FRENCH 17

ALMOG, JOSEPH. What am I? Descartes and the Mind-Body Problem. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Review: R. Lee in Choice 40 (2002), 291: Presents Descartes as highly ambivalent on the question of the substantial difference between mind and body, "wanting to maintain both the substantial distinctness of mind and body, and their substantial union in a single person." Includes consideration of Arnauld, Caterus, and Gassendi

Review: J. Secada in PhQ 53.212 (2003), 441–445: The author argues that Descartes proposed philosophy explaining the specificity of the human where mind and body are separate, but can't exist without each other. Secada notes the work's weak citing of textual sources and alternative interpretations.

BAXTER, CAROL. "Pure as Angels, Proud as Lucifer: an Anatomy of Resistance by the Community of Port-Royal." La Femme au XVIIe siècle. Actes du colloque de Vancouver, University of British Columbia. Ed. R. Hodgson. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag (Biblio 17), 2002, 337–362.

Analyzes the strategies used by the nuns of Port-Royal in their struggle against church and state, and suggests a number of reasons for their resistance. Concentrates on the period 1661–1665.

BENITEZ, MIGUEL ANTONY MCKENNA, GIANNI PAGANINI and JEAN SALEM. Materia Actuosa: Antiquité, Age Classique, Lumières-Mélanges en l'honneur d'Olivier Bloch. Paris: Champion, 2000.

Review: R. Goulbourne in FS 56.4 (2002). According to the reviewer, this "bumper crop" of articles reflects Bloch's "prodigieuse omniscience" in subjects from Homer and Hobbes to Cyrano, Descartes, La Mothe Le Vayer, and the Philosophes, as well as a "rewarding" section on clandestine writing. Though a few essays "trudge over familiar ground," many represent "important new contributions" in this "fitting tribute" to Bloch.

Review: E. Moles in MLR 97.4 (2002), 994–95: Tribute to Bloch's work on materialism. Section entitled 'De la Renaissance aux libertins' treats Bruno (cosmology), Descartes (letter to the abbé Picot), La Mothe Le Vayer, and Cyrano. Absence of an index lessens usefulness of this valuable volume.

BOURGEOIS-GIRONDE, SACHA. Reconstruction analytique du cogito. Paris: Vrin, 2001.

Review: S. Chauvier in RPFE 192.4 (2002), 444–445: "Cette ouvrage entend proposer 'une interprétation du cogito cartésien en philosophie analytique.' (...) Le principal défaut de cet ouvrage réside (...) moins dans la thèse qu'il défend que dans la manière dont il l'expose : un lecteur qui n'aurait pas déjà une certaine familiarité avec la littérature exploitée par l'auteur serait en effet souvent bien en peine de comprendre ce qu'il veut dire. C'est d'autant plus dommage qu'un exposé précis sur le renouvellement des interprétations du cogito à la suite des travaux 'analytiques' sur la pensée en première personne aurait été utile au lecteur que la philosophie de Descartes intéresse."

BOUVIER, MICHEL. "L'Art de prêcher du Père de Foix." DSS 219 (2003), 287–308.

An excellent analysis of this rare work by the Jesuit Père de Foix (1627–1687) who is far better known for his Art d'élever un prince which was attributed to him posthumously. Bouvier undertakes a meticulous analysis of each book of the manual that covers the origins of Christian classical eloquence, criticism of some of the greatest orators, a detailed exposition of Jesuit doctrine, and finally the desired art of elocutio including a technical discussion of Foix's preferred style.

BRANCHER, DOMINIQUE JOSIANE. Le voile de Poppée: Les ambiguïtés de la pudeur dans le discours médical (1570–1620). DAI 63/10 (2003), 3573.

Examines "the conceptual, generical and rhetorical reversibility of modesty, ... which conceals to better reveal and eroticize."

BROUGHTON, JANET. Descartes's Method of Doubt. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Review: J. Secada in PhQ 53.212 (2003), 437–441: Secada calls the work "a truly original essay that significantly expands our philosophical and historical understanding."

