FRENCH 17

• See French 17 (1996)

BERTIERE, SIMONE. Les reines de France au temps des Bourbons. T. I: Les deux régentes. Paris: Fallois, 1996.

Review: BCLF 580 (1997), 231: B. "a eu l'excellente idée de fondre en un seul ouvrage les biographies de deux reines, Marie de Médicis, épouse d'Henri IV, et Anne d'Autriche, épouse de Louis XIII."

BIETENHOLZ, PETER G. Historia and Fabula. Myths and Legends in Historical Thought from Antiquity to the Modern Age. Leiden: Brill, 1994.

Review: M. Völkel in HZ 262 (1996), 499–501: Wide ranging examination in nine chapters treating subjects from the ancient Egyptians until the 19th c. Early modern scholars will benefit from discussion of mythical origins of Rome and explorations of importance of the Old Testament in that period.

BOLES, JANET K. et al. Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1996.

Review: J. Ariel in Choice 34 (1997), 1636: Its strengths include "breadth of coverage... international coverage, biographical entries, and an overview of the history and chronology of feminism." However: "This book is identical in content to Boles' From the Goddess to the Glass Ceiling."

BONNEMERE, EUGENE. Histoire des camisards. Les Dragonnades. Nîmes: Lacour, 1996.

Review: BCLF 577 (1996), 1874: Réimpression d'un ouvrage centenaire: "On trouvera dans celui-ci un récit des persécutions endurées par les protestants français sous le règne de Louis XIV, et de la guerre des Camisards." On regrette le manque d'une bibliographie "au courant des derniers travaux."

BOUZY, CHRISTIAN. "Crime et châtiment dans les livres d'emblèmes français et espagnols aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles." RLC 71.1 (1997), 5–29.

B. montre que "l'heritage mythologique illustré de la sorte [em emblèmes] acquiert une exemplarité pragmatique plus à même d'émouvoir la littérature se rapprochant alors de la peinture qui puisait aux mêmes sources d'inspiration."

BRADY, THOMAS A., JR., HEIKO A. OBERMAN and JAMES D. TRACY, eds. Handbook of European History 1400–1600. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill, 1995.

Review: J. Petersohn in HZ 263 (1996), 408–10: Satisfactory and useful modern assessments of methods and trends but not as comprehensive as might be desired. Reviewer lists titles of the twenty one essays. 17th c. scholars may find a number useful such as Philip Benedict's "Settlements: France" and J. P. Donnelly's "The New Religious Orders." Appendices on coinages and rulers. Indices.

• See French 17 (1996).

BRAKEMAN, LYNNE & SUSAN GALL, eds. Chronology of Women Worldwide: People, Places & Events That Shaped Women's History. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1997.

Review: G. A. Schultis in Choice 34.11/12 (1997), 1776–1778: "More than a simple chronology, this work records the accomplishments of women on an international stage.... Entire sections treat the ancient world, sainthood and sorcery, women rulers, and the role education and suffrage played in women's lives... [A] valuable resource for general readers."

BROOKS, WILLIAM. "From Lazzi to Acrobats: The Court's Taste after 1680." CdDS 6.2 (Fall 1992) 45–53.

Article deals with the notion of spectacle in dramatic performance in the late seventeenth century. The "lazzi" to which B. refers, consisted of "independent stage business interpolated but not necessarily integrated into the narrative." The practice of including dance, music and acrobatics even when the script did not call for such interludes derives from the Italians, many of whom were expelled from the court. These interludes made their way into conventional tragedy, leading B. to conclude that "plays steadily became excuses for other kinds of spectacle, whether participatory or spectatorial."

BULST, NEITHARD, ROBERT DESCIMON, ET ALAIN GUERREAU, éds. L'Etat ou le roi. Les fondations de la modernité monarchique en France, XIVe–XVIIe siècle. Actes de la table ronde tenue à l'Ecole normale supérieure, Paris, 25 mai 1991. Paris: EHESS, 1996.

Review: BCLF 581 (1997), 538: "Les participants de ce colloque ont étudié de près la nature du fait monarchique, et à cet égard l'apport des médiévistes a été particulièrement intéressant." Voir la contribution de Daniel Nordman sur "Droits historiques et construction géographique dans l'espace français au XVIIe siècle."

• See French 17 (1996).

BURY, EMMANUEL. "Les lieux de l'esprit mondain." L'esprit en France au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 101 (1997), 85–93.

Studies the relationship between spatial topography and the esprit mondain: what are the spaces that are appropriate to the flowering of the secular spirit?

CAMERON, KEITH AND ELIZABETH WOODROUGH, eds. Ethics and Politics in Seventeenth-Century France. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1996.

Review: O. Ranum in PFSCL 24 (1997), 294–297: Studies on Catholicism early in the century, images and realities from Antique cultures, Retz, Richelieu's and La Rochefoucauld's testaments, Henry de Montmorency, the Princess de Clèves, Marie de Villars, Boullainvillier, Corneille, La Calprenède, and Quinault.

CAMPUS STELLAE. Les chemins de Saint-Jacques et la culture européenne I. Paris: Klincksieck, 1991.

Review: M. Crombach in Archiv 233 (1996), 465–66: This annual review is edited under the patronage of the Secrétaire Général du Conseil de l'Europe (director of publication: Bernard Gicquel, editor Denise Péricard-Mea) and includes all themes related to the tradition of pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. Truly interdisciplinary (history, sociology, art, music, architecture, literature, geography and religion are just some of the disciplines represented), the review is organized in sections on "lieux," "études historiques," "voyage literature," "literary texts," "Carolingian legends," "études géographiques," "notes diverses," and includes an appreciation of the 1989 acts of Bamberg. French translations are provided.

CARRIER, DAVID. Poussin's Paintings. A Study in Art-Historical Methodology. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Review: A. S. in EC 65 (1997), 252–253: Uses Poussin in order to study the philosophical implications of the study of art. According to reviewer, "un bel exemple d'interdisciplinarité et de réflexion sur le savoir."

CARRIER DAVID. Poussin's Paintings. A Study in Art-Historical Methodology. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State UP, 1993.

