Le discours du livre: mise en scène du texte et fabrique de l’oeuvre sous l’Ancien Régime ed. by Anna Arzoumanov, et al

Abstract

Reviews 217 Literary History and Criticism edited by Marion Geiger Arzoumanov, Anna, Anne Réach-Ngô, and Trung Tran, éd. Le discours du livre: mise en scène du texte et fabrique de l’œuvre sous l’Ancien Régime. Paris: Garnier, 2011. ISBN 978-2-8124-0309-5. Pp. 329. 38 a. In their eloquent introduction, the editors promise essays that look beyond static texts to interrogate a discourse of the book they define as “hybride, polyphonique et provisoire” (10). The ensuing contributions focus on images, paratext, and printing histories that alter textual interpretation and challenge the notion that the author alone creates the book as object. The twelve essays are presented thematically in three sections that cover books printed and reprinted between 1499 (Pierre Gringoire’s Le chasteau de labour) and the late eighteenth century (re-editions of plays by Corneille, Molière, and Racine). The examined texts were popular in their time, though few are considered canonical today and the rationale for their inclusion in this volume is not always explained. The time frame is large and the genres of texts are varied. Some common threads, however, link the contributions and structure the sections. The first section’s four essays highlight the disposition and modifications of graphic material in the book (liminary poems, frontispieces, and images). These elements, at once embedded in the text and separate from it, fulfill multiple functions. They seduce the potential reader by capturing the eye and decorating blank pages, but also guide the interpretation of the text and critique it. Contributors also point out ways in which the visual material participated in the construction and evolution of the figure of the author. Questioning the status of an individual author is equally central to the essays in the other two sections herein: one deals with ways in which re-editions can alter the generic classification of a text, the second traces the evolution of religious and didactic messages through multiple editions of a same text. The distinction between these two categories is not always clear since, in the two sections, the cited modernizations of texts include modifications of both form and content. All eight articles reveal significant connections between shifting readerly expectations and changes made by editors (sometimes in concert with authors) in subsequent editions. Although it remains difficult to ascertain definitively who had the more active role, the reading consumers or editorial policy in shaping their literary expectations, the articles shed light on an under-examined dimension of literary production. The study of multiple re-editions also elucidates the many possible adaptations announced simply by the standard‘revue et corrigée,’ including modifications of format, number of pages, order, paratext, the presentation of the author’s name, syntax, historical references, style, and significant transformations of the content. Most of these essays look at the evolution of a text’s reception over time, but Claire Fourquet-Gracieux and Olivier Pédeflous remind us that even within a same period, different editions can follow disparate trajectories and fulfill different niches. Geneviève Gross’s study of the Livre des marchans suggests, too, factors that assure certain books a longer future of re-editions and an easier adaptation to evolving contexts. This collection reflects a range of critical approaches, from close textual readings to more general overviews of a literary landscape. The articles are well researched and firmly rooted in the history of the book and genre scholarship. As such, they constitute a rich source of materials that marry literary and historical perspectives.The arguments are thought-provoking and convincing to today’s scholars, witnesses to the decline of the physical book and quite familiar with changing forms of publishing and new generations of readers who can determine the fate of a text. Webster University (MO) Emily Thompson Barbé-Petit, Françoise. Marguerite Duras, au risque de la philosophie: Pascal, Rousseau, Diderot, Kierkegaard, Lévinas. Paris: Kimé, 2010. ISBN 978-2-84174506 -7. Pp. 210. 21 a. “Au risque de la philosophie”, annonce le titre, non sans ambiguïté. Risque de qui, de quoi? Puisque l’œuvre de Duras affiche une certaine méfiance à l’égard de la théorie, de l’intellectualisme, de tout...