This paper argues that what separates Chorier's Satyra from the other erotic fictions, and ensures it a privileged place in the illicit canon, is its fabrication of a "female erudite voice," reduplicated in the speakers of the dialogue and the supposed author.

COLLETET

• See Part IV:  Mantero, Anne

CONRART

• See Part III:  Mélanges à Robert Sauzet

CORNEILLE, PIERRE

BLACK, MOISHE. "Don Diègue manipulateur." PFSCL 23 (1996), 539–560.

Argues that the character is much more complex than the monument of virtue that he has traditionally been considered to be.

BOUVIER, MICHEL. "Cinna ou la disgrâce critique." PFSCL 23 (1996), 219–228.

Studies Auguste's decision before the beginning of Act V to pardon Cinna's crime: "Sans le savoir, Auguste est entré dans la logique du pardon quand il a décidé de garder le pouvoir à la fin de la scène 1 de l'acte II en s'en remettant à son coeur magnanime qui aime Rome."

DEYRES, MARCEL. "Suréna, précédent tragique de Chatterton." RHT 187 (1995), 213–226.

A close study of the last act of Suréna shows that Vigny's Chatterton was, by far, more influenced by Corneille than by Racine. The author asserts that "les parentés entre ces deux pièces sont trop étroites pour les priver d'un lien peut-être essentiel dans l'évolution du théâtre français," and examines how Vigny's theatrical aesthetics were indebted to those of Cornelian tragedy.

FORESTIER, GEORGES, ed. Le Cid, 1637–1660. Paris: Société des Textes Français Modernes, 1992.

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 47 (1995), 182: G. Forestier publishes the 1637 version as edited by Maurice Cauchie for the S.T.F.M. in 1946 with "à la suite, avec les variantes postérieures à 1660, le texte de l'édition collective de 1660." This "heureuse initiative" gives this critical edition its "originalité" since the reader will easily be able to compare the baroque and classical versions.

• See French 17 (1995, 1993, 1992)

FORESTIER, GEORGES. Essai de génétique théâtrale. Corneille à l'oeuvre. Paris: Klincksieck, 1996.

Review: Pierre Pasquier in IL 48.2 (1996), 46–47: P. calls F.'s study "parfaitement réussie." Quoting the author, P. describes F.'s project to "mettre au jour la démarche créatrice de Corneille, c'est-à-dire de reconstituer le processus d'élaboration de la tragédie cornélienne." Of note in P.'s review is his explanation of F.'s analysis of Corneille's "composition régressive," where the dramaturge "tire d'abord de l'histoire un élément fondamental destiné à lui servir de dénouement[,] puis édifie à rebours une intrigue cohérente en dotant ses personnages de comportements adaptés aux exigences de l'action ainsi tramée." Praising the work's "rare intelligence," P. concludes his review calling for similar studies on Racine, Boyer, and Rotrou.

FORESTIER, GEORGES, ed. Suréna, géneral de Parthes. Paris: Livre de Poche, 1993.

Review: Milorad R. Margitic in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 241–42. A "very well done" edition according to the reviwer. In a general sense, Margitic praises Forestier for producing an edition of a text rich in meaning, but overlooked by critics. Among the most useful aspects of the edition are Forestier's notes, his "Repères chronologiques," and a relatively thorough bibliography.

• See French 17 (1995, 1994)

GEORGES, ANDRE. "L'appel de Polyeucte et de Néarque au martyre." RHL 96.2 (1996), 192–211.

G. asks the general question of whether or not one should approve of Polyeucte's zeal to reveal his Christian faith during a pagan ceremony. Answering this question, H. examines Church doctrine, which, while in some cases condemns "les excès de zèle," also "inscrivit à son martyrologe des chrétiens qui se sont volontairement offerts au persécuteur." G. applies this ambiguity to the play itself, asking why Polyeucte would want to declare his faith at a pagan temple when he has only been a Christian for two hours. For G., one line of argument is found in Polyeucte's dialogue with Néarque in scenes 5 and 6 of Act II. The dialogue in question reaches a level of "rencherisssement" where God "se sert de Néarque" to increase Polyeucte's religious fervor.

LICHTENSTEIN, JACQUELINE. "The Representation of Power and the Power of Representation." Trans.Paul Joseph Young. SubStance 25.2 (1996), 81–92.

"Corneille's theater is a political theater, or rather, it is a theater of the political." L. explains: it "is not so much in the service of politics, nor the expression of political ideas, as much as it is the staging of a thinking about the political." C., whom L. calls "no doubt the most important political thinker of the seventeenth century . . . , is constantly raising questions about the nature of power, the foundations of its legitimacy, about the relationships between ethics and politics, about the legitimacy of force, or about state interests (raison d'état), in short, taking up all of Machiavelli's writings. But what is interesting," says L., "is that this political thought, this response to M., is not enunciated in the form of a theoretical treatise, but rather in a theatrical form." L. discusses Horace, Cinna, and La Mort de Pompée. There are also references to Le Cid.

LOUVAT, BENEDICTE, ed. Corneille, Oedipe. Toulouse: Société de Littératures Classiques (Klincksieck), 1995.

Review: J. Emelina in PFSCL 23 (1996), 692–693: Reviewer calls this an excellent edition of a work that is a "borne milliaire" in the history of 17th-century tragedy and a decisive turning point in C.'s career.

NORMAN, LARRY F. "Pour une approche dynamique de la magnanimité chez Corneille." RR 87.2 (1996), 178–94:

N. begins his study of "magnanimité" in Corneille by making a paradoxical link between La Rochefoucauld's definition of "magnanimité" as "un noble effort de l'orgueil par lequel il rend l'homme maître de lui-même pour le rendre maître de toutes choses," and Auguste's pardoning of the title character in Cinna. He argues that the link between C. and La R. occurs in the "ambiguïté éthique des termes tels que 'l'ambition' et 'l'orgueil'." These terms are closely asssociated with C.'s concept of "magnanimité," and it is their inherent vagueness which leads to "une complexité dramatique" upon which much of C.'s dramaturgy is founded. The article presents an Aristotelian approach to "magnanimité," and examines this theme in plays such as Suréna and Nicomède.

POIRIER, GERMAIN. Corneille, témoin de son temps, II. Le Cid. PFSCL/Biblio 17 84 (1994).

Review: D. Clarke in MLR 90 (1995), 1001–1002: Negative review of this allegorical reading of the play "as a figurative representation of the post-Tridentine Catholic Church's difficulties in reconciling authority with empirical science and the new rationalism." Reviewer notes that "nearly a tenth of the quotations offered as evidence of a hidden relationship to events in the 1630s are alterations published in 1660, and occasionally even later. No less important than a careful regard for chronology is a full presentation of supporting references, but these too are lacking. Such disregard for the demands of careful scholarship means that this study must be dismissed as fatally flawed."

Review: Georges Forestier in RHL 96.3 (1996), 505: Unfavorable review in which F. finds untenable P.'s thesis that Le Cid stands as a Jesuit allegory in which "Rodrigue est l'incarnation du soldat du Christ, don Diègue celle de l'Institutuion catholique [et] l'arrogant comte de Gormas figure l'Humanisme gallican." In his conclusion, F. surmises "[O]n jugera cette entreprise à la fois méthodologiquement affligeante et intellectuellement dangereuse."

• See French 17 (1995, 94).

RATHE, ALICE. La Reine se marie. Variations sur un thème dans l'oeuvre de Corneille. Geneva: Droz, 1990.

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 46 (1994), 375–376: Alice Rathe's approach "s'apparente à celle des expériences scientifiques": she analyzes "les diverses combinaisons possibles d'une thématique," in this case, the marriage of the queen in ten plays. The author, in her conclusion, defines a global solution: "ou bien la reine se trouvera un partenaire égal, ou bien elle gouvernera seule." The bibliographical data is accurate but the typography is not impeccable. In short, it is a study "ni centrale ni fondamentale, mais utile et éclairante".

• See French 17 (1995, 1993)

SWEETSER, MARIE-ODILE. "Refus de la culpabilité: Médée et Corneille." TL 8 (1995), 113–23.

Inspired development of a "refus de la culpabilité" on the part of the dramatist, corresponding to that of Médée and Cléopâtre. Building on an allegorical reading of Marc Fumaroli, S. interprets C's "refus . . . à travers les initiales du dédicataire [PTNG] . . . de l'Epître de Médée," as "Pratique d'un théâtre d'un nouveau genre." Insightful remarks on "droit positif" and "droit naturel" chez Médée.

• See also Part II:  Baumgartner, E. and L. Harf-Lancner
• Schapira, Charlotte
• Wikander, Matthew
• Part IV:  Blanchard, Jean Vincent
• Boquet, Guy
• Forsyth, Elliott Christopher
• Langer, Ullrich
• McMahon, Elise
• Merlin, Hélène
• Romanowski, Sylvia
• Schöpflin, Karin
• Stenzel, Thomas
• Sweetser, Marie-Odile
• Weller, Franz-Rudolf

CORNEILLE, THOMAS

• See Part V:  Scarron; Montet, Elisabeth

CYRANO DE BERGERAC

ALCOVER, MADELEINE. "Sisyphe au parnasse: La réception des oeuvres de Cyrano aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles." OeC 20.3 (1995), 219–250.

"L'histoire de la réception de Cyrano est scandée par un évènement, celui du Romantisme, et un événement, celui de la publication des manuscrits de L'Autre Monde, du Pedant Joué, et des Lettres. Le premier apporta à Cyrano de brillants thuriféraires (Nodier, Gautier), le second relança entièrement le débat: il dure encore." Alcover n'examine que la première et plus hostile phase de la réception de son oeuvre.

BAKER, SUSAN READ. "Visions of the Baroque: Cyrano de Bergerac's 'La Mort d'Aggripine'." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 37–54.

B. states that she will "focus specifically on the role of enargeia (pictorial vividness) in Cyrano's dramaturgy, arguing that it is the vigor and frequency of this rhetorical practice that confers a recognizable baroque quality upon the tragedy." Among the themes B. highlights are those of hallucination and delirium, where she states "visual, olfactory, gustatory and auditory images merge in a kind of baroque synesthesia."

GAUTHIER, PATRICIA. "A propos de l'idee de fragmentation dans L'Autre monde de Cyrano de Bergerac." FLS 21 (1994), 45–53.

Contradiction and ludic moments signal a failure to systematize (including the utopian fiction that will preserve the complexity of life).

MAZAHERI, HOMAYOUN. "La conception matérialiste de la mort dans La Mort d'Aggripine de Cyrano de Bergerac." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 37–54.

H. argues that the character of Séjanus is Cyrano's "porte-parole" with respect to ideas of death. For H., Séjanus represents a materialistic, atheistic figure whose concept of death corresponds to Cyrano's because this idea "est précédée de considérations socio-politiques, et qu'elle est suivie de remarques sur la métaphysique." Specifically, these considerations emphasize a "démystifi[cation] de toute morale aristocratique." After analyzing key passages of Act II, scene iv, H. summarizes his argument stating that "la vision matérialiste de la mort . . . rejoint en quelque sorte la pensée bourgoise, dans sa double critique de la religion et de la noblesse."

MONCOND'HUY, DOMINIQUE, ed. La mort d'Aggripine. Paris: La Table Ronde, 1995.

Review: Jacques Prévot in IL 48.2 (1996), 45: Favorable review where P. gives special praise to the preface, which he notes is "vive et intelligente, [et qui] définit en quelques pages l'esprit de l'oeuvre: pessimisme historique et politique, peinture d'un monde de violence, de mensonge et de fausseté, rupture critique de l'illusion théâtrale." Reviewer cites some infelicities, but in general describes the edition as "très bienvenue."

MURATORE, M.J. "Narratives Unbound: Drycona's Quest for Textual Liberation in L'Autre Monde." SCFS 16 (1994), 93–103.

Examines narrative uniqueness as a plea for artistic freedom and a repudiation of convention and its implication that narrative always valorizes diegesis over mimesis. A well-informed and fresh reading that refocuses some previous claims for the text.

SANKEY, MARGARET, ed. L'Autre monde ou les Empires et Estats de la Lune. Ed. Diplomatique d'un manuscrit inedit. Paris: Lettres modernes, 1995.

• See also Part IV:  Beugnot, Bernard
• Clark, Kathleen
• Hausmann, Frank-Rutger, et al.
• Muratore, Mary-Jo

D'ANGLETERRE, HENRIETTE

DUCHENE, JACQUELINE. Henriette d'Angleterre. Paris: Fayard, 1995.

Review: P. Constant in RDM (novembre 1995), 142–46: Belle biographie d'Henriette d'Angleterre dans laquelle D. "analyse des années 'entre parenthèses' que représente le temps de l'éducation des filles, de cette princesse en particulier."

• See also Part II:  Duchêne, Jacqueline

D'AUBIGNAC

• See Part IV:  Lyons, John D.

D'AUBIGNE, AGRIPPA

BAILBE, JACQUES, éd. Agrippa d'Aubigné. Paris: Champion, 1995.

Review: G. Banderier in BHR 58 (1996), 293–95: Recueil de dix articles qui forme "le second volet du diptyque inauguré par la thèse de J. Bailbé sur Agrippa d'Aubigné poète des 'Tragiques' (1968)."

BANDERIER, GILLES. "'Le poème de la 'Création' et le problème de son attribution à Agrippa d'Aubigné." BHR 57 (1993), 585–98.

L'auteur trouve que "la 'Création' n'est pas de d'Aubigné, ni de l'un des siens; le manuscrit unique a été inclus par hasard dans le fonds Tronchin, sa provenance est inconnue. Les toponymes relevés semblent indiquer que l'auteur est venue de l'Ouest de la France . . . . La place importante dévolue à la médecine peut accréditer l'hypothèse selon laquelle nous avons affaire à un homme de l'art. Les chants XI–XIII sont les seuls où l'auteur consente à rompre avec la monotonie elliptique qui caractérise les autres passages. Sans doute s'agissait-il d'un de ces médecins-poètes, comme notre littérature en a connu des centaines, tels l'obscur Charles Bouvart (c. 1572–24 octobre 1658), qui devait commettre des vers dignes, dans leur médiocrité, de la 'Création'."

DESCHODT, ERIC. Agrippa d'Aubigné, le guerrier inspiré. Paris: Robert Laffont éd, 1995.

Review: Nicole Casanova in QL (16–29 février 1996), 16–17: Neither simply evoking nor recounting d'A.'s life, the author of this book "monte en croupe sur le même cheval et suit. Le résultat est un torrent d'images effrayantes, sous entendues par une méditation religieuse ininterrompue et fervente, éclairées par des passions amoureuses d'une violente sincérité, tout cela étant finalement dit par un génie poétique noir et incandescent comme les bûchers de l'époque. On parvient difficilement à retrouver la suite logique des étapes. C'est qu'il n'y en avait pas. . . . Une chronologie, à la fin de l'ouvrage, permet de s'y retrouver, si l'on y tient. Le biographe a choisi la voie la plus difficile, mais la plus vivante et expressive, et donc, le héros étant ce qu'il est, la meilleure."

LESTRINGANT, FRANK, éd. Agrippa D'Aubigné. Les Tragiques. Paris: Gallimard-N.R.F., 1995.

Review: G. Banderier in BHR 57 (1995), 775: ". . . une édition maniable, commode, à jour, qui, sans se substituer à Garnier-Plattard et à la Pléïade, devrait demeurer sur nos tables de travail de nombreuses années."

LESTRINGANT, FRANK. "De l'autorité des 'Tragiques': d'Aubigné auteur, d'Aubigné commentateur." RSH 238 (1995), 13–23.

"Il se trouve qu'en s'insinuant dans l'intertexte biblique, Les Tragiques rejoignent cette strate fondatrice, ce sous sol de la pensée religieuse, et acquièrent du même coup le statut de livre sacré." "D'A. a t il jamais été l'auteur véritable des Tragiques? Il le dit et le répète tout au long de son poème, c'est une oeuvre qui s'est faite en dépit de lui, contre lui, comme venue du dehors, dictée par l'Esprit." "Comme avec la Bible, d'A. entretient avec son poème une relation ambiguë, d'intimité jalouse et de distance intimidée." "Si la proposition n'était hérétique," says L., "on pourrait dire que Les Tragiques sont un livre de plus ajouté à l'Ecriture sainte, à l'intersection de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament, pour dire et annoncer la nouvelle Nouvelle Alliance conclue entre Dieu et les élus du dernier âge."

SCHRENCK, GILBERT. La Réception d'Agrippa d'Aubigné (XVIe–XXe siècles). Contribution à l'étude du mythe personnel. Paris: Champion, 1995.

Review: Y. Le Hir in BHR 57 (1995), 769–70: "G. S. a eu raison de rassembler diverses études, bien informés et mises à jour, sur la fortune d'A. d'A., dont la trajectoire se montre curieuse au fil des siècles." Bibliographie et Index des noms utiles.

• See also Part IV:  Blanchard, W. Scott

D'AUBIGNE, CONSTANT

BANDERIER, GILLES. "Un Texte inédit de Constant d'Aubigné." BHR 58 (1996), 97–104.

"Le volume no. 160 du fonds Tronchin (Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Geneve) contient, à la suite de la fameuse 'Lettre à Madame sur la douceur des afflictions,' un petit texte manuscrit de trois feuillets qui semble autographe, intitulé 'Harangue du fils aîné de Monsieur d'Aubigné à l'anterrement de Monsieur de Rohan'." Constant d'Aubigné composa sa harangue en 1599, au moment où le corps de René II de Rohan, héros du parti huguenot, fut transféré à Blain, fief des Rohan.

D'AULNOY, MME

DEFRANCE, ANNE. "Écriture féminine et dénégation de l'autorité: les Contes de fées de Madame d'Aulnoy et leurs récits cadres." RSH 238 (1995), 111–26.

"A qui s'intéresse aux contes de fées, la question de l'auteur se pose de façon complexe." In this article D. offers "un aperçu de ce que pouvait être le rapport d'un écrivain féminin à l'autorité, dans les dernières années du XVIIe siècle. Les 25 contes de Mme d'A. représentent le tiers de la production de cette décennie," says D., "production essentiellement féminine. Certains d'entre eux sont encadrés par des nouvelles qui proposent une mise en scène des conteurs et des auteurs au milieu de leur public. . . . Ces nouvelles nous renseignent sur l'identité et le rôle de l'auteur des contes de fées, tels que pouvait les revendiquer ou les rêver à l'époque une femme écrivain. C'est à ce titre qu'on se propose ici d'explorer ces textes."

WELCH, MARCELLE MAISTRE. "La satire du rococo dans les contes de fées de Madame d'Aulnoy." RevR 28 (1993), 75–85.

". . . les vingt-quatre contes de fée que Mme d'Aulnoy a publiés en 1697, offrent à l'étude du genre l'échantillonage le plus complet de thèmes d'inspiration et de motifs ornementaux correspondant à l'émergence du style rococo." W. trouve que Mme d'Aulnoy "a démasqué les efforts de l'élite régnante qui se créait une existence en marge du réel. Pourtant, il faut remarquer qu'elle-même a limité sa critique au domaine de l'observation et de la satire des moeurs, en bonne moraliste classique, consciente des travers des hommes, mais silencieuse, ou indifférente, à la question sociale implicite. En cela, elle appartient encore au siècle de Louis XIV."

• See also Part IV:  Warner, Marina

DE GRAFFIGNY

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

DE LA ROCHE-GUILHEN

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

DESCARTES

ARIEW, ROGER, and MARJORIE GRENE, eds. Descartes and His Contemporaries: Meditations, Objections, and Replies. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1995.

Review: W. F. Desmond in Choice 33 (1996), 1146: "Too many people today read D.'s Meditations in isolation," says the reviewer. "The premise of this volume is that the Meditations is already a set of objections and replies to D.'s previously published Discourse on Method and that to fully understand the Meditations one must read the Objections and Replies as well. This volume takes a critical look at who the objectors are and the philosophical presuppositions that motivate their work. Given this historical and philosophical background, D.'s work is seen in its entirety, which in turn helps explain D.'s impact on his contemporaries and vice versa. This is evidenced by citations of many of the correspondences between D., his objectors, and Mersenne. This collection," says W. F. D., "constitutes an astounding piece of philosophy and philosophical history . . . . For those who are interested in furthering their understanding of D., Hobbes, Gassendi, and Arnauld, or the philosophical underpinnings of Scholasticism, occasionalism, and the geometrical method of philosophy, this book is invaluable," states the reviewer, who "[h]ighly recommend[s]" the volume "at all levels."

AUCANTE, VINCENT. "La thérapeutique de Descartes dans les Remedia et vires medicamentorum." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 71–87.

The author gives a series of excerpts from Descartes's writings on therapeutics taken from Leibniz's manuscripts. He concludes that "la thérapeutique cartésienne se révèle indissociable d'une étiologie où l'union de l'âme et du corps devient la clé ouvrant le chemin de la guérison."

BARDOUT, JEAN-CHRISTOPHE. "Descartes et la fortune." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 89–99.

Descartes uses the word "fortune" very often without ever defining its meaning. However, this term should not be interpreted as a non critical use of a term borrowed from Antiquity. The author concludes that "la fortune n'est plus tant référable à la struture métaphysique —et physique— du monde qu'à notre pouvoir de connaître. Si elle n'est plus rien dans les choses, elle naît dans notre esprit et traduit la finitude de nos facultés cognitives (...) la fortune s'avère, dès lors, une notion 'critique' en désignant ce qui s'avère inobjectivable."

BEDOUELLE, THIERRY. "L'unité de la science et son objet. Descartes et Gassendi: deux critiques de l'aristotélisme." EP 51. 1–2 (1996), 49–69.

Both Descartes and Gassendi wrote their first major work against aristetolian philosophy. Descartes distorts Aristotle's thought in a coherent manner, and elaborates a new understanding of science, whereas the latter severs all links between subject and object, and negates the very principles of Aristotelian philosophy. However, if Descartes frees himself from the Greek master, Gassendi remains dependant. In the end, the 1640 dialogue between the two French philosophers will confirm this difference in the treatment of the collapse of Aristotelian philosophy.

BOURIAU, CHRISTOPHE. "Descartes est-il un penseur 'critique'? Quelques réflexions." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 177–187.

The author tries to show a "critical" side of Descartes's philosophy. The philosopher's queries on the problems linked to the size of the world and the number of its components make him a forerunner of Kant.

CAVAILLE, J.-P. "Le Plus éloquent philosophe des derniers temps." Annales 49 (1994), 349–67.

Begins with Chapelain's 1637 praise of Descartes and seeks to define the ways in which D. destined his own contemporary readership by imposing his self-image as the creator of a new philosophy: on the one hand the learned and scholars who would certify his institutional standing; on the other the cultivated general public, readers of Balzac and admirers of Corneille, of which Chapelain is the spokesman. His intervention in 1628 into the polemics over Balzac's eloquence is a significant indicator of the latter.

COTTINGHAM, JOHN, ed. Reason, Will, and Sensation: Studies in Descartes' Metaphysics. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1994.

