Poésie et Renaissance by François Rigolot (review)

Abstract

MLR, 98.4, 2003 981 dominant discourses: in the hierarchical world of the Greeks, deviance 'ne peut s'exprimer qu'au moyen d'un depassement par le haut [. . .] ou par le bas'; in the Renaissance, by contrast, deviance is modelled upon the elliptical, or excentrique, movement of the sun and planets in relation to a central point. The idea that a cul? ture's model of cosmic space could affect the way it structures its discursive world is a fascinating one. However, after the opening section, excentriciteand other spatial figures?renversement, deportement,superposition, decalage, and decentrement?serve as heuristic models forPatricia Eichel-Lojkine's reader. The spatial analogy inherent in excentricite is sidelined: excentricite and excentrique are apparently used to denote any representation which adopts a critical stance vis-d-vis a dominant discourse. Excentricite et humanisme is organized into three parts, which focus on: first,the 'esprit subversif of the god of mockery in Alberti's Momus and the undecidability of folly and wisdom in Erasmus; secondly, parody in Rabelais; finally, the 'distor? tion' of Petrarchist discourse in d'Aubigne's 'A Diane'. This selection demonstrates, Eichel-Lojkine writes, that authors central to dominant culture also wrote texts with excentrique tendencies. However, her identification ofthe 'original' aspects ofa small group of texts does emphasize their specificity rather than their potential to be repre? sentative of a wider discursive practice. The three separate studies are held together by the term excentrique and, in the case ofthe latter two, by the concept ofa 'screen'? formed by parody, or by the lady of love lyric?which conceals but can also reveal. Eichel-Lojkine's analyses sternfrom close readings of specific episodes or passages, together with the use of modern theory,especially psychoanalytical. Often her identi? fication of convergences between psychoanalysis and Renaissance texts would benefit from a concomitant exploration of their divergences: in evoking the similarities be? tween Momus's castration by the goddesses and the Freudian Oedipus complex, it would have been fruitfulalso to discuss their differences, for example of gendering. On the other hand, Eichel-Lojkine's reading of d'Aubigne's 'A Diane' is fascinating and original. The poet's bequest of his body parts to the lady?who will use his eyes as diamonds, his teeth as pearls, his heart as a cushion for her pins, and his blood as colour for her cheeks?literalizes courtly topoi of self-sacrifice and recasts the rela? tion between self and other. The lacking or 'castrated' subject quite literally projects himself onto the body of the other, so that she functions as a 'prolongement de soi par-dela la mort' (p. 290). Thus the imagined fragmentation of the subject's body, his 'fetichisme fortement solipsiste', reflects a denial of the lady's alterity even more pronounced than that of a more typical fetishism, namely the fragmentation of the female body typical of Petrarchist poetry. St Catharine's College, Cambridge Kathryn Banks Poesie et Renaissance. By FRANgois Rigolot. Paris: Editions du Seuil. 2002. 406 pp. ISBN 2-02-047423-9. Francois Rigolot's intention in tackling this vast subject is not to present an exhaustive coverage, but to examine a range of topics within the artistic, historical, and sociopolitical context of sixteenth-century France. He describes his approach as informed by history and at the same time inspired by modern methods of textual criticism. The temporal perspective therefore extends to both ancient Greece and the late twenti? eth century. Although the framework is not strictly chronological, there is a broad progression from the Grands Rhetoriqueurs to Malherbe, taking in major and minor poets along the way. The firstand most theoretical of the six parts considers how poetry was conceived in this period, and the relationships between poetry and the plastic arts, music, and rhetoric. Subsequent parts study the development of poetic 982 Reviews self-consciousness, the literary culture of Renaissance Lyons, the rise and evolution of the Pleiade, and poetry designed to promote the glory of France. Love poetry makes several appearances in these chapters. Poetry on scientific subjects is dealt with in the final section, as are polemical works, sharply polarized along religious and political lines. At this point, Rigolot broaches...