Review: Paul Joannides in EMF 3 (1997) 233–36: Unfavorable review in which J. states his "frustration" that "Carrier sustains none of his arguments; it seems that no line of thought is followed for more that a couple of paragraphs at a time, and arguments welter in analogies which expose more about the vagaries of Carrier's reading than they do about the subject under discussion."

CLARK, PETER, ed. Small Towns in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995.

Review: H. Schilling in HZ 263 (1996), 775–76: Views the small town as an "essential building block of European society." Bernhard Lepetit is author of the essay on French small towns. Social differences and functions are discussed in this diverse and thorough examination.

COLLVER, MICHAEL & BRUCE DICKEY. A Catalog of Music for the Cornett. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1996.

Review: M. Meckna, Choice 34.6 (1997), 940: "The cornett ... was used extensively in church and chamber music from the end of the 15th century to the mid-1700s...." This reference text is "scrupulously detailed," "divided first into separate listings of vocal and instrumental music, then arranged alphabetically by composer. In a generous introduction, the authors discuss their purpose, methods, and the cornett's milieu. They also helpfully include both composer and text incipit indexes."

CONLEY, TOM. The Self Made Map: Cartographic Writing in Early Modern France. Minneapolis, MN: U P of Minnesota, 1996.

Review: G. J. Martin in Choice 34.9 (1997), 1552: "[A]n interesting book, eclectic in scope, concerning the impact of a new cartographic impulse on literature during the Renaissance in France. It was at this time that Ptolemaic authority gave ground to a new learning and the self made map. With the discovery of the New World there was a surge in cartographic writing whose main function was the exploration of space. C. considers the writings of a variety of authors, including Fouquet, Rabelais, Bouguereau, Montaigne, and Descartes, and suggests newly emerging directions of values in Renaissance France. He argues that the mapmaking of the time was an intensive part of the political fabric. This vital accomplishment was both facilitated and restrained by techniques of the artist, geographic reproduction, printing process, and quality of materials. It became part of the emergent status of cultural identity for the individual and the nation. The book is handsomely produced and contains numerous illustrations, copious endnotes, and a detailed index."

COWLEY, ROBERT and GEOFFREY PARKER. The Reader's Companion to Military History. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Review: P. L. Holmer in Choice 34.9 (1997), 1480: "This encyclopedia of military history consists of 570 alphabetical entries augmented by 40 maps and occasional illustrations.... The scope ostensibly covers military affairs worldwide from earliest times, but emphasis rests on the social and political aspects in the modern West.... [T]he encyclopedia is strong in biography of all periods...."

CROPPER, ELIZABETH and CHARLES DEMPSEY. Nicolas Poussin: Friendship and the Love of Painting. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Review: M. Kitson in Burlington Magazine 149 (1997), 200–201: According to reviewer, a major study of Poussin that compares the artist's Self-portrait to Montaigne's essay On Friendship: "Friendship, not romantic love for an unobtainable or undescribable woman was . . . Poussin's chosen metaphor for the effect of painting."

DAVIES, NORMAN. Europe. A History. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996.

Review: Ph. Thody in JES 27 (1997), 93–99: "Implicitly, as the reader is warned from the beginning by the indefinite article in the title, this book represents only one way of looking at Europe, and of analysing what Davies calls the 'mosaic' making up its complex personality. Just as there is no concentration on Western European states such as France and Germany, so there is little of Renan's or Valéry's insistence on the essence of the European mind being composed of Greek thought and art, Roman law, and Judeo Christian religion."

DAVIS, PAUL K. Encyclopedia of Invasions and Conquests: From Ancient Times to the Present. Newton, MA: ABC Clio, 1996.

Review in Choice 34 (1997), 1638: "This encyclopedia is valuable because it gathers some 3,000 years of military history into a single, readily accessible reference source."

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

Review: BCLF 580 (1997), 232: "L'âge d'or de la marine de guerre française correspond au règne personnel de Louis XIV. C'est cette période grandiose que D. Dessert a étudiée dans un livre d'une composition toute classique."

• See French 17 (1996).

DUBY, GEORGES and MICHELLE PERROT, eds. A History of Women in the West. Trans.Arthur Goldhammer et al. Cambridge, MA/London: Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1993. 3 vols.

Review: M. L. King in RenQ 49 (1996), 431–34: Reviewer is especially appreciative of the strong contributions and clear language in these 40 essays on women's lives in European history, particularly French and English. 17th c. scholars will especially benefit from Claude Dulong's essay on the précieuses, Arlette Farge's on female protesters, Eric A. Nicholson's on women and theater, among others.

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

Review: M.-C. Canova-Green in PFSCL 24 (1997), 308–309: According to the reviewer an excellent new biography based in part on new research into French and English archives.

• See French 17 (1996).

DUGGAN, ANNE E. "The Ticquet Affair as Recounted in Madame Dunoyer's Lettres historiques et galantes: The Defiant Galante Femme." PFSCL 24 (1997), 259–276.

Two views of the woman executed for having plotted to kill her husband: moral weakness, paganism, and adultery versus the strong Christian woman, with some qualifications. Includes Mme Dunoyer's account.

DUHAMEL, JEAN-MARIE. La musique dans la ville, de Lully à Rameau. Lille: Presses universitaires de Lille, 1994.

EARLS, IRENE. Baroque Art: A Topical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.

Review: C. Reik in Choice 34.9 (1997), 1474: "This dictionary provides background information for the Baroque period in Italy and northern Europe. Selective alphabetical articles treat the period from the late 16th century to a few years after the beginning of the 18th century... Biographies of artists are not included.... Unfortunately, there are no illustrations..."

FATIO, OLIVIER with MICHAEL GRANDJEAN and LOUISE MARTINE VAN BERCHEM, eds. Jacques Flournoy. Journal (1675–1692). Genève: Droz, 1994.

Review: V. Mecking in ZRP 112 (1996), 325–29: Praiseworthy first edition of this rich source of regional history. Detailed bibliography, notes, addenda, indices of subjects, place and proper nouns, map. M. finds the text linguistically noteworthy as well.

FAURÉ, CHRISTINE, ed. Encyclopédie politique et historique des femmes. Paris: PUF, 1997.

Review: N. Casanova in QL 716 (1997), 21: Treats "le parcours des femmes à travers l'histoire: ... leurs actes, décisions et influences. Il s'agit là d''apprécier la participation féminine' à des événements de première importance... la Fronde, les Révolutions anglaises.... Ces vagues ont rencontré de sérieuses digues, signalées ici aussi."