Review: Abraham Anderson in PhQ 46 (1996), 547–50: Reviewed with Essays on the Philosophy and Science of René Descartes, ed. Stephen Voss (Oxford UP, 1993). The Cottingham volume includes essays by Bernard Williams ("D. and the Historiography of Philosophy"), Tom Sorell ("D.'s Modernity"), Stephen Gaukroger ("The Sources of D.'s Procedure of Deductive Demonstration in Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy"), Peter Markie ("D.'s Concepts of Substance"), Carol Rovane ("God without Cause"), Howard Wickes ("D.'s Denial of the Autonomy of Reason"), Donald Cress ("Truth, Error, and the Order of Reasons: D.'s Puzzling Synopsis of the Fourth Meditation"), Peter Schouls ("Human Nature, Reason, and Will in the Argument of D.'s Meditations"), Vere Chappell ("D.'s Compatibilism"), Michelle Beyssade ("D.'s Doctrine of Freedom: Differences between the French and Latin Texts of the Fourth Meditation"), Margaret Wilson ("D. on Sense and 'Resemblance'" "a very important paper and the strongest in the volume," in A.'s opinion), Lilli Alanen ("Sensory Ideas, Objective Reality, and Material Falsity"), Ann McKenzie ("The Reconfiguration of Sensory Experience"), and Stephen Voss ("D.: [T]he End of Anthropology").

DAUVOIS, DANIEL. "Idée, peinture et substance." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 157–175.

The author attempts to follow and explain the pictorial metaphor through which the cartesian idea is sometimes defined.

DEPRE, OLIVIER. "De la liberté absolue. A propos de la théorie cartésienne de la création des vérités éternelles." RPL 94.2 (1996), 216–242.

The author comments upon the passages in Descartes's works in which the doctrine of eternal truths is expounded. He confronts Descartes's theory with earlier metaphysical systems, and to the critiques by Spinoza and Leibniz.

DE RAYMOND, JEAN-FRANÇOIS. La Reine et le philosophe: Descartes et Christine de Suède. Paris: Lettres modernes-Minard, 1993.

Review: G. Jucquois in LR 48 (1994), 381–82: Judged "suggestive," this volume with preface by Stig Stromholm, illuminates D's role as an "éveilleur" who helps Christine de Suède recognize her vocation in its religious and philosophical ramifications. Treats D. and C's meeting, the successive dialogue in the epistolary exchanges, the queen's political choices, and D.'s influence.

DUPUIS, MICHEL. "Le cogito ébloui ou la noèse sans noème. Levinas et Descartes." RPL 94.2 (1996), 294–310.

The author attempts to demonstrate that Levinas's phenomenological theory was inspired by a close reading of Descartes.

GAJANO, ALBERTO. "Enseigner et apprendre chez Descartes: la connaissance des principes dans les 'Regulae ad directionem ingenii' et la 'recherche de la vérité'." RPFE 116. 2 (1995), 165–190.

The author makes a systematic comparison between two unfinished works by Descartes: the Regulae, left incomplete after 1628, and la Recherche, also uncompleted and unfinished. Both treatises tried to establish the fundamental rules of teaching and learning, of 'doctrina' and 'disciplina'. The similarities are compelling, and both works put emphasis on the 'cogito' and the foundation of metaphysical and scientific rules expounded in the Méditations. Their conclusions on the validity of judgement and knowledge stress "la nécessité de chercher la science à l'intérieur de soi."

GAUKROGER, STEPHEN. Descartes: An Intellectual Biography. Oxford-N.Y.: OUP, 1995.

Review: William Shea in Isis 87 (1996), 544–45: Unqualified praise for this attempt to see D. "in the whole and to show the interplay between his philosophy and science." Explains his education in greater detail than is usually the case and offers insights into odd behavior toward fellow scientists. Shows repeatedly that what passes for scholarship is a "caricature of D.'s real intentions." Chronological table and appended biographical sketches are both valuable.

JAMART, GERALDINE. "Logique, mathématique et ontologie: La Ramée, précurseur de Descartes." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 17–28.

The author tries to substantiate Heidegger's view that the Regulae have an ontologial significance, and outlines the similarities between La Ramée's and Descartes's main theses on mathematics and knowledge. Both La Ramée's dialectics and Descartes's mathesis universalis have strong "ontological" bearings "close to mathematics".

KAMBOUCHNER, DENIS. L'Homme des passions: Commentaires sur Descartes. 2 vols. Paris: Albin Michel, 1995.

Review: Jean Lacoste in QL (1er 15 décembre 1995), 21–22: Reviewed with Geneviève Rodis Lewis, Descartes: Biographie (Calmann Lévy éd.). "C'est ce Traité des passions de 1649, où la thèse dogmatique du dualisme de l'âme et du corps se modifie pour étayer une morale de la générosité, 'remède général contre tous les dérèglements des passions,' que D. K. étudie article après article dans les deux volumes de L'Homme des passions . . . , un ouvrage monumental dans la lignée de Martial Guéroult . . . ." "Il ne m'appartient pas ici de choisir entre le D. historique de G. R. L., qui reste fidèle au catholicisme de son enfance et qui tempère par la 'générosité' ce que le libre arbitre a d'absolu au regard de Dieu, et le D. plus problématique, déjà spinoziste? , de D. K., qui considère que les dogmes de l'immortalité de l'âme et de la Providence ne font pas partie des principes qui fondent l'éthique."

LARRADE, PHILIPPE. "Le tournant 'discursif:' de la vérité métaphysique à la vérité dans l'ordre du discours." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 223–239.

The author examines how the "linguistic turn" is making contemporary thinkers appear as anticartesian. By studying Heidegger's radical criticism of cartesian modernity and discussing some recent commentators's reappraisal of the cartesian cogito —Marion, Apel, and Habermas—, he establishes distinctions between "cartésianisme naïf," "cartésianisme profond" and "néocartésianisme" in postmodern philosophy.

LORIES, DANIELLE. "Du bon sens le mieux partagé." RPL 94.2 (1996), 243–270.

The author contrasts cartesian generosity with the phronesis of the Nicomachean Ethics. "L'enjeu" of such a comparison is to "faire apparaître à même les textes relatifs à la générosité les raisons que l'on a de voir en Descartes un moderne champion de la liberté."

MARCOS, JEAN-PIERRE. "Gouvernement de soi et contentement." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 101–129.

Cartesian moral theory is not egocentric since it tries to make compatible a thesis on free will and a thesis on divine Providence. To undertake reasonably and accept much of what happens to us are the two keys to Descartes's formula of contentment. By being able to distinguish between what is self-dependant and what definitely exceeds its capacities, the ego will be content.

OLIVO, GILLES. "L'évidence en règle: Descartes, Husserl et la question de la mathesis universelle." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 189–221.

Basing his analysis on a review of Husserl's interpretation of Descartes, the author examines how the French philosopher, from the Discours de la méthode to the Meditations, kept asserting the constitutive primacy of method over sciences, metaphysics included, in keeping with his project of mathesis universalis.

QUILIEN, PHILIPPE-JEAN. Dictionnaire politique de Descartes. Lille: Pubs. De l'Universite de Lille, 1994.

Review: Simone Goyard-Fabre in RMM 101 (1996), 283–84: Reviewer doubts whether either the two essays prefacing the entries, or the entries themselves, are really the matter for political philosophy except in a much extended sense of "politique." What does fall under that looks very familiar.

RENAULT, LAURENCE. "La philosophie cartésienne et l'hypothèse de la pure nature." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 29–47.

The author argues that the "théorie de la pure nature," as defined in Descartes's writings, first appeared in Cajetan's and Suarez's commentaries on the Summa theologica by Thomas Aquinas, and that the French philosopher's conception of human knowledge was influenced by the ethical theory put forward by Thomas of Aquinas's commentators.

ROBINET, ANDRE. "Le référent 'dialectique' dans les Regulae." EP 51.1–2 (1996), 3–15.

Descartes's Regulae should be studied in the light of Renaissance dialectics (1520–1630) which was heavily influenced by the Dialectique of La Ramée (1555). The author shows that Descartes's conception of "dialectics," which finds its basis in the intuition of single natures, and puts forward its development in mathesis universalis, could be interpreted as a result of a century-old philosophical tradition.

RODIS LEWIS, GENEVIÈVE. Descartes: Biographie. Paris: Calmann Lévy éd, 1995.

Review: Jean Lacoste in QL (1er 15 décembre 1995), 21–22: Reviewed with Denis Kambouchner, L'Homme des passions: Commentaires sur Descartes (Albin Michel). "Cette biographie [de R. L.] vaut en particulier par l'exploitation habile qui est faite de l'ample correspondance publiée jadis par Adam et Milhaud et par l'évocation des multiples amis et correspondants de l'auteur des Principes . . . ." "En même temps, le portrait qui nous est présenté nous donne l'image d'un homme qui recherche la solitude, la retraite et la paix ce qu'on appelait au XVIIe siècle le 'désert' et qui aspire à la 'félicité d'une vie tranquille', loin des 'soins et des passions', pour mener à sa guise ses réflexions." "En même temps," says the reviewer, "G. R. L. montre fort bien, par l'analyse minutieuse des années de jeunesse, ce que ce goût du repos, qui est en fait l'expression d'une extraordinaire contention d'esprit, peut avoir de libre, d'impatient, de rebelle même."

SEPPER, DENNIS L. Descartes's Imagination: Proportion, Images, and the Activity of Thinking. Berkeley: Univ. Of California Press, 1996.

TIMMERMANS, BENOIT. "L'analyse cartésienne et la construction de l'ordre des raisons." RPL 94.2 (1996), 205–215.

According to the author, Descartes's method is related in some ways to the architectural model of analysis as developed by Galen. He rejects Vuillemin's objection based on the asymmetrical nature of cartesian order, and concludes that Descartes only uses analysis when a given order is confused and troubled and hence it is necessary to discover and construct it.

VAN WYMEERSCH, BRIGITTE. "L'esthétique musicale de Descartes et le cartésianisme." RPL 94.2 (1996), 271–293.

"La musique a (...) été le moteur de la réflexion esthétique chez Descartes." However, Cartesians, including Rameau, did not grasp the evolution of Descartes's philosophy of art. In his later works, he developed a more subjective aesthetics in which the beauty of a piece of music becomes relative to the emotion felt: "l'émotion musicale appartient au monde des passions, dont la raison ne pourra rendre compte dans sa complexité. Aussi Descartes sépare-t-il strictement beauté et perfection en musique."

VOSS, STEPHEN, ed. Essays on the Philosophy and Science of René Descartes. New York: Oxford UP, 1993.

Review: Abraham Anderson in PhQ 46 (1996), 547–50: Reviewed with Reason, Will, and Sensation: Studies in Descartes' Metaphysics (Oxford: Clarendon P, 1994). "The essays [in V.'s collection] range from the phenomenological reflections of Michel Henry on the Cartesian soul to close studies of D. on scientific method. . . . Most striking," in the reviewer's opinion, "are Dennis Sepper's careful 'Ingenium, Memory, Art, and the Unity of Imaginative Knowing in Early D.' . . . ; Margaret Wilson's paper on 'D. on the Perception of Primary Qualities' . . . ; Evert van Leeuwen's 'Method, Discourse, and the Act of Knowing' . . . ; Genevieve Rodis Lewis' learned and allusive survey, in 'From Metaphysics to Physics,' of the paradoxes involved in that transition; and Alan Gabbey's learned and lucid 'D.'s Physics and D.'s Mechanics: Chicken and Egg?' . . . ." "Marjorie Grene's 'The Heart and Blood: D., Plemp, and Harvey' is graceful and enlightening," says A. "Daniel Garber's 'D. and Experiment in the Discourse and Essays' offers useful remarks on the relation between reason and observation in the analysis of the rainbow." According to A., ". . . the most powerful and important single paper in this volume, and one of the most important contributions to D. studies known to [him], is Gary Hatfield's 'Reason, Nature, and God in D.' H. explains Cartesian doubt as motivated not, in the first instance, by the quest for certainty about God or the world of the senses but by D.'s ambition to destroy hylomorphism. . . . H. reveals the barriers presented by Aristotelian realism about essences to D.'s ambitions for a mathematical physics."

WACHBRIT, ROBERT. "Cartesian Skepticism from Bare Possibility." JHI 57 (1996), 109–129:

Argues that Descartes' "evil demon" did not represent a skeptical argument. Reevaluates the traditional view of the philosopher's skepticism.

WOLF-DEVINE,C. Descartes on Seeing: Epistemology and Visual Perception. Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1993.

Review: A Mark Smith in Isis 87 (1996), 169–70: Sharply focused and precise overview of D.'s theory of perceptions and its immediate historical and philosophical grounding. Chs. 1–3 evaluate D.'s theory of light and vision in reaction to the Aristotelian paradigm and his intention to de-animate the perceptual process. Ch. 4 focuses on the diffiuculties of judgment on purely mechanist grounds, since judgment is mediate. Traces theory as it develops through the Dioptique, Les Météores, Le Monde, and Le Traité de l'homme.

• See French 17 (1993).

ZAVRIEW, ANDRE. "Descartes au miroir." RDM (mai 1996), 134–41.

Z. souhaite "évoquer l'auteur du Discours en cette année anniversaire de sa naissance." Il propose "un retour sur les textes que deux grands écrivains [Péguy et Valéry], dont l'acuité intellectuelle est notable, ont consacré à Descartes, au début et au milieu de ce siècle. Plus que les divergences d'analyse, on le verra, les concordances sont singulières."

• See also Part III:  Bono, James
• Chevalier, Marjolaine
• Cook, Patricia
• Deschênes, Dennis
• Dilman, Ilham
• Ginena, Ann
• Grayling, A. C.
• Lindau, Iddo
• Langraf, Edgar
• Mancosu, Paola
• Parkinson, G. H. R.
• Sutton, Geoffrey
• Timmermans, Bénoît
• Tully, James
• Watson, Richard
• Wilson, Robert
• Wolterstorff, Nicholas
• Yolton, John
• Part IV:  Beugnot, Bernard
• Meltzer, Françoise
• Part V:  Arnauld; Moreau, Dennis
• Gassendi; Ostler, Margaret
• Leibniz; Bouquiaux, Laurence
• La Fontaine; Ganim, Russell
• Pascal; Hammond, Nicolas
• Woolhouse, Roger

DESJARDINS, CATHERINE

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

DESMARETS

TOMLINSON, PHILIP, ed. Jean Desmarets (de Saint-Sorlin), Aspasie, Comédie, Texte établi et commenté. Genève: Droz, 1992.

Review: V. Mecking in ZRP 111 (1995), 450–52: Praised for its ample introduction, carefully edited text is based on the 1636 version and contains an index of affective and moral terms in the form of a concordance, and a short bibliography. Reviewer finds D.'s vocabulary of great philological interest and offers elucidations.

DU LORENS

• See Part III:  Godard de Donville, Louise

DU NOYER, MME

GOLDWYN, HENRIETTE. "Les Mémoires d'une 'affranchie': Mme du Noyer." OeC 20.3 (1995), 272–280.

Selon Goldwyn, Mme du Noyer " s'affranchit de conventions sociales non pour savourer égoïstement des plaisirs défendus mais pour assumer pleinement son rôle de protestante qui garde la foi, de mère qui protège sa progéniture féminine, de témoin de sa fin de siècle et de ses nombreux déboires. C'est moins une libertine qu'un esprit libre qui crée ses propres lois et leurs statuts."

D'URFE

GREGORIO, LAURENCE A. The Pastoral Masquerade: Disguise and Identity in L'Astrée. Saratoga: Anma Libri, 1992.

Review: D. Chouinard in SYM 50.1 (1996), 69–70: ". . . quelques articles brillants ont déjà soulevé la question du travestissement et des avatars de l'identité chez les personnages du roman, mais, à notre connaissance, les études d'ensemble sur le sujet n'existent guère. Or, ce livre vient combler une lacune évidente, et il le fait de manière rigoureuse et stimulante."

Review: G. Penzkofer in RF 106 (1994), 354–55: Semiotic approach to various forms of masquerade treats sexual and social identities. Reviewer takes issue with certain interpretations and what he terms "subjectivism."

• See French 17 (1995, 94, 93).

RENDALL, STEVEN,trans. Astrea. Part one. Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1995.

Review: C. E. Campbell in Choice 33 (1995), 625: "Of almost more interest than the translation of part 1 of . . . L'Astrée are the introductory remarks by the translator. R. places Astrea . . . in its historical context and relates it to the development of the novel in France." "R. sees [the repeated telling and retelling of stories in the novel] as 'a general commentary on the power of narratorial authority in reported speech'."

SANCIER-CHATEAU, ANNE. Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé correcteur de l'Astrée (1607–1625). Genève: Droz, 1995.

Review: E. Henein in PFSCL 23 (1996), 416–418: Despite the reviewer's reservations about S.-C.'s estimate of D'Urfé's contribution to French prose, the study is called "un ouvrage de référence qui pourrait transformer la fortune de l'Astrée."

• See also Part IV:  David, Gail
• Di Piero, Thomas
• Neal, Lisa

DU RYER

GAINES, JAMES F. et PERRY GETHNER, eds. Pierre Du Ryer: Lucrèce. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: D. Clarke in MLR 91 (1996), 217–18: Welcome critical edition in which "the text is admirably presented and the editorial introduction appropriately examines the play's exceptional regularity. Less convincing is the discussion of a dramatic language that varies from lofty political argument to familiar domesticity."

• See French 17 (1995).

FATOUVILLE

• See Part IV:  Mazouer, Charles

FENELON

CUCHE, FRANÇOIS-XAVIER. "'Felix culpa,' culpabilité et remords dans la pensée de Fénelon." TL 8 (1995), 171–81.

Remorse in Fénelon is only a step towards divine mercy. Convincing demonstration of Fénelon's optimistic Augustinism: "si la culpabilité enfante le remords, celui-ci peut, paradoxalement, conduire à la liberté et à la béatitude." So, in Télémaque, "le philosophe infatué de lui-même est ainsi châtié dans les enfers."

LE BRUN, JACQUES, ed. Les Aventures de Télémaque. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 504: E. compliments the edition in which, "J. Le Brun interroge avec finesse le traitement de la tradition dans cette fable écrite pour le petit-fils de Louis XIV par l'archévêque de Cambrai." Reviewer states that "the relation pedagogique" outlined in the work describes "non une utopie du pouvoir, mais la possibilité d'une politique de désintéressement."

• See also Part III:  Pitassi, Mari
• Part V:  Nicole; Danielou, Catherine

FONTENELLE

GAUTHIER, PATRICIA. "Exaltation et captation de l'altérité dans La République des Philosophes ou Histoire des Ajaoiens de Fontenelle." FLS 23 (1996), 39–50.

G. approaches F.'s text as a study in ethnography. She focuses on the point of view of the narrator Van Doelvelt, whom, she argues, describes the fictional "Ajaoiens" as if he were an ethnographer. Focusing on the utopian nature of the text, G. describes how the narrator "prend fait et cause pour les Ajaoiens," while at times demonstrating a marked form of ethnocentrism. G. concludes that the overall goal of Fontenelle's essay is to "intégre[r] une vision dont le but ultime est de faire réfléchir le lecteur aux dysfonctionnements de sa propre société."

FOUCAULT

• See Part II: Kavanagh, Thomas M.

FRAIN DE TREMBLAY

• See Part II: Kavanagh, Thomas M.

FRANÇOIS DE SALES

BORDES, HELENE, et JACQUES HENNEQUIN, éds. L'Univers salésien. Saint François de Sales hier et aujourd'hui. Actes du colloque international de Metz. (septembre 1992). Paris: Champion-Slatkine, 1994.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996) 320–21: D. states that the volume is useful, not only in terms of the "spiritualité," but of "la culture et la littérature du grand siècle." Summarizing the volume, D. gives the following synopsis, ". . . ce recueil [est] organisé en quatre sections. La première, 'Sources et situations,' aborde quelques questions théologiques. La deuxième section s'intéressse au détail de quelques textes peu connus . . . La troisième section, 'Les Thèmes,' se concentre sur les notions de plaisir et de bonheur, et la dernière section, 'Influence et réception,' présente François de Sales vu par le jésuite Nicolas Caussin, par Bossuet, [et] Bourdaloue." D. recommends the work for giving the "état présent" of Salesian studies, while suggesting further avenues of exploration.

• See also Part III:  Duvignac-Glessen, Marie-Ange
• Ellington, Donna
• Part IV:  Timmermans, Linda
• Part V:  Bossuet; Flasche, Hans

FURETIERE

DORING, ULRICH. Antoine Furetière. Rezeption und Werk. Frankfurt am Main/Berlin/Bonn/New York/Paris/Wien: Peter Lang, 1995.

Review: J. Marmier in PFSCL 23 (1996), 676–679: A study of the author's complete works. Reviewer deems the study an "acquisition capitale, [which] ne pèche que par un défaut sympathique . . . ."

• See also Part I:  Lehmann, Alise
• Part IV:  Briot, Frédéric

GALLAND, AUGUSTE

• See Part III:  Houzard, Celine

GASSENDI

OSLER, MARGARET J. Divine Will and the Mechanical Philosophy: Gassendi and Descartes on Contingency and Necessity in the Created World. Cambridge: CUP, 1994.

Review: Thomas M. Lennon in Isis 87 (1996), 168–69: Descartes's intellectualism and G.'s voluntarism are traced to the medieval positions of Acquinas and Ockham. Lennon finds a number of problems with this account, which may be reduced to the conceptual differences between what is done according to laws and what not, and suggests Malebranche as a better contrast wtih G. Exemplary clarity and fullness of description recommend this especially as a general introduction to G.

• See also Part III:  Parkinson, G. H. R.
• Lerner, Michel-Pierre
• Part IV:  Beugnot, Bernard
• Part V:  Descartes; Ariew, Roger
• Bedouelle, Thierry
• Pascal; Hammond, Nicolas

GASSION, JACOB DE

• See Part IV:  Bec, Pierre

GHERARDI, EVARISTE

• See Part IV:  Mazouer, Charles

GILLET DE LA TESSONERIE

CHAPLIN, P. E., éd. L'Art de régner. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1993.

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 90 (1995), 1000–1001: Reviewer notes lack of attempt to relate the play to the motif of the "play within the play" recurrent in contemporary theater, but finds that "this is a competent and well-researched critical edition of a curious play which deserves to be better known."

• See French 17 (1995).

GRAFFIGNY, FRANÇOISE DE

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

GOMBERVILLE

BERTAUD, MADELEINE. "Pourquoi Polexandre voyage-t-il? Note sur un procédé romanesque." SFr 38.3 (1994), 491–502.

Many scholars have tried to explain why in Gomberville's novel, Polexandre, the hero travels "à l'échelle des continents". There have been many relevant thematic explanations, but an analysis of narrative technique could offer better results. For Bertaud, "Gomberville a (...) utilisé le procédé du voyage, non seulement pour tisser l'intrigue complexe (...) mais aussi pour orner ce roman de descriptions toujours renouvelées (...) véritables invitations à cet autre voyage qu'est le rêve" and also "pour donner à ses personnages favoris une dimension héroïque, et rapprocher ainsi son oeuvre de l'épopée." Thus "on ne peut concevoir accord plus complet, plus réussi, entre technique romanesque, conception du roman, et contenu thématique."

