Faculty Publications - Modern Languages and Literatures

Saisons riches et fécondes: Education et identité africaine dans le cinéma d'Euzhan Palcy

Russell J. Ganim — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:08:20 PDT

La surprise est la réaction la plus fréquente des critiques lorsqu'ils découvrent que la réalisatrice martiniquaise Euzhan Palcy est la force créatrice derrière des films aussi différents que la Rue Cases-Nègres (1984) et A Dry White Season (Une saison blanche et sèche) (1989). Le ton et le style narratif sont si distincts dans les deux films que les liens existants entre eux restent difficiles à identifier. Pourtant, à l'examen des intrigues respectives des films, on remarque une nette affinité qui suggère que le deuxième film est analogue au premier. Ensemble, ils constituent un projet intégré sur l'éducation et la maturation dans le tumulte de l'oppression politique. Avant d'explorer les différences initiales, ainsi que les ressemblances éventuelles entre les deux, il faut noter que malgré l'attention que les films ont reçue dans les milieux critique et populaire, on a peu écrit sur Euzhan Palcy et son art. Bien que cet article ne se propose pas de fournir des renseignements biographiques sur Palcy, l'un des buts de cet exposé est de faire apprécier son oeuvre à sa juste valeur. Jusqu'à présent, une interprétation de ces deux films en tant qu' “oeuvre" cinématographique n'a pas été tentée. Meme les interviews avec Palcy elle-même mettent l'accent sur le côté distinctif de chaque film, soulignant la variété des sujets qu'elle aborde.

Variations on the Virgin: Anne de Marquets’s Depiction of Mary in the Sonets Spirituels

Russell J. Ganim — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:02:56 PDT

This paper explores the manner in which Anne de Marquets’s (1533– 1588) Sonets Spirituels (published posthumously in 1605) reshapes conventional portraits of the Virgin Mary. A Dominican nun at the Royal Priory in Poissy, Marquets, like many Baroque Catholic poets, follows Church tradition in glorifying Mary as a maternal symbol of chastity and faith. Yet, unlike Gabrielle de Coignard (OEuvres chrestiennes, 1594), Jean de La Ceppède (Théorèmes, 1613, 1622), or other of her lyric peers, Marquets depicts the Virgin as a subjective, intellectual near-deity whose role occasionally borders on the messianic. The basic approach of this study is comparative, as I will discuss how Marquets’s characterization of Mary as a foil for Satan and as the typological avatar for several women in the Bible contrasts with Coignard’s and La Ceppède’s adherence to the Stabat Mater tradition which depicts Mary as an afflicted figure who witnesses Christ’s Passion in silent agony. As Terence Cave has shown, Marquets herself does imitate the various motifs of this Medieval Latin hymn (197). But the image of the Mater dolorosa does not dominate Marquets’s lyric. And while her representation of Mary does bear some resemblance to Coignard’s in that the two authors at times draw parallels between themselves and the Virgin, Marquets’s depiction of Mary is, as a whole, less personal and autobiographical than that of Coignard. Similarly, Marquets, like La Ceppède, relies on typological example to underscore how the narrative of Christ’s life is structured according to the progressive revelation that links the Old and New Testaments. Nonetheless, Marquets goes beyond La Ceppède by emphasizing how the example of Mary fulfills and redeems the roles of Biblical figures, both male and female, to illustrate the indispensable nature of her role in God’s redemptive plan for humanity.

Manuscripts and Markets: The Case and Cause of Authors in Search of Publishers

Russell J. Ganim — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 11:45:58 PDT

In November 1996, the New Yorh Times ran a front page article dealing with the crisis in publishing monographs in the humanities. The piece opened with the experience of a young scholar in Oregon who had sent a book manuscript on Theodor Adorno to a major university press who refused to read it for reasons of "marketability" (Al). As the report continued, it outlined the economic and editorial reasons why many researchers in the humanities, especially at the beginning of their careers, encountered significant difficulty landing contracts at presses that would have published their work in the past. At the moment the story appeared, it was relevant to my situation in that I was in the fourth year of my job at a research institution where a book, though not in all cases needed for tenure, is generally a decisive factor in retaining one's position. Within a month's time, the editorial board of the press to whom the manuscript had been submitted would vote on my project. While trying to fight off the natural apprehension that comes from waiting for an issue to be resolved, I was nonetheless relatively confident in a vote for approval. The press had conducted an extensive review process, which in effect took over two years. Both of the referees to whom the book had been sent recommended publication, though the first required significant revisions which accounted for about six months of this time frame. Senior colleagues whom I consulted about the situation suggested, quite reasonably, that acceptance was all but assured given that 1) the reader's reports were from two of the most noted names in the field (French sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature), 2) the press had published several titles in this discipline, and 3) the press had held the script for an especially substantial amount of time.