FOUCAULT, MICHEL. Il faut défendre la société. Cours au Collège de France (1975–1976). Paris: Hautes Etudes Gallimard Le Seuil, 1997.

Review: C. Malabou in QL 712 (1997), 24–25: This collection of lectures is "une enquête généalogique sur le fonctionnement du pouvoir," which includes a "critique de la théorie de la souveraineté... [qui] repose sur l'existence du pouvoir royal, qui couvre la totalité du corps social et peut être transcrit en termes de relation souverain sujet. Or on constate, au XVIIe et au XVIIIe, l'apparition d''une nouvelle mécanique de pouvoir' qui consiste dans l'assujettissement polymorphe des corps et suppose 'un quadrillage serré de coercitions matérielles plutôt que l'existence physique d'un souverain'." Such power consists of "la guerre comme contrôle, efficacité diffuse de la discipline, lutte qu'une société exerce sur elle même, ses propres éléments, ses propres produits contre lesquels elle doit se défendre." "Présentant ensemble une genèse de la conception de la politique comme guerre et une genèse du racisme, le cours est extrêmement riche."

FRIEDRICHS, CHRISTOPHER R. The Early Modern City 1450–1750. London: Longman, 1995.

Review: H. Th. Gräf in HZ 262 (1996), 589–90: This first volume of A History of Urban Society in Europe (three more volumes are to follow) examines a wide spectrum of social groups: merchants, patricians, tradesmen as well as criminals, beggars and prostitutes. Conflicts between cities come into consideration as wars, diseases and fires are treated. Bibliographical essay and indices.

GETHNER, PERRY. "Playful Wit in Salon Games: the Comedy Proverbs of Catherine Durand." L'esprit en France au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 101 (1997), 225–230.

A study of the first collection of proverb scripts (a playlet illustrating a proverb in which the proverb is not used but guessed at by the audience) published in France. G. states that D. "claims for women writers the right to cultivate the comédie de moeurs, . . . ."

GÖMMEL, RAINER and RAINER KLUMP. Merkantilisten und Physiokraten in Frankreich. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1995.

Review: K. Malettke in HZ 262 (1996), 892–94: Reviewer points out numerous errors and omissions in this concise and readable examination of fundamental problems of French society in 17th and 18th c.

GOULEMOT, JEAN MARIE. Le règne de l'histoire. Discours historiques et révolutions, XVIIe–XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Albin Michel, 1996.

Review: J. Nicolas in QL 705 (1996), 23–24: "Non plus seulement la traque et les avatars du mot et du concept de 'révolution' à travers les écrits des XVIIe XVIIIe siècles, mais l'étude critique des représentations du devenir historique.... Tous les grands démonteurs et agenceurs de systèmes étatiques se trouvent convoqués: autour de la république romaine, des origines de la monarchie française, des guerres de religion, de la Fronde et des révolutions d'Angleterre." G. includes literary texts in his analysis: "Cela suppose qu'on lise les oeuvres de fiction sur un plan métaphorique. J. M. G. prend bien soin d'écarter la théorie du miroir, en y cherchant non pas le reflet direct des événements survenus, mais la révélation de l'imaginaire politique des contemporains." Extensive analysis of Racine; comparative readings of Locke, Bossuet and Fénelon. "Dans son ensemble, l'imaginaire historique des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles se représente le temps comme une dégradation, un 'noir devenir,' une lancinante nostalgie de la pureté des origines." "Il y aurait beaucoup à dire aussi sur les détours, les hésitations de la méthode de cet ouvrage hybride qui enchevêtre les différents plans d'analyse. Le résultat final n'en reste pas moins une pièce révélatrice des débats idéologiques récents autour du concept comme du fait 'révolution,' de son caractère intelligible ou énigmatique."

HARNEIT, RUDOLF. "Fingierter Druckort. Paris. Zum Problem der Raubdrucke im Zeitalter Ludwigs XIV." In Wolfenbütteler Notizen zur Buchgeschichte XIV, 1 / 2 (1989), 1–117/149–312.

Review: G. Breuer in RF 108 (1996), 286–88: Detailed and comprehensive treatment of false and fictitious places of publication during realm of Louis XIV. High percentages of "contrefaçons" were the rule and practically all genres were concerned.

HEATH, MICHAEL J., ed. René de Lucinge. La manière de lire l'histoire. Genève: Droz, 1993.

Review: V. Mecking in ZRP 112 (1996), 173–76: Edition of de Lucinge's autobiographical treatise on diplomats and legations, published in 1614. Appreciative of H.'s careful introduction and index of proper names, the reviewer would have hoped for more extensive lexicographic treatment.

HEATER, DEREK. World Citizenship and Government: Cosmopolitan Ideas in the History of Western Political Thought. New York: Macmillan/St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Review: E. R. Gill in Choice 34 (1997), 872–873: "H. presents a chronological survey of ideas relating to world citizenship and government ... [including] ... early modern efforts to discredit power politics in favor of confederal political structures or international law... [T]he book is a competent survey."

HEPP, NOEMI, ed. Mémoires et autres inédits de Nicolas Goulas, Gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre du duc d'Orléans. Paris: Champion, 1995.

Review: S. Bertière in PFSCL 24 (1997), 317–318: The first thirteen chapters of the Mémoires that are of historical and literary interest: ". . . un portrait attachant, celui d'un homme intelligent et sensible, chez qui priment les impératifs moraux, enracinés dans la foi-typique des milieux de robe à l'âge d'or de la Réforme Catholique, mais singulier aussi par tout ce qui bouillonne d'amour de la vie sous la résignation chrétienne."

HERWITZ, DANIEL. Making Theory/Constructing Art. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1993.

Review: Van Gerwen in PhQ 47 (1997), 248–250: Includes an analysis of the avant garde artist Naum Gabo's constructivist objects and manifestos in which H. posits "that Gabo's is a kind of Cartesian theory. Gabo, he argues, starts by seriously doubting the representational and expressive powers of the prevalent artistic means. H. then shows how Gabo's works are the result of the ensuing pretence to be transparently constructed from what artistic materials are left over after his Cartesian doubting."

