Barbara Kaltz (review)

Abstract

MLR,96.3,200I 825 butthebulkofthestudy dealswiththeperiodin fourchronological blocks (beginning notin I750, butin I738). Although thishelpsto givea senseof development, italsomakes for a narrative which toooften reads like a catalogue of titles, plot-summaries andcontemporary critical responses, with thesamenames and playsoften recurring. Thereis also an occasionaltendency to become sidetracked bytangential issues. Perhaps this aspect ofthestudy couldhavebeen dealt with more concisely, leaving spacefor a more analytical, in-depth account of thedeveloping approaches to someofthemorepopular and significant works, which might havehelped flesh outtherather baldly factual approach. Thereis, though, a lotofinformation here, andthedetailed bibliography oftranslations and adaptations reveals a vast array ofmaterial that will behelpful tofuture researchers . . lnt]1S area. UNIVERSITY OFWALES, SWANSEA DEREK F.CONNON Jeanne Marae LePrince deBeaumont: Contes etautres ecrits. Ed. byBARBARA KALTZ. Oxford: TheVoltaire Foundation. 2000.xxiii + I92PP. £I4.90;I49F. From a modest Rouennais background, theremarkable Mmede Beaumont shed twohusbands and madeherownwayas a respectable governess and a very successful author. Today sheisknown mainly for her version of'La Belleetlabete', butherhistorical significance liesinhermajorcontribution tofemale education. Following Fenelon andinfluenced bySarahFielding, butgoing farbeyond both, shesetoutina series ofbooksconcrete teaching programmes centred ongroup discussion and (initially at least)Enlightenment ambitions. The conjunction of French andEnglish seems indeed tobethe key toher. Shecombines anincreasingly devout Catholicism, anaristocratic biasandEurope's dominant language with the energetic middle-class ways that shefound inLondon. Herfirst publication (from NancyandtheLuneville court) wasa playful proclamation ofthesuperiority of women. TheEnglish model (shewasinLondon from December I748until I763) underlies hersubstantial periodical andpedagogical output. Botharereflected in herinvariable insistence thatshewishes to form 'le cceurautant que l'esprit'. Education iscentrally moral and,toourtastes, moralizing. Allthis I draw from Barbara Kaltz'svaluable book.Chiefly this bookoffiers selfcontained extracts from a range ofBeaumont's works (excluding hernovels). The feminist Lettre (but notitsmore ambiguously ironic continuation) isfollowed bythe 'Histoire deMolly, Paysanne poete' from Beaumont's eclectic London monthly, the Aouveau Magasin Franfais (I750-I752).From her first pedagogical work, the Education complete:, ouAbrege del'histoire universelle, we aregiven paratexts strongly critical of parents andgovernesses, andaffirming education as a high vocation. 'Belle'and another fairytale aretaken from herMagasin des Enfants, ouDialogues entre une sage Gouvernante et plusieurs deses eleves delapremiere distinction (I756).TheMagasin des enfants becamea hugeEuropean success, translated overthenext fifty years intotwelve languages. From theensuing Magasin des adolescentes (I760)wearegiven a range of material anddiscussion: MissFrivole's sentimental conversion tothelawandlove ofher father; a contemporary taleinwhich a wife's innocent secrecy hasfatal results (the moral being that wives should notfib, notthat menshould notkill); Cartesian physiology; stories from ancient history and theOld Testament; a verywellinformed account ofCanada(anawkward topic atthat moment), comparing native andEuropean customs. Thework's declared aimistoform 'uneepouseaimable, unemere tendre' (p. I22).Thisgendered conservatism presumably reflects thefact Revaews 826 that thefictional pupils, therealauthor andtheeighteenth century areallgetting older. Kaltz'spresentation offiers a goodbiographical overview, andseventy pagesof introductions (regrettably without running heads todistinguish them). Theprovenanceofthetexts usedishidden inrandom footnotes (for example, 28,IO5,306). Theintroductions canbe surprisingly shaky oncultural history, seeming tothink thatWelemaque was'destine auxgarSons' (p. 33),orthat'ideesgeometriques' are aboutgeometry (p.60; comparep.36). However, theyprovidea wealthof information oncontemporary editions, translations andcritical reception, constitutinga considerable (andongoing) scholarly contribution toourknowledge ofawhole dimension oftheEnlightenment. Thereare alsogoodprimary and secondary bibliographies, illustrations ofseveral title-pages, andan index tothewhole. The presentation isaneducation too. BIRKBECK COLLEGE, LONDON ROBIN HOWELLS ean-acquesRousseau: Imagination, illusions, chimeres. By PAOLA SOSSO. Paris: Champion. I999. 269PP. Thisisanimportant topic. InRousseau thedesire for theideal(love, fictions, the goodpolitical order, original plenitude, 'l'autre monde') iscentral. Inthe period his refusal ofreality and demandfor'ce qui n'estpas' marks theshift from the circumscribed wisdom oftheclassical view totheabsolute aspirations ofRomanticism . Thisbookhowever doesnomore than gesture towards theperiod shift, and makes apoor jobofits explicit topic. Chapter I,'PO1YSemie d'imagination, chimeres, illusions', sketches thefamiliar classical distrust ofimagination (butignores the preceding baroquefascination withillusion), and thenblandly callsthis'la conception traditionnelle' (p. 29)which Rousseau will modify. Subsequent chapters go through Rousseau's writings, mostly work byworkand section bysection. Successively considered are 'L'Origine de l'imagination' (absent in thestateof nature, yet perhaps related to'pitie') (p.45);LaAouvelle Heloise (saidtobe'leroman del'illusion') (p.8I); Emile (saidtorepresent 'despositions totalement diffierentes' (PP.II0,2I9),despite thediscovery within this chapter ofanimportant similarity (PP.I28-3I)); andRousseau's views on theatre (which begins quiteirrelevantly with 'Alltheworld's a stage', andendswith Starobinski's 'fete'). Thereisa more perceptive...