FRENCH 17

BENEDETTINI, RICCARDO. Chappuys e Garzoni: note sulla traduzione del Theatro de’ vari, e diverse cervelli mondani.’ S Fr 161 (2010), 259-275.

Rich and detailed study of the 1586 translation by Chappuys (1546-1613) of Tomaso Garzoni’s Theatro. Valuable not only for its specificity relating to these two works but also for its presentation and analysis of principles of translation, along with a fine study of linguistic norms (for example, diverse types of linguistic change such as semantic simplification).

COUROUAU, JEAN-FRANÇOIS. Moun lengatge bèl: Les choix linguistiques minoritaires en France, 14901660. Cahiers d’Humanisme et Renaissance 86. Geneva: Droz, 2008

Review: D. Trudeau in Ren Q 63 (2010), 282-283. Welcome examination of dialects in the early modern era focuses on authors, genres and texts, motivations and various publics. The study is organized into the following chapters: Les langues de France, Objets et forms, écritures et pouvoirs. Adopting a descriptive approach, C.’s study demonstrates that while French was largely used for learned and administrative purposes, the dialects served daily business and certain genres such as nols, love poetry and satire, among others. Index, illustrations, tables, maps, and bibliography.

DELAPLACE, D., ed. Le Jargon ou Langage de l’Argot reformé. Paris: Champion, 2008.

Review: L Rescia in S Fr 160 (2010), This fine critical edition takes into account the three publications of Le Jargon (1630, 1632, and 1634) and provides important information relating to philology, historical linguistics and a detailed glossary. Highly useful critical bibliography.

DE POL, ROBERTO DE ed. The First Translations of Machiavelli's Prince: From the Sixteenth to the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft 133. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010.

Review: M. A. Youssim in Ren Q 63. 4 (2010), 1350-1351. Important collection contributes to many areas including the history of the circulation of political ideas and myths (1350). Books themselves along with their translations are another important area of the study. French scholars will appreciate the essay by Nella Bianchi Bensimon which focuses on the first French translation of The Prince. The volume includes considerations of manuscripts, originals and translations, correctness, intent of editors and uses made in political, intellectual, cultural and linguistic contexts (1351).

GOMEZ-GERAUD, MARIE-CHRISTINE. Arabe et Arabie: enquête sur les récits des pèlerins à Jérusalem (1550-1615). Tr L 23 (2010), 61-71.

Focusing on Renaissance and early 17th c. texts of French pilgrims to the Near East, G.-G. provides first a lexicological study of the term arabe to determine its significance for the early modern traveler. Denotations and connotations are investigated; G.-G. discovers that these récits expound on the langue arabe primarily in two situations: conflict and the inassimilable or the religious. Attentive to early modern geography, G.-G. notes that the pilgrims distinguish three Arabies: Petrée (qui recouvrait la zone comprise entre Syrie et égypte), Déserte (l’égypte et la peninsula arabique) et Heureuse (le Yemen) (65). G.-G. distinguishes and defines altérité in her corpus, citing, notably, Jean Boucher, who gives to various stereotypes in vogue a more literary and rich formulation (68 and n.).

KELLER-RAHBE, EDWIGE. Pratiques et usages du privilège d’auteur chez Mme de Villedieu et quelques autres femmes de letters du XVIIe siècle. OeC 35.1 (2010), 69-94.

Cet examen du contrle sourcilleux, par l’écrivaine, de sa production imprimée, l’utilisation stratégique du privilège pour réorienter sa carrière, son partenariat étroit avec Claude Barbin et les manipulations éditoriales du couple auteur/libraire renouvelle l’approche des oeuvres de Mme de Villedieu.

OST, FRANÇOIS. La démocratisation de la langue. Paris: éditions Michalon, 2008.

Review: L. Rescia in S Fr 160 (2010), Offers a clear synthesis of the querelle between F. and the Academy. After a section on the Dictionnaire bourgeois, O. focuses on linguistic norms and rights of authors. Rather than a study for specialists, O.’s volume will be of use to students.