COSSUTTA, FREDERIC. "La métaphysique cartésienne au risque du dialogue philosophique." DSS 219 (2003), 233–258.

An in-depth inquiry into the many mysteries of Descartes' unfinished dialogue: La Recherche de la vérité par la lumière naturelle. Cossutta endeavors to situate the text with relation to Descartes' completed works (no small task given the ongoing debate as to when La Recherche was written) and questions how we are to interpret the incomplete nature of this important text in both form and content.

DARMON, JEAN-CHARLES. Philosophie epicurienne et littérature au XVIIè siècle. Paris: PUF, 1998.

Review: J. Gilroy in FR 76 (2002), 391–92: Explores the relationships between the writings of Epicurus and writers/thinkers such as Gassendi, de Bergerac, La Fontaine, and Saint-Evremond, who are said to engage elements of Epicurean thought to destabilize more established philosophies.

DAVIES, RICHARD. Descartes: Belief, Skepticism and Virtue. London: Routledge, 2001.

Review: J. Secada in PhQ 53.211 (2003), 287–290: Secada calls Davies' articulation of Cartesian philosophy in the light of virtue epistemology "flawed," while admitting that Descartes can be read that way. Secada also notes that Davies fails to treat Descartes's Scholastic context, and that he falsely alleges that Descartes believes that no information can come from the senses.

DELON, MICHAEL. "Les machines de sainte Catherine." RSH 269 (janvier–mars 2003): 269–281.

Traces the evolution of the legend of the 4th-c. St. Catherine, spectacularly martyred by a machine. Sees a gradual laicization of the martyr's narrative, discussing its varying representations, including: 16th-c. paintings; two 17th-c. tragedies, one by Jean Boissin de Gallardon, Le Martyre de sainte Catherine in his Tragédies et histoires saintes (1618) and another attributed to l'abbé d'Aubignac, Le Martyr de sainte Catherine (1649); and Sade's Histoire de Juliette.

DESCOTES, DOMINIQUE, ANTONY MCKENNA et LAURENT THOROUIN, Le Rayonnement de Port-Royal. Mélanges en l'honneur de Philippe Sellier. Paris: Champion, 2001.

Review: F. Lagarde in PFSCL XXX, 58 (2003), 245–249. "On est dans la cour des grands avec ces trente-huit études". Reviewer comments briefly on each of the 38 articles, by B. Chédozeau, H. Michon, O. Thouvenin, H. Bouchilloux, Ch. Belin, O. Le Guern, T. Shiokawa, M. Le Guern, H. Suematsu, D. Descotes, E. Lesne-Jaffro, Y. Mochizuki, A. Mantero, A. Bord, J. Mesnard, Ch. Natoli, A. Blanc, G. Ferreyrolles, P. Magnard, J. Plainemaison, L. Thirouin, B. Guion, J. Rohou, J. Dubu, J. Lafond, P. Force, M. Gérard, J. Gallucci, R. Zuber, N. Hepp, J. Lesaulnier, A. McKenna, J.-R. Armogathe, A-E. Spica, J. Plantié, F.-X. Cuche, J. Dagen, A. Niderst.

DESJARDINS, LUCIE et ERIC MECHOULAN. Tangence (Rimouski, Québec), 66 (2001).

Review: F. Paré in UTQ 72.1 (Winter 2002/3), 51: Lucie Desjardins et Éric Méchoulan ont dirigé le dossier sur les "écritures de la morale." "Ce qui intéresse les concepteurs de ce numéro, c'est de savoir comment [le XVIIe siècle] en particulier a donné naissance à un véritable discours moraliste. Michel De Waele fait voir comment la laïcisation des codes religieux prend origine en partie dans les guerres de religion à la fin du XVIe siècle en France. Un nouveau rapport entre l'individu et l'État voit le jour. Ce courant moral donne lieu à des tendances opposées: ainsi Éric Méchoulan propose une analyse détaillée de certains passages sur l'amitié dans L'Astrée d'Honoré d'Urfé et dans Francion de Charles Sorel, tandis que Sophie Houdard porte son attention sur des textes blasphématoires et obscènes de la même période."