GUILLERAGUES

• See Part IV:  Neal, Lisa
• Muratore, Mary-Jo

GUYON, MADAME

WARD, PATRICIA A. "Madame Guyon and the Democratization of Spirituality." PFSCL 23 (1996), 501–508.

In a reading of the Moyen court W. contends that the mystic was a figure within both orthodox and heterodox Catholic spirituality, a figure of her time who responded to the Counter-Reformation, and a figure for the future whose faith in experiential knowledge predated religious movements of the 18th and 19th centuries: ". . . Madame Guyon's sensitivity to language in the various structures and patterns of her discourse reveals a self-awareness, an intentionality, and a focus which indeed permit her to be called a 'free-thinker'."

HARDY

HOWE, ALAIN, éd. Didon se sacrifiant. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: Ahman Gunny in ZFSL 106 (1996), 76–77: Impeccably edited. Variants of 1624. Complements Christian Delmas' 1992 collection of Dido plays. Replaces Stengel's faulty ed. Proposes new dating of before 1620–21. Introduction pays special attention to the promotion here of the Aeneas hero.

Review: K. Heitmann in Archiv 232 (1995), 458–60: Valuable and painstaking edition of H.'s play whose subject matter has been so prevalent. Critical apparatus includes comprehensive introduction with contributions on dating of the play, and a close analysis.

Review: J. Mallinson in BHR 58 (1996), 261–62: "Une édition de Didon se sacrifiant s'imposait, puisque la dernière en date, celle du Théâtre due aux soins de Stengel, remonte maintenant à plus de cent ans. Cette pièce mérite, à coup sur, d'être imprimée et commentée. L'ayant placée en tête du premier tome de son Théâtre (1624–1628), le dramaturge a lancé en quelque sorte un défi, invitant le lecteur à comparer son adaptation d'un thème maintes fois repris au seizième siècle avec 'celle des autres'. Hardy se veut innovateur; Howe examine la justesse de cette prétention."

• See French 17 (1995).

HOBBES

HERB, KARL FRIEDRICH. "Le Fondement de la philosophie de l'Etat dans le De cive." RMM 101 (1996), 189–211.

Careful systematizing of the principal points of H.'s first articulation of contractualism and examination of its place in the overall organization of his thought at the moment of its publication.

SKINNER, QUINTIN. Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes. Cambridge: CUP, 1996.

Review: Brian Vickers in TLS 4872 (16 Aug. 1996), 27–28: 5 chapters reconstruct essentially the entire Latin rhetorical tradition consolidated by Tudor rhetoricians and is especially interesting on the figure of paradiastole; Part II examines the break with rhetoric after the 1640 self-exile and rejection of its ethos in favor of the new science of politics, then the volte-face from 1650 in Leviathan with its reflected influences by Davenant and by French debates on self-interest— "less a triumphant recovery of humanism than a programatic compromise." The account is perhaps a "little too clean-cut" but is an "important book that will introduce many readers to large and neglected issues, including the powers/danger of rhetoric in civil life.

HUET

GUELLOUZ, SUZANNE, ed. Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630–1721). Actes du colloque de Caen (12–13 novembre 1993). PFSCL/Biblio 17 83 (1994).

Review: A. McKenna in PFSCL 23 (1996), 389–391: 18 studies and a chronological bibliography of critical literature on Huet. Volume provides "le profil d'un homme pris dans toutes les querelles de son siècle, un véritable citoyen de la République des Lettres."

• See French 17 (1995)

JURIEU

• See Part I:  Kappler, Emile
• Part III:  Laursen, John C.

LA BRUYERE

MALL, LAWRENCE. "Rhétorique et pouvoir dans le chapitre 'De la cour' des Caractères." RR 87.1 (1996) 35–58.

M. states his goal as follows, "On se propose ici de suivre précisément les stratégies rhétoriques par lesquelles La Bruyère renouvelle le thème rebattu de la cour, par quels traits spécifiques de composition et de style il donne un sens nouveau à cet objet découpé du réel." For M., La Bruyère's "originality" is found "dans cette tension entre excès et défaut." With respect to the textual coherence of La Bruyère's rhetoric, M. remarks, "Alors même qu'il détruit l'unité totalitaire du texte dans son usage du fragment, il démontre en ce même geste le désordre de la cour et son propre pouvoir de réconstruction." Drawing a parallel between rhetoric and and the political circumstances of the court, M. contends that "La Bruyère transpose franchement et ironiquement le pouvoir politique en pouvoir rhétorique."

MAZAHERI, HOMAYOUN. "La Bruyère et le mythe royal." RevR 29 (1994), 249–260.

Lecture détaillée du chapitre "Du Souverain ou de la République" selon un ordre chronologique: l'auteur examine les fragments des éditions I–III et traite rapidement des cinq éditions suivantes. "En conclusion, dans ses pages sur le Souverain, La Bruyère met l'accent sur un gouvernement fait pour le peuple, et par le peuple, à travers le Roi. Il condamne, à cet effet, la tyrannie, la guerre, les privilèges des grands . . . . L'ironie constitue la figure fondamentale de ce chapitre: elle seule permet de saisir la pensée politique de ce moraliste humaniste, située à mi-chemin entre un patriarcat primitif idéalisé et un socialisme utopique moderne."

MONTADON, A., éd. Du Goût, de la Conversation & des Femmes. Clermont-Ferrnad: Association des Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, 1991.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.1 (janvier-février 1996), 141: E. summarizes the volume by saying that it "rassemble plusieurs des communications tenues à l'Université Blaise Pascal dans le cadre du programme d'étude des traités de savoir-vivre en Europe: le triple titre veut souligner le lien que les trois notions entretiennent historiquement entre elles—et (donc) rappeler les sections des Caractères. The chapter on "la Conversation" discusses La Bruyère as well as Mlle de Scudéry, while the chapter "Du Goût, analyse la naissance du concept en Espagne [et] sa promotion en France [par] Saint-Evremond." Completing the trio, the chapter "Des Femmes" deals with the courtly model, the "jeu des dames," and the ideal of the donna gentile in Italy.

• See also Part III:  Timms, Edward
• Part IV:  Baude, Jeanne-Marie
• Bertrand, Dominique
• Hausmann, Frank-Rutger et al
• Plantié, Jacqueline
• Van Delft, Louis
• Waterson, Karolyn

LA FAYETTE

BEN SALEM, MAHIDA. "Louise Labé, Marguerite de Navarre and Madame de La Fayette: Three Recaptured Feminine Voices and Feminine Spaces." (University of Tennessee 1995) DAI (May 1996, 4391).

Author states that "[t]his research addressed questions of gender and genres, silence [and] space lost and found. The three women are considered "prefeminist" because of the "textual techniques of language and subversion used to offer the reader a new way to look at and consider women." With respect to La Fayette, the author examines the heroine's "freedom of space and speech, [and] the pursuit of happiness in a countryside retreat."

GREGOIRE, VINCENT. "La Princesse de Clèves ou le roman de la méprise." PFSCL 23 (1996), 249–262.

Views the theme of misunderstanding as being at the center of the novel.

HENRY, PATRICK, ed. An Inimitable Example. The Case For The Princesse de Clèves. Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1992.

Review: Eglal Henein in EMF 2 (1996), 175–81: H. outlines the various articles of this collection of essays, which include contributions from scholars such as Joan de Jean, Donna Kuizenga, Ralph Albanese and Philippe Desan. Having great appreciation for the work, H. nonetheless views the various critical perspectives as somewhat limited. The reviewer concludes " . . . cet ouvrage enrichit notablement notre connaissance de la Princesse. On regrettra seulement que tout se passe entre gens de bonne compagnie qui ne veulent pas se contredire les uns les autres explicitement. La juxtaposition de théories différentes aurait trouvé sa justification et sa meilleure raison d'être dans la controverse."

• See French 17 (1995, 1994, 1993)

KREITER, JANINE ANSEAUME. "Fonctions dialogiques des personnages de Zaïde." RR 87.1 (1996) 21–33.

R. examines the issue of dialogue from the perspective of culture and character. From a cultural standpoint, K. explores the similarities and differences between "l'Espagne monarchique chrétienne" and the "mileux aristocratiques islamiques," and relates them to the intrigues of the French court under Louis XIII. With respect to character, K. studies the manner in which "des liens dialogiques s'établissent entre des instances de discours à travers le miroitement de la fonction d'un ou de plusieurs personnages dans un certain complexe narratif." These "fonctions" are typified by character traits such as the "courage" of Alamir and Consalve, the "caractère noble" of Belasère and Nunga Bella, as well as the "rang" of Zaïde. Focusing on the love conflicts in the work, K. draws a Pascalian conclusion arguing that the characters opt for "un pari pour le coeur" which, given cultural and personal friction, allows for some measure of "bonheur."

LEVILLIAN, HENRIETTE. La Princesse de Clèves de Madame de La Fayette. Paris: Gallimard.

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996) 144–45: L. states that this "petit ouvrage" is "conçu pour un usage scolaire." Among the "problématiques" studied are those of genre, the relationship between history and fiction, and that of "l'écriture de la passion." The work contains biographical information, as well as a summary of critical works on the Princesse.

LYONS, JOHN D., ed. and THOMAS S. PERRY,trans. The Princess of Cleves. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.

Review: Donna Kuizenga in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 253–55: A quite favorable review, which opens with the comment, "The arrival of this Norton critical edition of La Princesse de Clèves, perceptively and intelligently edited by John D. Lyons, should be cause for rejoicing for all of those of us who have had occasion to teach the novel in English translation." Of special note is Lyons's essay following the text, where L. discusses the historical contextualization of the work, while emphasizing "the transition from romance to novel." Reviewer finds some "infelicities" remaining in this new edition of Perry's 1892 original, but concludes that "in the main the translation does justice to La Fayette's prose," and considers Lyons's editorial work to be exemplary.

POSFAY, EVA. "L'architecture du pouvoir féminin dans La Princesse de Clèves. PFSCL 23 (1996), 527–538.

P. contends that "si Zaïde et La Princesse de Montpensier présentent des cadres qui condamnent l'hégémonie masculine sur l'espace, La Princesse de Clèves met aussi en scène des structures architecturales qui racontent l'histoire d'un défi féminin."

RACEVSKIS, ROLAND. "Solitary Pleasures: Creative Avoidance of Court and Convent in La Princesse de Clèves." FR 70 (1996), 24–34.

Skillfully argued thematic and stylistic examination that attractively argues for a final subjective self-identification in the heroine, from the aesthetic fashioning described by the narrator's closural view of her time. Juxtapositions with earlier scenes show that eroticism continues to circulate, "between the lines," in imagination's revery, enriching and fulfillling in a subtle way the seemingly sufficient (but really co-existing) empty site of duty/obedience. An interesting new aspection of narrative (especially in the heroine's gaze).

• See also Part III:  Langer, Ullrich
• Part IV:  Brody, Jules
• David, Gail
• Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Fenoaltea, Doranne and D. L. Rubin
• Freeman, Henry
• Langer, Ullrich
• Muratore, Mary-Jo
• Neal, Lisa
• Ray, William
• Staten, Henry
• Thomas, Francis-Noël
• Wentzlaff-Eggbert, Christian
• Part V:  Bernard, Catherine; Piva, Franco

LA FONTAINE

ALLOTT, TERENCE. "John Ogilby, the British Fabulist—A Precursor of La Fontaine ... And his Model?" PFSCL 23 (1996), 105–114.

Argues that Ogilby may have cleared the way for La Fontaine: ". . . the way forward for the vernacular fable was not via the standardised brevity of the traditional prose fable or the verses of Phaedrus but rather via a more imaginative and free-wheeling reinterpretation of the Aesopic material."

BABRIOLLE, FRANÇOIS DE. "Krylov lecteur de La Fontaine." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 133–146.

While K. had clearly read La Fontaine, he developped his own style, writing more than 200 fables from 1806 to 1834, 31 of which are more or less adapted from La Fontaine.

BASSY, ALAIN-MARIE and YVES LE PESTIPON, eds. Fables. Paris: Flammarion, 1995.

Review: Marie-Odile Sweetser in FR 69 (1996), 1011–12: "Refonte totale" of A. Adam's 1966 edition using as basic text the 1692 and 1693 versions (for Book XII). Bassy's introduction and chronology are praised for their esthetic situation of LF, his individual and subversive poetics, rapprochements with Dutch and Flemish painters, pact with the reader. Biblio. and copious notes by Pestipon are "tout à fait à jour."

BECHER, ANNE G. "Un de 'ces grands hommes'-Phaedrus, a Precursor of La Fontaine." PFSCL 23 (1996), 115–122.

Re-evaluates Phaedrus' influence on the fabulist: ". . . La Fontaine's response to Phaedrus' fables went beyond admiration for Phaedrus' economy and elegance of language: that La Fontaine truly understood Phaedrus' satirical strategies, his innovative use of verse form for dramatic purposes, his use of contextualisation and juxtaposition and his use of Aesop's name to conceal a subtle, potentially subversive subtext."

BEYNEL, MURIEL. "La Fontaine et les fabulistes ibériques du XVIIIe siècle: le texte et l'image." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 99–118.

Comparative study of fables by La Fontaine, Samaniego and Iriarte demonstrating that Iriarte's are more original. Also studies relations between illustrations and texts.

BIRBERICK, ANNE L. "L'écriture circulaire: La Fontaine and the Sovereign Reader." PFSCL 23 (1996), 47–56.

Biberick examines the relationship between the "sovereign reader"—in a courtly milieu, readers of high social and political status—and the author-figure in three fables: La Fontaine practices "a kind of discourse that employs diverse and multiple techniques, a discourse that will allow him to divert, at times to subvert, the sovereign reader's authority."

BIRBERICK, ANNE L., ed. "From World to Text: The Figure of the Nun in La Fontaine's Contes." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 181–201.

B. reads the six tales in which nuns figure as a "separate corpus," where La Fontaine first equates the nuns' sexuality with "social issues," then with metafictional problems." She summarizes her argument saying, "[a]ccompanying this change in emphasis is a movement away from an architectural code (the figure of "la grille"), toward a vestimentary code (the figure of "le voile)." Finally, La Fontaine's shifts in theme and metaphor open up a new representation of the nun as an image of the text." Among the tales studied are "Mazet de Lamporechio," "L'Abbesse," and "Le Psautier." B. emphasizes the movement in La Fontaine's depiction of the nun in both the Contes and the Nouveaux contes. She states that the poet "invests her [the nun] with ever-increasing metaphysical importance . . . first with the exemplum, then with the reading of licentious texts, and finally with the writing of erotic discourse itself."

BRODY, JULES. Lectures de la Fontaine. (EMF Monographs, I). Charlottesville, Virginia: Rookwood Press, 1994.

Review: T. Allott in MLR 91 (1996), 724–25: Citing Spitzer's article on La Fontaine's art of transition in the Fables, Brody "aims to go beyond a stylistic analysis of surface structures down into deep structures signalled by some incongruity or overdetermination. The central idea of a fable, in his view, is not to be found in overt argumentation or thematic development but instead in the apparently incidental occurrence of some verbal pattern."

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996), 322–23: Highly appreciative review of a volume that brings together B.'s work on La Fontaine. Especially commendable are B.'s approaches to La Fontaine, described by D. as "des enquêtes subtiles, fondées sur de minitieuses analyses lexicales, stylistiques, rhétoriques, et des rapprochements intertextuels avec les Anciens." The study concentrates on five fables as well as on Adonis. D. concludes the review saying, "Ces études constituent une contribution remarquable aux publications liées au tricentenaire de la mort de La Fontaine."

Review: K. Wolfe in PFSCL 23 (1996), 670–671: Reviewer terms this study a "véritable bijou." Brody shows "comment un texte de La F. produit son sens": "La F. ne parle ni de, ni sur tel ou tel sujet; il me paraît bien plus pertinent de dire qu'il tisse sa parole autour et qu'il l'entrelace au travers des questions qu'il lui arrive de 'traiter'."

BRODY, JULES. "Lire La Fontaine: la méthode de Leo Spitzer." PFSCL 23 (1996), 15–21.

Following Spitzer, Brody studies the esthetic qualities of the fables: "La nonchalance et la naïveté" de La Fontaine, sa "méthode aisée et familière," parce qu'elle est, justement, hyperboliquement soutenue, finissent par être senties comme une marque de déviance, pour ne pas dire un défi."

BRUNEL, PIERRE. "De La Fontaine à Leonardo Sciascia: les 'Fables de la dictature'." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 165–184.

The first published collection by this Sicilian (Favole della dittatura - 1950) should be read in light of the influence of Phaedrus and La Fontaine. S. denounces every form of dictatorship.

COLLINET, JEAN-PIERRE. "Un peu d'aconit sur la langue, ou La Fontaine et la tentation du suicide." PFSCL 23 (1996), 173–187.

After studying a theme that appears more often that one would expect, Collinet concludes that in La Fontaine one finds ". . .une acceptation sereine de notre condition doublée d'un consentement à ses limites . . . ."

DANDREY, PATRICK. "Le cordeau et le hasard: réflexions sur l'agencement du recueil des Fables." PFSCL 23 (1996), 73–85.

Looking at the ordering of the fables, D. proposes placing the question itself in the historical and esthetic context in which the work was written. He advocates paying attention to "des effets de plaisir, de découverte et d'intuition appropriés à son époque, au genre qu'il pratiquait en le transfigurant, et au public qu'il visait. . . .il nous faut apprendre à préférer des formes d'association plus souplement déambulatoires, relevant des modèles de la promenade, de la guirlande, de l'esthétique paysagère et du 'devis' de société oisive."

DANDREY, PATRICK. La fabrique des fables: essai sur la poétique de La Fontaine. Paris: Klincksieck, 1991.

Review: Anne L. Birberick in EMF 2 (1996). 206–10: B. welcomes this study, which proposes "to analyze the conditions underlying La Fontaine's creation of the apologue, in particular, and the fable, in general." Quoting D., B. states that the author explores "la manière du poète, la manière du fabuliste, [et] l'effet visé par les Fables." Among the issues D. raises are those of aesthetics, La Fontaine's classicism, and the scientific nature of certain fables. While B. suggests D.'s definition of French Classicism is incomplete, she remarks that "the analyses of individual fables and the exploration of La Fontaine's "fabrication" of the apologue represent a major new contribution to La Fontaine studies."

DANDREY, PATRICK et PIERRE BRUNEL, éds. "La Fontaine et la fable." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996).

All articles entered separately by author in this volume of French 17.

DANDREY, PATRICK et ALAIN GENETIOT, éds. Actes du colloque La Fontaine, de château-Thierry à Vaux-le-Vicomte: Deuxième partie: La Fontaine et les nymphes de Vaux.(Le Fablier: Revue des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine, 6). Château-Thierry: Société des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine, 1994.

Review: A. Baccar in PFSCL 23 (1996), 374–375: Six studies: on Le Songe de Vaux, La F.'s paradoxical view of Molière's Facheux, the impact of the Fête de Vaux on the creation of Versailles, La F.'s life at the Oratoire, and the parallel between Le Songe de Vaux and Les Amours de Psychée. Reviewer calls this a "précieux instrument de travail" especially of interest to literary scholars and art historians.

Review: M. Slater in MLR 91 (1996), 723: "This is the sixth number of this handsomely-produced journal. It contains the second part of the proceedings of the Society's 1992 La Fontaine conference . . . . The present volume is an interesting exploration of aspects of La Fontaine's early life and works, and his links with some important contemporaries."

• See French 17 (1995).

DANNER, RICHARD. "La Fontaine's Dialogic World: A Bakhtinian Approach to Two Fables." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 71–100.

D. applies reader-response theory to "Les Animaux malades de la peste," and "Les Obsèques de la lionne." Emphasizing close reading, D. states that his goal is to "underscore the importance of studying their [the fables'] language as it unfolds in time—that is, as the reader discovers and assesses the words emerging in the text from line to line." D. adopts a "Bakhtinian approach" because of the latter's concept of heteroglossia, which can be defined as the plurality of voices, contexts and signs operating in any given utterance. For D., heteroglossia partially subverts notions of the fable genre, especially the fable's presumed didacticism. He concludes by saying "[t]he centripetal tug of genre, building momentum . . . always tries to draw the Fables into a compact and thematically stable sphere. But this force is constantly opposed by the centrifugal pull of dialogism, adamantly refusing to let any word, any phrase or any poem have its final say."

DEBAISIEUX, MARTINE. "Le retour des cigales: images du poète dans les premières fables de La Fontaine." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 47–69.

D.'s goal is to establish "[des] rapprochements entre les textes liminaires et les trois premières fables." The "textes liminaires" refer to La Fontaine's "Préface," and his "La Vie d'Esope," while the fables in question are the first three in Book I. Examining what she terms the "confusion" between text and paratext, D. studies La Fontaine's depiction of the poet in these initial passages. Much of her analysis deals with the relationship between La Fontaine and his Classical antecedents. In her conclusion, she treats the issue of "appréciation" in terms of a "crise de la poésie" and a "dilemme de l'écrivain," which La Fontaine announces and endures at the outset of his work. What these liminal texts and first three fables accomplish is to "impliqu[er] la question de la raison d'être poète (classique) sous le déguisement des Cigale, Renard, Grenouille, Geai ou Singe."

DUBU, JEAN. "La Fontaine mélode, ou narration et prosodie d'Adonis aux Contes." PFSCL 23 (1996), 123–133.

In studying the fabulist's evolution, D. concludes that La Fontaine "est conscient des modifications de ton que le genre adopté impose à sa technique de poète."

DUCHENE, ROGER. "Un exemple de lettres galantes: la Relation d'un voyage de Paris en Limousin de La Fontaine." PFSCL 23 (1996), 57–71.

La Fontaine taps into a fashionable trend, the travel account: "L'originalité de La Fontaine n'est pas d'avoir écrit un récit de voyage, mais de lui avoir donnée la forme de lettres égrenées au fil des étapes. . . . Pour lester de réalité les histoires racontées dans La Princesse de Montpensier et bientôt dans La Princesse de Clèves, Mme de La Fayette puise largement dans les récits des historiens. La Fontaine, lui, puise dans des guides et des livres de géographie. Tous deux concourent ainsi, dans des oeuvres plus parallèles qu'on ne l'aurait cru, à fonder une nouvelle relation du lecteur (et des auteurs) avec la vérité."

GALLARDO, JEAN-LUC. "De la discorde à la discordance: La Fontaine, Fables, VI 20." Poétique 102 (1995), 215–29.

Close reading with an eye to reflexivity at every level, including "vers" as "versus," within an "esthétique de la discordance."

GANIM, RUSSELL. "Scientific Verses: Subversion of Cartesian Theory and Practice in the Discours à Madame de La Sablière." in Refiguring Lafontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996. 101–25.

