Trois femmes: Nouvelle de l'abbé de la Tour (Three Women: A Novel by the Abbé de la Tour) by Isabelle de Charrière, Emma Rooksby
2009; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 104; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2009.0368
ISSN2222-4319
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Literary Analyses
Resumo204 Reviews Conde'snatural history collection, withtheaimofcreating agreat national display of the natural world. (Thisadministrative episode,relatively neglectedinthe principal previous biographies ofBernardin,isparticularly interesting.) His subsequent role as Professor ofRepublican Morality is lesshappy. But hemoves almostseamlessly intofoundational membership oftheInstitut, wherehecampaigns-in thecollective interest which isalsoquiteexplicitly hisown-forauthorial rights. Approachingthe ageofsixty, hemarriesthetwenty-year-old daughter ofhispublisher, andbegetstwo children who arenamedafter his fictional couple. Under the Empire,a favourite of Napoleon'sbrother Joseph, he finds hisastral pairinthe Bonapartes. He dies,agrand old man inhis country house and under the care of a second youthful wife, in 1713. Malcolm Cook is theeditor-in-chief of theongoingelectronic editionofBer nardin'scorrespondence (see). In thisbiography he drawson his unrivalledknowledgeofBernardin's manuscripts to give the lifeand works a personal and 'cultural' frame.Most evident, unfortunately, isBernardin's habitofcomplaint and solicitation, reflecting egotism ifnot also paranoia.Thispersistsfrom his decades ofpovertythrough thoseof prosperity-asdoes his claimthateverything cameunbidden. On theotherhand (again prompting comparisons with his avatar Rousseau), he attracted and retained throughout his life numerous patrons ofbothsexes. More importantly, in 'cultural' terms it is clear that, even after the triumph of Paul et Virginie, Bernardin did not see himself asmerely aman of letters.He wanted to be recognized as a patriot and a sage, the philosopher of the harmonies of nature, the teacher and even legislator ofhumanity. BIRKBECK, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON ROBIN HOWELLS Troisfemmes: nouvelle de l'abbede la Tour.By ISABELLE DE CHARRIERE. Ed. by EMMA ROOKSBY. NewYork: Modern Language AssociationofAmerica. 2007. xl+165 PP. $9.95. ISBN 978-o-87352-940-2. Three Women: A Novelbythe Abbede laTour.By ISABELLE DECHARRIERE. Trans. byEMMAROOKSBY.New York: Modern LanguageAssociationofAmerica. 2007. xl+176 pp. $9.95. ISBN 978-o-87352-941-9. TheMLA TextsandTranslations seriescontinuesto make literary worksavailable inattractive parallelEnglishandFrencheditions, significantly wideningthescope ofnovelsavailableforteaching purposes.IsabelledeCharriereisrightly prominent intheseriesandTroisfemmes isan important workfrom the Revolutionary decade whichwill stimulate much debateintheclassroom. EmmaRooksbyclearly outlines the philosophical debates underpinning the novel, highlighting inparticular the way inwhichCharriereisengaging withKant,but thebroaderliterary and historical context islessclearly defined. Rooksbyborrowsthe phrase'the aftermath of the Re volution'(p.x) from Jacqueline Letzter's Intellectual Tacking: Questions of Education inthe WorksofIsabelle deCharriere(Atlanta: Rodopi,1998),butLetzter was using it to refer to the 1799 publication of theAbbe de la Tour ou recueil de nouvelles, MLR, 104.1, 2009 205 whereashereitisbeingappliedspecifically toTroisfemmes, first publishedin1795. I amnotconvincedthatitisparticularly helpfultorefer toeventsfrom as earlyas 1793asbelonging tothe'aftermath ofthe Revolution' asRooksby does,and it would perhapshavebeenmore constructive topresentTroisfemmes as a novelwritten duringthe Revolution. That would haveallowed Rooksbytoexploreall thedifficul tiesthat writingat a timeofpoliticalflux presented for writers. The introduction provides background toCharriere's careerand the positionofwomen at theendof theeighteenth century inadditiontotheveryclearexamination ofmoral theories inthe novel. A promising lineofenquiryisoffered inthelink between Troisfemmes andotherepistolary novelsof theperiod,suchasCharlotte Smith's Desmondand HelenMariaWilliams'sJulia, whichoffer apotentially intriguing setofcomparisons as novelsof the Revolutionary decade.TheEnglishtranslation includes more de tailed notesthanthe Frenchedition, providing background information orcontext that maynotbe familiar tothe English-speaking world.TheFrench editionincludes a number of typographical errors and an entire clause is leftout of the opening sentence of the'Seconde Partie'.This ishighlyregrettable giventheseries' purpose as aneditionfor students and teachers. UNIVERSITY OFWARWICK KATHERINE ASTBURY 7heLimitsofPerformance inthe French Romantic Theatre.By SUSAN MCCREADY. (Durham Modern LanguagesSeries)Durham: Durham University. 2007. 145 pp. ?15.50. ISBN 978-0-907310-59-4. Susan McCready's study of French Romantic drama focuses on theways inwhich theatre givesconcrete expression to theabstract valuesand beliefsthat underpin humanculture. Analysing majorplaysfrom the183osbyVigny, Dumas pere, Hugo, andMusset,McCready explores'theeffects and thelimits ofperformance on our systems of belief' (p. 71). The book isdivided intothreechapters:in thefirst, 'Proof', McCready looksatplaysby Musset,Vigny,andDumas pere inwhich the valueofmaritalfidelity isaffirmed, tested, or reconfigured invarious ways. In the second,'Resistance', sheanalysesthree playsbyHugo in which thebreachbetween individual and socialvalues is repaired, but onlybriefly, within the limits of a performance. Inher third chapter,'Sacrifice', McCready offers hermost nuanced readings, arguingthat Musset'smajor playsfrom 1833-34 stagesacrifices thatfail to incarnate the values forwhich theywere performed. Plays such as Les Caprices deMarianne and Lorenzaccio perform 'the failure of sacrifice itself' (p. 89), leaving audiences with the impression 'thatritualis emptyand that meaning isabsent' (p.99).Yetthe deepcynicism ofthese worksistempered by Musset'sFantasio, which McCreadyviewsas amiddleground betweenthetranscendent valuessheidentifies inher firsttwo chapters and thebreakdown ofmeaning she traces inher third. McCready's theoretical framework combines performance...
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