DUCHESNEAU, FRANCOIS. Les modèles du vivant de Descartes à Leibniz. Paris: Vrin, 1998.

Review: D. Forest in RPFE 192.4 (2002), 448–449: L'ouvrage examine comment "au XVIIe siècle, l'étude de l'être vivant, dans un contexte de développement des mathématiques et de la mécanique, et donc aussi de redéfinition de ce qui est naturel et susceptible d'explication naturelle en général, a été l'objet de recherches multiples (détermination des microstructures, explication des phénomènes de génération et d'intégration fonctionnelle, définition du statut du tout organique), objet dont le caractère singulier et paradoxal a provoqué l'essai de diverses méthodes qui toutes ont tenté de relever le défi du complexe et, de ce fait, d'éprouver leur propre fécondité heuristique." Le critique parle aussi de "l'impressionnante érudition" démontrée dans l'ouvrage.

DUCOMMUN, MARIE-JEANNE and DOMINIQUE QUADRONI. Le Refuge protestant dans le Pays de Vaud (Fin XVIIe-début XVIIIe s.). Aspects d'une migration. Genève: Droz, 1991.

Review: H. J. Schmitt in ZRP 118 (2002): 283–287: This historical investigation is valuable as well for specialists of lexicology. In four parts, each with three chapters, DuCommun and Quadroni examine numerous aspects (historical, political, demographic, economic, linguistic, sociological) of this forced migration. Volume includes maps, graphics and tables, reproducing original documents and annexes of important source texts.

ELYADA, OUZI & JACQUES LE BRUN, eds. Conflits politiques, controverses religieuses: essai d'histoire européenne aux 16e-18e siècles. Paris: Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, 2002.

Review: BCLF 645 (2003), 142: "Echappant à tout risque de dispersion, ce recueil réussit à associer avec rigueur des analyses à la fois historique, littéraire et théologique du fait social, formant ainsi un ensemble d'une qualité scientifique remarquable."

FORCE, PIERRE. Géométrie, finesse, et premiers principes chez Pascal. Romance Quarterly 50.2 (2003), 121–30.

Explores Pascal's famed distinction between "l'esprit de géométrie" and "l'esprit de finesse," presenting the two not as polar opposites, but as related capacities which differ principally in terms of the scale with which each perceives its object of study. Also touches upon the role of feeling in judgment.

GARBER, DANIEL. La physique métaphysique de Descartes. Trans.S. Bornhausen. Paris: PUF, 1999.

Review: G. Fraysse in RPFE 192.4 (2002), 449–450: L'étude de Daniel Garber "est donc bien centrée. Elle démêle bien les fils, tient compte du 'bougé' des textes, des changements de formulation, selon les dates, à partir de ces trois môles que sont successivement les 'Regulae', le 'Traité du monde', et les 'Principes de la philosophie'. Les contemporains de Descartes sont conviés au débat: Mersenne, Gassendi, Hobbes, Pascal, Roberval, More, Regius, Voetius, etc., et même les scolastiques tardifs. L'ouvrage est riche de ces aperçus sur l'époque et sur les personnages. Riche aussi en questions métaphysiques."

GIOCANTI, SYLVIA. Penser l'irrésolution: Montaigne, Pascal, La Mothe Le Vayer. Trois itinéraires sceptiques. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2001.