HOFFMAN, PHILIP T. and KATHRYN NORBERG, eds. Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government 1450–1789. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1994.

Review: J. Sommerville in RenQ 49 (1996), 124–25: Six authors contribute to this volume in the series "The Making of Modern Freedom" which "demonstrates that there was no single road to modern liberty." H. and N. write the essays on France. H. emphasizes limitations of absolutism while N. discusses intellectual change and the disillusionment of the French with fiscal reform.

HOFFMANN, KATHRYN A. "Monstrous Women, Monstrous Theorizing: Mothers, Physicians and les esprits animaux." PFSCL 24 (1997), 537–552.

Studies the peculiar early-modern preoccupation with birth defects.

HOFFMANN, KATHRYN A. Society of Pleasures. Interdisciplinary Readings in Pleasure and Power During the Reign of Louis XIV. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.

HOULE, MARTHA M. "Re-visioning Images of Women with a Medical Lens." PFSCL 24 (1997), 553–562.

"In this paper I [M. H.] will discuss one particular aspect of women's bodies . . . the womb, and how it may affect the depiction of a female character or the dénouement of a story."

JACOBSON, KAREN, ed. The French Renaissance in Prints, from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Los Angeles: Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, 1994.

Review: P. Emison in RenQ 49 (1996), 910–12: "Renaissance" includes the early modern period in this "ample and beautiful" exhibition catalogue which will be "a valuable resource for scholars of various persuasions and diverse concentrations." Judged both "a treasure" and an "open door," the diverse methodological approaches yield "a new, more inclusive picture of French Renaissance printmaking." An essay by Cynthia Burlingham, "Portraiture as Propaganda, Printmaking during the Reign of Henri IV," is of particular interest to 17 th c. scholars.

KOLB, JOCELYNE. The Ambiguity of Taste: Freedom and Food in European Romanticism. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1995.

Review: E. Bernhardt-Kabish in CollG 29 (1996), 355–58: Praiseworthy "addition to [the] growing library on the thematics of food . . . extends gastrological criticism into a comparative dimension" treating authors in England, France and Germany. Molière "symbolizes the comic roots of the revolution," and interrogates excesses while reaffirming established norms. The real revolution occurs with the Romantics.

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

Review: B. Konrad in ZRP 112 (1996), 179–83: Rich, informative study touches on the 17th c. in a number of its sections, most notably in chapter 4 on the French influence on German from 1500 until the Revolution. Includes references to letters of Madame Palatine.

LANEYRIE DAGEN, NADEIJE. L'invention du corps: la représentation de l'homme du Moyen Age à nos jours. Paris: Flammarion, 1997.

Review: G. Raillard in QL 714 (1997), 14–15: A history of bodies and their shadows. Includes a discussion of Poussin.

LARSON, RUTH. "Sex and Civility in a 17th-Century Dialogue: L'Escole des filles." PFSCL 24 (1997), 497–512.

L. proposes that this "pornographic" work "be considered in the light of the enormous 17th-century production of 'how-to' books, that it is a parodic cloaking of traditional erotic satire . . . with the textual devices and language of the manual of civility . . . and of other moral etiquette books directed at women."

LAWRENCE, CYNTHIA, ed. Women and Art in Early Modern Europe. University, PA: Penn State University Press, 1997.

Review: n.a. in VQR 73.3 (1997), 92–93. "This is a gathering of essays on women as patrons, collectors, and connoisseurs. Its subjects range from Jeanne d'Evreux as a founder of chapels and Margaret of Austria's tomb to the stories of Anna Maria Luisa de'Medici and Mary Edwards, patron of William Hogarth. Although these essays are largely uninspired, they do broaden our knowledge of patronage, enriching the bibliography in this burgeoning field."

LE ROY LADURIE, EMMANUEL. The Ancien Régime: A History of France, 1610–1774. Trans.Mark Greengrass. London: Blackwell, 1996.

Review: D. J. Heimmermann in Choice 34.8 (1997), 1397: "In his study of the 17th and 18th century French political system, Le Roy Ladurie notes the unequal rhythm of alternation between modes of government that were either more 'authoritarian' or more 'open.' The reign of Louis XIV marked an age when conformity took precedence over service, style over loyalty, spectacle over economy; tolerance born of pragmatism was dismissed in the persecution of the Huguenots. Absolutism under Louis XIV's successors..., however, was more responsive to the needs of its citizens, more capable of rational action, and was marked by signs of relaxation of the exercise of authority. The Protestants and the Jansenists were tolerated, and the economy prospered in the midst of an outpouring of intellectual and artistic creativity.... This volume, which includes a helpful chronological table and glossary, will be the standard history of France for years to come."

LE ROY LADURIE, EMMANUEL. L'Historien, le chiffre et le texte. Paris: Fayard, 1997.

Review: R. Bonnaud in QL 715 (1997), 22–23: A "projet de l'histoire science" which includes "une étude comparée des manifestations d'intolérance en Grande Bretagne et en France au XVIIe siècle. Le Japon et la Russie sont évoqués. La Pologne, la Chine, l'Inde, l'Ethiopie, bien d'autres régions auraient pu l'être, et le virage mondial, celui de 1630 1660, Le Roy Ladurie n'insiste pas."

Review: L. Theis in Le Point 1290 (1997), 111: "Les lecteurs de 'Montaillou, village occitan' et de 'L'Etat royal' retrouveront dans ce nouveau recueil d'articles l'auteur au mieux de sa forme. Les vingt cinq textes ici rassemblés... mettent en valeur ... [entre autres sujets] sa compréhension profonde des mentalités d'Ancien Régime, illustrée en particulier par un essai éblouissant sur les pratiques matrimoniales de la noblesse telles que les révèle Saint Simon."

LEIBACHER-OUVRARD, LISE. "Femmes d'esprit ou substance étendue? L'école des filles ou la Philosophie des dames (1655)." L'esprit en France au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 101 (1997), 187–196.

An assessment of the value of the work: representing much more than a simple manual of erotic practice, the work is a "discours rationaliste" which however leads to a "dévalorisation éventuelle de l'esprit des femmes . . . ."

LEIBACHER-OUVRARD, LISE. "Tribades et gynanthropes (1612–1614): fictions et fonctions de l'anatomie travestie." PFSCL 24 (1997), 519–536.