G. views La Fontaine's "Discours à Madame de La Sablière" as a response to Descartes's Discours de la méthode. After focusing on the meaning of the term "discours," G. discusses the role of Iris as the narratee. The oculocentrism inherent in the portrayal of Iris becomes important to the "subversion of Cartesian theory and practice" because La Fontaine "pass[es] Descartes's method through a different lens, thereby creating a new means by which to view the philosopher's theories." The "theories" in question deal with animal intelligence. Descartes's theory of machine-like, non-thinking animals is challenged by La Fontaine's observations in his "Discours." La Fontaine uses the Cartesian concepts of the "cogito," "bon sens" and experience to undermine Descartes, but partially undermines his own argument through his inability to portray animals as sentient without anthropomorphizing them.

GRIMM, JURGEN. Le "dire sans dire" et le dit. Etudes lafontainiennes II. PFSCL/Biblio 17 93 (1996).

Collected studies of the author.

GRIMM, JURGEN. "'Comment on traite les pervers:' La satire anticléricale dans les Contes." PFSCL 23 (1996), 159–172.

Studies the three anticlerical tales to dismiss the myth of La Fontaine as a "narrateur pur" whose motivation was only to "play" by writing mere "stylistic exercises." Concludes that contemporary reality was the real motivating force behind the tales. La Fontaine's purpose was the "volonté de ruiner les pervers," en l'espèce certains représentants du parti dévot qui, par une symbiose de "luxure et d'hypocrisie," abusent d'un pouvoir spirituel et entravent la liberté de l'individu et le libre épanouissement de la société."

GRIMM, JURGEN. Le pouvoir des fables. Etudes lafontainiennes I. PFSCL/ Biblio 17 85 (1994).

Review: T. Alliott in MLR 91 (1996), 724–25: "In his collection of seventeen articles focused on the Fables, Grimm sets his face against any distortion by modern critics of the formula plaire et instruire, which would highlight the first element to the exclusion of the second. . . . For him, the fabulist, perhaps more than any other of the major figures of French classicism, reflects and expresses and comments on a series of precise historical circumstances."

Review: J.-P. Collinet in RF 107 (1995), 222–24: First of a two volume set renders accessible G.'s excellent articles of which two were previously unpublished. Though C. would take issue with G.'s condemnation of the "courant esthétique" or "anhistorique", he notes the pertinence of his interpretations and awaits with great interest the second volume. Reviewer cites sensitive analysis of poetic material. Extensive bibliography and indexes.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996) 323–24: The volume brings together "l'essentiel des articles que [Grimm] a consacrés à l'oeuvre du poète." G. follows a line of inquiry that is "strictement historique et sociocritique." Among the notable aspects of the volume are G.'s discussion of La Fontaine's "stratégie de désorientation," as well as "l'image du monarque, la cour, la guerre, le commerce." While D. sees G.'s approach as somewhat reductive, he nonetheless concludes that "J. Grimm aura en tout cas le mérite de relancer le débat sur l'interprétation allégorique et biographique des Fables."

Review: M. Slater in PFSCL 23 (1996), 386–388: 17 articles on the work that steer away from textual study in favor of the political dimensions of the work. Reviewer deems these very important studies of La F. the thinker.

• See French 17 (1995).

GRISE, CATHERINE. "The Horns of Dilemma: the World of Cuckoldry in La Fontaine's Contes." PFSCL 23 (1996), 147–157.

Studies the theme of cuckoldry as the "most fertile topos for generating dilemmas and juggling discrepant states of knowledge . . . ." "Irony and ambiguity emerge from the portrayal of the latent narcissism and the voyeuristic penchant of the cocu."

GRISE, CATHERINE. "The Optics of Relativism in the Fables of La Fontaine." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercenenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 126–56.

G. sets forth a concept of "cognitive relativism" which she defines as "simply a recognition that knowledge is dependent on the conditions and instruments of knowing, some of which are more reliable than others." From this notion, G. "distinguishes four major types of relativism in the Fables: perceptual relativism, egocentric relativism, categorial relativism and proportional relativism." She then gives detailed readings of fables such as "Un Animal dans la lune," "Le Coche et la mouche," and "L'Aigle et le hibou" as illustrations of these categories. After advancing additional categories of relativism, G., quoting Thomas Nagle, concludes that the Fables are in part an expression of the effort to "transcend interspecies barriers with the aid of the imagination." By trying to capture an animal perspective, La Fontaine "penetrat[es] into the equally opaque inner world of human subjectivity."

HOULE, MARTHE M. "'L'Heure du berger sonne': La casuistique au service du plaisir dans les Contes de La Fontaine." OeC 20.3 (1995), 251–262.

"Dans cet essai, mon propos sera double: de répondre à M. Wadsworth et à ses objections déjà vieilles de plus d'un siècle à l'aide d'une analyse d'un aspect de ce genre de poésie que La Fontaine a 'inventé', tout en imitant Boccace, L'Arétin et Machiavel, c'est-à-dire son usage de l'argument casuistique et sa valorisation du plaisir féminin. 'Diversité c'est ma devise', a écrit La Fontaine ('Pâte d'anguille'), et il est évident que les séductions dedans ces contes sont multiples, même qu'on a l'impression parfois qu'il s'agit des mêmes personnages. Le plaisir, après tout, se trouve aussi dans la répétition."

LARUE, ANNE. "La tradition plastique des Fables de La Fontaine par Gustave Moreau." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 147–164.

60 of M.'s watercolors refer to La Fontaine's works, although M. may have drawn his inspiration from Eliphas Levi's version (Fables et Symboles), a copy of which M. owned. Interesting insights on how La Fontaine's works may have been read.

LEPLATRE, OLIVIER. "Le Pouvoir Absolu de la haine, la passion du politique dans les Fables de La Fontaine." RR 87.2 (1996) 195–208.

L. describes La F.'s concept of nature as quasi-Sadean, where violent, malicious forces seek to destroy and mutilate the weak. For L., the discourse of absolute power is one of hate, where language assumes the role of primary aggressor. Speaking of the fable "Le Loup et l'Agneau," L. states, "Le loup n'emporte pas sans délai sa victime: il prend le temps de parler, et, dans cette parole, laisse courir sa haine . . . la force accroît sa puissance aux signes du langage." Hate becomes linked to the exercise of royal power in which inflicting death renders the killer/monarch evermore absolute. In discussing "Les Obsèques de la lionne," L. remarks, "le lion construit sur la mort de l'autre l'éloge de sa valeur et se satisfait au miroir de l'expression de sa force passée dans la sphère symbolique du langage." Concluding his article, O. speaks of an "animalité dans la parole," in which "l'animal achève la représentation de l'homme."

LOSADA-GOYA, JOSE-MANUEL. "La réception de La Fontaine en Espagne. La poétique d'Iriarte." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 85–98.

Examines fables written in Spain and shows how Samaniego's (1781) follow in the tradition of La Fontaine whereas those written by Iriarte (1782) are more formal and show greater attention to the literary tradition.

MEDING, TWYLA A. "La nuit vient sur un char conduit par le silence: Ellipse and Ellipsis in 'L'Amour de Psyché et de Cupidon'." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Biberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 157–180.

M. summarizes her aim as follows, "I will show how commonplaces of the pastoral novel—delineated succinctly in the episode of Psyché's successful penetration of the barriers of the fountain of youth—are exploited and undermined." Among the subjects discussed in the essay are narrative structure, the motif of the locus amoenus and the myth of the Golden Age. Much of the article, however, rests on the idea that within the text's narrative structure are "preteritive gaps" that "take the form of narrative ellipsis or lack of which the reader must fill." Blending form and theme, M. concludes that "[I]n this blank space, ellipsis be comes the phantom of ellipse, a ubiquitous reminder of lovers' paradise lost."

RUBIN, DAVID LEE. "[Dis]solving Double Irony: La Fontaine, Marianne Moore, and Ulysses's Companions." PFSCL 23 (1996), 87–94.

Studies the way double irony ("immediately unresolved juxtaposition of viewpoints")has been handled in English translations, especially of fable XII 1. R. claims that "Moore's version dissolves La Fontaine's double irony, deproblematizes the text, and converts it into a long and elaborate fable of assertion."

RUBIN, DAVID LEE. "Refabulations." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 202–222.

R. examines the translations of La Fontaine's Fables by Marianne Moore, Norman Shapiro and John Cairncross. Building upon a formalistic line of inquiry developed in his previous research, as well as the translation theory of André Lefevere, R. focuses on "poetics and ideology" in interpreting the "renderings" of La Fontaine's "Les Deux mulets" by the three translators. Beginning with a general discussion of the fables' "limited irony, formal incompleteness and post-reconstructive closure," R. then analyzes the three translations. Of Moore's poem, R. states that "Moore's gauche and eccentric translation casts "Les Deux mulets" as a failed modern poem and La Fontaine as . . . odd, elusive, and even a little dull." He describes Shapiro's version as "an unruly text, bring[ing] it [the fable] into line with the hallowed Greco-Roman standard." Cairncross's translation turns out to be the most impressive. R. suggests that "Cairncross's La Fontaine is a playful and ironic, if episodically heavy-handed narrator-philosophe who usually, but not always, follows through on his best shots." It is thus Cairncross's translation that best illustrates La Fontaine's "classicism."

SCHOETTKE, STEFAN. "De la 'source' à 'l'envol'. Esope, Socrate et La Fontaine dans le dispositif liminaire des Fables." RLC 70 No. Spécial (1996), 45–68.

"This article tries to assess the manner in which La Fontaine reconstructs elements of fable tradition and gives 'original' meanings to the legendary figures of Aesop and Socrates. Through this reconstruction, the poet invents the 'source' of his poetical speech."

SLATER, MAYA. "Reading La Fontaine's Titles." PFSCL 23 (1996), 23–33.

Views the titles as reinforcing the duality—an outcome that favors one character at the expense of the other—of the fable form. Suggests that study of both the characters mentioned and those not mentioned in titles should bear fruitful results.

SOARE, ANTOINE. "Lasse! cigale hélas! Fourmi: chant et cri dans la première fable de La Fontaine." PFSCL 23 (1996), 135–146.

A phonetic study of the fable in order to reveal La Fontaine's "clavier du désespoir à huit touches."

SWEETSER, MARIE-ODILE. "Conseils d'un vieux chat à une jeune souris: les leçons du livre XII." PFSCL 23 (1996), 95–103.

Views the didactic purpose of the last chapter, that of the education of the future king, the duc de Bourgogne, as the principal one: ". . . les rencontres significatives entre les conseils implicites du fabuliste et ceux, explicites, du précepteur: tous deux, par des voies différentes, avaient un but commun: la formation d'un futur monarque, le fabuliste désirant présenter ses leçons de façon agréable, suggérer, faire réfléchir."

SWEETSER, MARIE-ODILE. "La modernité de La Fontaine." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 1–21.

S. looks at the issue of "modernity" in several of La Fontaine's texts such as the "Epître à Huet," the "Poème du Quinquana," the Contes and the Fables. Arguing that in some cases La Fontaine is as much a "Moderne" as he is an "Ancien," S. looks at La Fontaine's use of multiple genres, multiple voices and subversive themes. Bringing in much of the contemporary criticism on La Fontaine, S. concludes that the "modernity" of La Fontaine translates into a "pluralité," or a "liberté [qui] s'épanche dans le foisonnement des cent actes divers sur une scène qui embrasse l'univers, en une polyphone qui a recours à tous les genres, tous les tons, tous les styles, mais dont la fusion reflète le don de la mesure, de la discrétion, et de l'élégance."

SWEETSER, MARIE ODILE. "Pleasures and Pains, Lessons and Revelations of Travel in La Fontaine." Dalhousie French Studies, 36 (1996), 23–37.

VINCENT, MICHAEL. "Myth/Tragedy/Fable: Curing 'Les Animaux malades de la peste'." PFSCL 23 (1996), 35–46.

Studies the fable's refusal to address the lifting of the plague, "to come to a closure consistent with the expectations raised in the opening movements." Argues that the work, "as the foundational text for a new poetics of the fable, is La Fontaine's meditation on the foundations of civilization, . . . ." Vincent uses René Girard's theories on violence and sacrifice.

VINCENT, MICHAEL. Figures of the Text: Reading and Writing (in) La Fontaine. Purdue University Monographs. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1992.

Review: Anne L. Birberick in EMF 2 (1996), 206–10. B. states that V.'s "critical perspective owes much to post-structuralism . . . [especially] Barthes, Derrida and Foucault," but that V. avoids adhering to "a particular critical doctrine." After defining the term "figure," V. focuses on other things such as "the hieroglyphic, the Cartesian opposition between madness and common sense," and "the relation of the body to writing." V. also explores the "layering of two texts (one oral, one written) in La Fontaine's Psyché. B. concludes that V.'s work "offers a fresh approach to its subject matter, [and] will certainly have a strong influence on La Fontaine scholarship." Though questioning why V. examines only one of the Contes, B. warmly "welcomes the book for its exciting possibilities."

• See French 17 (1995, 1994, 1994)

VINCENT, MICHAEL. "La Fontaine's Frame(d)works." in Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays. Ed. Anne L. Birberick. Charlottesville: EMF Monographs, 1996, 22–46.

V. looks at the problem of order and arrangement in the "books" of La Fontaine's Fables and Psyché. Arguing for "a textual, intertextual, [and] metatextual logic—for which the logic of imitatio and dispositio or early structuralist découpage and agencement cannot entirely account," V. presents his notions of "framing, deframing and reframing" that derive from "making books out of fragments." In advancing his idea of frames, V. concerns himself with questions of narrative, paratext, and "hierarchical order." Among V.'s conclusions is the idea that "Psyché, the Contes and the Fables are the results of similar intertextual movements. Psyché can be seen as La Fontaine's effort to resolve a set of aesthetic problems implied in the Fables. By constituting the author's story as a frame, Psyché attempts to resolve the conflict between authorial and narrative modes of legitimation . . . in the framing of the Fables."

• See also Part II:  Le Pichon, Yann
• Part IV:  Allott, Terence
• Clark, Kathleen
• Fenoaltea, Doranne
• Freeman, Henry G.
• Hausmann, Frank-Rutger et al
• Mc Mahon, Elise
• Montandon, Alain
• Muratore, Mary-Jo
• Parussa, Gabriella
• Romanowski, Sylvia
• Rubin, David
• Stanton, Domna
• Part V:  Ronsard; Randall, Catharine

LA MESNARDIERE

• See Part IV:  Lyons, John D.

LA MILLETIERE

• See Part III:  Van der Schoor, R.J.M.

LA MOTHE LE VAYER

MC BRIDE, ROBERT, ed. Lettre sur la comédie de l'Imposteur. Durham, UK: University of Durham Press, 1994.

Review: Harriet R. Allentuch in FR 69 (1996), 808–9: Considers attribution not decided or perhaps undecidable on the stylistic bases that lead the editor to certainty of attribution. Availability, notes, table of differences in versions of Le Tartuffe, however, constitute this edition as a useful research tool.

• See French 17 (1995)

LAMY

WOODBURY, JEFFREY ALLEN. "Bernard Lamy's Rhetoric and Perspective: Towards an Interdisciplinary Theory of Interpretation." (University of California, Los Angeles, 1995). DAI (March 1996), 3604.

W. gives the following summary, "Bernard Lamy's treatises on rhetoric (L'Art de parler, 1675) and on perpsective (Traité de perspective, 1701), demonstrate the fundamental role which the art of painting plays in discursive and interpretive practices at the time of French classicism. The particularity of Lamy's oeuvre lies in its combination of Cartesian rationalism and Augustinian religious thought."

• See also Part IV:  Waterson, Karolyn

LARIVEY

BELLENGER, YVONNE, ed. Pierre de Larivey, Champenois, chanoine, traducteur, auteur de comédies et astrologue (1541–1619). Paris: Klincksieck, 1993.

Review: K. Schoell in RF 106 (1994), 356–57. B. believes this volume will stimulate interest in L. and his time. Contributions treat not only the comedies for which L. is famous, but also the dramatist's other activities such as translation.

• See French 17 (1995)

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

BAKER, SUSAN READ. "Maxims, Moralists, and the Problematic of Discontinuity in Seventheenth-Century France." FLS 21 (1994), 35–43.

Beginning with Starobinski's reading of the nature of formal discontinuity, readers' responses are charted to the signification—of an anti-systematic stance. Important considerations of various resistances to the discontinuity.

BROOKS, THEO. La Rochefoucauld: 17th Century Wisdom for 21st Century Problems. Clifton, NJ: Akkad Press, 1995.

CLARK, HENRY C. La Rochefoucauld and the Language of Unmasking in Seventeenth-Century France. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: C. Daniélou in PFSCL 23 (1996), 365–366: Demonstrates that La R.'s "unmasking" "s'inscrit dans une lignée qui transcende les limites de la tradition moraliste." Traces the propensity back to Renaissance political motives and views La R.'s completely secular enterprise as that of redefining a nobility consumed by the Fronde. Reviewer deems this "une contribution intéressante et importante à l'histoire des idées en France."

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 503: According to E., "L'ouvrage propose de lire les Maximes sous l'angle de la 'question herméneutique' qu'elles mettent en oeuvre." One goal of C.'s "psychologie démasquante" is to "démasquer la raison, la volonté et les conduites sociales." C.'s critical perspectives range from Machiavelianism to Jansenism, while "l'originalité de l'ouvrage tient ainsi dans une relecture du recueil sous l'angle d'une morale positive." E. praises C.'s treatment of La Rochefoucauld's reception in the eighteenth century, as well as the work's bibliography.

• See French 17 (1995)

DANIELOU, CATHERINE F. "La Rochefoucauld ou l'impossible connaissance de soi." PFSCL 23 (1996), 635–649.

"Nous démontrerons que l'auteur des Maximes tend à soutenir l'impossibilité qu'a l'être humain à arriver à la connaissance de soi dans une société où l'être humain n'est qu'en fonction des autres et de leur regard."

HODGSON, RICHARD G. Falsehood Disguised: Unmasking the Truth in La Rochefoucauld. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue UP, 1995.

Review: D. A. Collins in Choice 33 (1995), 624: In this book (Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures, 7) the critic "does not completely 'unmask the truth' in LR.'s Maximes and Réflexions," says C., "but he makes a penetrating foray through the ambiguities and countervailing moral traits for which that author's contemporaries and subsequent readers both reproached and admired him." "More single mindedly than Louis van Delft, H. insists convincingly, albeit redundantly, on the paradoxical marriage of vice and virtue, sincerity and hypocrisy, appearance and reality that define LR.'s vision of morality. The author concludes by analyzing LR.'s influence on 19th and 20th century admirers: Lautréamont, Nietzsche, Lacan, and Barthes." The book is described as a "perceptive contribution to the understanding of LR."

HOLMAN, ROBYN and JACQUES BARCHILON, eds. Concordance to the Maximes of La Rochefoucauld. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press, 1996.

Based on the 5th 1678 edition, this thorough and carefully done work will facilitate more careful study of LR's use of language.

WATTS, DEREK. La Rochefoucauld: Maximes. Glasgow: U of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1993.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 191–92: Judged "a good introduction" for the undergraduate, W.'s study examines La R.'s reflections in the light of the "pessimistic current" of late 17th c. and in relation to Christianity. Includes analysis of the maxim as a genre and a substantial bibliography.

• See French 17 (1995)

WATTS, DEREK. "La Rochefoucauld Between Baroque and Classicism." SCFS 16 (1994), 65–81.

Systematic examination of theme and form, theme alone, rhetoric for the entire oeuvre with the "essential classicism" of the Maximes ("the author's patient search for the exactly appropriate word") fixed in revisions for the 1666 edition. Important synthesis with especially good treatment of the Réflexions diverses. Readers are sent for further elaboration of points to the author's recent study of La Rochefoucauld (Glasgow, 1993).

• See also Part IV:  Brody, Jules
• Freeman, Henry and S. Houyhoux
• Van Delft, Louis
• Waterson, Karolyn
• Part V:  Corneille, P.; Norman, Larry

LA ROCHE-GUILHEN, ANNE DE

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

LA TOUR, GEORGES DE

• See Part II:  Conisbee, Philip

LAURENT

• See Part IV:  Brooks, William

LE CLERC, JEAN

• See Part III:  Pitassi, Maria

L'ESTOILE

LAZARD, MADELEINE and GILBERT SCHRENCH, eds. Registre-Journal du règne de Henri III (1574–1575). Tome I. Geneva: Droz, 1992.

Review: Bernard Roussel in BSHPF 140 (1994), 471–73: High praise for introduction, editorial principles, and annotation. Reviewer lists the uses to which this unique work can serve, including use of the "ramas." First fully critical edition.

L'HERITIER, MARIE

• See Part IV:  Velay-Vallantin, Catherne
• Warner, Marina

LEIBNIZ

BOUQUIAUX, LAURENCE. L'harmonie et le chaos: le rationalisme leibnizien et la 'nouvelle science'. Louvain: Peeters, 1994.

Review: Roger Ariew in Isis 87 (1996), 359–60: Provocative analysis of mutually enlightening relationship of L.'s problematizing and contemporary discussions of 20th-century "new science." Part I outlines the main physical and mathematical concepts of the new science and its differences from the "classical;" II studies L.'s approaches to the natural world, including his reform of Cartesian mechanistic philosophy and indebtedness to Renaissance philosophy; III examines the principle of sufficient reason and its various forms; IV, finite/infinite. Discovers a rationalist philosopher conscious of reason's insufficiency; a mathematical one who knows mathematics not to be everything.

JOLLEY, NICHOLAS, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz. Cambridge/N.Y.: CUP, 1995.

Review: George Gale in Isis 86 (1995), 650–51: The best single compendium to recent developments in L. studies, with a rich up-to-date biblio. No better example of the genre than Roger Ariew's life and works overview. The essential essays, because of interdisciplinary connections are Christina Mercier and R.C. Sleigh Jr.'s on the later, Daniel Garder on physics and philosophy. Valuable also are the overviews of intellectual background (Stuart Brown) and 18th-century reception (Catherine Wilson). High-quality specialized articles also on language, ethics, theology. Cross-references and multiple viewpoints enrich the collection.

REVUE DE METAPHYSIQUE ET DE MORALE 100.1 (Janvier-Mars 1995). "La Metaphysique de Leibniz."

Articles by Louis Couturat, J.-B. Rauzy, Michel Fichant, Yves-Charles Zarka, Frederic de Buzon, François Duchesnau, André Robinet.

RUTHERFORD, DONALD. Leibniz and the Rational Order of Nature. Cambridge: CUP, 1995.

Review: Roger Ariew in Isis 87 (1996), 359–60: Carefully thought out systematic reconstruction of all parts of L.'s philosophy, in particular how theodicity, metaphysics, and metaphysical physics (each given one section) inform one another. Genuinely interesting and far from simplistic.

WIDMAIER, RITA, ed. Leibniz Korrespondiert mit China: Der Briefwechsel mit den Jesuitenmissionen (1689–1714). Frankfort am Main: Klostermann, 1990.

Review: Alberto Ranea in Isis 87 (1996), 172: Seventy-one letters and documents that constitute a sociological goldmine. L. shows himself the champion of rationality in science, philosophy, and theology; defender of external factors like institutionalization, official patronage, networks of power. Main arguments for western supremacy are presented here.