Review: I. Moreau in RPFE 192.4 (2002), 452–453: "Les trois auteurs choisis, illustrent, chacun à leur façon, ce scepticisme moderne original. Réunis eux-mêmes sur le mode de la 'reprise' (La Mothe Le Vayer et Pascal sont lecteurs de Montaigne), ils ont un même rejet de la manière dogmatique de philosopher et pratiquent un discours asystématique conçu comme 'babil' valorisant la capacité inventive de la raison. Cette communauté de démarche recouvre une même 'crise de la croyance': la lecture critique de Pascal est, sur ce point, déterminante. L'originalité de la démarche réside cependant, essentiellement, dans la volonté de confronter ces auteurs à partir de la réinscription de leurs accords et désaccords dans une histoire de l'usage sceptique de la raison. (...) On ne peut que saluer cet apport à la réflexion sur le scepticisme à l'époque moderne."

GLOTON, MARIE-CHRISTINE, JACQUELINE PLANTIE & MONIQUE POMEY. "Un trompe-l'œil théologique dans le chœur des prêcheurs, à Aix-en-Provence." DSS 219 (2003), 309–330.

As the title indicates, this article traces the history of the numerous "trompe-l'œil" aspects of the church at Aix while at the same time deciphering their theological intent and meaning. The text is accompanied by a series of descriptive photographs.

GREGOIRE, VINCENT. "Conversion Through 'Reductions': The Missionaries at Work in 17th Century New France as Described in Their Yearly Relations." CdDS 8.2 (2003), 21–32.

Considers the evangelical practice of "reducing" Amerindians, that is, converting them to farming and forcing them to adopt French beliefs and practices.

HALLEUX, R., J. McClellan, D. Berariu, G. Xhayet, ed. Les publications de l'académie royale des sciences de Paris (1666–1793). Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2001.

Review: D. J. Sturdy in Isis 94.1 (2003), 145–146: A bibliography of the Académie's publications, including, for each entry, contents, authorship, title, printer, number of pages, and format. "All scholars interested in the history of science in France during this period will applaud those who compiles this bibliography. . . a handsomely produced and detailed work of reference."

HAMMOND, NICHOLAS. Pascal, Port-Royal, and the Recueil de choses diverses. Romance Quarterly 50.2 (2003), 131–47.

Through an examination of educational tracts emanating from the Port-Royal petites écoles, coupled with a look at pedagogically-themed material in the Recueil, Hammond invites us to "see Pascal as a teacher figure, coaxing the reader on the path to self-understanding" (144–5). Pays particular attention to the Port-Royalists' use of conversation in teaching and their shift away from the exhaustive memorization techniques encouraged by Jesuits.

HUREL, DANIEL-ODON and GERARD LAUDIN. Académies et sociétés savantes en Europe: 1650–1800. Colloques, congrès et conférences sur le classicisme, I. Paris: Champion, 2000.

Review: R. Whelan in FS 57.4 (2003). This volume of articles covers an "eclectic" range of materials related to European learned societies of the period. For the reviewer, the volume suffers from sloppy editing and a lack of focus. Some of the papers are quite old, some going back as far as 1977, and there is no name index to help readers sift through all the materials.

ISRAEL, JONATHAN. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750. New York: Oxford UP, 2001.

Review: M. Spencer in SCN 61 (2003) 64–69: A book divided into five parts arguing the central importance of the Enlightenment to any study of the modern world. The reviewer points out that Israel's approach is unique in that "he aims to portray the 'European Enlightenment as a single highly integrated intellectual and cultural movement.'" Of note for 17th c. scholars is part IV of the book in which the author "explores late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century reactions to Spinoza, devoting space to French thinkers such as Bossuet, Malebranche, and Houtteville".

Review: G. Walther in HZ 274 (2002), 460–461: Highly ambitious re-examination of the theme taken up by Paul Hazard in 1935 (Crise de la conscience européenne 1680–1715). 17th c. scholars will benefit from the intellectual, political, and social panorama of Part I. Although the reviewer indicates that more attention to German sources would have been helpful, he concludes that Israel's work offers fascinating insights into the themes, debates and organization of European res publica litteraria around 1700.

JONES, MATTHEW L. Three Errors about Indifference: Pascal on the Vacuum, Sociability, and Moral Freedom. Romance Quarterly 50.2 (2003), 99–119.