"La fiction des tribades représente moins ici leurs propres désirs lesbiens que la hantise de l'efféminé, les obsessions d'une virilité fondamentalement instable et menacée; . . . ."

LILLY, REGINALD, ed. The Ancients and the Moderns. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1996.

Review: J. V. Scott in Choice 34.8 (1997), 1415: The international scholars who contributed to the volume "bring a rich, diverse set of methodologies to the story of 'la Querelle' between modernism, Renaissance humanism, and contemporary postmodernism. In the first half, the essays critique varieties of Renaissance and modernist understandings of the Greek experience.... The essays, although thoughtful and provocative, are for the most part only indirectly relevant to political thought."

MCCABE, RICHARD A. Incest, Drama and Nature's Law 1550–1700. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993.

Review: Anon. in FMLS 32 (1996), 90–91: This first comprehensive study of incest in English theatre of the Renaissance and the Restoration includes a chapter on Dryden and Racine. Judged "a major piece of cultural history."

MENKE, ANNE M. "Liaisons savoureuses: Pornography in the Service of Women?" PFSCL 24 (1997), 85–98.

Examines the contention that pornography can be put into the service of women, using the Princesse de Clèves and the Liaisons dangereuses. Author concludes negatively that if the emancipation of the women characters had occurred, much would have been sacrificed in the process: "Besides losing the first psychological novel and some wonderfully malicious secret histories, we would also have to sacrifice some of the most convincing portrayals of power-mad and love-sick creatures ever penned if women characters could claim their bodies for themselves."

MENTZER, RAYMOND A., JR. Blood and Belief: Family Survival and Confessional Identity among the Provincial Huguenot Nobility. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 1994.

Review: M. Ultee in RenQ 49 (1996), 142–43: Although U. faults M. for unnecessary repetition, he insists that "every budding graduate student in French history should read M.'s book for its clear explanations of family strategies, provincial nobility and Protestantism." A family archive of the Lacger family of southern France is the rich source of M.'s analyses which trace their sufferings and survival from the 16th–19th c.

MEROT, ALAIN. "Des patries à la terre: pour un portrait/paysage de Nicolas Poussin." Et In Arcadia Ego. Actes de Montréal. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 100 (1996), 25–37.

"Un peintre qui a su dépasser les limites de l'"histoire" comme du paysage et pour lequel la "patrie," qu'elle soit natale ou d'adoption, réelle ou rêvée, voit se rencontrer l'espace et le temps."

MONDIMORE, FRANCIS MARK. A Natural History of Homosexuality. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1996.

An excellent introductory survey of the present status of research on homosexuality succinctly covers historical, anthropological, genetic, embryological, hormonal, and psychotherapeutic data and theories in a way clearly understandable to the general reader as well as the specialist. He points out how bigotry against gays and lesbians in past and present Western civilization exploded at times during movements such as the Inquisition and Nazism.

MONTADON, ALAIN, éd. Etiquette et politesse. Clermont Ferrand: Association des Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences de Clermont Ferrand, 1992.

Review: A. Arens in ZRP 112 (1996), 709–11: A. hopes for a future, more in depth and serious study of the same field, the history of representations of communication based on treatises of savoir vivre from Middle Ages to present. 17th c. scholars will welcome E. Bury's study of 17th c. civility as it relates to être and paraître, personne and personnage.

MOREL, RENEE. "Et in pictura ego ou le tombeau de Poussin." Et In Arcadia Ego. Actes de Montréal. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 100 (1996), 39–52.

"Comme toute production artistique, l'oeuvre de Poussin s'inscrit dans le temps et ne peut récuser la mort: à l'instar des bergers d'Arcadie, elle doit composer avec elle."

MOUSNIER, ROLAND. Les XVIe et XVIIe siècles. La grande mutation intellectuelle de l'humanité, l'avènement de la science moderne et l'expansion de l'Europe. Paris: PUF, 1993.

Review: I. Mieck in HZ 262 (1996), 237–38: For HZ's assessment of the original publication of M.'s work, the reader is referred to the review in HZ 179 (1955), 128–30. The reedition is only slightly modified. Mieck outlines changes (for example, a newly conceived chapter on "Européens et gens de couleur en Amérique") and regrets that the bibliography stops with the year 1966.

MURRAY, TIMOTHY. " 'Et in Arcadia Video': Poussin' the Image of Culture with Marin and Kuntzel." MLN 112 (1997), 431–53.

For critic Louis Marin, Poussin's pastoral elegy, "Et in Arcadia Ego," "performs the twofold function of the sign as theorized by Arnauld and Nicole in the 1683 edition of La logique ou l'art de penser. "Et in Arcadia Ego" "embodies in one picture plane the thing represented and the thing representing." Murray's task is "to discuss the critical shift that occurs, if any, when the semiotic subject of early modern painting or cartography, Ego, gives way to the spatially diffuse subject of postmodern installation, Video. How might Marin's concept of the powers of the neoclassical image impact contemporary video culture and its museum arcades? Given that artistic form and subject matter shift through time and practice, what might we expect from the video transformation of the interpellations of desire and subjectivity common to the age of Poussin?" Kuntzel's technological representation of Poussin's Arcadian cycle, 'The Four Seasons', was exhibited in 1993 at the Jeu de Paume as a video installation intitled "Four Seasons" minus one."

NIDERST, ALAIN. "Le bel esprit." L'esprit en France au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 101 (1997), 75–84.

Traces the evolution of the concept from the 17th into the 18th century: from a positive to a negative social and artistic type.

NORMAN, BUFORD. "The Best Way to Skin a Cat: Thought and Expression, Words and Music in Quinault and Lully." L'esprit en France au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 101 (1997), 239–247.

Studies the role of esprit in poetry and music.

NOVA, PIERRE. Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past. Trans.Arthur Goldhammer. 3 vols. Volume I: Conflicts and Divisions. NY: Columbia UP, 1996.

Review: C. Todd, JES 27 (1997), 114–115: "[T]he persistence and the mystery of French national myths are central here, as we are shown why some things are remembered, while others are forgotten." The collection includes an article by Catherine Maire, who "demonstrates how Jansenism best remembered thanks to Sainte Beuve as central to literary classicism survived through its texts, despite the destruction of its physical lieu de mémoire: Port Royal."

