Society and culture in Early Modern France (review)

Reviews 159 today. H e provides the necessary key to the puzzlingly large cast of historicd characters, though not in the familiar form of that luxuriating family tree, destined to be pruned so savagely during the coming winter of discontent Instead there is a glossary of historical names, just as helpful perhaps, supplemented by a map of England showing the m d n places mentioned in the play. To those traveUing backwards in time there is a curious sense of dija vu. W e think of T o m Jones, a kind of blend of H d and Fdstdf, travelling through the West of England to meet anotherrebeUiousnorthern horde. Troylus and Cressida, as A P . Riemer admits, is more of an acquired taste than Henry TV. It is unlikely to appear in High School courses, except for those reserved for students with specid interests and aptitudes. Like the history play, it confronts the reader or auditor with a bewildering number of names and relationships. Once agdn the editor gives a helpful glossary, together with textud collations (rather unnecessary, perhaps, in editions of this kind) and some short chronologicd tables. Riemer's brief, clearly-written discussion of the questions sunounding early imprints and performances is especidly welcome. The relatively advanced students who will study this play can be retied on to see that, in this instance above all others, consideration of such problems is a worthwhile undertaking, not a piece of useless pedantry. Lack of classicd knowledge is in some ways helpful to m o d e m readers approaching Troylus and Cressida. They will not be troubled by the bias, which Shakespeare inherited from a long tradition of medieval writing about the so-cdled Matter of Troy, towards the Trojan point of view. Readers and audiences reared on the plays of Lods Nowra wiU notfinddifficulty in adjusting to Shakespeare's vision of a chaotic, disintegrating world. The new edition wiU make a complex play accessible to those capable of responding to it Tim G.A. Nelson Department of EngUsh The Umversity ofN e w England Davis, N Z . , Society and culture in Early Modern France, Cambridge, Polity Press/Blackwell, 1987; pp.xviii, 362; paperback, R.RP. A U S $29.95. This reprint of Natdie Zemon Davis's highly accldmed 1965 collection of essays on early m o d e m France shodd be very welcome toteachersand students in the field. The edition is a simple reprint with norevisionsbut it comes at an attractive price which shodd make it a viabletextfor teaching purposes. John H. Pryor Department of History University of Sydney ...