Brings forth Pascal's rejection of Jesuit claims concerning the existence of a natural order formed on the basis of all things' inclinations toward their "proper good," predispositions from which, however, man was said to be fancy-free in his moral choices. Jones presents Pascal as contesting both this natural order and this indifference, the latter's experiments and reflections having led him to opposite conclusions. Captivating and lucid.

KITTELSON, JAMES. Toward an Established Church. Strasbourg from 1500 to the Dawn of the Seventeenth Century. Mainz: von Zabern, 2000.

Review: A. Schindling in HZ 274 (2002), 740–742: Judged engaging and effective, in particular with regard to its examination of theological and ecclesiastical organization, relationships between government and church, and private beliefs.

KOSTROUN, DANIELLA J. "Angélique Arnauld and the Political Significance of Filial Disobedience". La Femme au XVIIe siècle. Actes du colloque de Vancouver, University of British Columbia. Ed. R. Hodgson. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag (Biblio 17), 2002, 325–335.

Examines the political significance of the representation in the 1650s and 1660s of Angélique Arnauld's filial disobedience at the time of the journée du guichet (1609). Kostroun focuses on Angélique de Saint-Jean's biography of her aunt.

KURZ, GERHARD, ed. Meditation und Erinnerung in der Frühen Neuzeit. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000.

Review: R. Dürr in HZ 275 (2002), 743–744: Praiseworthy examination of meditation and memory in the Early Modern Period. Reviewer makes particular mention of the readability and accuracy of this collection of 17 essays. Numerous valuable references to journals, autobiographies and letters.

LAGARDE, FRANÇOIS. "Vertu de la terreur classique." PFSCL XXX, 59 (2003), 463–474.

Analyzes the co-existence of la terreur as both a literary topos and as a form of madness.

LAMBERT, LADINA BEZZOLA. Imagining the Unimaginable: The Poetics of Early Modern Astronomy. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002.

Review: A. Gross in Isis 93.4 (2002), 695–696: The book includes a discussion of Cyrano de Bergerac, especially in relation to Huygens. The reviewer objects to the author's attempt to "reclassify scientific works as literary," and also notes the absence of an index.

LESTRINGANT, FRANK. "Témoinage et martyre: donner à voir, donner à croire (XVIe-XVIIIe siècle)." RSH 269 (janvier-mars 2003), 111–34.

Analyzes questions of historiography and witnessing in martyrologies of the period. Detailed examination and comparison of Richard Verstegan's 1588 Theatre des cruautez des hereticques de nostre temps and Maximilien Misson's 1691 Nouveau Voyage d'Italie, fait en l'année 1688.

MCCALLAM, DAVID. "Encountering and Countering the 'Uncanny' in Descartes's Méditations. FS 57.2, 135–47.

Starting with a discussion of the uncanny, the author brings a psychoanalytical approach to the use of "primitive and irrational" though processes in Descartes. According to the author, Descartes eventually reintegrates them into his "reason" less through logic than in a manner that resembles magical discourse, allowing the philosopher "to expose himself to the forces of the Uncanny and to insure himself against them."

MECHOULAN, ERIC. On Power: Theology and Sovereignty in Pascal's Pensées. Romance Quarterly 50.2 (2003), 85–98.

Probes Pascal's reflections on imagination as the force which creates binding social relations after central powers have established themselves. Aligns Pascal with Foucault's thinking on power.

MEIER, JOHANNES, ed. ". . .usque ad ultimum terrae". Die Jesuiten und die transkontinentale Ausbreitung des Christentums 1540–1773. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2000.

Review: P. Fuchs in HZ 274 (2002), 747–748: Almost as wide-ranging as the Jesuit mission work itself, these essays (the outgrowth of the June 1998 Mülheim colloque) literally extend, as did the Jesuit endeavors "usque ad ultimum terrae." Reviewer finds particularly praiseworthy the essay by Franz-Joseph Post on the French Jesuit missionaries of the 17th and 18th c. to the Canadian Hurons and Iroquois.

