Dictionnaire des poètes français de la seconde moitié du xvi e siècle (1549–1615) by Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller (review)

Fruits of an extensive labour of love, and preceded by an engagingly modest preface, these two large volumes (A–B and C–D respectively) present bibliographical details of an entire range of poets within Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller’s chosen period, stretching from the eminence of Du Bellay, Bèze, and d’Aubigné down to some ‘minores’ who have thus far (and justifiably?) escaped detailed scholarly attention. On the other hand Barbier-Mueller opines fairly that the greats have been so adequately handled elsewhere that one might welcome fuller treatments of such as Balthasar Bailly (author of but one ‘mince opuscule satirique’, i, 297), Timothée (de) Chillac (his sonnets here described as ‘terriblement monotones’, ii, 208), and Louis Dorléans (declared a ‘rimeur dépourvu d’originalité’, ii, 574). These reservations notwithstanding, the lives of many of the figures examined do reveal important themes from their period: witness the same Dorléans’s role within the Ligue, especially during the years when it controlled Paris, followed by his extravagantly stated reconciliation with Henri IV. Barbier-Mueller even speculates (see ii, 583) that his works might be the source of Henri’s apocryphal adage ‘Paris vaut bien une messe’. The major figures are not, however, neglected, d’Aubigné (‘ce prodigieux génie’, i, 133) being granted a sixty-page entry, which, though avowedly derivative, still proves both instructive and entertaining. Les Tragiques (‘livre explosif ’, i, 191), set between the mannerism of Desportes and the pre-classical Malherbe, are aptly described as the sixteenth century’s finale. That the same accolade is denied to Philippe Desportes will dismay few readers, even if Barbier-Mueller notes the strong influence that this ‘Tibulle français’ (ii, 549) exerted over an entire generation of succeeding poets whose evidentdouceur failed regrettably to match the quality of Ronsard, an often-repeated point that still deserves emphasis. For Ronsard himself, we must await a later volume, but his tutor Jean Dorat, ‘le “nouvel Horace”’ (ii, 551), earns a ten-page entry that significantly reassesses the quality of his output and taste, if not of his teaching. Nevertheless, his importance in inspiring the cult of Pindar among his own imitators is noted, while traditional errors such as his named membership of the Pléiade and his involvement in the composition of the Deffence et illustration are usefully underscored. In his notice on Du Bellay, Barbier-Mueller therefore confers the title of ‘père de la Pléiade’ on Peletier rather than the neo-Latinist Dorat (see ii, 611), while also questioning the legendary encounter of Joachim and Ronsard in a Poitevin tavern. For me surprisingly positive concerning the Olive, Barbier-Mueller confers a fuller treatment on the Regrets, seeing them express more a love–hate relationship with Italy than the unremitting abhorrence depicted among others by Chamard. Otherwise this entry, like so many others, provides detailed and often fascinating material on the history of the period concerned, and further volumes will continue this ambitious project, still at only the fourth letter of the alphabet. However, within these two early volumes we already have at our disposal a fund of material with which to amplify our appreciation of the work, life, and times of Barbier-Mueller’s chosen figures. In delving into and browsing through the biographies of the second-, third-, and fourth-rank poets whom he has so diligently researched, one may gain a fuller understanding of a period than by studying the exceptional but sometimes over-researched individuals to whom he in fact does equal justice.