WOOLHOUSE, ROGER. G.W. Leibniz: Critical Assessments. 4 vols. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Review: Daniel Garber in Isis 86 (1995), 351–52: 94 reprinted articles (84 appearing since 1960) "skewed very heavily to what recent analytic philosophers find interesting," and short on comparative studies (13, of which 6 on Cartesians). Many seem only "workmanlike" and scarcely deserving of republication. Very brief general introduction and only slightly more for individual volumes that group metaphysics and its foundations (I); metaphysics (2); philosophy of science, logic, language (3); philosophy of mind, freewill, political philosophy, influences (4).

LE NOBLE, EUSTACHE

• See Part II:  Hourcade, Philippe

LOCKE

MC CLURE, KIRSTIE M. Judging Rights: Lockean Politics and the Limits of Consent. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1996.

LOUIS XIII

• See Part I:  G.A.R.S.
• Part II:  Major, J. Russell

LOUIS XIV

PETITFILS, JEAN-CHRISTIAN. Louis XIV. Paris: Perrin, 1995.

Review: BCLF 565 (1995), 177: "L'auteur a consacré de nombreuses pages de son Louis XIV à la vie économique et sociale du royaume, tout en centrant son livre sur l'histoire politique du règne." Ouvrage solide et bien documenté.

• See also Part II:  Couton, Georges
• Harris-Warwick, Rebecca and Carol G. March
• Hartman, Peter
• Henaff, Marcel
• Major, J. Russell
• Préaud, Maxime
• Sarmant, Thierry
• Wikander, Matthew

LUCINGE, RENE

SUPPLE, JAMES J., éd. René de Lucinge. Lettres de 1587. L'année des reîtres. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: J.-L. Bourgeon in BHR 58 (1996), 291–93: "Ce volume est le troisième d'une série, les deux précédents (édités par A. Dufour en 1964 et 1966) étant consacrés aux Lettres de Lucinge en 1585 et 1586." Lucinge (1553–1615) était "ambassadeur savoyard à la cour de France, fervent catholique, ami de la Ligue, mais trop lucide pour ne pas souligner les arrière-pensées des uns et des autres." Les Lettres de 1587 "constituent donc une source de première main sur la politique française sous la Ligue."

LULLY

COUVREUR, MANUEL. Jean-Baptiste Lully. Musique et dramaturgie au service du Prince. Bruxelles: Marc Vokaer, 1992.

Review: François Moureau in RHT 45 (1993), 92–93: This "livre extrêmement original et fort" is different from recent studies on Lully, since it puts emphasis on "la perspective de la politique théâtrale du Roi-Soleil pour qui danse, musique, costumes et décoration étaient indissociables du jeu scénique ... et des enjeux du pouvoir". Versailles is seen as "un fascinant laboratoire où se fondent et s'harmonisent les règles de la nouvelle dramaturgie royale". The author sheds new light on the conflict between Lully and Molière by explaining how the latter's "sombre réalisme" is "contraire à l'esprit qui règne désormais à Versailles".

• See French 17 (1995)
• See also Part II:  Weller, Philip

MALEBRANCHE

• See Part III:  Pitassi, Maria
• V:  Gassendi; Osler, Margaret

MALHERBE

• See Part I:  Catach, Nina

MARIE DE L'INCARNATION

• See Part II:  Davis, Natalie Z.
• Gregoire, Vincent

MASSILLON

• See Part III:  Naudin, Pierre

MAZARIN

• See Part II: Brown, Jonathan
• Seiffert, Louis

MENAGE

PENNAROLA, LEA CAMINITI, ed. Gilles Ménage, Lettres inédites à Pierre-Daniel Huet (1659–1692). Napoli: Liguori, 1993.

Review: B. Bray in PFSCL 23 (1996), 362–364: 233 letters: "Le contenu prédominant des lettres se rapporte au commentaire critique que chacun fait des vers que l'autre lui soumet, aux hypothèses d'interprétation des Anciens, aux réflexions sur la citation et le plagiat, aux suggestions étymologiques, aux observations relevant de la prononciation, de la grammaire ou de la métrique." Introduction, notes, bibliography, index of names. Reviewer calls this "un grand progrès à la connaissance de l'épistolier Gilles Ménage."

• See also Part I:  Leroy-Turcan, Isabelle
• Leroy-Turcan, Isabelle and R. Woolbridge

MERSENNE

DEL PRETE, ANTONELLA. "L'univers infini: les interventions de Marin Mersenne et de Charles Sorel". RPFE 116.2 (1995), 145–164.

It appears that Giordano Bruno's vision of an infinite universe had a greater impact on French authors and philosophers than previously thought. If Gassendi felt sympathy for the Italian martyr, Mersenne tried to discredit his views in his 1624 treatise, L'Impiété des déistes: he condemned Copernic and Bruno mainly because the Catholic Church had done so, and his argumentation was not freed "du finalisme et de l'anthropocentrisme qui envahissent la majeure partie des traités d'astronomiques de vulgarisation de l'époque". As for Sorel, in his De la perfection de l'homme and his Science universelle, he developed a more complex attitude: "partisan de la pluralité des monde (...)" Sorel "propose une conception théologique du rapport entre Dieu et le monde proche de celle de Mersenne, mais critique âprement ce dernier en raison de son modèle cosmologique, et arrive jusqu'à défendre la réputation de Bruno."

• See also Part III:  Dear, Peter
• Lerner, Michel-Pierre

MILOT, MICHEL

• See Part IV:  Hunt, Lynne
• Dejean, Joan

MOLIERE

ALBANESE, RALPH, JR. Molière à l'école républicaine. De la critique universitaire aux manuels scolaires (1870–1914). Saratoga, CA: Anma Libri, 1992.

Review: Marie-Madeleine Compère in Annales 51 (1996), 440–41: A successful combination of the methodologies of literary and educational history, well defined and covered; "riche d'analyses fines et précieuses, l'ouvrage approfondit bien les thèmes qu'il aborde: Part I, a long introduction on eduational reforms in which literature was to play a key role; II, literary critical judgements according a key place to Nisard that integrate M. into official culture; III, manuels with their particular censorships in the service of the "ideal bourgeois."

Review: J. Grimm in Archiv 232 (1995), 460–62. A. 's praiseworthy examination is valuable both as a history of M.'s reception and as a contribution to the socio-intellectual history of France after the Revolution. Part I treats the "critique universitaire" and part II the "manuels scolaires." G. lauds A.'s analyses of primary materials and rich bibliographies. Although A. makes a strong case for M.'s theatre as representative of an "idéal du progrès, de l'harmonie sociale . . . ," G. makes the case for similar investigations focusing on Corneille or La Fontaine.

• See French 17 (1995, 1994, 1993, 1992)

ALBERT-GALTIER, ALEXANDRE. "L'itinéraire de Dom Juan: six décors pour une pièce à machines." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 1–22.

A-G. discusses the mise en scène of Molière's play as depicted in a notarized "devis" agreed upon by Molière, his troupe, and various set designers and painters. The author examines the six "décors" in the "devis" as they relate to the actual sets in the original play. The article then speculates on the original, physical portrayal of the grave and the statue of the Commander, and concludes with the argument that Dom Juan's various decors act as a metaphor for the four elements of water, air, earth, and fire.

BAMFORTH, STEPHEN, ed. Molière: Proceedings of the Nottingham Molière Conference (17–18 December 1993). Nottingham: University of Nottingham, 1994.

Review: M. Hawcroft in MLR 90 (1995), 999–1000: "This excellent collection of essays helpfully illustrates the current diversity of critical approaches to Moliére, all, here, characterized by sound scholarship and clear expression." Among the contributions, "three thematically based textual analyses break new ground. Jean Emelina examines animal imagery, Richard Maber sketches out a promising line of inquiry into Molière's bawdy, and David Shaw convincingly opposes the view that Molière expressed his opinions about medical practices and doctors in his plays."

• See French 17 (1995).

BOSSIER, ULRICH. "Zur Aktualisierung von Dichtungsmoden. Hans Magnus Enzensbergers 'skrupulöse' Umgestaltung des Literaturstreits in Molières Misanthrope." Archiv 232 (1995), 335–49.

Detailed and well documented treatment focuses on Oronte's sonnet chez M. and in Enzensberger's translation. B. questions the latter's version from various angles, philological, aesthetic and dramatic.

CALDER, JOHN. Moliere. The Theory and Practice of Comedy. London: Athlone, 1993.

Review: Jean Emelina in SCFS 16 (1994), 155–60: A study of Molière's philosophy rather than of dramaturgy/theatricality. Chs. 1–3 trace the unique place of the comedy in the history of the genre; chs. 4–8, the centrality of the ridiculous; chs. 9–13, the subjects of satire of "real evil." Reviewer cautions on the tone of the "serious," as examined, and the necessity of according success to elements of spectacles.

• See French 17 (1994).

CHARTIER, ROGER. "Georges Dandin, ou la leçon de civilité." RHL 96.3 (1996) 475–82.

Article is meant as a counter-response to Nicholas Paige's piece in RHL 95.5, which in turn was a response to an article Chartier wrote about Georges Dandin in Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales (94.2). C. contends that P.'s article is based on "une série de malentendus, de contresens et d'erreurs." His principal argument is that P. has not understood this assertion that "Georges Dandin n'est en rien une duplication de la société telle qu'elle est. La comédie, enchâssée dans la pastorale, et la fête de la cour, est une fiction qui désigne et met à nu les mécanismes par lesquels les identités sont affirmées et exhibés, acceptés ou récusées."

CHARTIER, ROGER. "Georges Dandin, ou le social en représentation." Annales- HSS 49 (1994), 277–309.

Examines exhaustively the paratexts of the Versailles production with the goal of identifying the production with the goal of identifying the double ("la cour et la ville") reception of the first spectators in terms of social relations. Contextualizes the royal commission of 1668 on the nobility of Champagne. Important article likely to be the site of much debate (cf. Nicholas Paige, RHLF 95 (1995), 690–708).

CORBELLARI, ALAIN. "Le séducteur par nature: le personnage d'Horace dans L'Ecole des femmes." PFSCL 23 (1996), 229–247.

Near the beginning of M's work the character Horace brings to light issues that were to be explored in the later plays: ". . . la recherche du moi ne serait-elle pas fatalement génératrice de désordres "chimériques" et totalitaires, tandis que l'abandon à l'instinct mènerait à la perte de toute assise personnelle?"

DOCK, STEPHEN VARICK. Costume and Fashion in the Plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière: A Seventeenth-Century Perspective. Geneva: Slatkine, 1992.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 181: Recommended, with reservations to theater historians. Strength of this volume derives from "assembling of diverse archival detail." Extensive glossary and over one hundred reproductions of engravings and drawings.

• See French 17 (1995)

FLECK, STEPHEN H. Music, Dance, and Laughter. Comic Creation in Molière's Comedy-Ballets. PFSCL/Biblio 17 88 (1995).

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996), 143: L. states that "[L]e propos de S.H. Fleck est d'étudier les comédies-ballets sous l'angle du comique, et de montrer comment la collaboration avec Lully et Beauchamp, comment l'accueil de la musique et de la danse permettent à Molière de renouveler et d'approfondir sa vision comique." To accomplish this goal, F. bases his theory of the "comique" on the concepts of "paradoxe" and "jeu," then applies this approach to the Bourgeois gentilhomme and Le Malade imaginaire. L. concludes the review saying that "l'originalité de son travail provient alors de la manière dont il confronte des perspectives multiples, celles notamment de l'anthropologie et de la musicologie."

Review: B. Norman in PFSCL 23 (1996), 376–378: According to reviewer, "Fleck makes it even harder for readers, audiences, and critics to remain unaware—or unconvinced—that to strip Molière's comedy-ballets of their music and dance is not only to falsify them radically but also to miss out on the "finest comic musical theater before that of Mozart and Da Ponte." It is the only work I know that brings a serious treatment of comic theory and of music to bear on the crucial question of the pleasure we find in watching reality consistently called into question . . . ."

• See French 17 (1995)

FORCE, PIERRE. Molière ou le prix des choses. Morale, économie et comédie. Paris: Nathan, 1994.

Review: L. Riggs in PFSCL 23 (1996), 379–381: Studies themes of involvement and exchange in the plays and, according to reviewer, "one of the book's most interesting and fertile aspects is its suggestion of an important relationship between the French moralists and theorists of liberal capitalism, most notably Adam Smith."

KYLANDER, BRITT-MARIE. Le vocabulaire de Molière dans les comédies en alexandrins. Goteborg: Acts Universitatis Gotoburgensis, 1995.

LALANDE, ROXANNE DECKER. Intruders in the Play World: The Dynamics of Gender in Molière's Comedies. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1996.

Review: E. R. Koch in Choice 34 (1996), 286: "In this seminal study, L. . . . promises to address a pressing need: an interpretation of M. from a feminist perspective. Inspired by the work of Johan Huizinga, the author frames gender issues within a theory of comedy as ludic activity. Here comedy becomes the site of a 'play world,' a retreat from social and ethical reality." According to K., "L. argues convincingly that this play world, like its empirical correlate, is patriarchal and based on the marginalization of threatening feminine Otherness. These observations ground the most impressive insights of the study. L.'s discussion of the stakes and dynamics of gender persuasively establish models of feminine exclusion/empowerment and a typology of feminine Otherness in M.'s comedy. She draws from currents in contemporary feminist thought that have resulted from an interrogation and displacement of major concepts of psychoanalytic theory. Regrettably," says K., "many of these are not explicitly presented, contextualized, and problematized: for example, some discussion of the imaginary, the symbolic, and the real concepts central to most of L.'s work would have helped situate and elucidate her argument. (Surprisingly, there is no bibliographic entry for Lacan.) But this is one minor flaw in a remarkable performance," according to the reviewer, who predicts that "L.'s study will undoubtedly find its place among the most important works on feminine alterity in M. and in the comic sphere."

MAZOUER, CHARLES. Molière et ses comédies-ballets. Paris: Klincksieck, 1993.

Review: François Moureau in RHT 47 (1995), 183–184: This book is "une défense et une illustration du génie multiforme de Molière." Divided in three parts and eleven chapters, it studies the aesthetics of "divertissement royal:" "tout l'art de la comédie-ballet est analysé dans ses formes diverses." Mazouer challenges our assumptions on Molière's "intermèdes" which have been ignored by 'metteurs en scène' and critics for three centuries, thus rehabilitating the importance of "jeu," one of the "composantes essentielles du génie de Molière." The "divertissement" enabled Molière to combine "diverses poétiques du spectacle" in a "langage polyphonique et unificateur." In the end, this work "pose quelques vraies questions sur l'esthétique totalisante de Molière.

• See French 17 (1995)

MC BRIDE, ROBERT and NOEL PEACOCK, eds. Le Nouveau Moliériste. Vol. 1. Glasgow: Universities of Glasgow and Ulster, 1994.

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996) 142–43: Favorable review of the successor to Georges Monval's nineteenth-century publication, Le Moliériste. This volume distinguishes itself from its predecessor in that its direction is "fondamentalement interprétive." In addition, the scope of the journal is "d'une envergure internationale et à tendance catholique." The volume deals with changes in Molière criticism from the first to the second Moliériste, as well as analyses of specific plaus. In addition to articles, Le Nouveau Moliériste also includes book reviews.

Review: Pierre Malandain in RSH 242 (1996), 164–66: P. M. refers to the original Moliériste (founded by G. Monval in 1879). ". . . [D]eux universitaires britanniques ont eu l'idée de lancer . . . sous le titre 'le Nouveau Moliériste' mais sur des bases scientifiques et critiques plus solides [than those of the earlier journal], une sorte de nouvelle série de la fameuse revue. On ne peut que se réjouir . . ." about this event, says P. M. "Il faut pourtant bien convenir que . . . le contenu de ce premier numéro est de valeur et d'intérêt fort inégaux." The reviewer points out, however, that ". . . l'idée d'offrir un panorama bien sûr partiel! des représentations de M. dans le monde pendant la saison 1993–94 est excellent . . . ."

MILLER, JUDITH G. "Tartuffe. Review of Performance at Théâtre du Soleil, Paris. 13 January 1996." TJ 48 (1996), 370–71:

"Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil continue to take issue, through an inimitable metaphoric thrust and mythic dimension, with the major oppressive forces of our time. For [A.] M.'s staging of M.'s Tartuffe . . . the director imagines [T.] as a religious fundamentalist. T. here is power crazed, soulless, and sexually obsessed with his simple physical presence enough to turn the prideful Orgon into a quivering mass of ferocious obedience. In a terrifying rendition of the famous 'under the table' scene, O. allows T. to commit a near rape before finally emerging to stop the assault on Elmire." "Passionate about interpreting the play as a critique of religious fanaticism, which is signaled expressly as Islamic in the detailed program notes and further suggested by the set and costume designs, [A.] M. does not choose to build suspense to the moment when the crazed and grotesque T. arrives in act 3. As a result, in the first half of the production the danger represented by T. stunningly reinforced in the second half by the numbing, chanting and fervent presence of a bearded, somber clothed, and blood spattered 'Tartuffian' brotherhood is curiously absent. Instead, a long two acts draw the battle lines within the family." "In the superb fifth act," says J. G. M., "a stepped up pace and beautifully framed stage pictures at last unite to make palpable the horrors of fanatic religious rule. No longer enmeshed in their own internal battles, the family members, necks bruised by guns and hands pinioned behind heads, look helplessly on as T. and what appear to be his military assistants appropriate everything that had been the family's. In this production, M.'s deus ex machina, the King's Officer arrests T. and restores order only after filling his own pockets with whatever loot he can find. A direct reference to the daily outrages perpetrated by both fundamentalists and government in . . . Algeria, these last scenes bring the production to an uneasy close, constructing in the final moments quite a different emotional and political universe than the caricatured quarrels of the first half." According to the reviewer, "[t]he production's divided focus may result from a disappointing blend of those very aspects of [A.] M.'s work which have garnered her acclaim in the past. In her highly formal, stylized productions, she has been able to underplay or even eliminate characters' psychological depth by depending on choral rhythms and the constant musical accompaniment of Jean Jacques Lemêtre to establish moods and transitions. In this Tartuffe, however, music and choral work have been given short shrift," says J. G. M. "Some of the best moments in [this production] speak . . . to [A.] M.'s joyous optimism and ebullient creativity. Her invented character of an Arab street vendor and boom box musician begins and ends the play and facilitates transitions by offering oranges, songs, labor, and commiseration to Orgon's family. He also establishes the sense of complicity with the Soleil's spectators which they have come to expect. Even in its imperfections," contends the reviewer, "this commitment to engage the public directly in an exploration of weighty contemporary questions makes [A.] M.'s Tartuffe a privileged moment of political theatre."

MURATORE, M.J. "Theatrical conversion in Molière's Dom Juan." NFS 34.2 (1995), 1–9.

According to the author, "the deeper significance of Molière's Dom Juan does not rest at the level of theological allegory." The play is not, like Tirso de Molina's original version, a didactial work with moral lessons but a "theatrical metaphor:" the last act "dramatizes not the swift and sure damnation of the unrepentant unbeliever but the more palpable power of dramatic art to make believers of us all."

NURSE, PETER HAMPSHIRE. Molière and the Comic Spirit. Genève: Droz: 1991.

Review: Michèle Vialet in EMF 2 (1996), 219–222: This book compiles N.'s previous work on Molière. In part, the critical approach is to discuss Molière's "esprit comique" with respect to an "esprit satirique." The work starts with a discussion of Molière's public, as well as his dramatic inspiration, then moves to a study of individual plays. V. praises N.'s analysis of L'Ecole des femmes, but suggests that plays such as L'Ecole des maris and Le Médecin malgré lui receive scant attention. In general, V. agrees with N.'s thesis that Molière's "structure comique" rests on the idea of the "trompeur trompé," but asks if another study of "la critique moliéresque humaniste" is truly necessary for specialists. Yet, V. recommends the volume, saying "[L]es non-specialistes, étudiants, amateurs de littérature ou curieux, trouveront . . . une introduction concise de la meilleure tradition critique humaniste."

PENSOM, ROGER. "Moliere et le théâtre dans le théâtre." Poétique 107 (1996), 321–32.

Engaging essay that articulates in L'Impromptu de Versailles a "théorie fonctionnelle molièresque du théâtre" presupposing that Dorante is in La Critique . . . the spokesman for Cartesian "bon sens."

POMMIER, RENE. "Sur une clef d'Amphitryon." RHL 96.2 (1996), 212–28.

P. examines the issue of whether or not Molière's plays, among them Amphitryon, can be read as commentaries on Louis XIV's extra-marital affairs, especially with Madame de Montespan. P. rejects this notion, saying "[S]i Molière aurait pu se permettre de faire allusion à la conduite du roi pour la justifier, il n'aurait absolument pas pu se permettre de le faire pour la critiquer." More important for P. is Amphitryon's conclusion, which he terms "insolite" because "on se sent que les tensions ne sont qu'en partie apaisées et qu'il subsiste toujours un réel et profond malaise." P. compares Plautus's and Rotrou's versions of the play to Molière's, and concludes that Molière's has greater comic import.

RIGGS, LARRY. "Molière, Paranoia and the Presence of Absence." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 195–211,

R. looks at Molière's ridicules from a post-structuralist perspective. Focusing on the idea advanced by Lacan and Shoshana Felman, R. contends that "modern knowledge is inherently paranoiac [and consonant] with the Cartesian Subject, for whom the purpose of knowledge is to make man the master and proprietor of the world." This delusion of power and knowledge is fundamental to Molière's comedy, as R. continues with a discussion of how plays such as L'Ecole des femmes and Les Femmes savantes "relentlessly expose and lampoon the quintessentially absolutist, modernist pretentions of [the] ridicules. R. concludes by linking the pretentions of knowledge, control and absolutism to canonicity, stating that the canon "is analogous to the self-serving order each of Molière's ridicules tries to impose."

RONZEAUD, PIERRE, ed. Les Femmes savantes et Le Malade imaginaire. Paris: Magnard, 1994.

Review: James F. Gaines in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 237–38: Favorable review in which G. praises the edition's scholarship and general readability. G. summarizes his comments by saying that the editions are "attractive, user-friendly and thorough." As a result, Ronzeaud's edition "makes an interesting alternative to the standard Larousse and Bordas versions of the plays."

RONZEAUD, PIERRE. "Molière des Fourberies de Scapin au Malade imaginaire." Littératures classiques Supplément annuel (janvier 1993).

Review: Marc Escola in IL 47.5 (1995) 39–40: The work consists of "les actes d'une journée d'étude consacrée aux quatre dernières nées de Molière." Among the "actes" listed is P. Dandrey's "réflexion à la fois anthropologique et poétique . . . sur la double postulation de l'esthétique comique vers le rire sans mesure (vis comica), et le vraisemblable mimétique (speculum vitae)." Also described are C. Mazouer's recent work on Molière's "comedies-ballets," and J. Emelina's study of the "fonction ludique du langage théâtral." E. concludes the review by mentioning J. Serroy's discussion of the body in Les Femmes savantes, Les Fourberies de Scapin and Le Malade imaginaire.

VENESOEN, CONSTANT. Quand Jean-Baptiste joue du Molière. Essai. PFSCL/Biblio 17 94 (1996).