MENN, STEPHEN. Descartes and Augustine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Review: E. Faye in RPFE 192.4 (2002), 455–457: "Selon l'auteur, Descartes a voulu 'construire un système scientifique complet (...) sur la base d'une métaphysique augustinienne' (p. 15). L'ouvrage ne se limite pas à la confrontation entre Augustin et Descartes, mais s'inscrit dans une histoire de la métaphysique platonicienne où Plotin aurait la plus large part. (...) Si la lecture de ce livre renforce la conviction que la question du rapport de la métaphysique cartésienne à la doctrine d'Augustin mérite d'être réexaminé, on ne saurait renouveler cette question sans affronter conjointement un problème de fond, celui de la distinction entre une métaphysique et une théologie des idées."

MENTZER, RAYMOND, ed. Society and Culture in the Huguenot World, 1559–1685. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002.

Review: A. Reeves in Choice 40 (2002), 699–700: Twelve essays discuss particular aspects of Protestant belief and experience, ranging chronologically from "the first synod of Reformed churches" (1559) to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685).

NEMOIANU, VIRGIL MARTIN. Blaise Pascal on Skepticism and Order. DAI 63/6 (2002), 2271.

"[P]roposes to show the way in which Pascal's philosophy of mind-his conception of order and the relation of reason, the emotions, and the will to the self-which emerges from his skepticism, can be used to draw out his views on morality, despite the fragmentary state of the [Pensées]."

PAIGE, NICHOLAS D. Being Interior: Autobiography and the Contradictions of Modernity in Seventeenth-Century France. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2000.

Review: E. Gilby in FS 57.2 (2003). In this "compelling study," Paige traces the formulation, in the sphere of religious writing, of a rhetoric of human depth. . . It is less autobiography as a genre which is the focal point than the cultural context in which autobiography becomes worth reading." The reviewer praises Paige's critical methodology, which "grants coherence to his work," and the "broad line of inquiry [that] provokes exponentially broad questions about how one person can come to know another." It is to Paige's credit "that the conclusions. . . have further, implicit but highly provocative, ramifications, concerning notably the displacement of Descartes as the exclusive model for seventeenth-century discourses of the self."

Review: N. Hammond in MLR 98.3 (2003), 720: "Starting from the premise that 'autobiography, in its manifestly problematic promise to make identity readable, is part of the contradictions of modernity' (p.10), this book explores the emergence of autobiography as mediation between interior and exterior worlds in various seventeenth-century religious texts."

PERFETTI, STEFANO. Aristotle's Zoology and its Renaissance Commentators (1521–1601). Louvain: P U de Louvain, 2000.

Review: P. Glardon in BHR 65.2 (2003), 455–57: ". . .l'ouvrage de M. Perfetti touche donc à un aspect encore peu étudié de l'aristotélisme renaissant, pourtant lui-même objet de l'attention des chercheurs depuis des décennies: le devenir des traités zoologiques, en particulier sous la plume de savants issus ou proches des milieux universitaires du nord de l'Italie."

RAMSEY, ANN W. Liturgy, Politics, and Salvation: The Catholic League in Paris and the Nature of Catholic Reform, 1540–1630. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1999.

Review: I. Mieck in HZ 274 (2002), 744–745: The fruit of some fifteen years, this volume focuses on last wills and testaments and "makes clear that religious alliance among Leaguers was inextricably linked to social, cultural, and political loyalties" (Ramsey xii). Includes impressive appendices, tables, indices and an extensive bibliography.

RAPLEY, ELIZABETH. A Social History of the Cloister: Daily Life in the Teaching Monasteries of the Old Regime. Montreal: McGill-Queen's, 2001.

Review: A. Rabil in Choice 39 (2002), 1654: Gives an overview of the rise and fall of female monastic teaching orders (whose decline is ascribed in part to the influence of Jansenism), while also fleshing out the details of life in such establishments. Straightforward, well-written.