PEABODY, SUE. "There Are No Slaves in France": The Political Culture of Race and Slavery in the Ancien Régime. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996.

Review: D. C. Baxter in Choice 34 (1997), 1723: "[A] superb scholarly investigation of the so called 'Freedom Principle' under which slaves who set foot in France were automatically emancipated." "Strongly based on archival research."

PIERRARD, JEAN. "Portraits, côté Cour." Le Point 1298 (1997), 60–61.

Review of the exhibition at the Musée des Beaux Arts of Nantes, August September 1997, then in Toulouse, October 1997 January 1998. Consecrated to the portrait under Louis XIV. "On peut regretter que l'exposition n'ait pas montré l'une de ses figures de jansénistes qui disent d'abord combien ce siècle a d'abord été celui de la volonté...." However, the exhibition is rich in its variety and includes works by les frères Beaubrun, Nocret, Le Brun, Pierre Mignard, Nicolas de Largillière, Jouvenet, Hyacinthe Rigaud. These last two later "libèrent la peinture du Grand Sciècle, fagotée jusque là dans un vieux corset raphaélesque" thanks to time spent with masters in Venice. "A partir de là, la peinture française va se faire moins raisonneuse...."

PIERRARD, JEAN. "La vie silencieuse." Le Point 1281 (1997), 92–93.

Review of Sébastien Stoskopff exhibit, April June 1997, at the Musée de l'oeuvre Notre Dame in Strasbourg. Exhibition presented "une quarantaine de tableaux sur soixante toiles répertoriés" of the painter who lived from 1597 to 1657. Known for still lifes which were subsequently depreciated by the Académie. "L'exposition laisse d'ailleurs une impression formidable. L'austère propos de Stoskopff en impose, avec cette façon de faire le vide comme si le peintre ne voulait retenir sur le vide que l'essentiel." "Les oeuvres présentées dans l'exposition n'ont pas toujours les qualités de cette toile radieuse, resplendissante d'une douce lumière dorée."

PIERRARD, JEAN. "Van Dyck: Retour à Gênes." Le Point 1288 (1997), 98–99.

Review of an exhibition of the works of Anton Van Dyck (1599–1641) at the Palais ducal of Gênes, May July 1997. "Van Dyck est l'un des plus grands portraitistes de son siècle.... Présentée au palais ducal dans un environnement marmoréen, l'exposition focalisée sur les six ans que Van Dyck passe à Gênes le montre au milieu de ses pairs et finalement nous restitue un grand peintre, définitivement débarrassé de cette détestable réputation de superficialité dont on l'a au fil des siècles affublé." Certains attributions paraissent discutables et sont discutées. Quelques tableaux ... sont médiocres."

PINCAS, STÉPHANE. Versailles: The History of the Gardens and Their Sculptures. Paris: Thames & Hudson, 1996.

Review: T. J. McCormick in Choice 34.8 (1997), 1326: "[T]his handsome and richly illustrated volume is limited to the design of the gardens, including every piece of sculpture in its original and later locations. The excellent color photographs by Maryvonne Rocher Gilotte taken especially for the volume are supplemented by drawings, plans, diagrams, and paintings of the gardens, sculptures, grottos, and fountains, so that the work is a complete study of the subject, although one does miss any mention of the Trianons or L'Hameau. Pincas's text is very detailed and complete on every sculpture and fountain and also includes a useful general history of the French garden as well as details of the evolution of Versailles. Although the text and illustrations are art history in the best sense, the major contribution of the book is its attempt to recreate the feeling and excitement of the gardens at Versailles. Descriptions of fêtes, sculptural peregrinations, fireworks displays, and the waterworks help fulfill this aim. The glossary and bibliography add to the usefulness of this major work."

PINCUS, STEVEN C. A. Protestantism and Patriotism: Ideologies and the Making of English Foreign Policy, 1650–1668. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.

Review: M. C. Noonkester in Choice 34 (1997), 858: "Domestic and foreign policy, Pincus demonstrates, influenced one another, moving England from an anti Dutch to an anti French posture."

PINOL, JEAN LUC, et al. Atlas historique des villes de France. Paris: Hachette/Centre, 1996.

Review: A. Bruyère in QL 702 (1996) 21–22: "Dix villes françaises: Paris, Rouen, Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux et Nantes. Ce grand atlas se situe entre dictionnaire et encyclopédie. En 366 pages, plus de 900 illustrations noir et blanc ou couleur, cartes historiques ou récentes, plans, graphiques, photos, dessins, tableaux et autant de textes sur trois colonnes serrées." "La mise en page est victime du prix bas de l'ouvrage, de la hâte ou d'une bousculade, vu l'énormité de l'entreprise. Les illustrations sont de toute sorte de couleurs, matières, styles, époques et sujets. Elles désordonnent le regard, trop complexes et mêlées, parfois illisibles. Mais il y a des qualités de soin: les indications de l'échelle des plans, et la précieuse indication du Nord."

PROUST, JACQUES. L'Europe au prisme du Japon, XVIe–XVIIe siècle. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997.

Review: J. M. Goulemot in QL 715 (1997), 21–22: This study uncovers "l'image que l'Europe a donnée d'elle même à ses partenaires japonais, de façon délibérée ou à son corps défendant." Europe, here, is "essentiellement ibérique avec quelques exceptions françaises, puis hollandaises." "Planches en couleur." "Voilà un grand livre et un beau livre."

RAILLARD, GEORGES. "Stoskopff. 'Poète des reflets.'" QL 713 (1997), 19.

Review of the Sébastien Stoskopff exhibit at the Musée de l'oeuvre Notre Dame, March 15 June 1, 1997. Born in Strasbourg in 1597, Stoskopff painted only still lifes consisting of "[p]eu d'objets, mais sans cesse repris, variés par la composition et la lumière." His work is marked by "l'éclat de lumière, de temps suspendu, l'hésitation du sens dans ces visions réfléchies, les réseaux de lignes, les modes multiples de la touche."

REESE, ARMIN. Europäische Hegemonie versus Weltreich. Aussenpolitik in Europa 1648–1763. Idstein: Schulz Kirchner, 1995.

Review: H. Duchhardt in HZ 263 (1996), 783–84: Scholar known for his treatment of French colonial politics provides us with well selected sources including diplomatic acts, pamphlets, peace treaties as basis for his analysis of European hegemony versus empire.