A psychological study of the person J.-B. Poquelin covered by the mask of an actor named Molière.

VERNET, MAX. Molière: côté jardin, côté cour. Paris: Nizet, 1991.

Review: Larry Riggs in EMF 2 (1996), 214–18: R. agrees with V. that Molière's plays "constitut[e] an increasingly urgent contemplation of the emerging modern world." As outlined by V., and seconded by R., the "consequences of modernity" are "Cartesian individualism and semiological chaos." It is these aspects of modernity that Molière derides. R. praises V. for linking the study of Molière to the theory of Lacan, Girard, Serres and Kristeva. However, V.'s work is "lacking in recent Molière criticism, and particularly in works which argue for approaches similar to Vernet's own."

• See French 17 (1995)

• See also Part I:  Boysen, Gerard
• Schapira, Charlotte
• Part II:  Chartier, Roger
• Green, Amy
• Jackson, Sharon
• Menta, Ed
• Wikander, Matthew
• Part III:  Storey, Robert
• Washburn, Denis Yulan
• Part IV:  Balmas, Enea
• Bertrand, Dominique
• Boquet, Guy
• Brody, Jules
• Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Greenberg, Mitchell
• Hunt, Lynn
• Mc Mahon, Elise
• Mazouer, Charles
• McBride, Robert and Noel Peacock
• Mathis, Geneviève
• Muratore, Mary-Jo
• Romanowski, Sylvia
• Schöpflin, Karin
• Ter Horst, Robert
• Weinberg, M. Grazia
• Weller, Franz-Rudolf
• Part V:  La Fontaine; Dandrey, Patrick and A. Genetiot
• La Mothe Le Vayer; McBride, Robert

MONTPENSIER

POSFAY, EVA. "Ecrire l'utopie féminine en 1660." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 221–34.

P. claims that the Lettres exchanged between Mlle de Montpensier and Françoise de Motteville have been generally excluded from anthologies dealing with the utopic genre in France. Concentrating on Montpensier's pastoral utopia, where "les femmes sont maîtresses d'elles-mêmes," P. argues that the Grande Mademoiselle's utopia is decidedly feminist, but still admits men in order to afford greater intellectual exchange. Of note also in P.'s article are the reasons why Montpensier omits mention of her cousin Louis XIV in the Lettres. According to P., the Grande Mademoiselle's vision of a "champêtre République" governed by a matriarch forcibly excludes the presence of a strong monarch such as the Roi-Soleil.

• See also Part IV:  Briot, Frédéric
• Plantié, Jacqueline

MOTTEVILLE

• See Part IV:  Romanowski, Sylvia
• Williams, Charles G.S.

NICOLE, PIERRE

DANIELOU, CATHERINE F. "'C'est une étrange chose que la science dans une tête de fille.' Pierre Nicole et l'éducation des jeunes filles." SFr 113 (1994), 273–282.

Pierre Nicole's writings on education should be studied closely: he had views on this topic that were, by far, not as austere as those of his fellow Jansenists like Barcos. A comparison with Fénelon is even more enlightening for Nicole was against the total "domestication" of women, and their "retour au domaine privé et familial afin d'obvier aux dangers que pourrait constituer leur rôle grandissant dans la vie culturelle." He was nonetheless against certain "excès de comportement." Thus, "tout en soutenant l'infériorité de la femme, Nicole défend des principes égalitaires faisant valoir des théories nettement cartésienne."

• See also Part IV:  Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud

NUYSEMENT

GUILLOT, ROLAND, ed. Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement: Les Oeuvres poétiques. Livres I et II. Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: V. Mecking in Archiv 232 (1995), 454–58: Praised as an exemplary critical edition, G.'s work presents the first two books of the humanist/alchemist N. Book one is a chronicle of the wars of religion, in stanzas, sonnets and odes; book two is a cycle of 101 sonnets in the Ronsardien tradition. Informative section on N.'s life and work, bibliography, index and glossary. Reviewer awaits G.'s edition of N.'s third book.

• See also Part III:  Long, Kathleen

ORLEANS (PALATINE)

BROOKS, WILLIAM and P.J. YARROW. "What Madame Saw: Some Clues to the Theatrical Taste of the 'cour et le ville,' 1671–1722." SCFS 16 (1994), 167–78.

Chronological and generic listing of the plays seen at the court, the Palais Royal and other public theatres, and their frequency. Some unexpected findings in this index of court taste (as well as Madame's vigorous demands for performers), although none is startling. A book-length expansion of the study is forthcoming.

PALAPRAT

• See Part IV:  Mazouer, Charles

PARADIS DE MONCRIF, FRANÇOIS-AUGUSTIN

ASSAF, FRANCIS, ed. Les Aventures de Zeloïde et d'Amanzarifdine. PFSCL/Biblio 17 82 (1994).

Review: Catherine Bonfils in RHL 95.6 (1995) 1033–34: B. mentions that the first edition of this text "à décor oriental," appeared in 1715, and that the present edition follows the original, but contains modernized spelling and punctuation. In his introduction, A. speaks of M.'s "contes indiens," as well as of a "conte moral." The "contes indiens" represent the convergence of three genres: "le merveilleux, l'orientalisme, et l'histoire galante." While M.'s text has been overlooked by critics. B. agrees with A. by suggesting that the richness of the work merits further discussion.

PASCAL

ADAMSON, DONALD. Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God. N.Y./London: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

Review: Christian Licoppe in Isis 87 (1996), 545: An intellectual biography that aims to clarify and bring some coherence to the different aspects of P.'s perception of the world, the emerging picture being of a man singularly located at the crossroads of modern European spiritual and intellectual history. Cultural and historical contexts are secondary to this reconstruction. A useful introduction to complexity that will need supplementing.

• See French 17 (1995)

BOUCHILLOUX, HELENE. "Du beau et du sublime chez Pascal". RPFE, 116. 2 (1995), 191–210.

Applying Kant's category of "sublime", Bouchilloux reconsiders Pascal's views on aesthetics and eloquence. Though Pascal's analysis of the literary art form remains personal and highly critical, his perception is defined by a religious context, and faithful to Plato's and Augustine's heritage: "le sublime pascalien constitue l'exaltation —dans le spectacle de l'immensité de la nature ou dans le sentiment de la menace d'engloutissement qu'elle représente— de la place de Dieu au coeur de l'homme." It can only be understood "dans le contexte d'une philosophie se dépassant dans ce qui la surpasse, à savoir la théologie."

COLE, JOHN R. Pascal: The Man and His Two Loves. New York: New York U P, 1995.

Review: P. K. Moser in Choice 33 (1996), 1323: In this study "C. . . . offers a psychological and historical account of . . . P.'s . . . intellectual and spiritual development. Parts 1 and 2 examine P.'s familial attachments and losses, giving special importance to the loss of his mother when he was three years old and to his relationship to his father. Part 3 examines P.'s Memorial . . . describing his intense religious experience of November 23, 1654. Drawing from Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams, C. argues that this experience stemmed from P.'s unconscious preoccupation with attachment to his deceased parents, even though P. was committing himself to God. . . . Parts 4 and 5 examine P.'s religious writings with an eye toward evidence of psychological disorders. P., according to C., suffered from an affective disorder related to his familial losses. The 'two loves' of the book's title are the love of God and the love of one's neighbor. C.'s Freudian speculations about P. are novel but far from confirmed," says M.

DARRIULAT, JACQUES. L'Arithmetique de la grace: Pascal et les carées magiques. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1994.

Review: Nicholas Maistrellis in Isis 86 (1995), 644: Relation between Pascal mathematician and apologist is developed here so interestingly and suggestively that a careful reading is merited. The appendix on the construction of magic squares to Arnauld's Nouveaux Eléments de géométrie (1667), although of not certain attribution—is viewed and discussed as an image of the crucial distinction of nature and grace central to Pascal's theological concerns.

EDMUNDS, BRUCE. "Rhetorical Transgressions: Pascal and his Adversaries." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 67–85.

E. discusses the theme of laziness in Pascal's Provinciales. For Pascal, Jesuit idleness, rather than doctrinal differences with the Jansensists, posed the chief threat to the Church. E. contends that the Jesuit aversion to work took many forms, but was particularly manifest on a social level, where the Jesuits sought "to establish a false community based on the specious appearance of accord." By ascribing to an exagerated notion of probabalism whereby "virtually all opinions were probable," the Jesuits rejected the precepts of doubt, and therefore the Cartesian method. As a result, this excessively accomodating philosophy "appear[ed] to eliminate any source of conflict, but [in reality led to] social disintegration, not harmony."

HAMMOND, NICHOLAS. Playing with Truth: Language and the Human Condition in Pascal's Pensées. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 372: Judged "a refreshingly new angle of reading . . . persuasively presented," H.'s study focuses on P.'s key words for the human condition. The words are not "stable containers of truth but shifting pawns in a dialectic of contradictory viewpoints."

Review: H. M. Davidson in FrF 20 (1995), 246–47: Judged "an unusually clear appreciation of P.'s resources and choices," H. analyzes seven terms: "inconstance, ennui, inquiétude, repos, bonheur/félicité, justice, and vérité" as a sort of matrix that has both semantic and structural implications." D. praises H.'s study as "well-conceived and well-executed . . . against . . . [a] very rich background of reflection both on source materials and in recent critical discussions."

Review: E. Moles in MLR 91 (1996), 219–220: "Drawing largely on period literary usage to illuminate key terms, Hammond argues that by playing with language and order, the dialectician Pascal alerts us to man's flawed state so as to involve the reader in a linguistic game."

• See French 17 (1995).

HAMMOND, NICOLAS. "Pascal and Descartes inutile et incertain." SCFS 16 (1994), 59–63.

Following McKenna's general lines of tracing influence of Gassendi, situates L887 and L110 in relation to the Disquisitio metaphysica. The qualifiers, coupled, are finally directed via this intertext to Descartes's philosophy in which " 'sentiment de coeur' " plays no part.

HILL, ROBERT. "Pascal, de Man, and the Question of Allegory." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 89–112.

H. examines de Man's readings of Pascal's De l'esprit gémométrique de l'art de persuader. Studying the relationship between mathematics and language, which he roughly equates with the relationship between literal and figurative meaning. H. argues that de Man takes Pascal's "word problem" and makes a "word problem" of his own. For de Man, the concept of the "word problem" is "a rapid form of allegory." According to H., de Man differs from Pascal in that rather than posit a "homogeneous universe," de Man's "counterargument" uses "mathematical heterogeneity," and "leads him away from both mathematics and philosophy towards a mystified numerology."

LAZZERI, CHRISTIAN. Force et justice dans la politique de Pascal. Paris: PUF, 1993.

Review: F. Lagarde in PFSCL 23 (1996), 399–401. Reviewer deems this the definitive work on Pascal's political thought. Pascal's "Travaillons donc à bien penser" sums up well Lazerri's contention that for Pascal "la justice, c'est la logique."

LEDUC-FAYETTE, DENISE. "La catégorie pascalienne de l'hérésie". RPFE 116. 2 (1995), 211–228:

The notion of heresy is given, in Pascal's thought, "une portée méthodique": heresy has the rank of "catégorie logico-philosophique indépendamment en apparence de sa stricte connotation relative à 'l'orthodoxie' des propositions en matière théologique." Though heresy is diabolical in its essence (since it divides -diabellein: to divide), it remains a part of Truth, though truth is deformed and humiliated in the process; all heresies have a common denominator since they disrespect Christ as the Mediator "dans sa fonction doublement rédemptrice et déifiante."

MARINER, FRANÇOIS. "L'Entretien à Port-Royal et Pascal." SFr 39.1 (1995), 25–39.

A study of Nicolas Fontaine's Mémoires and his Entretien de M. de Pascal et de M. de Sacy (...). This 'entretien' is obviously a rhetorical reconstruction of Pascal and Sacy's relationship. However, "à l'encontre des premiers témoignages hagiographiques sur la vie de Pascal, Fontaine enregistre ses débuts difficiles," and his dialogue remains a first-hand testimony of Pascal's difficult rapport with Port-Royal: "quoique factice et seule invention de Fontaine, il laisse intacte l'autorité de Sacy et crée l'illusion de son influence dans la formation d'une vocation encore mal comprise par le nouveau converti."

MC DONALD, BRIDGET ANNE. "Pensée, Plagiary: Pascal and the Moderns." (The Johns Hopkins University, 1995) DAI, December 1995, 22–59.

Author states that "the first half of [the] dissertation treats Pascal's writings and various sources influential to them; the second half considers appropriations of his work by modern writers." Thesis deals with P.'s quoting of Scripture, interpretations of the body, and the "rewritings of Pascal by Lautréamont, Baudelaire, Valéry and Blanchot."

MENGOTTI-THOUVENIN, PASCALE AND JEAN MESNARD, eds. Pascal, Entretien avec M. de Sacy sur Epictète et Montaigne. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1994.

Review: A. McKenna in PFSCL 23 (1996), 402: A new and definitive edition of the text. Introduction.

• See French 17 (1995)

MEURILLON, CHRISTIAN. "Ecriture et autorité dans les Pensées de Pascal." RSH 238 (1995), 65–84.

"L'autorité figure au centre des préoccupations de P., de ses écrits scientifiques comme de ses écrits religieux. . . . Se conjuguent . . . chez P. théorie et pratique de l'autorité, épistémologie et rhétorique, conceptualisation et écriture. Ce sont leurs interférences que j'étudierai ici dans la perspective des Pensées."

NATOLI, CHARLES, M. "Pascal mystique/anti-mystique." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 113–24.

N. asks why Pascal's description of his famous "nuit de feu" is so scanty. As a devotional experience, the "nuit de feu" is crucial to Pascal's belief in the "certitude" of God's existence. N. speculates that Pascal's mystical experience of 23 November 1654 goes virtually undescribed because even the language of mysticism is insufficient to relate an encounter with, as Pascal describes it, "le Dieu d'Abraham, d'Isaac et de Jacob." N. concludes "l'acte même de parler contredit tout effort de faire signifier le langage."

THIROUIN, LAURENT. Le hasard et les règles. Le modèle du jeu dans la pensée de Pascal. Paris: Vrin, 1991.

Review: François Lagarde in EMF 2 (1996), 201–05: A quite favorable review in which L. states "cet essai est remarquable: il reconstruit la pensée fragmentée de Pascal avec patience et rigueur, il est aussi en un sens une défense de Pascal. On sent l'auteur fasciné par une logique du système des Pensées, et le résultat est un Pascal très pointu et cependant très clair." While L. is "surprised" by T.'s interpretation of Pascal's views on civil law and utopianism, he enthusiastically recommends the book, especially the section on the "Pari." This particular analysis becomes the "joyau du livre," as its conclusions "montre[nt] que ce n'est pas la raison, ou son absence qui empêche de croire, mais bien les passions."

VIZIER, ALAIN. "Pascal et le problème de la fragmentation." FrF 20 (1995), 23–44.

Pascal situates the origin of the problem of fragmentation "dans le fonctionnement même de la pensée . . . non seulement dans les faits, mais aussi . . . dans sa 'nature'." V. admirably analyzes numerous texts where P. questions this process of fragmentation. Intriguing developments concerning knowledge and resistance or violence, " ce qui force à penser," the necessity of discovering laws of thought and abiding by them, the superiority of research and demonstration as against any citing of authorities. Rich and profound treatment offers insights as well into significance of "science" and "penser."

WETSEL, DAVID. Pascal and Disbelief. Catechesis and Conversion in the Pensées. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1994.

Review: B. Edmunds in PFSCL 23 (1996), 709–710: "One can hardly fail to admire David Wetsel's boldness, even if his reading of the Pensées does not always do what it claims," states the reviewer. W. goes too far, based on scanty internal evidence, in reconstructing one particular reading of the work. Despite this, "these are lavish, suggestive pages, full of historical and textual detail. . . . One emerges with a delightfully nuanced sense of Pascal, brillant in some ways, benighted in others, opposing his prodigious abilities to forces that could not fail to overwhelm him."

• See also Part III:  Dear, Peter
• Timms, Edward
• Part IV:  Brody, Jules
• Chang, Helen
• Cohen, Mitchell
• Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Lagarde, François
• Part V:  Bossuet; Flasche, Hans

PASCAL, FRANÇOISE

• See Part IV:  Gethner, Perry

PEIRESC

BRESSON, AGNES, éd. Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, Lettres à Claude Saumaise et à son entourage (1620–1637). Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1992.

Review: A. Vernet in CRa (avril-juin 1993), 519–21: "Dossier de la correspondance adressée par Peiresc à Claude Saumaise et à divers savants en relation avec eux. Selon Raymond Lebègue, l'auteur de l'Avant-propos, cette impeccable édition représente "une contribution de premier ordre à l'histoire de l'orientalisme."

• See French 17 (1994, 1993).

• See also Part III:  L'Hote, Jean-François

PERRAULT, CHARLES

MAIRESSE-LANDES, ANNE. "En hommage à Louis Marin: travail de l'écriture et la part du jeu." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 213–20.

M-L.'s tribute to Marin focuses on the latter's work on Perrault's Contes. Partially summarizing Marin's philosophy that literary criticism concerned itself with "le travail de l'écriture et la part du jeu," M-L. discusses this "jeu" in terms of Marin's study of power relationships in the Contes. She takes the example of Le chat botté, where Marin asserts that the cat's guile and success is meant to ridicule humanity in its quest for power. Paraphrasing Marin, M-L. states that the cat "sert à mettre en évidence la sottise humaine dont il se joue." Marin's "entreglose" underscores "l'humilité de sa tâche" as a researcher, where "Il se fait le porte-parole de l'événement représenté, [et] témoin de la vanité du pouvoir une fois autorisé."

SIMONSEN, MICHELE. Perrault Contes. Paris: P.U.F., 1992.

Review: J. Pedersen in RevR 28 (1993), 318: S. "présente au lecteur les problèmes que posent respectivement l'état des textes, le conte de fées littéraire et la tradition orale. La partie de loin la plus importante embrasse les analyses très précises que nous offre M.S. des onze textes: une nouvelle en vers, Grisélidis, deux contes en vers, Les souhaits ridicules et Peau d'Ane et les huit contes en prose, La Belle au bois dormant, Le Petit Chaperon rouge, La Barbe-Bleue, Le Chat botté, Les Fées, Cendrillon, Riquet a la houppe et Le Petit Poucet."

• See French 17 (1994, 1993).

• See also Part IV:  Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Muratore, Mary-Jo
• Velay-Vallantin, Catherine
• Warner, Marina
• Part V:  Quinault: Brooks, William and Jeanne Morgan Zarucchi

PERRAULT, PIERRE

• See Part V:  Quinault: Brooks, William and Jeanne Morgan Zarucchi

PICHOU

LEROY, PIERRE, ed. L'Infidèle Confidente, tragi-comédie (1631). Geneva: Droz, 1991.

Review: James F. Gaines in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 239–40: G. finds the volume quite valuable, saying "we owe thanks to Leroy for making . . . available a well-crafted edition." While much of the review focuses on the baroque character of the play, G. mentions certain features of the edition such as sections dealing with "the unities," "the notion of heroism," and, "its tragicomic context." G. also notes the editor's "substantial bibliography," "ample glossary," and "numerous explicative footnotes."

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 46 (1994), 383: The reviewer has only praises for "la tâche bienvenue de faire connaître les oeuvres dramatiques de Pichou:" a "transcription impeccable," a "solide introduction," an "annotation infrapaginale (...) aussi judicieuse qu'utile" with "références précises" do justice to this "exemple représentatif de la tragi-comédie romanesque du temps." All in all, "du bon travail!"

• See French 17 (1995)

POISSON, RAYMOND

NAVAILLES, LOUISETTE, ed. La Hollande malade. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995.

Review: Catherine Bonfils in RHL 96.3 (1996), 498. Work deals with P,'s representation of Louis XIV's war against Holland in the early 1670s. B. cites several passages from the text which, she states, is "versifié, non sans brio." In general, B. recommends the volume, concluding, "l'introduction de Louisette Navailles, principalement historique et agrémentée de quatre gravures satiriques, éclaire utilement les allusions à l'acutalité."

Review: W. Brooks in PFSCL 23 (1996), 405–407: A political satire probably performed in 1672 at the beginning of the Franco-Dutch war. Reviewer states that "despite the confusion, errors, and omissions [of the edition], it is good to have the text of this curiosity, but was the volume approved, copy-edited, or proof-read?"

POMEY, FRANÇOISE-ANTOINETTE

• See Part I: Girardin, Chantal

POULAIN DE LA BARRE

• See Part IV:  Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Steinbrugge, Lieselotte

POUSSIN, NICOLAS

CLAYTON, MARTIN. Poussin: Works on Paper: Drawings from the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.

Review: F. W. Robinson in Choice 33 (1996), 777: "This handsome volume accompanies a traveling exhibition of 65 drawings from Windsor Castle, all by Nicolas P. There are brief introductory essays on each major phase of P.'s career, followed by long scholarly entries on each drawing. The entries helpfully outline the mythological sources P. used and discuss other scholars' opinions on dating, authenticity, other versions, and related issues." R. considers this volume to be "a superb set of reproductions of much of this great artist's graphic production, accompanied by a text that will be of real interest and use for scholars rather than the casual reader."

CROPPER, ELIZABETH, and CHARLES DEMPSEY. Nicolas Poussin: Friendship and the Love of Painting. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996.

Review: F. W. Robinson in Choice 33 (1996), 1630: The authors "have written an important book that is a significant step forward in understanding the intellectual milieu and assumptions of" N. P. The book is "an exploration of the intellectual and social context of this highly literate, sophisticated artist. It is replete with references to and comparisons with contemporary artists, such as Rubens, and extended discussion of 17th century poets and collectors friendly with P., as well as a careful evocation of his attitudes toward ancient Greek and Roman literature and sculpture and his place within various iconographic traditions." The authors, "widely recognized authorities in Italian art, . . . write in an easy, accessible style," says R. "The book includes 165 good black and white and 12 full color reproductions, and full scholarly apparatus . . . ."

VERDI, RICHARD. Nicolas Poussin, 1594–1665. London: Zwemmer/Royal Academy of Arts, 1995.

Review: A. L. Palmer in Choice 33 (1995), 608: "In this catalog, published in conjunction with the 1994 95 Paris and London exhibit of P., the most comprehensive to date, V. gives a stylistic overview of P.'s career, offering a new chronology for his early oeuvre." "Although V.'s stylistic reasoning is not," in the reviewer's opinion, "compelling enough to revise P.'s traditional chronology and expand his oeuvre, the inclusive catalog does allow a comprehensive study of P." ". . . Pierre Rosenberg contributes a useful discussion of P.'s relationship to French art patrons as reflected in the Louvre collection." This volume by V. is judged "valuable for its use of excellent color plates and a complete catalog that will help scholars continue to better understand P.'s artistic development."

