Pierre Gassendi's Life and Letters

Abstract

Sylvie Taussig's Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655). Introduction ai la savante, and Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655). Lettres latines, although published as independent volumes, have been conceived as complementary works. The critical study on Pierre Gassendi, which we find in the Introduction at la savante, is in fact mainly based on material drawn from Gassendi's Latin correspondence, originally published in the sixth volume of the Opera omnia (Lyon, 1658) and now translated into French for the first time. As Taussig explains, Gassendi personally selected and prepared his correspondence for publication, de maniere 'a construire dans l'esprit du lecteur l'unite d'une vie (11). From the letters, which cover a time span of 34 years (1621-1655), we are meant to obtain a picture of Gassendi's ideal, rather than real, life-a life defined by philosophical, scientific, political and social engagements.