Éros rebelle: littérature et dissidence à l’âge classique by Michel Jeanneret (review)

Abstract

MLRy 99.2, 2004 487 'Cceur contemplatif' and other allegorical personifications, whereas the Fort chasteau pour la retraicte de toutes bonnes ames fait par le commandement du glorieux Sainct Esperit adopts the popular fiction of the allegorical edifice (here a kind of fortified convent) in order to create a refuge forthose seeking spiritual improvement and mystic union with the creator. Berriot-Salvadore's edition of these intriguing texts contains a full set of black-and-white reproductions of the numerous illustrations that adorn Gabrielle's manuscripts. While the practice of including illustrations in editions of this kind can only be welcomed (in this case it is clear that they were commissioned by the author, and that they are closely linked to her text), itis perhaps regrettable that the decision not to publish them in colour has made close study of them impractical. The introduction contains useful contextual information on Gabrielle's life and ancestry, her intellectual background and links to contemporary writers and theologians, but is not entirely freefrom errors of detail, especially in the identification and attribution of works in Gabrielle's library (the Vergierd'honneur is, for instance, wrongly attributed to Octovien de Saint-Gelais, and Valerius Maximus is credited with Les Faits des Romains instead ofthe Facta et dicta memorabilia). Of more concern, however, are the shortcomings of the edited texts themselves. While it is true that single-manuscript works, like those of Gabrielle, pose a particular set ofproblems (especially to editors as conservative as Berriot-Salvadore), readers would have been better served by a greater willingness on the part of the editor to deal with obvious scribal errors, note rejected readings, and to explicate, and indeed comment on, the interesting linguistic peculiarities of the manuscripts ('sabas' forfd-bas surely requires a separate glossary entry,for instance). In addition, simple collation of those sections of Gabrielle's work present on the pages reproduced in the book's illustrations with the edited text itself reveals numerous minor misreadings, silent emendations, and orthographic modernizations. This is unfortunate, since such problems tend to detract from the modern reader's engagement with a group of texts that shed fascinating light both on women's writing of the early modern period and on the private devotions of a 'grande princesse'. University of Durham David Cowling Eros rebelle: litterature et dissidence a Vage classique. By Michel Jeanneret. Paris: Seuil. 2003. 332 pp. ?22. ISBN 2-02-041687-5. Michel Jeanneret's book presents erotic literature fromthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the context of political and social opposition to a centralized and in? creasingly repressive power and as a response to the tightening hold of religious authorities on individuals' lives (he insists, for example on the role of the confessor) as Louis XIV rises to absolute power. Using authors such as Ronsard, Theophile de Viau, Corneille, and Moliere (with the third and final part devoted to the theatre), Jeanneret argues that the Renaissance's relaxed attitude to eroticism as an intrinsic part of human nature was replaced by the notion of 'libertinage', which was under? stood by both its proponents and its detractors as a form of social rebellion. As the seventeenth century progresses, battle lines are drawn between 'libertins' and bigots ina confrontation that will culminatein Moliere's wrangle with the 'devots'. In Part I the author suggests that a transition took place, around the turn of the century, from an apolitical, 'bon enfant' eroticism to a farcruder and willingly provocative form of writing whose function was not only erotic but also ideological. The most dramatic change seems to be, according to Jeanneret, that whereas Renaissance erotic writings were often seen to glorifylove in all its forms,including the physical, later writings aim to shock rather than titillate, and to do so, they sometimes vilifyrather than celebrate the body. Part II, 'La provocation', therefore deals with the philosophical and social 488 Reviews implications of 'libertinage'. It also takes into consideration the scientific approach to the body, in Descartes in particular, which puts it in opposition to the mind and reduces it to a 'machine' which must be controlled, a dichotomy which will form the basis of the 'passion vs. reason' discourse. Jeanneret...