• See also Part II:  Baumgartner, E. and L. Harf-Lancner
• Clayton, Martin
• Marin, Louis
• McTighe, Sheila
• Part IV:  Demoris, René
• Mourier-Casile, Pascaline

PUGET DE LA SERRE

• See Part IV:  Harriet, Rodolf

QUESNEL

TANS, J.A.G. and H. SCHMITZ DU MOULIN. La Correspondance de Pasquier Quesnel. Inventaire et index analytique. II. Index analytique. 2 vols. Louvain: Bureau de la RHE/Brussels: Ed. Nauwelaerts, 1993.

Review: René Tavenaux in RHEF 81 (1995), 339–41: Monumental reference source allowing for the first time a systematic use of the large but dispersed correspondance. Completes the inventory published in 1989 and is complementable by the Lexicon pseudonymorum jansenisticorum . . . (Louvain, 1989: "Instrumenta theologica," no. 4).

QUINAULT

BASSINET, STEPHANE, ed. Atys. Geneva: Droz, 1992.

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 47 (1995), 187–188: Mazouer thinks it was an excellent idea to present Quinault's libretto as a "pièce dramatique." If "sur la langue même du livret, l'annotation reste pauvre, à peine complétée par un très court glossaire," there are, however, insightful remarks on "l'articulation du livret et de la musique." Though the introduction is solid, "on se prend à regretter que rien ne soit proposé sur la musique de Lully." In short, "S. Bassinet a rempli son contrat, qui était de faire prendre en considération un livret en tant que tel."

BROOKS, WILLIAM, BUFORD NORMAN and JEANNE MORGAN ZARUCCHI, eds. Alceste suivi de La Querelle d'Alceste. Anciens et Modernes avant 1680. Geneva: Droz, 1994.

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996) 143–44: L. describes the general presentation of the volume which includes the "livret" of Quinault and Lully's 1674 opera, as well as the texts concerning the "querelle d'Alceste." Key in this debate are Charles Perrault's Critique de l'opéra and Racine's response in the preface of Iphigénie. The work emphasizes that the querelle over Alceste is "exclusivement littéraire; la qualité musicale de l'opéra n'est jamais questionnée." L. commends the authors for their fidelity to the original edition, and for their general effort to "faire entendre l'oeuvre" and the controversy surrounding it.

Review: D. Shaw in MLR 91 (1996), 473–74: Scholarly, focused study with excellent introduction and useful notes. "It brings together for the first time in a single volume the Quinault libretto and the four polemical tracts that make up the Querelle d'Alceste of 1673–75. As this Querelle represents the first skirmish in the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes, it marks a defining moment in the evolution of seventeenth-century theatrical taste." The volume also contains a valuable juxtaposition of "the Critique d'Alceste by Charles Perrault, Racine's feisty reply in his preface to Iphigénie, Perrault's Lettre à Monsieur Charpentier, and Pierre Perrault's Critique des deux Tragédies d'Iphigénie."

• See French 17 (1995).

RACAULT, J.-M.

CARILE, P., ed. Voyage et aventures de François Leguat et de ses compagnons en deux îles désertes des Indes orientales 1690–1698, suivi de Recueil de quelques mémoires servant d'instruction pour l'établissement de l'île d'Eden par Henri Duquesne (1689). Paris: Editions de Paris, 1995.

Review: Marc Escola in RHL 96.3 (1996), 503–04: E. welcomes the volume, praising its revival of "un classique oublié dans la littérature du voyage." Reviewer describes the original work as "pénétré d'idéologie religieuse et soucieux de décrire une faune et une flore alors inconnues." The first part of the work "est consacrée à un tableau de l'existence arcadienne," in which the protagonists (Hugenot exiles) find themselves . By contrast, the second part describes the "exacte contre-épreuve," whereby "les hugenots, déportés par les authorités hollandaises, retrouvent dans ce nouveau monde le despotisme européen." In his conclusion, E. praises the "introduction riche d'informations historiques," as well as the reproduction of twenty-eight engravings from the original edition.

RACINE

BAMFORTH, STEPHEN. "A Second Missing Scene in Racine's Phedre." SCFS 16 (1994), 161–66.

Brief but thorough analysis of the dramatic effects of the scene of Phedre's confrontation of Oenone.

BENGUIGUI, LUCIEN-GILLES. Racine et les sources juives d'Esther et Athalie. Paris: Editions L'Harmatten/Les Editions du Pavillon, 1995.

Review: J. Dubu in PFSCL 23 (1996), 661–663: In an essay on the relations between Jews and non-Jews, B. seeks to read the two tragedies in the context of the present. Reviewer fills in a few gaps in the information presented.

DELMAS, CHRISTIAN, ed. Bajazet. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

DELMAS, CHRISTIAN and GEORGES FORESTIER, eds. Phèdre. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

DOSMOND, SIMONE. "Racine et la tragédie à sujet romain." IL 47.5 (1995), 22–26.

Article explains R.'s change from Greek to Roman themes. D. suggests that the switch comes in part from R.'s desire to equal and surpass Corneille. Yet, the gist of the argument rests on the analysis of similarities and differences between the plays that constitute R.'s "trilogie romaine:" Britinnicus, Bérénice, and Mithridate. Among the similarities between Britannicus and Bérénice are the political setting of the imperial palace, which represents "un pôle dramatique où tout converge et tout rayonne." By contrast, Mithridate takes place in the provinces, thus suggesting an "anti-imperialistic" dimension. Thus, while Britannicus and Bérénice at least superficially evoke Rome's glory, Mithridate views Rome as a "puissance arrogante et dominatrice."

ERNEST, GILLES, ed. Athalie. Paris: Librairie Générale française, 1992.

Review: Harriet Allentuch in FR 69 (1996), 480–81: Provides a full chronology of Biblical events and index of lines that directly or indirectly inspire R. Lengthy glossary and grammatical notes. Of special interest to advanced students.

FORESTIER, GEORGES, ed. Bajazet. Paris: Librairie Générale française, 1992.

Review: Harriet Allentuch in FR 69 (1996), 480–81: For both advanced students and specialists, a richly informative introduction. Includes R.'s two prefaces, an excellent resume of R.'s oeuvre, a chronology and biblio. Stresses R.'s complex relationships with his audience.

• See French 17 (1995)

FORESTIER, GEORGES, ed. Britannicus. Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

Review: R. Tobin in PFSCL 23 (1996), 674–675: Each edition in the "Folio" collection includes a preface, the text, a chronology followed by a "notice," a review of the noteworthy productions, a bibliography, notes, and an act-by-act summary of the play. According to the reviewer,these editions bring the best of recent scholarship to bear on the texts, with each volume of the collection referring profitably to the other volumes.

GILLE, CATHERINE CHAUDRON. "Dramatic Recognition in the Tragedies of Jean Racine." (Emory University, 1995) DAI (January 1996), 2709.

G. discusses R.'s use of the "traditional recognition scene in Athalie, Iphigénie, and Britannicus." Thesis deals with "issues such as the relationship of an individual character to the society as a whole, the role of the recognition scene in establishing political and religious authority, as well as the public and ritual nature of the act of recognition itself."

GREGOIRE, VINCENT. "Esther, une pièce biblique au caractère didactique ambigu." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 177–94.

G. reads Esther in light of Racine's desire to support the efforts of Madame de Maintenon's Saint-Cyr, where young women were educated to uphold a certain moral orthodoxy. Yet, at the same time, Racine sought to give these newly-educated women a voice which, to a limited extent, marked a "transgression . . . de l'ordre patriarchal." This apparent paradox in Esther is temporarily reconciled by the fact that the protagonist, when forced to chose between God and king, chooses God. Such a choice shows that a political order may be violated in favor of a higher moral order. Despite this seeming resolution, both play and dramaturge come under attack from the Church, which argued that Esther advanced too many contradictory ideas, and gave "trop [de] confiance à ces jeunes filles en quête d'elles-mêmes." As a result, the young women of Saint-Cyr, some of whom perfomed in Esther, and other plays such as Andromaque and Iphigénie, were subjected to a "politique de musèlement" that ended the attempt to "libéralis[er] . . . [le] discours féminin par l'entreprise théâtrale."

GUENOUN, SOLANGE. "Mélancolie, hystérie ou le refus classique de la division dans Phèdre de Racine." FLS 21 (1994), 55–65.

Complex inquiry setting the birth of the modern subject, the crisis of representation of sovereignty, and the culture of division as the contexts for the fragmentation of both Phedre and Hippolyte.

HAWCROFT, MICHAEL and VALERIE WORTH, eds. Alexandre le Grand. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1990.

Review: Charles Mazouer in RHT 46 (1994), 376–377: The authors try to rehabilitate a play that has somewhat fallen into disrepute. To do so, they base their edition on the original version published in 1666, completing it with notes referring to all other subsequent editions. Their introduction is also an attempt at rehabiliting Alexandre le Grand: they propose "une lecture un peu neuve de la tragédie" that contradicts Jasinski's views on Racine's politics, and a study on "les qualités théâtrales de l'oeuvre." Even though there are typographical mistakes, "il faut recommander vivement cette édition nouvelle."

JAMES, EDWARD D. and GILLIAN JONDORF, eds. Racine: Phèdre. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1994.

Review: D. Maskell in MLR 91 (1996), 725–26: "The bulk of the book gives a traditional account of Phèdre: structure, language, protagonists, ending, and meaning. . . . This is a safe and useful introduction to Racine for the general reader and undergraduate."

• See French 17 (1995).

PHILLIPS, HENRY. Racine: Language and Theatre. Durham: University of Durham, 1994.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 31 (1995), 379: Examines features of Racine's tragedy from the "angle of speech." Since speech is physical action, a consideration of "shared discourse" is essential.

Review: D. Maskell in MLR 91 (1996), 725–26: "Henry Phillips establishes the importance of the thematics of speech in Racine and argues that 'the tension of utterance' is an integral part of the tragic action." This contribution to Racinian studies is "original and stimulating" despite several drawbacks: an index of examples would provide the reader a sense of how they relate to one another; closer integration of rhetorical dimension of analyses with existing rhetorical studies would be welcome.

POMMIER, RENE. Etudes sur Britannicus. Paris: SEDES, 1995.

Review: J. Dubu in PFSCL 23 (1996), 700–702: A response to Barthes, Goldmann, and Mauron: "ce livre nous apporte des vues pénétrantes sur l'une des tragédies les plus classiques du théâtre français sans rien ignorer des apports récents de la critique, pourvu qu'ils soient fondés."

POT, OLIVIER. "Racine: théâtre de la culpabilité ou culpabilité du théâtre." TL 8 (1995), 125–49.

Investigates "la culpabilité" as transforming force in Racine's theatre: "la réalité de la culpabilité est indissociable dans l'esprit du dramaturge, de la problématique de l'imaginaire théâtral." Discriminating discussion of culpability from historical, theological and etymological perspectives. Reviews numerous critics and concludes that, in Racinian strategy, rhetoric serves the very goals of art: "cette rhétorique perverse qui émerge d'une façon nouvelle dans le théâtre racinien à travers la culpabilité est tout simplement déjà . . . la littérature."

POT, OLIVIER. "La mort d'Hippolyte ou la défiguration silencieuse du langage." PFSCL 23 (1996), 599–633.

Sees in the play the passage from tragedy proper to lyrical tragedy: ". . . ce qui s'entend n'est plus guère le sens intellectuel des mots . . .mais les mots eux-mêmes perçus dans leur magie incantatoire, matérialisés dans les inflexions et les modulations sensibles du chant."

SCHRODER, VOLKER. "Junie, Auguste et le feu de Vesta: étude intertextuelle du dénouement de Britannicus. PFSCL 23 (1996), 575–598.

Contends that Vesta is not the Christian God and that the tragedy is Roman and political rather than Christian. The political order that is reestablished at the end of the play is threatened by the reign of furor that has just begun.

SELLIER, PHILIPPE, ed. Racine, Théâtre complet. Paris: Imprimerie nationale Editions, 1995.

Review: J. Dubu in PFSCL 23 (1996), 422–423: A beautiful, well-done edition based on the 1697 text that includes a general introduction, notes, bibliography, and introduction to each play. The question "Comment se fait-il que l'innocence puisse tant souffrir?" represents the central thrust of the edition.

VAN DER SCHUEREN, ERIC. "A la frontière de l'art et de la religion dans la France du XVIIe siècle: les Cantiques spirituels de Jean Racine." PFSCL 23 (1996), 329–352.

Critic concludes that R. succeeded in creating a "convergence de l'expression littéraire de la piété et la théorie classique de la littérature . . . ."

VUILLEMIN, JEAN-CLAUDE. "Transgression et subversion de l'éthique amoureuse dans Andromaque." Poétique 105 (1996), 88–100.

Following the contemporary and later responses to the character of Pyrrhus, the dialectic of love and power is seen to break away from the pastoral and baroque in the denouement of Racine's revised version. The break with the past supposed by Barthes (et al.) is not accomplished. Builds neatly on earlier article: "Trois/Buthrote . . . " AJFS 27 (1990).

• See also Part IV: Biggs, Henry Parkman
• Boguet, Guy
• Brody, Jules
• Duchêne, Roger and Pierre Ronzeaud
• Goodkin, Richard
• Hart, Jonathan
• Mc Mahon, Lise
• Muratore, Mary-Jo
• Reiss, Timothy
• Romanowski, Sylvia
• Sweetser, Marie-Odile
• Woshinski, Barbara
• Zimmerman, Eleonore
• Part V: Quinault: Brooks, William and Jeanne Morgan Zarucchi

REGNARD

MAZOUER, CHARLES, ed. Le Légataire universel, suivi de La Critique du Légataire. Geneva: Droz, 1994.

Review: Catherine Bonfils in RHL 95.6 (1995), 1033: B. welcomes this edition which "montre les aspects essentiels de la dramaturgie de Regnard." From an editorial perpsective, B. mentions that M. uses the original 1708 edition as his "texte de base," while adding notes and variants from posthumous editions. Of note also are the index, the introduction and the "rappel bibliographique" of Regnard.

• See French 17 (1995)

REMONT DE MONTMORT

• See Part II: Kavanagh, Thomas

RENAUDOT, THEOPHRASTE

• See Part III: Sutton, Geoffrey

RETZ

• See Part IV: Briot, Frédéric

RICHELET

• See Part I: Lehmann, Alise

RICHELIEU

• See Part II:  Brown, Jonathan
• Part IV:  Merlin, Helen

ROBINET

• See Part IV:  Brooks, William

ROHAN, HENRI DE

LAZZERI, CHRISTIAN, éd. De l'intérêt des princes et des états de la chrétienté. Paris: PUF, 1995.

Review: Solange Deyon in QL (16–31 janvier 1996), 25: "Proscrit depuis 1629, lorsque l'Edit de grâce d'Alès mit fin à la dernière guerre protestante, dont il avait été le chef militaire et politique, le duc de R. était, en mai 1634 convoqué à Paris par Louis XIII et Richelieu. Dans ses bagages, il apportait un petit traité qu'il allait offrir au ministre, intitulé 'De l'intérêt des Princes et Etats de la chrétienté', publié seulement en 1638, quelques mois après la mort de son auteur." "De ce court traité, rédigé dans une langue concise et imagée, C. L. nous offre une édition élégante, rigoureusement annotée, précédée d'une riche introduction qui veut surtout en révéler la frappante originalité."

RONSARD

RANDALL, CATHARINE. "Poetic License, Censorship and the Unrestrained Self: Ronsard's Livret de folastres." PFSCL 23 (1996), 449–462.

Studies the "fascinating tension between public and private poetic personae" in the work. Concludes that R.'s poetry is not "lawless verses" "because through their very avoidance of the implicit norm for speech and writing, they observe those conventions in a hyperactive way." Contrasts R. and La Fontaine.

ROTROU

BOLD, STEPHEN C. "Ma(s)king a Name: Onomastics in Rotrou's Theater." FrF 20 (1995), 279–97.

Ambitious attempt to "reintroduce the problem of literary omnastics into the vocabulary of criticism on classical French tragedy. Analyzes strategies involving names in Les Sosies and Le Véritable saint Genest, B. underscores R.'s "fluid vision of identity and its mutations." Claims that R. has "dismantled the Cornelian hero from the name up and . . . set the stage for the Racinian 'demolition of the hero'."

KITE, BARRY, ed. La Soeur. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1994.

Review: Jean-Marc Civardi in IL 48.1 (1996) 29–30: Review deals more with the plot history and reception of the play than with K.'s edition. Yet, C. welcomes K.'s contribution, saying "[O]n ne peut que se féliciter de la réédition de cette comédie écrite par le quatrième classique en quelque sorte du théâtre français du Grand Siècle." Citing the lack of availability of the Classiques Larousse and Classiques Garnier editions, C. commends K.'s edition, stating that "[L]'étudiant ou le spécialiste a maintenant en mains un outil de travail fiable (avec introduction, bibliographie, notes et glossaire) qui prend pour base l'édition de 1647."

• See French 17 (1995)

SANCHEZ, JOSE, ed. Le Véritable Saint Genest. Mont-de Marsan: Ed. José Feijoo, 1991.

Review: Jean-Claude Vuillemin in RHT 46 (1994), 95–96: This is a substantial updated version of the 1988 edition that coincided with the first staging of the play at "la Comédie-Française." Based on the original edition of 1647 published by Toussaint Quinet, the author provides the reader with "une chronologie claire et précise," a "bibliographie thématique qui (...) recense 239 ouvrages," a study on Rotrou's sources and various useful appendices: it is "un outil de travail extrêmement précieux" on a play that is "loin de posséder les vertus soporifiques de la tisane!"

VUILLEMIN, JEAN-CLAUDE. Baroquisme et théàtralité: le théâtre de Jean Rotrou. PFSCL/Biblio 17 81 (1994).

Review: W. Brooks in MLR 90 (1995), 998–99: "Vuillemin's argument, which propounds the self-conscioius theatricality of Rotrou's theatre, revolves around Saint Genest, and although he knowledgeably discusses other plays, he is uncomfortable with Venceslas and Cosroès, which do not fit his model."

Review: Edmund Campion in FR 69 (1996), 478–79: Four chapters of thoughtful analysis of R.'s major plays are a "significant contribution to scholarship" of 17th-century theatrical history, enriching our understanding of the diverse theatricality and representation of love in R.'s plays. The introductory chapter, charting definitions of the baroque and descriptions of recent performance history are of lesser interest.

Review: Bernard Chedozeau in IL 48.1 (1996), 29: C. praises the work, calling it "Un livre intelligent et suggestif, appuyé à la fois sur l'histoire des idées et sur la sémiologie théâtrale, et qui répond bien aux affirmations de son titre en étudiant jusqu'à quel point l'obscure notion de baroque et le théâtre de Rotrou, mis en écho, permettent de se définir l'un l'autre avec pertinence et élégance." Among the basic principles of V.'s argument is the thesis that "[L]a représentation de l'amour . . . se trouve en définitive subordonnée à l'amour de la représentation."

Review: Guy Spielman in CdDs 6.2 (1992) 245–47: S. praises V. for making the baroque and theatricality the focal point of the work. Among the highlights of the book are V.'s concept of the baroque, which, S. states "ne serait ni un style, moins encore une école ou un mouvement, mais une épistémé nouvelle qu'occasionne une "cassure" survenue à la fin du XVIe siècle." S. also mentions V.'s insistence on the relationship between Eros and theatricality, suggesting that "[L]e héros rotrouesque—contrairement à son homologue cornélien—est livré à une passion toute puissante à travers la fascination du regard." S. underscores the usefulness of the notes and bibliography, but regrets the absence of plot summaries in the appendix.

• See French 17 (1995)

VUILLEMIN, JEAN-CLAUDE. "Du texte dramatique au texte spectaculaire: Rotrou dramaturge baroque." SCFS 16 (1994), 135–53.

Skillful exposition of the principal ways the "théâtralité inhérente" in Rotrou's plays points to "theatre within theatre" (contrary to Forestier's judgment). Interesting commentary on recent productions and the relation of the baroque to music.

• See also Part IV:  Schöpflin, Karin

SABLE, MADAME DE

• See Part IV:  Pagliari, Roberta

SAINT-AMANT

AULOTTE, ROBERT, CLAUDE BLUM, NICOLE CAZAURAN et FRANÇOISE JOUKOVSKY, eds. Saint-Amant et la Normandie littéraire. Etudes réunies à la mémoire de Jacques Bailbé. Paris: Champion, 1995.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996) 321: Appreciative review of a posthumous volume of B.'s work on Saint-Amant. D. praises the "multiplicité des points de vue et des approches [qui] dessinent un portrait littéraire de Saint-Amant rendant justice à la complexité d'une oeuvre partagée entre . . . [le] grotesque et [le] marinisme." The work deals with Saint-Amant's esthetics, his relationship to his contemporaries, the baroque character of the work, and his "Norman" influences.

FROIDEFOND, DOMINIQUE. "Visions et métamorphoses dans 'La Crevaille' de Saint-Amant." CdDS 6.1 (1992) 163–75.

F. examines this poem, part of Saint-Amant's "poèmes gastronomiques et bachiques," which she claims has been overlooked. According to F., the poem describes a bacchic ritual, involving complete loss of "maîtrise de soi." The bacchic allusions are reinforced as the poet becomes a priest preparing a sacrifice. F. also discusses the poet's invitation that those gathered to "s'enivrer," and alludes to the hallucinatory aspect of the poem, where the poet mistakes a pig for a wild boar. Linking the poem's images to Ovid's Metamorphoses, F. argues that in this poem, "Saint-Amant chante son appétit et sa soif gargantuesques pour la poésie, et s'il y a ivresse, elle est toute littéraire." She concludes by saying that the dyonisian/apollonian dialiectic in the poem is reconciled by the work's final image, "où le poète se voit la flûte à la main et à cheval sur Pégase."

LAGARDE, FRANÇOIS. "La réhabilitation de Saint-Amant." OeC 20.3 (1995), 205–218.

Article consacré à la réhabilitation artistique et morale du poète accusé "d'une concaténation de brillants caprices, nonobstant une riche invention et des descriptions fameuses, et surtout une incomplétude morale: libertinage, ivrognerie, flagornerie . . . ."

SCHOLL, DOROTHEE. "Moyse sauvé." Poétique et originalité de l'idylle héroïque de Saint-Amant. PFSCL/Biblio 17 90 (1995).

Review: J.-P. Chauveau in PFSCL 23 (1996), 419–421: Reviewer praises study which reopens the question of the value of the work.

• See also Part IV:  Clark, Kathleen
• Fenoaltea, Doranne
• Ingold, Catherine

SAINT-HUBERT

• See Part II:  Christout, Marie-Françoise

SAINT-PAVIN

• See Part IV:  Clark, Kathleen

SAINT-REAL

RUDELIC-FERNANDEZ, DANA. "Saint-Réal's Don Carlos: Tragic End or Narrative Denouement?" RF 107 (1995), 136–44.

Close reading of this 1672 novella illuminates its "dramatic affiliation" and the concept of a "narrative denouement."

SAINT SIMON

RAVIEZ, FRANÇOIS. "Monseigneur à l'écritoire: Saint Simon ou l'autorité du silence." RSH 238 (1995), 127–36.