After the vote was taken, the story of the Oregon scholar in the Times began to resemble my own. I received first an email message, then a formal letter from the director of the press saying that the text had been turned down because of market concerns and, correspondingly, because a book on my topic did not correspond to current titles on the press's list. The director of the press expressed regret that the situation had not worked out in my favor, and thanked me for my patience during the review process. In my response, I asked the director for further details and for advice as to where now to send the text, whereupon he simply repeated what had been said before and told me to consult the directory of the Association of American University Presses. Although the surprise of the press's action was personally disappointing, I realized that from a legal and professional point of view, I had no recourse. The only option was to accept the decision, start the submission process from scratch after 26 months, and find a suitable publisher (which occurred seven months later). Fortunately, there was still time to look elsewhere. Nonetheless, the consequences for tenure could have been disastrous if the manuscript had not been tendered at a relatively early date.

The situation did resolve itself, but in the two years that have elapsed since this event, I have come to believe that the experience is significant because it is symptomatic of grave problems in academic publishing, and calls attention to systemic and often unnecessary difficulties authors face during the submission process. My story is not atypical, and indeed, as I have related it to others, I have encountered other incidents strikingly similar to mine. These cases range from manuscripts that have been held for well over a year only to have the script rejected even in light of favorable external evaluations, to the basic quandary of sending a text to a press that historically published works in the author's field, but now opts not to do so for economic reasons. The purpose of this article, however, is not to malign a particular press, nor university presses in general because of unfortunate experiences. Without question, one could argue quite plausibly that the cases just cited do not constitute the professional norm. Nonetheless, it is true that a growing number of authors, especially those without contracts, suffer increasingly from instability in humanities publishing, and that university and trade presses, as well as the academic community as a whole, have done little to address the issue. In recent years, the Chronicle of Higher Education has run a number of opinion pieces on this problem, and I will refer to some of these contributions over the course of this essay. Yet, unlike the Chronicle articles, I seek in this paper to describe the problem from an author's point of view, and to propose solutions from this perspective that will in some ways render authors in search of a publisher less susceptible to the uncertain nature of editorial policy.

L’excitation insolite : la perversité amoureuse chez Tristan

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:51:37 PDT

CET EXPOSÉ S’ATTACHE à poser les questions suivantes: En quoi consiste le désir chez Tristan? Et comment le désir s’exprime-t-il? Nous pouvons, dans un premier temps, discerner des parallèles très forts entre Tristan et certains poètes/amants de la Pléiade. En fait, le poète se voit souvent comme un amant maudit dont l’affection ne sera jamais partagée par sa bien-aimée ingrate. Mais au moment même où Tristan choisit ce portrait commun pour se dépeindre, il modifie l’image du poète/amant traditionnel en y ajoutant une dimension sinistre, voire perverse. Par moments, la passion chez Tristan se montre non seulement mélancolique mais violente. Dans certains sonnets, la mort, la maladie et le souhait de s’anéantir semblent attirer le poète autant que la beauté. L’attrait du néfaste signale également un goût de l’interdit. Cette étude examinera des ouvrages qui mettent en avant les questions de race, de bisexualité et d’obscénité. L’intérêt que porte Tristan au tabou mérite notre attention parce qu’il souligne en partie le «baroquisme» des écrits de l’auteur. Cherchant à dépasser les bornes du sujet et du genre lyriques, Tristan s’efforce d’explorer les marges de la poésie et de l’existence humaine. Les poèmes que nous traiterons se révèlent baroques en ce qu’ils exposent l’inconnu et l’insolite. Sur le plan esthétique, il s’agit de déchiffrer ce que Roger Guichemerre appelle «l’éloge des beautés paradoxales» chez Tristan. Comme lecteurs, notre tâche sera d’éclairer la façon dont Tristan remanie des thèmes et des formes lyriques afin de changer nos perceptions de l’amour et de son rapport avec la poésie.

