Les normes du dire au XVIe siècle: Actes du colloque de Rouen (15–17 novembre 2001) organisé par le CEREDI (review)

The book is a collection of twenty-eight studies devoted to the linguistic and literary norm in sixteenth-century France. As noted by G. M. Poutingon in his preface, each of these norms is differently oriented: the linguistic norm seeks to define what is "linguistically possible," while the literary norm experiments with canons prescribed to Renaissance writers by their, mostly classical, predecessors (11). The normative discourse comes in different forms: norms can be explicitly defined in grammars, treatises on spelling and pronunciation, as well as in arts of poetry; they can also be deduced from literary and non-literary texts.

The debate over spelling and pronunciation plays a key role in establishing linguistic norms. Different solutions proposed in that respect by Tory, Estienne, Meigret, Peletier du Mans, as well as by the late sixteenth-century Dialogue sur la Cacographie Fransaise by Joubert give the reader a sense of the historical evolution of the concept (S. Baddeley, Y. Ch. Morin, V. Zaercher). G. Clérico's study on the Dialogus de recta pronunciatione latinae linguae shows how the effort to standardize the pronunciation of Latin was hampered by the interference of modern languages. Renaissance attempts at establishing the grammatical norm are equally interesting. They are powered by two factors: reason and usage. The later was the object of merely intuitive and fragmentary studies in the sixteenth century. It allowed nevertheless to integrate into the grammatical system expressions, which, from the point of view of reason, would be qualified as faulty. The linguistic norm is also discussed in the article by G.-E. Sarfati, devoted to Nicot's Thrésor that may be considered as the standard of a monolingual dictionary.

The "good speech" (bien dire) is also regulated by rhetoric. Several papers focus therefore on different genres of pragmatic discourse: funeral speeches, judicial oratory, sermons. J.-Cl. Margolin studies Erasmus's rhetorical strategies, N. Cernogora discusses the theory of the metaphor in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, while F. Dumontet evaluates the impact of rhetoric on the historical narratives by Uberto Foglietta.

Poetics draws equal attention. Among discussed topics are: the role of the alexandrin verse in the epic and historical poetry, the attempt to introduce classical prosody into French poetry, the normative reading of Aristotle's Poetics by Patrizi, Bruno, and Campanella (B. Méniel).

The norms are reinvented in prose and in verse: in parliamentary orations, correspondence of the Jesuits, and sermons as well as in the Catholic hymns aiming at countering the popularity of the Calvinist psalms and in the imitation of the biblical style by Du Bartas and by d'Aubigné. The style of the courtly conversation is the focus of a study devoted to the French translation of the Amadis (V. Duché), while another paper discusses the self-representation of women in the prefatory discourses of their works (P. Gauthier). Through his reading of the Limousin schoolboy episode, A. Tournon presents Rabelais's critique of excessive Latinisms promoted by some Renaissance purists.

The topics of the papers collected in this book demonstrate a great variety of approaches to the problem of linguistic and literary norm in the Renaissance. This diversity is not adequately reflected by the partitioning of the book into three sections: Questioning the Norm, The Evolution of the Norm, Norm and Society. This minor defect does not preclude the value of the collection, which provides a broad survey, as well as several detailed analyses of the codification of language and of its literary expression in the sixteenth century.