RAPLEY, ROBERT. A Case of Witchcraft. The Trial of Urbain Grandier. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1998.

Review: R. Muchembled in RBPH 78.3–4 (2000), 1077–79: Histoire d'Urbain Grandier, curé de Saint-Pierre-du-Marché à Loudun, brûlé pour sorcellerie en août 1634. "Cet ouvrage de plus sur le sujet n'apporte guère de révélations nouvelles et ne remplace pas l'excellent livre de Michel de Certeay, La Possession de Loudun, publié en 1970 par un spécialiste du père Surin, le plus connu des exorcistes impliqués dans l'affaire. Il fait cependant le point avec minutie et sérieux."

ROOS, GILBERT. Relations entre le gouvernement royal et les juifs du nord-est de la France au XVIIe siècle. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2000.

Review: S. Mrejen-O'Hana in DSS 220 (2003), 567–569: The reviewer has some minor textual criticisms, but generally judges the book a complex treatment of the history and socio-cultural position of Jews in the North-East of France during the 17th century.

RUBIES, JOAN-PAU. Travel and Ethnology in the Renaissance. South India through European Eyes, 1250–1625. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Review: F. Schmieder in HZ 275 (2002), 410–412: Twelve illustrations of the period under consideration along with detailed maps of Indian regions complement the extraordinarily extensive inventory of sources in Rubies' significant study. His work broadens our knowledge of the intellectual history of voyage literature and confirms its importance for the cultural history of the European Renaissance.

SCHOULS, PETER A. Descartes and the Possibility of Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000.

Review: E. Palmer in Isis 93.3 (2002), 485–486: Palmer notes that "establishing the intellectual/corporeal divide, which is not made entirely explicit by Descartes, is the primary focus for Schouls's development. . . This book is a work in the history of philosophy, narrowly defined, for latter-day philosophers; it makes no efforts toward presenting intellectual history or history of science." Palmer also notes the absence of citations and references to Descartes' contemporaries.

SCOTT, PAUL. "Les crucifixions féminines: une iconographie de la contre-réforme." RSH 269 (janvier–mars 2003), 153–74.

Examines the representation of crucified women, especially in the work of Pedro de Bivero, exposing the problematic ambiguity of these engravings due to the eroticisation of the female body, its masculinization, or its resemblance to Christ's crucified body.

SECADA, JORGE. Cartesian Metaphysics: The Late Scholastic Origins of Modern Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000.

Review: L. Boschiero in SCN 60 (2002) 315–319: Secada "illustrates a model for understanding Cartesian metaphysics by addressing the significance Descartes placed on defining the essences of substances. Furthermore, Secada suggests that Descartes' essentialism originated from Late Scholastic thought." Boschiero reviews this thorough study very favorably, but suggests that the author skirts the issue of "modern" philosophy without pointedly defining it, though the concept is at play throughout.

SELLIER, PHILIPPE. Port-Royal et la littérature: I. Pascal. Paris: Champion, 1999.

Review: M.-F. Hilgar in FR 76 (2003), 811–12: Focused—though not exclusively—on Pascal, this ensemble of 80 studies on the Port-Royal monastery is structured in thematically-linked but autonomous chapters which take their cue from the Pensées themselves. The work's subsections treat "Philologiques," "Pascal et la Bible," "Les Provinciales, Les Pensées," and "Dialogues." The latter, in reflecting upon Pascal's relationship to St. John of the Cross, needs to better situate the former among other religious influences and broader mystic traditions, as the author himself admits.

SHELFORD, APRIL G. "Thinking Geometrically in Pierre-Daniel Huet's Demonstratio evangelica (1679)." JHI 63 (2002), 599–617.

Taking her queue from Huet himself, when he "indugled [his] vanity by comparing his Demonstratio evangelica with works whose authors are far better known today," Shelford undertakes an exhaustive study and contextualization of Huet's often neglected work with reference to Arnauld, Pascal, Nicole, Descartes, etc.