Going Through the Trash: Meaning in the Cabaret and Cabinet Baroque Lyric

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:35:25 PDT

Joan DeJean's recent book, The Reinvention of Obscenity, brings front and center issues of filth and impiety as they relate to cultural norms. DeJean's assertion that "Paris was the center for the production of dirty books and dirty pictures” in the Early Modern period underscores the extent to which obscene literature becomes a cultural referent, either open or clandestine. While her focus is on obscenity as it relates to the neo- Classical era, DeJean emphasizes that the Baroque period also contributed to the "reinvention" of smut that characterized a distinct element of literary and artistic production during the seventeenth century. She concentrates on Théophile de Viau, and mentions works such as the Le Cabinet satyrique (1618), and the Le Parnasse des poètes satyriques (1622). These volumes, containing bawdy offerings from the likes of Théophile (1590-1626). Mathurin Régnier (1573-1613), and Guillaume Colletet (1588-1641) among others, cotitribute to what Louis Perceau terms "la magnifique floraison satyrique" (p. 4) of the libertine era.

Review of Julien Gœury: L 'Autopsie et le théorème: poétique des Théorèmes spirituels (1613-1622) de Jean de La Ceppède.

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:19:32 PDT

Les lecteurs de La Ceppède seront contents de recevoir le livre de Julien Gœury car son étude représente une addition importante aux ouvrages récents sur le poète aixois. Faisant partie de la redécouverte critique des Théorèmes initiée par les travaux de Jean Rousset dans les années 50, L'Autopsie et le théorème jette un nouveau regard sur l'oeuvre laceppédienne en adoptant ce que l'on peut appeler une perspective néo-structuraliste. L'exposé se divise en quatre parties: 1) Morphologie, 2) Anatomie, 3) Physiologie et 4) Psychologie. Une telle répartition suggere le désir de dégager le caractère organique du texte dans le cadre d'une organisation bien schématisée. Concernant la première categorie, Gœury met en exergue la construction générale du texte, signalant au départ “l'architecture extérieure” (23) ainsi que “l'architecture intérieure” (54) dans la composition des livres et des recueils qui édifient l'ouvrage. Ici, le lecteur note l'accent mis sur la signification du frontispice, des pages de titres, et sur d'autres éléments paratextuels. Toujours dans la première partie, Gœury suit l'exemple de plusieurs critiques en examinant l'emploi du sonnet comme mode de discours. L'auteur met en avant des “lois de composition” (141) qui renforcent “l'engagement formel” (151) du texte ainsi que son “architecture phonetique” (157). S'ajoutent à l'examen morphologique des observations sur les différentes formes “d'enjambement” (168) et de “fragmentation” (174) qui se manifestent dans les sonnets.

Views of Kingship: Britannicus and Louis XIV’s Mémoires

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 12:38:48 PDT

This study situates itself within a current trend in Racinian scholarship to accentuate the political dimensions of Racine’s dramaturgy. Recently, Timothy Reiss, Suzanne Gearhart, and Alain Viala, among others, have emphasized the socio-political aspects of Racine’s oeuvre in part to counteract the mid twentieth-century notion that Racine’s classicism, if not his work in general, is based almost exclusively on the psychological representation of plot and character. I will argue that to a significant extent, the nature – «classical» or other – of Racine’s drama is also founded on a keen sense of the historic as it relates to the contemporary.

Through the Talking Glass: Translucence and Translation in the Condé Museum’s Psyche Gallery

Russell J. Ganim — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:39:59 PDT

