Alain Montandon (review)

Abstract

MLR, 96. , 2001 MLR, 96. , 2001 Bakhtin, it is noticeable that the authors representedare mainly North Americans (sometimes by adoption), with a handful of British contributors;others, such as Saussureor Eco, would obviously have merited inclusion. The result is that some texts feel derivative:Bartheson fashion would have been superiorto Alison Lurie and an extractfrom ThePhenomenology ofPerception preferableto Abram on MerleauPonty . Overall, then, therearereservations;however,preciselybecause thisis a richand varied collection, there is also much that is valuable. As a resourcefrom which the best texts were drawn, thisvolume could be used to introduce studentsto linguistic issues and to whet their appetite for a serious introduction to the methods of linguistic and semiotic analysis without which most of the extracts in this volume should not be discussed. UNIVERSITY OF SURREY CAROL SANDERS Le Roman au XVIIIe siecle en Europe. By ALAIN MONTANDON. (Litteratures europeennes) Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. I999. viii + 534 pp. I58 F. This is an interestingand ambitious studyof the novel in Europe in the eighteenth century, seeking to define different forms of writing and always attempting to proceed in a comparativemode. The result,perhapspredictably,is something of a compendium. There is clearly a wealth of erudition and a style that is lucid and pleasing. The study is essentiallya synthesisof ideas on fiction and while, perhaps inevitably, there is particular emphasis on the novel in France and England, the comparisons occasionally reach out to Germany but rarely beyond. Holland and Poland are barely mentioned as France dominates the stage. Montandon makes good use of the novels that now can claim classicalstatusin the genre. Authorssuch as Richardson, Defoe, Fielding, Prevost, Marivaux, Rousseau, and Diderot are all studied at some length. The methodology used in the book leads to some repetition and, occasionally, a lackof clarityof the point being made. Perhapsnaturally,the authorbegins with an analysisof the movement of texts in which novels crossedboundariesin translationsand adaptations.The section on the epistolarynovel is extremelylong (eightypages) and yet no clear thesisemerges. In this section are perhaps both the strengthsand the weaknesses of the entire book: wide coverage but at the cost of a lackof focus. Nevertheless,this is a most valuable introduction to the knowledge of the subject, even if it expects and demands considerable reading. The lack of an index makes the study a little inaccessiblefor the student reader looking for information on a particular author or text, which may, in fact, be scatteredat variouspoints throughout the book. To conclude, this is a usefuland intelligentcriticalanalysisof novel formsin theperiod. Unfortunately it is not withoutitsblemishes.The date ofLaclos's analysisof FannyBurney'sCecilia is given as I764 (p. 28)insteadof I784, and Bernardinde Saint-Pierrewas born not in 725 (p. II3)but in I737. The structureof the book into chaptersthat studyboth form and content means that certain novels reappear on a number of occasions. I sense that the value of the importance of the short story is underestimated in the analysis and while there is natural emphasis on major figureswho have survived, many other authors, important in their day, are left without a mention. In spite of these criticisms,this is a book that is worthyand interesting.It is a pleasureto read. Its scope is enormous and that ambitionhas, on occasions, been difficultto control. Bakhtin, it is noticeable that the authors representedare mainly North Americans (sometimes by adoption), with a handful of British contributors;others, such as Saussureor Eco, would obviously have merited inclusion. The result is that some texts feel derivative:Bartheson fashion would have been superiorto Alison Lurie and an extractfrom ThePhenomenology ofPerception preferableto Abram on MerleauPonty . Overall, then, therearereservations;however,preciselybecause thisis a richand varied collection, there is also much that is valuable. As a resourcefrom which the best texts were drawn, thisvolume could be used to introduce studentsto linguistic issues and to whet their appetite for a serious introduction to the methods of linguistic and semiotic analysis without which most of the extracts in this volume should not be discussed. UNIVERSITY OF SURREY CAROL SANDERS Le Roman au XVIIIe siecle en Europe. By ALAIN MONTANDON. (Litteratures europeennes) Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. I999. viii + 534 pp. I58 F. This is an interestingand ambitious studyof the novel in Europe in the eighteenth...