Manon Lescaut (The Story of the Chevalier Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut) by Angela Scholar (review)

Abstract

250 Reviews fiction', because, as Nicholas Cronk's brief preface to the volume informs us, 'It is safer forthe moment to avoid the question-begging term contephilosophique* (p. xvii). This sober note is echoed and amplified in the editorial work of the three contributors, who share a clear, scholarly understanding of their task. These three works could be said to constitute a trilogy: they are defined by Voltaire's preoccupation with prob? lems related to theodicy, marked by the recourse to angelic visitations as a thematic device, and largely written in the late 1740s. Moreover, they present similar prob? lems, particularly in relation to their gestation, composition, and firstpublication. Questions concerning the initial inspiration for particular 'contes', the fragmentary evidence ofthe existence of earlier drafts,elusive references to the works in Voltaire's correspondence, and, more generally, Voltaire's tendency to coyness about his author? ship of such pieces require serious detective work of his editors. This task they carry out with proper attention to the evidence, making clear what can be established as historical fact,and what can be inferred from contemporary comments and allusions, while also making generous reference to the research and interpretation of Voltaire scholars past and present. Fact is of course the bedrock of a critical edition, and it is for their treatment of what can be determined as 'fact' that we must be truly grateful to the editors. The selection of a base text, the clear setting out of variants, and the explanation of the principles which have determined matters of orthography, punc? tuation, and capitalization, all this is done with economy and efficiency?admirably done. In this essential work, the editors broadly follow the principles established in earlier volumes of the (Euvres completes,and in particular those devoted to Voltaire's prose fiction. Readers may take issue with particular points of interpretation in the introductions, and they may feel that the explanatory footnoting of the texts tends on occasion to state the obvious, but such quibbles will weigh little when measured against the importance of having established proper critical editions of texts which are central to Voltaire's literary and philosophical legacy. King's College London Martin Hall Manon Lescaut {The Story of the Chevalier Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut). By Abbe Prevost. Trans., with an introduction and notes, by Angela Scholar. (Oxford World's Classics) Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. xl + 155 pp. ?7.99. ISBN 0-19-284065-7. This is an excellent new translation of Manon Lescaut, with a number of useful and welcome features. Most notable is the reinsertion of the vignette and the eight illus? trations approved by Prevost for the 1753 edition of the novel, not included in some previous paperback translations. Eighteenth-century novels typically incorporated illustrations in published editions, and Prevost himself set great store by them. They were produced by notable illustrators of the period, Hubert-Franpois Gravelot and Jean-Jacques Pasquier, the latter responsible forthe vignette. Angela Scholar includes a note on the illustrations. The vignette to the firstpage shows an older man guiding a younger man towards a crucifix mounted on a cross. The inscription is from Horace: 'what torments you endure in Charybdis, young man worthyof a nobler love' {Odes, 1. 27. 19-20). Charybdis was a whirlpool in Greek mythology invoked in the eighteenth century to warn against the dangers high-class prostitutes posed to young men of good family. Manon Lescaut leaves unresolved ambiguities and is open to different interpretations, so the presence of the vignette, with its intended moral, is highly significant in reinforcing the anti-Manon interpretation of the text. Exactly what part Prevost played in the design of this vignette is unclear. Scholar provides a lucid introduction to the novel, situating it in Prevost's work as a whole and in terms of the development of the novel form, commenting on the MLR, ioi.i, 2006 251 significance of the title, explaining the frame device of the Marquis de Renoncour as a higher-level narrator, and discussing the art of storytelling as an important im? plied theme, exemplified in the narratorial pact between Des Grieux and Renoncour. Scholar furtherdiscusses the problem ofunderstanding the enigma woven around...