The forty-four stained-glass windows (dating from 1540–44) that recount the mythological tale of Psyche in Chantilly’s Condé Museum present a unique semeiological challenge to scholars. Accompanied by lyric inscriptions of either four or eight lines, the panels reveal an image/text combination that represents a literal example of the Renaissance notion of ut pictura poesis. These seldom-discussed panels merit inquiry because they reflect certain historic, artistic, and literary trends that illustrate factional and intellectual movements crucial to understanding France of the early to mid-sixteenth century. In its examination of these issues, this essay asks three questions:
1) What is the political significance of the gallery?
2) Why are the panels important in terms of Renaissance aesthetics, and how do they enhance the viewer’s knowledge of image-text interaction? And
3) What examples can be given of how pictura and poesis, as they are uniquely presented in the gallery, enrich the narrative process depicted in these windows?
In answering the first question, I will argue that the windows represent a political allegory that alludes to the disgrace and exile of their patron, Anne de Montmorency (1493–1567), Francis I’s “Constable of France.” Montmorency’s choice of Psyche lies in the desire to illustrate his struggle via a character who will elicit sympathy in a profound, but discreet manner. Like Psyche, who incurs the wrath and envy of Venus, the Constable falls prey to a powerful woman, specifically, Francis’s mistress, Madame d’Etampes, whose jealousy forces Montmorency’s departure from the court. With the political statement comes aesthetic commentary as well. Specifically, the Psyche windows illustrate from a structural perspective the Renaissance idea that art deemed “religious” in nature may be considered not merely as a “receptacle of the holy” but as a work of independent, discriminating merit (Belting, Likeness and Presence 458). Within this new mentality, a “religious form” such as stained glass, need not necessarily depict a theme one would traditionally find in a church or cathedral. Changes in aesthetics and religion went hand in hand during this time, as Protestant, especially Calvinist, emphasis on the “Word” of God over His “Image” indirectly gave rise to a heightened presence of the word in art throughout the early to mid-sixteenth century. The presence of the lyric inscriptions in the Chantilly windows can be attributed at least in part to the emergence of the word in artistic expression at this time.
To understand the relationship between verba and imago as it exists in the panels themselves, this essay will draw on the literary criticism of W. J. T. Mitchell, the historical analysis of Hans Belting, and the translation theory of George Steiner, Roman Jakobson, and André Lefevere. What these theories have in common is the notion that a certain fluidity exists between sets of signs. In the case of the Psyche gallery, the “hermeneutic motion” (Steiner 296) that exists between word and picture allows for a dynamic exchange between the two principal narrative elements of the panel. Yet, the symmetry between word and image is often only partial, since these modes of discourse sometimes diverge as much as they converge. The poems and windows translate each other, but often only in translucent, semi-transparent ways. Consequently, the meaning word and image convey together is problematic and ambiguous almost as frequently as it is reciprocal. Accordingly, the viewer is required to mediate between pictura and poesis, rendering his/her role more active in determining the significance of the panels, and in shaping the critical debate over the interaction between these means of expression. However, the narrative related by the verba/imago relationship within the panels themselves cannot be fully appreciated without a more global understanding of the historical and critical circumstances in which the windows were created. These general conditions comprise a narrative of their own.

"Introduction" to The Shape of Change: Essays in Early Modern Literature and La Fontaine in Honor of David Lee Rubin

Anne L. Birberick et al. — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:35:38 PDT

Since Michel Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge gained widespread critical recognition in the late 1960s, the concept of change has held a privileged position in the discourse of literary and cultural studies. Concerned with disruptions, transformations, and upheavals, scholars have focused on those moments of rupture when the present breaks with the past, when originality displaces convention, when inventio repudiates imitatio. This emphasis on aesthetic and epistemic shifts has all too often resulted in the neglect of more traditional issues having to do with problems of cultural development, evolution, and influence. It has also overlooked the idea of reading and writing as self-aware cognitive and affective exercises. In this more orthodox framework, literature becomes part of a social and personal rhetoric and forms the basis for understanding authorial creation and the public’s response. Not all scholars have, however, turned away from this approach and the intellectual problems to which it gives rise. In his books, articles, and lectures on the seventeenth century, on the lyric poetry of that same period, and on the Fables of La Fontaine, David Lee Rubin has investigated with critical rigor the constants underlying change.

As former students, as colleagues, and as friends, we wish to honor David with these essays, for while we have come to differ among ourselves in our theoretical presuppositions, each one of us would agree the encounter with his keen and passionate mind has been a transforming experience. We would like to express our gratitude for the way our critical thinking has been shaped by his esprit critique.

Emblem as Meditative Icon in La Ceppède’s Théorèmes

Russell J. Ganim — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:20:30 PDT

While full comprehension of the divine image in La Ceppède’s Théorèmes is at times quite remote, understanding of the human image is often more accessible. I will argue that many of La Ceppède’s sonnets can be read as emblems which, both didactically and aesthetically, reveal the human in the divine through the iconographic portrayal of images, either written or graphic. By icon, I refer to the sacred representation and interpretation of images for the purpose of collective worship. Icons become the artistic means by which a devout subject, either poet or meditant, may identify and envision a religious object. In this vein, I raise the question of emblem in La Ceppède’s sonnets in order to grasp more firmly the role of visual and pictorial image to the poet’s conception of devotional exercise. The presence of engravings in the original 1613 and 1622 editions of the Théorèmes compounds the question of what contribution illustrations, both literal and figurative, play in understanding the work as a whole. While critics have studied the relationship between the Théorèmes and pictorial art, the link to emblem, a genre corresponding to both the artistic and devotional traditions of La Ceppède’s epoch, merits further attention. Emblem’s structure contributes to the systematization of spiritual exercise, giving the meditant a more coherent didactic framework in which to analyze devotional mystery. My aim in discussing emblem is to show why adaptation of this genre is crucial to La Ceppède’s project of deploying literature to redeem souls. I also contend that while not always central to the text’s comprehension, some of the original engravings carry a generic, as well as religious significance. In order to elucidate these ideas, a brief discussion of emblem’s history, purpose and structure is provided.

