Robert Champigny: poète et philosophe by Hédi Bouraoui (review)

B ook R eviews Sherzer brings an impressive scope of erudition to bear upon the texts she examines, and she makes it work; the result is never the foregrounding of the critical apparati, but rather an insightful view of how French fiction exemplifies the nature of signification in our time. C e c ils L in d say University of Nevada, Reno Edwin Hamblet. L a L itté r a tu r e c a n a d ie n n e fra n c o p h o n e . Paris; Hatier (Profil Forma­ tion/Français; 419/420), 1987. Pp. 159. Scholars and students of Canadian literature in French will welcome this small volume, both as a useful reference tool and as a pleasant book just to read. Professor Hamblet demonstrates here that the literature of French-speaking Canada has solid roots going back to the 17th century and still putting forth abundant flowers; he shows it to be the product of a Catholic people marked by a joie de vivre that dissimulates a tendency toward introspec­ tion and melancholy. Under British rule, these peoples have produced a literature that is “ militante, engagée, retranchée dans un nationalisme...,” and that bears witness to their refusal to be assimilated by “ 250 million Anglo-Saxons who live at their doors.” (This may be a bit hyperbolic, as not all “other” Canadians and Americans are “ Anglo-Saxon.”) Hamblet divides his work by centuries undei-which the various genres are subsumed. (These include memoirs, poetry, novel, and chanson.) Within the genre categories, chief practitioners are portrayed in excellent short but critical vignettes, and an excerpt is pro­ vided from a representative major work by each author entered. Let us take note that despite its brevity the book intends to serve as a reference not only to Québécoise literature, but also, though only briefly, to Acadian masters. No attempt is made, however, to deal with literature from provinces west of Quebec, still rather understudied at this date and therefore not pertinent to this volume, in which the canon is well respected—as would be necessary and expected in view of the book’s scope. Lists of key dates and a sufficiently thorough bibliography complete this welcome, because much needed, contribution, which will serve as a quick reference for the scholar and student alike. It is affordable, accessible, reliable, and comes highly recommended by this reviewer. Ja n is L. P a llis te r Bowling Green State University Hédi Bouraoui. R o b e rt C ham pigny: p o è te e t p h ilo so p h e. Paris-Genève: ChampionSlatkine , 1987. Pp. 271. This volume of memorial writings, edited by Hédi Bouraoui, illuminates the various facets of the late Robert Champigny’s life and work—as a poet, philosopher, scholar and critic, professor of literature, and defender of the fellowship of all living beings—and offers a coherent appreciation of his achievement, from his days as a student of Bachelard to his years as a major voice of French literary creation and analysis in the United States, from his formulations of genre distinctions and the philosophical underpinnings of detec­ tive fiction to his lyric and narrative verse and his love of animals. The book, written in both English and French, falls into several parts. Twelve essays examine the published poetry and criticism; the contributors include such distinguished scholars as Edouard Morot-Sir in “Mise en abyme, mis en programme: l’écriture inaugurale de Robert Champigny” (pp. 21-30), Germaine Brée in “ Le Jeu Philosophique: V o l . XXVII, No. 4 107 L ’E sprit C réateur L’épreuve d’une pensée” (pp. 31-38), Raymond Gay-Crosier in “Acte poétique et acte critique” (pp. 39-46), John Porter Houston in “A Poetic Vocation” (pp. 67-74), Elizabeth Sabiston in “ Future perfect: the logic of narrative in What Will Have Happened” (pp. 113-28), Walter Albert in “ Champagny and ‘un comic américain’ ” (pp. 107-12), Homer B. Sutton in “An Introduction to the narrative poetry of Robert Champigny” (pp. 101-06), Louis Kibler in “Robert Champigny and the transtemporal epic...