RIFFAUD, ALAIN. Répertoire dramatique du théâtre français imprimé (1630-1660). Genève: Droz, 2009.

Review: M. Pavesio in S Fr 162 (2010), 548. Indispensable work reconstructs the creative activity relating to the theatre of the years indicated in the title. Other aspects reported are theatre production, re-editions and locations in French libraries. All manner of helpful materials and information is included here, for example, typographical practices and illustrations.

SIEGEL, STEFFEN. Tabula. Figuren der Ordnung um 1600. Berlin: Akademie, 2009.

Review: B. Steiner in HZ 290.2 (2010), 474-475. Mixed review of this study which is inspired by the prominence of the word and concept of tableau chez Foucault. S. continues the emphasis of several critics such as Horst Bredekamp and Gottfried Boehm on techniques of visualization knowledge, here described as Bild des Alphabets, Ikonotexte, and visuelle Strategien (102-133). Sources are lauded, but reviewer would have appreciated a more critical stance and stringent argument.

SIOUFFI, GILLES. Le Génie de la langue française: études sur les structures imaginaires de la description linguistique à l’âge classique. Paris: Honore Champion, 2010.

Review: P. Caron in FS 65.4 (2011), 528-529. Gilles Siouffi présente ses études en deux volets. Le volet plus grammatical met aux prises les grammairiens avec l’ellipse (à contenir dans ses débordements), l’organisation syntaxique (qui doit lier parfaitement les idées), l’article (lieu d’une apologétique de la claret référentielle) et l’ordre des mots (qui doit mimer l’influx naturel de la pensée) [ . . . ] la deuxième partie, surtout rhétorique, offre un paysage apparemment contradictoire: les figures, l’hybridation, l’obscurité, l’agrammaticalité élégante, comment leur faire une place au sein de cet édifice? [ . . . ] Cet ouvrage très largement informe reprend certaines thématiques connues, mais il est passionnant de les voir regroupées par delà les barrières disciplinaires, montrant une seule inspiration à l’oeuvre dans des zones disjointes de l’organisation textuelle. On peut regretter parfois des approximations: d’une part la coexistence, parfois peu glosée, de notions théoriques appartenant à des univers de pensée très différents, d’o une impression de tremble théorique (absence d’index terminologique en fin de livre). D’autre part des affirmations qui, localement, donnent l’impression de contrevérités [ . . . ] En bref, si le dessein général est fort attractif et souvent convaincant, le détail manifeste çà et là quelque confusion, à la manière d’une belle toile pointilliste qui, de près, laisse un peu perplexe.

Théories et pratiques de la traduction aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Actes de la journée d’études du Centre de recherche sur l’Europe classique. Université Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3, 22 février 2008. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 2009.

Review: F. Forcolin in S Fr 161 (2010), 423. Concentration of texts examined is literary and sacred. Contributions include comparative studies, specific authors, texts and problems. Introduction by Charles Mazouer and presentation by Michel Wiedemann. 17th c. scholars will appreciate studies on Scarron, Furetière, Perrault, Comenius and la poésie précieuse.

VUILLEUMIER LAURENS, FLORENCE and PIERRE LAURENS. L’âge de l'inscription: La rhétorique du monument en Europe du XVe au XVIIe siècle. Le Cabinet des Images 2. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2010.

Review: T. Lansford in Ren Q 63.4 (2010), 1259-1260. Praiseworthy for its genuine wealth of material . . . and generous breadth of coverage(1260), V.’s examination is of particular interest and value to scholars of Neo-Latin, Renaissance and Baroque Studies. Organized in chapters on the birth of modern epigraphy, its original use, its link with politics, the rise of the elogium, and the 17th c. debate on the linguistic form of inscriptions.

WARKENTIN, GERMAINE. Aristotle in New France: Louis Nicolas and the Making of the Codex canadensis. French Colonial History 11 (2010), 71-107.

Author demonstrates that the Codex canadensis is more than just a collection of drawings, but rather a complete mise en scène of the flora and fauna of New France, destined for Louis XIV. Pays particular attention to how the presentation of the Codex illustrates European concepts of hierarchy.