More than a Reasonable Facsimile: Yvette Quenot's Edition of Jean de La Ceppède's Théorèmes

Russell J. Ganim — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 13:50:48 PDT

Since the rehabilitation of Jean de La Ceppède's Théorèmes, study of the work has been hindered by the lack of an easily readable, critically annotated edition. Though extracts of his meditations appeared in a few poetry anthologies during the twentieth century, it was not until 1966, with the appearance of Jean Rousset's Droz facsimile that full access to the sonnets and the poet's annotations could be gained without consulting the original Toulouse editions of 1613 and 1622. The Droz text, though in many ways quite useful, is not sufficient for serious scholarship. Its archaic typefaces, moreover, make reading difficult for non-specialists, who also require lexical and encyclopedic notes. Seeing the need to reproduce the sonnets in a more authoritative, workable format, Yvette Quenot has arnbitiously undertaken the first critical edition of the Théorèmes, the first part of which has recently appeared.

Review of Tristan L’Hermite: OEuvres complètes. III: Poésie (II). Volume publié sous la direction de Jean-Pierre Chauveau

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:42:28 PDT

This effort marks the second volume of poetry in a five-set edition of complete works consisting of Tristan’s prose, poetry and tragedies, as well as other plays and the Plaidoyers historiques. The present volume represents the culmination of an extensive undertaking by Champion and by noted Tristan scholars to render the Baroque author’s known works more accessible to researchers, students and the literate public. By any measure, the results are eminently satisfying both in terms of the volume in question and the entire project. This volume centres on texts composed and published mainly in the period afterwards. The principal works constituting this volume include Les Vers Héroïques (1648), L’Office de la Sainte Vierge (1646), Les Hymnes de toutes les Fêtes solennelles (1665) published ten years after Tristan’s death, a number of situational poems appearing between 1624 and 1654 entitled Vers épars, as well as an ‘annexe’ to the Vers épars consisting of thirteen poems in the Glasgow University Library attributed to Tristan and presented as Les Manuscrits de Glasgow. Each of these texts was edited individually and represents, respectively, the efforts of Véronique Adam, Jean-Pierre Chauveau, Marcel Israël, Amédée Carriat and Laurence Grove. In every instance, the introductions, notes, and bibliographies provide useful, original information about the political and artistic climate in which Tristan wrote.

Locus Amoenus vs. Locus Terribilis: The Spatial Dynamics of the Pastoral and the Urban in La Ceppède’s Théorèmes

Russell J. Ganim — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:54:16 PDT

The opening sonnets of Jean de La Ceppède’s Théorèmes (1613, 1622) present an urban vs. rural conflict that mirrors the dialectic between sin and salvation running throughout the work. La Ceppède’s focus for this struggle becomes the stark contrast between Jerusalem and the garden at the Mount of Olives. Jerusalem, as the place where Christ is persecuted and eventually tried, represents a Babylon-like enclave of transgression, while the garden is portrayed as a site of purity and tranquil reflection. From a literary standpoint, La Ceppède’s emphasis on the clash between dystopian and utopian settings comprises part of his adaptation of the pastoral, where this particular struggle becomes one of the genre’s principal motifs. In general, the contrast between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives emerges as the point of departure for the poet’s figuration of nature, both human and physical. A human construct, the city of Jerusalem becomes a metaphor for human corruption. In view of humanity’s fall in paradise and the denaturation it symbolizes, the poet’s goal, on both intellectual and affective levels, is to place the reader/dévot in a position to lift her/himself from the depravity of human nature to the grace of divine nature.

