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Dictionnaire Flaubert by Jean-Benoît Guinot

2012; American Association of Teachers of French; Volume: 86; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tfr.2012.0096

2329-7131

Dorothy Kelly,

Historical and Literary Analyses

mais de la foi en général par ce qu’elle implique de crédulité; la question n’est plus: comment être acteur et sceptique, mais comment être simultanément croyant et sceptique. Gaines conclut avec un chapitre qui rend hommage au dramaturge qui a su adapter et synthétiser “diverse currents of contemporary thinking” tout en comprenant “the innate confrontational and provocative nature of theater” (146), le rapprochant ainsi d’auteurs modernes comme Brecht et Artaud. Il est regrettable qu’une œuvre de critique universitaire de grande valeur soit déparée par de nombreuses erreurs, impliquant tous ceux qui ont eu part à cet ouvrage. J’ai compté au moins vingt coquilles, dont certaines sont frappantes, en anglais comme en français. Des auteurs mentionnés ou même cités ne figurent pas dans la bibliographie ou sont difficiles à trouver (Swift, Tobin, Jasinski, Benjamin, Boileau, Bernier, Mersenne, Boswell). Jules Brody est cité mais l’œuvre n’est pas indiquée. Certaines citations n’ont pas de documentation. Sextus n’apparaît pas sous son nom, étant cité seulement dans l’édition de Benson Mates alors qu’il pourrait être cité plus commodément selon les livres, chapitres et sections. Le contrat Mohatra n’est pas mentionné dans la cinquième Provinciale de Pascal, mais dans la huitième. Il manque un index, et aucune édition de Molière n’est indiquée, pas plus que les auteurs des traductions. Northwestern University (IL) Sylvie Romanowski GUINOT, JEAN-BENOÎT. Dictionnaire Flaubert. Paris: CNRS, 2010. ISBN 978-2-271-069283 . Pp. 790. 39 a. This Flaubert dictionary serves two general purposes: first, its alphabetical format provides the researcher with useful, accessible information and the ability to search easily for words, names, and places. Second, its thematic approach makes for rewarding reading: “Danse,” “Villemessant,” “Hystérie,” and “ÉtatsUnis ” give a sense of the variety of the entries. A convenient grouped listing of these themes can be found in the “Index thématique” at the dictionary’s end. Two particularly helpful thematic groups are “Personnages” (which lists characters in Flaubert’s works including the very early juvenilia) and “Correspondants,” a list of Flaubert’s epistolary partners. The format of each dictionary entry varies by its subject. Names, titles, and places are followed by a brief explanatory description and excerpts from works and letters; whereas entries that are merely thematic, such as “Momie” and “Hâte,” do not require background clarification, but contain only texts. A brief example: “Mannaeï,” is explained as: “Personnage d’Hérodias [1877], bourreau d’Hérode-Antipas*,” then followed by a brief quotation from “Hérodias”; the asterisk marks another dictionary listing. One particularly useful entry is that of “Surnom,” which provides nicknames that Flaubert gave himself in his letters, along with the names of his addressees. Also handy is a chronology of the ‘attacks ’ Flaubert had from 1844 to 1875, which appear under the entry, “Maladie.” At the end of the dictionary, the lengthy, thirty-page “Chronologie” of Flaubert’s life and works, situated in their social, political, and artistic context, provides asterisks for all dictionary entries mentioned there. Also at the end is a necessarily selective bibliography. This reference-text format makes the book a useful tool for information gathering , but its most appealing part is the rich inclusion of quotations from literary 388 FRENCH REVIEW 86.2 works by Flaubert, letters written to and by Flaubert, opinions about him written by his contemporaries, and sometimes comments written by contemporaries on contemporaries, such as the inclusion of Guy de Maupassant’s description of Zola in the Zola entry. This makes for fascinating reading: one can read straight through an item, or follow a series of asterisks, somewhat like following an Internet thread. To give some examples, one might enjoy the comments by Flaubert on Bouvard et Pécuchet, which reveal his ups and downs, exuberance and despair. Or perhaps one might enjoy the entry, “Dimanche,” composed of the impressions of writers who went to Flaubert’s ‘dimanches’ on the rue du Temple. Some long entries contain sub-entries, such as the one for Flaubert’s versions of the Tentation de Saint-Antoine. It contains a...