"L'attitude de S. S. vis à vis de l'écriture est . . . des plus complexes. Elle se fonde tout d'abord sur la volonté de ne pas se compromettre par la publication et la diffusion d'une oeuvre élaborée dans le secret du cabinet . . . . Mais elle témoigne aussi d'une dynamique intérieure qui le pousse à recopier, à annoter, finalement à inventer un matériau susceptible d'apporter aux lecteurs de l'avenir un enseignement historique: sous couvert de quelque édification politique, c'est le désir qui mène ici la plume. Enfin, les Mémoires achevés, ne pourrait on y déceler le fantasme de n'être lu et reconnu qu'après plusieurs décennies, c'est à dire une vocation d'auteur, mais d'auteur posthume? Son ambition ne serait elle pas d'outre tombe?" R describes S. S. as "un maître, maître à écrire plus que maître à penser, un grand seigneur du langage."

• See also Part IV:  Briot, Frédéric

SCARRON

MERRY, BARBARA L. Minnepean Elements in Paul Scarron's Roman comique. New York: Peter Lang, 1991.

Review: Jonathan Carson in CdDS 6.1 (1992) 249–52: C. finds the work valuable, but criticizes M. for trying "to reinvent the wheel by redefining burlesque dissonance as rupture and making this the guiding principle of all that is Menippean." A better approach, according to C., would have been to concentrate more fully on a "discussion of narrative and narrator(s)." While stating that M.'s argument provides "a fair quantity of sound criticism," C. finds significant intellectual and technical errors that "lead the reader to become occasionally confused and often frustrated."

MONTET, ELISABETH, ed. Paul Scarron. Le Gardien de soy-mesme (1655); Thomas Corneille. Le Geôlier de soy-mesme (1656). Toulouse: Société de littératures classiques, 1995.

Review: W. Brooks in PFSCL 23 (1996), 698–699: A valuable edition especially for the light it sheds on French comedy of the 1650s and its Spanish sources.

Review: Bénédicte Louvat in RHL 96.1 (1996), 142: Montet's edition looks at the reasons for the failure of Scarron's play and the success of Corneille's. Both versions are based on Calderón's work. Yet, the originality of C.'s rendition "est due à l'alternance de tons et de personnages opposés dont [il] pousse les caractéstiques à l'extrême." L. commends the volume for its historical accuracy as well as the precision of the glossary and notes.

PARISH, RICHARD. "Scarron's Roman comique: Contradictions and Terms." SCFS 16 (1994), 105–19.

Identifies as sources of contradictions the author's "non-omniscience topos," lack of symmetry in overall structure, the aleatory nature of the narrative combination of clarity and chaos, complexity of narrative levels. Reviews earlier descriptions ("burlesque," "anti-novel . . . ") and adds that of a text "pure in its single-minded concentration on the business of narration, as in its refusal to address metaphysical, political or moral issues."

• See also Part IV:  Hausmann, Frank-Rutger et al
• Muratore, Mary-Jo
• Stauder, Thomas

SCUDERY, GEORGES DE

WARMAN, Stephen A., "Deux adaptations de Marino dans le théâtre de Scudéry." SFr 114 (1994), 445–456.

It is a known fact that Scudéry borrowed heavily from Marino's imagery and concetti. However there are still elements that need to be examined. For example, his first plays, since they are filled with lyrical but non-dramatic scenes, show an impressive number of 'emprunts'. On the one hand, "la fidélité de Scudéry à Marino est révélatrice d'une véritable affinité entre l'esthétique de ces deux poètes", but, in fact, Scudéry "fut (...) un plagiaire habile".

• See also Part IV:  Plantié, Jacqueline
• Part V:  Niderst, Alain

SCUDERY, MADELEINE DE.

HANNON, PATRICIA. "Desire and Writing in Scudéry's 'Histoire de Sapho.'" ECr 35 (1995), 37–50.

H. stresses the role of "inclination" as she examines the important erotic dimension of the tenth volume of Artamène. Concludes that "the important erotic component in 'Histoire de Sapho' consists of the journey to 'Permesse'; the voyage (of writing desire) is in itself the destination."

HINDS, LEONARD. "Literary and Political Collaboration: The Prefatory Letter of Madeleine de Scudéry's Artamène, ou le Grand Cyrus." PFSCL 23 (1996), 491–500.

Argues that in the work "in their passage between multiple positions of subjectivity, between "je," "nous," and "on," the figures of authorship manage to construct a portrait of the frondeuse [the Duchesse de Longueville] that celebrates her personal, moral worth and correspondingly promotes her eligibility to reign." Concludes that ". . . it is the very arena of preciosity in the mid-seventeenth century where malleable manifestations of authorship and their accompanying contradictory pronouncements subtend the figurative representation of models of political authority to come."

KRAJEWSKA, BARBARA. Du coeur à l'esprit. Mademoiselle de Scudéry et ses samedis. Paris: Editions Kimé, 1993.

Review: E. Dutertre in PFSCL 23 (1996), 397–398: A history of the salon based on letters written by contemporaries: ". . . un des intérêts essentiels de cette étude, c'est d'avoir dépassé l'image déformée et stéréotypée de précieuse ridicule . . . ."

Review: Robert Horville in RSH 242 (1996), 163–64: ". . . [L']auteur se propose de tracer les grandes lignes du paysage intellectuel de Madeleine de S. à travers l'histoire de son salon littéraire. Pour ce faire, elle s'appuie essentiellement sur les témoignages apportés par la correspondance de l'époque et adopte une double perspective. Elle s'efforce, d'une part, de rendre compte de l'évolution de ce salon et, par là même, de l'esprit précieux . . . . Elle adopte, d'autre part, un parti synthétique, en entreprenant de dégager les caractères fondamentaux qui marquent le cercle de Madeleine de S. C'est le contenu factuel, parfois anecdotique, de ces données qui l'intéresse, mais dans la mesure où elles fournissent des indications sur la mentalité profonde de l'époque." "Rédigé avec une grande justesse et un grand bonheur d'expression, ce travail . . . apporte incontestablement," according to H., "une importante contribution à l'approche de la préciosité et, plus généralement, du contexte intellectuel du XVIIe siècle."

Review: François Lagarde in FR 69 (1996), 481–82: "Sans être faux, ce portrait de Mlle de Scudéry est un peu une projection, et les vignettes d'histoire litteraire ne sauraient le justifier." To be read "avec prudence et detachement."

KROLL, RENATE. Madeleine de Scudery und die "poesie précieuse." Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996.

MORLET-CHANTALAT, CHANTAL. La Clélie de Mademoiselle de Scudéry. De l'épopée à la gazette: un discours féminin de la gloire. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1994.

Review: Alain Génétiot in RHL 96.3 (1996), 497–98: G. calls the work a "[V]éritable mode d'emploi d'un roman peut-être illisible aujourd'hui dans sa continuité." Of note are M.'s treatment of the "passage de l'éthique héroique à la morale galante," as well as her study of "petits genres mondains . . . tels que la question galante, le portrait, [et] l'entretien." While G. claims the work is somewhat incomplete in its analysis of esthetics, he recommends the book, citing its summary of the plot, its discussion of the "histoires intercalées," and its bibliography and double index.

Review: P. Hourcade in PFSCL 23 (1996), 403–404: Study is notable in concentrating only on the one novel in order to determine its originality: ". . . on voit bien désormais dans Clélie la survivance et l'exténuation du genre et de la mentalité épiques, . . . ."

Review: G. Penzkofer in RF 107 (1995), 219–20: S.'s novel is less like the modern novel than like a kind of "entretien moral," "caractère," or "recueil de portraits." M.-C. analyzes Clélie as a système unifié stable, moralement significatif." P. notes M.-C.'s neglect of excellent German criticism on the subject (Margot Kruse, Renate Baader), but judges her study indispensable to scholarship on the 17th c. novel.

NIDEREST, ALAIN, ed. Les Trois Scudéry: Actes du colloque du Havre (1–5 oct. 1991). Paris: Klicksieck, 1993.

Review: Edmund Campion in FR 69 (1995), 329: Colloquium with fifty participants set to the task of revaluation of Madeleine, Georges, and Marie-Madeleine. Information on the last of the three, with its information on Bussy and Sévigné, is perhaps the most significant contribution of the book. Valuable contributions on Georges' neglected verse and plays. Stress on Madeleine is on the feminist; but her influence in Holland, England, and Germany are also made more precise.

• See also Part II:  Turner, James G.
• Part IV:  Plantié, Jacqueline
• Schöpflin, Karin
• Part V:  La Bruyère; Montadon, A.

SEVIGNE

ARNAUD, CLAUDE. "Madame de Sévigné en toutes lettres." Le Point (20 juillet 1996), 76–80:

In this cover story C. A. discusses the life and work of S., who "avait l'art d'accommoder tous les aspects de l'existence, à l'égal des cuisinières d'autrefois. . . . Pourquoi voir des contradictions là où sa nature goulue ne voit que variété? Le monde plaît à Mme de S. tel qu'il est, et personne n'aurait pu le lui faire changer."

ARNAUD, CLAUDE. "Une mère ou un écrivain?" Le Point (20 juillet 1996), 80–83.

"Mme de S. était elle consciente de faire une oeuvre littéraire? Le débat reste ouvert. En tout cas, elle fut une styliste exigeante. Et une chroniqueuse prodigieusement douée." This article includes two inserts: (1) "Le Nerf d'une correspondance": "Si les lettres de Mme de S. restent passionnantes, c'est, au delà des vues cavalières qu'elles offrent sur le Grand Siècle, grâce à leur style incroyablement gourmand. C'est un rythme, un souffle, presque une syncope. Les mots dansent, glissent et s'envolent . . . ." (2) A brief interview with Roger Duchêne, who says of S., "Ses lettres étaient des allumettes qui ne devaient servir qu'une fois. Il a fallu que le goût change en faveur de la spontanéité pour qu'elles soient hissées au rang de littérature, quand seule l'épopée ou la tragédie y avaient alors droit."

BRAY, BERNARD. "Le cousin Rabutin." RHL 96.3 (1996), 366–77:

B. begins his argument by saying "[O]n n'a pas jusqu'ici, me semble-t-il, porté une attention suffisante à la correspondance qu'échangea la marquise de Sévigné avec son cousin le comte de Bussy." One advantage to studying B.-R.'s correspondence with his cousin is that readers can "observer directement et avec précision l'art de la 'réponse' chez l'un comme chez l'autre." B. claims that the corpus consists of 310 letters which, unlike S.'s letters to her daughter, illustrate "un aspect symétrique et équilibré." Concluding the article, B. discusses the various compliments the two cousins paid to one another, with Bussy praising his cousin's sense of the "naturel," while S. herself admires the "qualités masculines" of her B.-R.'s writing, especially in his correspondence to the king.

BURY, EMMANUEL. "Madame de Sévigné face aux critiques du XIXe siècle: Sainte-Beuve et consorts." RHL 96.3 (1996), 446–60:

B.'s fundamental question is the following: "[Q]uelle place pouvait donc prendre l'épistolière dans le cadre d'une histoire de la littérature classique, telle qu'elle était conçue par un siècle qui avait besoin de ce classicisme pour combattre la nouveauté d'un romantisme." With respect to Sévigné's "place" in this discussion, B. claims that three articles written by Sainte-Beuve in the early-to-mid nineteenth century help to define her role. The articles appeared in 1829, 1849, and 1861. In this first article, S. B. speaks of Sévigné as "le fruit naturel d'un contexte et d'une société." This society prized "l'entente du monde et des hommes," as well as "la politesse achevée du langage." The second article suggests a "familiarité amicale" between Sévigné and the French public, in which S-.B. maintains that Sévigné's popularity comes from "la sincérité de son amour pour sa fille." In the 1860's S.-B. called Sévigné "la spirituelle et l'éblouissante railleuse," linking the verve of her work to that of Molière.

DUCHENE, ROGER. "Madame de Sévigné. Personnage de roman dans l'oeuvre de Proust." RHL 96.3 (1996), 461–74.

D. states that "Tous ceux qui traitent, en passant ou dans un article spécialement consacré à la question de 'Proust ou de Mme de Sévigné,' partent d'une idée reçue: Proust doit à sa grand-mère, qui en était une lectrice passionnée et assidue, une parfaite connaissance de l'oeuvre de l'épistolière." Madame de Sévigné becomes a character in Proust's Recherche because "l'auteur associe à plusieurs reprises les Lettres bien réelles, de la marquise, personnage historique, et les Mémoires tout imaginaires de la fictive Mme de Beausergent. La grand-mère a toujours avec elle les unes et les autres, ce qui permet leur lecture pareille dans le train. For D., Proust's greatest appreciation of Sévigné's Lettres was the fact that "Mieux que personne, il a saisi et dit qu'il s'agissait de lettres d'amour et non de la gazette de son temps."

DUCHENE, ROGER. "Métamorphoses." RHL 96.3 (1996), 359–65.

D. discusses the different types of letters Mme. de Sévigné composed, and examines the literary history of their publication as well as their current accessibility. As far as S.'s style is concerned, D. contends that S. began as an epistolary "galante," and evolved into a "femme d'esprit" later in life. With respect to the textual history of S.'s letters, D. stresses that the first major event was the publication of S.'s missives to her cousin Bussy-Rabutin at the end of the seventeenth century. It was this edition that showed S. as "rivalisant d'esprit et d'intelligence avec son cousin." This edition, published by Bussy's son, led to the publication of S.'s letters to Madame de Grignan in the early eighteenth century. D. concludes the article with a summary of the Perrin and Monmerqué editions, which set the standard for modern day editions.

DUCHENE, ROGER. Chère Madame de Sévigné... Paris: Gallimard, 1995.

Review: P. Sommella in PFSCL 23 (1996), 680–681: A richly illustrated summation of the author's life and work. Includes excerpts, documents, judgements by the author's contemporaries and inheritors, a chronology, and a basic bibliography. Reviewer calls this a "délicieuse brochure."

FARRELL, MICHELE LONGINO. Performing Motherhood: The Sévigné Correspondance. Hanover/London: The University Press of New England, 1991.

Review: Gabriele Verdier in EMF 2 (1996), 223–27: V. commends F.'s work, calling it a "bold new reading of Sévigné's correspondance." In general, V. describes the book as "mak[ing] a much-needed contribution by positioning the Correspondance within the ideology of motherhood and at the origin of its literary enactment." Yet, V. expresses "unease" with "three major points" of F.'s argument: 1) the explanation for "Sévigné's rapid integration into the canon" 2) the idea of letter-writing as a "project" and "choice" to guarantee "social and literary success" and 3) the interpretation of Madame de Grignan's "silence" as part of Sévigné's "prescribed maternal role." V. calls the book "a milestone," but finds the basic thesis somewhat reductive. She concludes "There is more to her letters than the performance of motherhood."

GRASSI, MARIE-CLAIRE. "Naissance d'un nouveau modèle: L'Apparition de Madame de Sévigné dans les traits d'art épistolaire." RHL 96.3 (1996), 378–93.

G. examines S.'s role in "la mise en place d'une esthétique de la lettre au XVIIIe siècle." Placing herself in opposition to Catherine Montford Howard's work, G. claims that "Le modèle sévignéen apparaît donc dans deux ouvrages complémentaires en 1751 et 1761." These manuals, Eléazar de Mauvillon's Traité général du style avec un traité particulier du style épistolaire (1751) and Philipon de La Madeleine's Modèles de lettres sur différents sujets (1761), deal with the theory, style and type of letters, as well as the character of the authors. Philipon de La Madeleine's work is especially important to scholars of the seventeenth century because of its comparison between S. and La Fontaine. G. claims that S.'s work served as a model "parce que tout en s'intégrant dans l'esthétique de son siècle, celle d'une écriture mesurée, elle est la première à avoir su se situer entre impertinence et politesse."

HAROCHE-BOUZINAC, GENEVIEVE. "Voltaire et Madame de Sévigné, un éloge en contrepoint." RHL 96.3 (1996), 394–403.

Article discusses V.'s admiration for S. H.-B. argues that "Voltaire lit Mme de Sévigné en historien, c'est la valeur informative de la lettre qui l'attire." For V., S.'s merit lies in her documentation of France under Louis XIV. According to H.-B., much of V.'s Siècle de Louis XIV is based on S.'s writings. H.-B. points out that S. inspired not only V.'s interpretation of history, but his own letters, where V., in his words, strove to "écrire comme Mme de Sévigné." For H.-B., the "style sévignéen" consisted of "assiduité" and "correction," as well as "un style vif qui convient aux narrations animées, ce style dont les femmes ont le secret, mais que les hommes peuvent imiter."

HUET, JEAN-YVES. "Madame de Sévigné en Angleterre: Horace Walpole et Madame du Deffand." RHL 96.3 (1996), 404–35.

H. claims that "la correspondance d'Horace Walpole et Mme du Deffand n'est pas sans ressemblance avec celle de Mme de Sévigné et de Mme de Grignan." In this exchange, "Mme de Sévigné y est avec Voltaire le plus fréquemment cité." H. claims that W. developed a kind of "culte" around S., calling her "la sainte de Livry," and that Mme du Deffand "seconded" W.'s veneration of S., as both attempted to "retrouver l'esprit du règne de Louis XIV." One interesting aspect of W.'s admiration for S. is her status as an example "entre un modèle purement historique et un modèle littéraire." The fact that she is "entre les deux domaines," leads to W.'s designation of her as a "writer" rather than as an "author."

SCHNEIDER, MICHEL. "Les reines du bien dire." Le Point (20 juillet 1996), 83–84.

"Après Mme de S., d'autres femmes s'illustrèrent dans le genre épistolaire et l'art des Mémoires. Une collection [Coll. "Le Petit Mercure" au Mercure de France] offre un choix subtil de leurs écrits." These women writers "illustrèrent ce courant féminin de notre littérature, capricieux, secret, oublié un temps pour ressourdre en un autre, peu soucieux du bien penser, mais épris du bien dire." These authors "vivaient entre le Grand Siècle et la Révolution." The names of these women (and titles of their works published by Mercure de France) are given at the end of the article: Mme de Tencin, Mme de Staal de Launay, Mme du Deffand, Marie Thérèse d'Autriche, Mme de Genlis, la Margrave de Bayreuth, Julie de Lespinasse, and Germaine de Staël.

SOMMELLA, PAOLA PLACELLA. "Madame de Sévigné in Italie." RHL 96.3 (1996), 436–45.

S. sets out to "esquisser l'image de Mme de Sévigné en Italie." This task is hampered by the fact that Italian editions of the Lettres did not appear until the twentieth century. Accordingly, S. begins her article with a discussion of Luisa Graziana's 1916 edition of the Lettere scelte di Madame di Sévigné. S. claims that Graziani describes Sévigné as "une brillante journaliste, chroniqueur de son époque, une femme capable de conserver son amitié à ses amis, même quand ils sont disgrâciés (Fouquet, Pomponne)." Author then discusses other various editions, as well as articles by Italian scholars on Sévigné. S. relates that while some Italian scholarship praises the Lettres for its "irrégularité stylistique," other criticism falls into the trap of presenting Sévigné as "une mère exemplaire, une bonne chrétienne, [et] la spirituelle animatrice des salons aristocratiques."

• See also Part IV:  Bertrand, Dominique
• Part V:  Scudéry, M.; Niderst, Alain

SOREL

DE VOS, WIM. Le Singe au miroir. Emprunt textuel et écriture savante dans les romans comiques de Charles Sorel. Tübingen: Guntar Narr, 1994.

Review: Boris Donné in RHL 96.2 (1996), 322: D. summarizes De Vos's purpose as to "mettre en évidence par une lecture allégorique le caractère métalittéraire de L'Histoire comique de Francion." Calling De Vos's study "cohérente," and "menée avec précision et érudition," D. nonetheless suggests that De Vos's methods "susciteront peut-être des réticences." On the whole, however, D. claims that "l'étude . . . propose plusieurs pistes intéressantes," and prepares the terrain for further study of Sorel's works.

TUCKER, HOLLY. "The Entombment of Lysis: Degradation, Ostracism, and Classical 'Death' in Charles Sorel's Le Berger extravagant." PFSCL 23 (1996), 511–525.

According to T. in the work ". . . madness and the abuse, debasement, and potential confinement with which it is associated should thus be read as analogous to Sorel's effort to silence traditional fiction and to create the tombeau des romans. As such, neither Lysis nor the roman rise up from the ashes; instead, from those ashes, the modern novel finds its origins."

• See also Part IV:  Guichemerre, Roger
• Neal, Lisa
• Part V:  Mersenne; Del Prete, Antonella

TRISMOSIN

• See Part III:  Long, Kathleen

TRISTAN L'HERMITE

BANDERIER, GILLES. "Autour d'Orphée: Ronsard et Tristan l'Hermite." SFr 38.3 (1994), 485–490.

A study of Ronsard's adaptation of the myth of Orpheus. Tristan l'Hermite also wrote an Orphée which seems to confirm that Ronsard still exerted a major influence in the early 17th century. Tristan remained faithful to his predecessor's perspective and literary sources but borrowed his imagery from Marino.

BERTAUD, MADELEINE. "Ah! Je suis l'auteur de ce meurtre inhumain . . . ." TL 8 (1995), 93–112.

Rich consideration of Tristan L'Hermite's La Marianne along with other treatments of the criminal (les Juives, Phèdre, Athalie, Medée, Rodogune, and others). Examines relation between the 17th c. understanding of tragedy and "le sens de la faute" as well as the moral/religious significance of criminals who recognize their misdeeds, are remorseful and, in some cases, repent. Demonstrates the "fins d'édification" in both the baroque and classical oeuvre, the latter "destinée à . . . plaire pour instruire." Convincingly proves that in 17th c. tragedy "le sentiment de [la] faute . . . est lieu de confluence entre la morale chrétienne . . . et les esthétiques tant baroque que classique."

VALINCOUR

WILLIAMS, CHARLES G.S. Valincour: The Limits of honnêteté. Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America, 1991.

Review: D. J. Culpin in FS 46 (1992), 450–51: Well-documented study, depicting V. as member of the meritocracy of civil servants created by Louis XIV and an embodiement of honnêteté in addition to man of letters. "Seeking evidence for a reconciliation of honnêteté and religion midway between detachment of La Rochefoucauld and the lay morality of Mme Lambert opens up a terrain which others may till with profit."

• See French 17 (1995, 1993, 1992, 1991)

• See also Part IV: Cavillac, Cecile

VAUGELAS

• See Part I: Catach, Nina
• Merlin, Hélène

VIAU, THEOPHILE DE

GODARD DE DONVILLE, LOUISE. "L'oeuvre de Théophile de Viau aux feux croisés du 'libertinage'." OeC 20.3 (1995), 185–204.

"La réception critique de Théophile de Viau peut-elle s'affranchir de la référence au 'libertinage' de son auteur? Poser la question, c'est s'interroger sur le bien-fondé de l'analyse qui a établi la première, et réussi à autoriser pour plus de deux siècles, une convergence entre un comportement, une pensée et une écriture poétique—l'analyse de Françoise Garasse [La Doctrine curieuse des beaux esprits de ce temps; L'Apologie; Somme théologique].

• See also Part IV: Clark, Kathleen

VILLEDIEU

• See Part IV:  Guichemerre, Roger
• Woodrough, Elizabeth