A Kiss Is Not Just a Kiss: The Use of the Baiser in La Ceppède's Théorèmes

Russell J. Ganim — Fri, 05 May 2006 07:56:57 PDT

The combination of religious and erotic motifs plays a large role in shaping the artistic experience of the Renaissance. One thinks of paintings such as della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ (1540), as well as Michelangelo’s Last Judgment (1545). Lyric poetry also provides numerous examples of this aesthetic bond; among them Petrarch’s “Chiare fresche e dolci acque” and Ronsard’s “Je veux brûler, pour m’envoler aux cieux.” The lyric subgenre which perhaps most distinctly follows the trend of merging sexual and divine experience is the baiser, or kiss. Originally secular in nature, the baiser first appeared in epigram form in the Greek Anthology. Baiser was adapted by Catullus and Ovid, inspiring what later became the style mignard of the Renaissance. Jean de La Ceppède’s version of the baiser in his Théorèmes exemplifies the attempt during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to transform secular lyric types a lo divino. Elsewhere in the Théorèmes, the poet’s method of blending lyric form and technique with a devotional topic finds expression in sonnets modeled after emblem, pastourelle, and blason. Baiser, however, is La Ceppède’s most explicit attempt to fuse the carnal and the spiritual, paradoxically blending a kind of style bas in language and theme with the lofty, if not transcendental goal of moving his reader to receive Christ. Before discussing the poet’s specific appropriation of the form, it will be useful to examine the history of the baiser, as well as the a lo divino tradition to which La Ceppède’s baiser belongs.

Pissing Glass and the Body Crass: Adaptations of the Scatological in Théophile

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:52:39 PDT

Examination of scatological motifs in Théophile de Viau’s (1590-1626) libertine, or ‘cabaret’ poetry is important in terms of how the scatological contributes to the depiction of the Early Modern body in the French lyric.1 This essay does not examine Théophile’s portrait of the body strictly in terms of the ‘Baroque’ or the ‘neo-Classical.’ Rather, it argues that the scatological context in which he situates the body (either his, or those of others), reflects a keen sensibility of the body representative of the transition between these two eras. Théophile reinforces what Bernard Beugnot terms the body’s inherent ‘eloquence’ (17), or what Patrick Dandrey describes as an innate ‘textuality’ in what the body ‘writes’ (31), and how it discloses meaning. The poet’s scatological lyric, much of which was published in the Pamasse Satyrique of 1622, projects a different view of the body’s ‘eloquence’ by depicting a certain realism and honesty about the body as well as the pleasure and suffering it experiences. This Baroque realism, which derives from a sense of the grotesque and the salacious, finds itself in conflict with the Classical body which is frequently characterized as elegant, adorned, and ‘domesticated’ (Beugnot 25). Théophile’s private body is completely exposed, and, unlike the public body of the court, does not rely on masking and pretension to define itself. Mitchell Greenberg contends that the body in late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century French literature is often depicted in a chaotic manner because, ‘the French body politic was rent by tumultuous religious and social upheavals’ (62).2 While one could argue that Théophile’s portraits of a syphilis-ridden narrators are more a reflection of his personal agony rather than that of France as a whole, what emerges in Théophile is an emphasis on the movement, if not decomposition of the body.3 Given Théophile’s public persona and the satirical dimension of his work, it is difficult to imagine that the degeneration he portrays is limited only to his individual experience. On a collective level, Théophile reflects what Greenberg calls ‘a continued, if skewed apprehension of the world in both its physical and metaphysical dimensions’(62–3) typical of the era. To a large extent, the body Théophile depicts is a scatological body, one whose deterioration takes the form of waste, disease, and evacuation as represented in both the private and public domain.

Of course, one could cast aside any serious reading of Théophile’s libertine verse, and virtually all of scatological literature for that matter, as an immature indulgence in the prurient. Nonetheless, it was for his dissolute behavior and his scatological poetry that Théophile was imprisoned and condemned to death. Consequently, this part of his work merits serious consideration in terms of the personal and poetic (if not occasionally political) statement it represents. With the exception of Claire Gaudiani’s outstanding critical edition of Théophile’s cabaret lyric, there exist no extensive studies of the poet’s libertine œuvre.4 Clearly however, these poems should be taken seriously with respect to their philosophical and aesthetic import. As a consequence, the objective becomes that of enhancing the reader’s understanding of the lyric contexts in which Théophile’s scatological offerings situate themselves. Structurally, the reader sees how the poet’s libertine ceuvre is just that — an integrated work in which the various components correspond to one another to set forth a number of approaches from which the texts are to be read. These points of view are not always consistent, and Théophile cannot be thought of as writing in a sequential manner along the lines of devotional Baroque poets such as Jean de La Ceppède and Jean de Sponde. However, there is a tendency not to read these poems in their vulgar totality, and to overlook the formal and substantive unity in this category of Théophile’s work. The poet’s resistance to poetic and cultural standards takes a profane, if not pornographic form because it seeks to disgust and arouse while denigrating the self, the lyric other, and the reader. Théophile’s pornography makes no distinction between the erotic and scatological. The poet conflates sex and shit because they present a double form of protest to artistic and social decency while titillating and attacking the reader’s sensibilities. Examination of the repugnant gives way to a cathartic experience which yields an understanding of, if not ironic delight in, one’s own filthy nature.