ROCHE, DANIEL. Histoire des choses banales. Naissance de la consommation, XVIIe–XIXe siècle. Paris: Fayard, 1997.

Review: N. Pellegrin in QL 717 (1997) 22: "R. nous offre ... une remarquable leçon de choses, qui est aussi une réflexion passionnante sur 'les choses' et leur place dans les sociétés occidentales.... Un va et vient constant s'établit entre le cas parisien et d'autres exemples, ruraux ou urbains." Includes "une énorme bibliographie" and an extensive discussion of key terms such as "luxe," "superflu," "consommation," and "culture matérielle."

ROCHE, DANIEL. The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Régime. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.

Review: Anon. In FMLS 32 (1996), 94: Important contribution in the domain of French culture of 17th and 18th c. This translation of Roche's La Culture des Apparences makes accessible to the Anglophone world an enlightening study which discusses economic and technical aspects of the subject as well as relating clothes to literature.

SEIBERT, PETER. Der literarische Salon. Literatur und Geselligkeit zwischen Aufklärung und Vormärz. Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler, 1993.

Review: G. Bersier in CollG 29 (1996), 168–170: Praiseworthy for achieving "a rare balance of interdisciplinary breadth of research and clear literary focus of analysis." Treats origins of the salons and provides a comprehensive survey of the French 17th and 18th c. salons. Also treated are German literary salons as "centers of production, distribution and reception of literature" and the interaction between "salon conversation and the spread of specific semi-oral literary forms." Only regret is the lack of an index in this "superb scholarly study."

ROQUES, GEORGES. La manière de négocier aux Indes, 1676–1691. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1996.

Review: BCLF 580 (1997), 203: "L'ouvrage apporte une contribution exceptionnelle à la connaissance des affaires et des techniques de fabrication en usage au Gujarât au XVIIe siècle. Il paraît fondamental aux amateurs de récits et de voyages ou d'aventures, mais aussi et surtout aux historiens, chercheurs ou étudiants intéressés par le rôle du textile dans l'économie asiatique de l'époque, et son importance dans les relations entre Occident et Orient."

ROUBEN, CESAR, ed. Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan, Mémoires d'Anne de Gonzague, Princesse Palatine. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'Université Laval/Librairie A. G. Nizet, 1996.

Review: N. Hepp in PFSCL 24 (1997), 614: A critical edition of the edition of the memoirs first published late in the 18th century that focus on the Fronde. Reviewer has minor criticisms of this fine edition.

SALAZAR, PHILIPPE-JOSEPH. "Philia: connaissance et amitié." L'esprit en France au XVIIe siècle. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 101 (1997), 11–27.

Studies the relationship between friendship and knowledge: ". . . le savoir qui prend encore forme humaniste au XVIIe siècle et qui, souvent, aide à la mise en forme du nouvel esprit scientifique ne circula-t-il pas parce que ces hommes de l'esprit pratiquaient le seul amour du savoir qui compte, aimer ceux qui savent?"

SALAZAR, PHILIPPE-JOSEPH. "Poussin, ou peindre la littérature." Et In Arcadia Ego. Actes de Montréal. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 100 (1996), 53–63.

Considers painting as a form of narration.

SALVADORI, PHILIPPE. La chasse sous l'Ancien Régime. Paris: Fayard, 1996.

Review: BCLF 581 (1997), 541: S. "n'a pas voulu écrire une nouvelle dissertation sur le droit de chasse, ni décrire les anciennes coutumes des chasseurs. Ceci a déjà été fait. Il a choisi une orientation sociale et politique, comprendre 'comment une élite vivait son droit à la domination sociale en la fondant sur la domination de la nature'."

SCHULZE, HAGEN and INA ULRIKE PAUL, eds. Europäische Geschichte. Quellen und Materialien. München: Bayerische Schulbuch Verlag, 1994.

Review: P. Stadler in HZ 262 (1996), 803–805: Rich resource of over 1200 pages for the history of Europe. Chronologically arranged, the extensive volume embraces mythological geographical namings, discussion of early modern period and national states, freedom and tyranny, belief and unbelief, men and women, politics and philosophers, and so forth.

SCOTT, H. M., ed. The European Nobilities in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Vol. 1: Western Europe. London: Longman, 1995.

Review: N. Hammerstein in HZ 263 (1996), 226: Authoritative overview of elite can only be improved on by the promised second volume. Varying viewpoints include studies of crises and downfall of the elite.

SINKOLI, ANNA. Frankreich, das Reich und die Reichsstände 1697–1702. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1995.

Review: P. C. Hartmann in HZ 263 (1996), 229–30: Mixed review has praise for use of source materials such as those at the BN, the B de l'Arsenal, and the Archives of the Quai d'Orsay but notes significant omissions. Praised for diligence and for the interesting details resulting from analysis of the role of state according to the French view.

SMITH, JAY M. The Culture of Merit: Nobility, Royal Service, and the Making of Absolute Monarchy in France, 1600–1789. Ann Arbor: U P of Michigan, 1996.

Review: D. C. Baxter in Choice 34.8 (1997), 1399: "Smith... begins modestly with the intent of examining the relationship between noblility and merit in early modern France. The result is a complex, sophisticated, and wide reaching argument that criticzes those who see the advocacy of 'merit' (individual talent as opposed to birth) as a product of Enlightenment thinking. From his examination of the 'culture of power,' the artistocratic and monarchical assumptions that underlay the ancien régime, Smith sees the modern concept of merit emerging from a dialectical process within the monarchy as Louis XVI's centralizing administration ('absolutism') demanded skill as well as pedigree. Using 18th century army reform as a microcosm, Smith reveals the growing tension beween birth and skilled efficiency before the Revolution. This union of linguistc analysis and political history reflects a wide reading of relevant primary and secondary sources and a talented analysis of aristocratic culture and the nature of the state. It will delight specialists undaunted by social science jargon...."

SPIELMANN, GUY. "La philosophie des images du Père Menestrier: de la herméneutique de la nature à la propagande politique." PFSCL 24 (1997), 445–464.

The esoteric placed in the service of Louis XIV's political power by the Jesuits.