TAUSSIG, SYLVIE. "Gassendi et l'hypocrite: quel masque pour quelle personne?" PFSCL XXX, 59 (2003), 435–462.

Article sets out to "réexamine l'accusation de dissimulation et de double discours dans la sphère de la morale; car dans la philosophie pratique comme dans la philosophie contemplative, il est impossible de repérer chez Gassendi un double discours."

TRONC, DOMINIQUE. "Une filiation mystique: Chrysostome de Saint-Lô, Jean de Bernières, Jacques Bertot, Jeanne-Marie Guyon." DSS 218 (2003), 95–116.

As the title suggests, this article traces the historical and interpersonal links between these four figures: "Nous proposons ici un bref aperçu d'une école mystique qui attend son historien pour la replacer au centre de la vie spirituelle du siècle." Though the descriptions of each individual are, indeed, brief, the article brings forth a wealth of resources on the subject.

VAN DAMME, STEPHAN "Les martyrs jésuites et la culture imprimée à Lyon au XVIIe siècle." RSH 269 (janvier–mars 2003), 189–205.

Argues that the celebration of martyrs in printed texts and on stage in Lyon by the Jesuits was a major component of a strategy to promote the order's apostolic activities by centralization of information and its diffusion.

VAN KLEY, DALE K. Les Origines religieuses françaises 1560–1791. Paris: Seuil, 2002. Translated from English byAlain Spiess (The religious origins of the French Revolution: from Calvin to the civil constitution, 1560–1791. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1996).

Review : N. Bossut in QL 847 (du 1er au 15 février 2003), 21–22): "Élevé dans la tradition confessionnelle calviniste, Van Kley en a gardé une conviction qui structure toutes ses analyses historiques : 《  définie ou non en termes de transcendance l'expérience religieuse transcende la société et est capable d'affecter tous les autres aspects de l'expérience, y compris les aspects sociaux et économiques.  》 (. . .) Nous ne contestons pas la pertinence de nombreuses analyses de Dale Van Kley dont nous nous sommes efforcés de rendre compte. Mais nous ne pouvons que regretter cette prise de vue partielle d'un mouvement historique particulièrement complexe."

VERNES, JEAN-RENÉ. L'existence du monde extérieur et l'erreur du rationalisme. Sainte-Foy (Québec): Presses de l'Université Laval, 1999.

Review: F. Russo in RPL 101 (2003), 173 –176: A short but ambitious work described by the reviewer as an attempt to reconsider "la justification de l'existence du monde extérieur en partant du fait que les différentes écoles de pensée développent aujourd'hui leurs arguments sans une réelle discussion à ce sujet." Though not confined to the 17th c., this study finds its foundation in a discussion of Cartesian philosophy and dedicates a major portion to what the author defines as the "principe de Pascal-Hume."

WARREN, NICOLAS DE. How Thinking Must Also Be: Authored Skepticism and the Authorization of Knowledge in Descartes. Romance Quarterly 50.2 (2003), 149–60.

An intriguing introduction brings Brecht's sense of the inseparability between knowing (thought) and action to bear on Descartes' Meditations, particularly on its insistence that one can be certain of one's act of thinking and doubting while discounting other practices. De Warren runs with this hint and probes "not merely "what" but also "how life must also be other than thinking," ultimately stressing the performative nature of the cogito, the active nature of Descartes' doubting, and man's authorization of God as the determiner of what can be clear, distinct, and/or known at all.

WEAVER, F. ELLEN. La Contre-Réforme et les Constitutions de Port Royal. Paris: Cerf, 2002.

Review: BCLF 642 (2002), 149: "Ce sont les interprétations, remaniements et infléchissements de la règle bénédictine à Port-Royal qu'étudie en particulier F. E. Weaver, montrant les cas où ces réformes réussisent à s'implanter dans une communauté, et ceux où elles échouent."