Scatology, the Last Taboo: Introduction to Fecal Matters in Early Modern Literature and Art

Jeff Persels et al. — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 12:22:25 PDT

This collection of essays was provoked by what its editors considered to be a curious lacuna: the relative academic neglect of the copious and ubiquitous scatological rhetoric of Early Modem Europe, here broadly defined as the representation of the process and product of elimination of the body’s waste products (feces, urine, flatus, phlegm, vomitus). Our most educated forebears, different from ourselves, did not disdain it — if such proof may be found in the mere proliferation of examples — and, further, employed it in all manner of works, not just in the crude jokes of comic ephemera. This neglect led to the idea of an anthology that would invite reconsideration of the many forms and functions of scatology as literary and artistic trope. The results emphasize that while the Rabelaisian corpus may yet serve as the standard referent, hallmark or even touchstone of the scatological in Early Modem European works, critical inquiry must move beyond this so that readers may extend and deepen their understanding of what the Oxford English Dictionary dismisses simply as ‘dirty literature.’Achieving a new respect for, contributing knowledge to and fostering interest in Early Modern scatology within the realm of literary and art history studies would mean, without blush or shame, that this collection has been ‘well shat’ (bien chié). To each generation its idiom; for discerning readers and spectators to gauge its value without prejudice.

CHRIST’S BODY AS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SIGNIFIER: A STUDY OF BLASON IN LA CEPPÈDE'S THÉORÈMES

Russell J. Ganim — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 11:43:10 PDT

Much of the concept of space in La Ceppède's Théorèmes is defined in the portrayal of Christ's body. In this text, space appears as distances or gaps—between God and humankind, grace and damnation, poet and reader—which must be overcome by contemplation of Christ's redemptive act. Within the poet's meditative framework, Christ's body acts as a physical, intermediate space in which the metaphysical principles of celestial will take form. For the meditant, the knowledge gained from reflection on Christ's body allows the transcendence from the external, physical spaces of the material world in which s/he lives, to the internal, spiritual spaces of the divine world to which s/he aspires. Generically, La Ceppède's depiction of Christ's body is often revealed in the poetic form of the blason, a lyric subgenre which itself plays on the dynamics between the external, physical description of the initial image or blason, and the more abstract, metaphysical interpretation of what is ultimately symbolized or blasonné. This paper will explore the relationship between the public spaces of the body and the private spaces of the heart and mind as illustrated in La Ceppède's adaptation of blason. La Ceppède depicts Christ's body as a physical, public text, the reading and contemplation of which enable the dévot to accede to a more intimate, private link with God based on prayer and worship. The study begins with a brief history and definition of blason, then moves to specific textual analysis of sonnets dealing with Christ's eyes and hands.

Anus as Oculus: Satire and Subversion in Eustorg de Beaulieu's Du cul

Russell J. Ganim — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:55:43 PDT

This study seeks to rehabilitate Eustorg de Beaulieu's (c. 1495-1552) Du cul (1537) in terms of the poem's satirically subversive nature. I choose the term "rehabilitate" in order to challenge certain aspects of Annette and Edward Tomarken's argument that the poem should be read more in terms of its commentary on the lyric genre of the blason than as a derisive indictment of social norms. I hold that on an implicit level, the poem does support the Tomarkens' contention that Beaulieu "push[es] to its ultimate limits the genre (i.e., the blason) with which he is working" (151). In the opening verses of Du cul, the reader remarks that the poem is indeed aware of itself as a blason, and Beaulieu's work decidedly reflects many of the genre's formal and thematic traits. Yet, apart from these opening verses and occasional allusions to various forms of the blason, the poem's language makes little to no reference to the theory and actual composition of the genre. Arguments about Beaulieu's self-conscious critique of the design and execution of the blason are certainly plausible, but other elements of the poem stand out more forcefully as meriting scholarly inquiry. The Tomarkens' comments are reason enough to revisit the poem, but it should be noted that the depth of Beaulieu's satire, and its relation to contemporary notions of sexuality are such that one could also easily challenge Michael Pegg's dismissal of Du cul as a largely obscene effort to attract attention.