SPIELMANN, GUY. "L'inférieure biologique: sexualité et identité féminine à l'âge classique d'après le Tableau de l'amour conjugal de Nicolas Venette (1687)." PFSCL 24 (1997), 563–577.

Studies a work postulating the inferiority of the female first published in the 17th century and republished until 1955.

THOMAS, FRANCIS-NOEL. "Une Moult Grande Signifiance." Providence and Madness in Froissart's Chroniques." EMF 2 (1996) 1–15.

Article "examines Providence and Fortune, whose domains respectively diminish and increase in Early Modern history and literature. His texts are Froissart's account of Charles VI's descent into madness, and Mme de La Fayette's narrative of Henri II's death, the former ambiguous about causation, the latter asserting simple accident." Cross Mme de La Fayette

THORP, MALCOLM R. and ARTHUR J. SLAVIN, eds. Politics, Religion and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honor of De Lamar Jensen. Northeast Missouri State U, 1994.

Review: W. Rednour in RenQ 49 (1996), 126–27: Judged "solid and informative," the essays are, however, uneven in quality and the volume lacks the usual listing of honoree's scholarly works. R. highlights David Bitton and Ward A. Martinsen's treatment of the French pamphlet as "shed[ding] new light on the interaction of policy and religion."

TIMMERMANS, LINDA. L'accès des femmes à la culture (1598–1715). Paris: Honoré Champion, 1993.

Review: B. Krajewska, RSH 244 (1996), 190–193: "L'étude est ... divisée en deux parties, l'une sur la culture profane, l'autre sur la culture religieuse des femmes, cette division ayant été adopté ... pour des raisons didactiques. La première partie porte une teinte de bilan, la deuxième 'défriche plutôt un terrain vierge'." T. "propose une approche qui ... offre un grand terrain d'investigation envisagé sous les angles de l'histoire littéraire et de l'histoire des idées." "Documentée à l'extrême." This study is "plutôt une synthèse des études sur la question, un aperçu général de l'écho suscité par les polémiques sur la femme qu'une étude apportant un souffle indépendant." Excellent dialogue with minor authors and their works.

• See French 17 (1996, 1995).

TOLLET, DANIEL, éd. L'Europe des diètes au XVIIe . Mélanges offerts àMonsieur le professeur Jean Bérenger. Paris: Sedes, 1996.

Review: BCLF 577 (1996), 1877–78: Dix contributions complétées par des articles de Bérenger et une bibliographie incomplète de ses oeuvres.

TROUT, ANDREW. City on the Seine: Paris in the Time of Richelieu and Louis XIV. New York: St. Martin's, 1996.

Review: P. G. Wallace in Choice 34 (1997), 859: "T.'s study paints an impressionist's portrait of seventeenth and early eighteenth century Paris.... This story of Baroque urban renewal is set against the grand narrative of royal politics in the age of Louis XIV." However, T.'s "surety... seems misplaced [and] ... the text lacks a clear analytical framework." Illustrated.

WIESNER, MERRY E. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993.

Review: J. L. Metcalfe in RenQ 49 (1996), 668–69: Recommended particularly as an undergraduate text or reference volume. W.'s study presents a helpful survey of the history of women from 1500–1750. Women's experience is organized according to sections concerned with the body, the mind, and the spirit; a unifying factor is W.'s "concern for the systematic gendering of public versus private life within patriarchal ideology." Although she registers "the evidence of an oppressive gender hierarchy," W. also records many exceptional accomplishments of women and recovers marginalized voices. Extensive bibliographies and index.

WILSON, KEVIN, et al. What is Europe? 4 volumes, revised edition. I: The History of the Idea of Europe. Eds. Kevin Wilson & Jan van der Dussen; II: Aspects of European Cultural Diversity. Eds. Monica Shelley & Margaret Winck; III: European Democratic Culture. Eds. Alain Marc Rieu, Gérard Duprat, Noël Parker; IV: Europe and the Wider World. Ed. Bernard Waites. London/NY: Routledge, 1995.

Review: P. Dukes in JES 27 (1997), 101–110: The first essay of volume I "concentrates on three elements: the identification of the continent with liberty, with Christendom and with civilization. After noting that the history of European culture as an idea in itself did not originate until the beginning of the nineteenth century, it begins 'more of an archaelogical excavation' of the concept, appropriately enough, in antiquity." Subsequent essays in this volume concentrate on modern Europe. Volume II includes essays on 'Languages,' 'Education,' 'The Mass Media' and 'Everyday Culture.' Volume III focuses on historical and contemporary democracy in Europe. Volume IV considers the twentieth century relations of Europe with the rest of the world. The review concludes, "If the future of global politics is to be dominated by the clash of civilizations, ... What is Europe? constitutes a timely reminder of the culture that our continent would like to defend."

WINN, COLETTE H. "De sage (-) femme à sage (-) fille: Louise Boursier, Instructions à ma fille (1626)." PFSCL 24 (1997), 61–83.

Author finds a feminist prise de conscience in this rare treatise transmitting professional knowledge in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology.

WOLFE, KATHRYN WILLIS and, PHILLIP J., eds. Considérations politiques sur la Fronde. La Correspondance entre Gabriel Naudé et le cardinal Mazarin. PFSCL/Biblio 17, 64 (1991).

Review: P. Dostie in LR 49 (1995), 162–63: The political considerations of the title are complemented by numerous perspectives on daily life in Paris as revealed in these letters by Naudé and Mazarin. Historical and biographical notes offer useful clarifications. D. points out that the volume concludes with two previously unedited letters of N. Reviewer appreciates the "tableau peint sur le vif des liens étroits" and underscores the dominant theme of the letters: exhortation.

WOLFE, MICHAEL. The Conversion of Henry IV. Politics, Power and Religious Belief in Early Modern France. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1993.

Review: I. Mieck in HZ 263 (1996), 222–23: Mixed review finds as many problems as it does information in W.'s work. Has praise for use of source materials of Henri's era, but notes significant gaps (such as German titles) in secondary sources.

ZILBOORG, CAROLINE and SUSAN B. GALL, eds. Women's Firsts. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1997.

Review: K. R. Mehaffey in Choice 34 (1997), 1647: This book records "women's achievements in history from the pre Christian era through 1996. The result is a useful and interesting timeline in a convenient format."