Le Paradis perdu. (MHRA Critical Texts, 20) by Évariste-Désiré de Parny, Ritchie Robertson, Catriona Seth

Abstract

MLR, 105.4, 2010 1159 amusement. Le Mariage de Figaro inevitably takes pride of place here; arguing against the naiver type ofMarxist approach, Goldzink sees thiswork as a portrayal of the strengths and weaknesses of the aristocratic order, undertaken at the precise point inhistorywhen it was possible to laugh at it.This studyhas many illuminating things to say on the linksbetween message and formal device, showing, for instance, how the role of Cherubin focuses attention on the fleetinghistorical moment and how theultimate triumph of thewomen inLeMariage de Figaro broadens the ambi tious social analysis thatBeaumarchais isoffering.There are telling comments, too, on the function of theOriental setting inTarare and on the powerlessness of Figaro in La Mere coupable. Goldzink breaks a few quixotic lances against the academic establishment in this highly personal reading; a few old scores being settled, per chance? His approach may irritate some readers, but there is something infectious in the enthusiasm with which he rereads these familiar texts,and a refreshing intel lectual honesty in his willingness to revise his own earlier views. This is a bracing back-to-basics interpretation,which sends its reader back to the texts refreshed. University of Nottingham Richard A. Francis Le Paradis perdu. By Evariste-Desire de Parny. Ed. by Ritchie Robertson and Catriona Seth. (MHRA Critical Texts, 20) London: Modern Humanities Research Association. 2009. vi+91 pp. ?12.99. ISBN 978-0-947623-90-6. As the editors of this volume, Ritchie Robertson and Catriona Seth, observe, Parny is nowadays probably best known for the three poems from his Chansons madecasses (1787) set tomusic by Ravel. For his contemporaries and successors, he was most significantly the author of the highly influential Poesies erotiques (1778, revised 1781). However, if there is a whiff of scandal about his name, it is not because of this collection, whose title should be interpreted in a classical rather than amodern way, but because of laterworks of religious satire, ofwhich Le Paradis perdu, a parody ofMilton published in 1805, is a perfect example. Robertson's authorship of a volume on mock epic, including Parny s, and Seth's extensive work on the poet make them an ideal editorial team for this volume. The introduction begins with a whistle-stop tour through Parny's biography, and an examination of his posthumous reputation, which remained significant until well into the nineteenth century. An examination of the reception of Milton's work in eighteenth-century France and of various aspects of his masterpiece that have provoked discussion follows, with indications of how Parny approached the latter.A section looking at how Parny's parody relates to both the events of its time and pro-Christian works being published by authors such as Chateaubriand, and an explanation of the principles of the edition, conclude the introduction. Written in decasyllables with a free rhyme scheme, the poem is an entertaining read, even ifParny does spend perhaps too much time sending up Milton's wars inHeaven. The satire of theHoly Trinity,with a curmudgeonly God the Father, and references to the Son as Te mouton' and theHoly Spirit as Te pigeon' raise a smile, but would certainly have been impossible during the ancien regime.Of most ii6o Reviews interest, though, are the introduction of a scientist demon, whose skills transform Hell into a much more entertaining and inviting place than dull, unchanging Paradise, and Parnys interpretation of the knowledge given by the forbidden fruit. For this is no less than the discovery of sexual urges and pleasure, a discovery which not only makes aman of the first man, but also makes him and Eve realize that the Fall has its compensations. Swansea University Derek Connon Eccentricity and the Cultural Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Paris. By Miranda Gill. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2009. xi+328 pp. ?55. ISBN 978-0-19-954328-1. This innovative study explores the varied manifestations of eccentricity in Parisian life between the July Monarchy and thefin de siecle. As the author reminds us in her introduction, eccentricity implies behaviour divergent from the norms of a given centre or centricity' (p. 1), which in nineteenth-century France were those determined primarily by bourgeois society. In contrast to the...