From a critical perspective, the topic of scatology offers a richer means of analyzing the poem’s language and purpose. In this essay, “scatology” and the “scatological” will come to mean the prurient references to the excretory and sexual organs and functions of the body. Beaulieu deploys a scatological thématique in order to set forth a derisive vision of 1. the body and sexuality, 2. political structures, and 3. the Catholic Church. Scatology also helps explain the relative absence of the je/poète who normally acts as the mediator between the world and the reader. In the case of Du cul, the eye of the poet is figuratively substituted by the anus, which becomes an oculus in the sense that human activity, in its most sophisticated and base forms, is perceived by its relation to this aperture. Beaulieu’s choice of the anus as a topic for praise is best explained by a rhetorical question he poses near the end of his poem: “Diray je rien de ta grande franchise ?” (v. 103). For Beaulieu, the ass represents a certain kind of sexual, literary, and social freedom. Clearly, Beaulieu would not have been as free if he had chosen a more conformist subject for his blason, and in many respects, the “frankness” of the poem represents its fundamental characteristic. Contact with the sexual other, the nobility, and the Church is “viewed” through the “lens” of the anus in order to illustrate human vanity as well as Beaulieu’s inverted view of the world. In this sense, “inversion” refers to the idea that what is normally hidden and kept inside the body, i.e., the anus, is turned outward and exposed, thereby presenting a satirical mentality that undermines established norms. On a social level, the anus becomes an equalizer in that it commands attention from all classes and persuasions. By reducing human exchange to its primordial anal element, Beaulieu figuratively “lays waste” to social conceit via the poetic conceit of the blason. The fundament has a similarly equalizing effect with respect to the body, as Beaulieu’s cul becomes the principal organ on which all other body parts depend in order to maintain either their beauty or function.

Intercourse as Discourse: The Calculus of Objectification and Desire in the Novel and Film Versions of Les liaisons dangereuses

Russell J. Ganim — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 12:02:08 PST

The calculus of objectifi cation and desire in both the novel and film versions of Choderlos de Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses is derived in two principal ways. The first derivation, that of the Sadean will to objectify the other for erotic and intellectual satisfaction, precedes the second, that of the overarching wish to produce a written object announcing the conquest of the human object. Limited by the medium, the film adaptations of the Liaisons dangereuses cannot place as great an emphasis on the composition of letters. Nevertheless, they make allusions to it in such a manner that underscores this type of objectification process. This article examines the film adaptations of Letter XLVIII, where Valmont, after sleeping with a mistress, composes a sardonic but unwittingly revealing missive to the Présidente de Tourvel. Specifically, it is this mise à nu of Valmont as a libertine in Letter XLVIII that commands the attention of filmmakers. I contend that Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, 1988), Milos Forman (Valmont, 1989) and Roger Vadim (Liaisons Dangereuses, 1960) choose to adapt this scene not only because of its presumable entertainment value, but because its visual exploitation allows for a quick, cogent means of highlighting, if not simplifying, the complex motif of sexual objectification as it relates to issues of power and libertinage. From the standpoint of film as it relates to the novel, what adaptations of this scene show is that the necessary representational departures from the novel still ingeniously depict the way in which language and sex conspire to create and destroy Valmont and Merteuil’s libertine universe. The scene becomes especially useful when considering questions of cinematic variation because each director’s rendition serves as a microcosm of his version of Laclos’s text. Consequently, viewing what I will call the “writing table scene,” provides a summary of Frears’s, Forman’s and Vadim’s interpretive style. In addition, the scene, as represented in the films, gives a modern commentary on female libertinage. Laclos’s novel suggests that female libertinage has no chance of validation, let alone survival. By contrast, twentieth-century filmmaking seems to compensate by presenting scenarios which intimate that the will, pleasure, and intellect of female libertinage—if they cannot win—can at least live on or manifest themselves in some form beyond that of their creator, Merteuil. All the films emphasize the development of Cécile as a libertine who, with varying degrees of success, will carry on Merteuil’s legacy.

Book Review: Sabine Lardon. L’Écriture de la méditation chez Jean de Sponde.

Russell J. Ganim — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 09:10:39 PST

Sabine Lardon’s monograph commands attention for the precision with which it analyses Sponde’s rhetorical tech¬nique in his Méditations sur les Pseaumes. Basing the need for her book on the critics’ preference for writing about Sponde’s lyric offerings rather than his prose, Lardon pro¬duces a study that yields great insight into Sponde’s ad¬ap¬tation of language and form within the context of bibli¬cal exegesis. Lardon’s work makes a valuable contribution to Spondian studies, and will no doubt help renew interest in baroque devotional literature.