A French Prose Classic of the Early Eighteenth Century

ROBERT CHALLE'S JOURNAL 337 definition of utopia. He has been accused of neglecting form for content of misrepresenting the genre by adhering too closely to a chronolOgical presentation , of ignoring utopian politics and aesthetics, and the like. In my opinion, however, Trousson has wisely chosen to delimit clearly his area of study. Whether his choice was the right one is another question, but it seems unreasonable to criticize him for not doing what he never intended. His stated aim is to deal solely with fictional portrayals of utopian societies. Thus, he rigorously excludes, for example, accounts of solitary existences on desert islands, evocations of Arcady, and so on, and restricts his discussion to those works in whkh, 'dans Ie cadre d'un recit (ce qui exc1ut les traites politiques), se trouve decrite une communaute (ce qui exc1ut la robinsonade), organisee selon certains principes politiques , economiques, moraux, restituant la complexite de l'existence sedale (ce qui exdut I'age d'or et I'arcadie), qu'elle soit presentee comme ideal arealiser (utopie constructive) ou comme la prevision d'un enfer (l'anti-utopie moderne), qu'elle soit situ~e dans un espace reel, imaginaire, ou encore dans Ie temps, qu'elle soit enfin decrite au terme d'un voyage imaginaire vraisemblable ou non.' Of aU the earlier studies of utopia to which Trousson acknowledges a debt, none has been nearly as influential as Raymond Ruyer's seminal L'Utopie et les utopies (Paris: Les Presses universitaires de France 1950). Indeed, I believe it no exaggeration to say that Trousson's book is primarily an elaboration and commentary on Ruyer's study. This is in no way to belittle the work of Trousson, whose many significant contributions in this field and in numerous aspects of the history ofideas and eighteenth-century literature testify to his profundity and originality, Trousson has not only explicated and illustrated the basic principles of utopias enunciated by Ruyer, but has also expanded the application of those principles to a range of works far beyond the scope of Ruyer's thesis. Trousson's book, therefore, written in a lucid style free from jargon, and containing a mine of bibliographical information, is both an important work of reference and a major contribution to our understanding of the literary history of utopian thought, A French Prose Classic of the Early Eighteenth Century EUGENE JOLIAT Journal d'un Voyage aux Indes, par Robert Cllalle, ecrivain du Roi Edited by Frederic Deloflre and Melahat Menemencioglu Paris: Mercure de France 1978. 654 Robert Challe's journal, though apparently little noticed when it was first published anonymously in 1721, is a revelation; it proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that its author was one of the most vigorous minds of the age of Louis XlV. He is certainly the most cosmopolitan French writer of his period. At a time when UNIVERSJIT OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 50, NUMBER 3, SPRING 19B1 0042-0247/81/0500-0337$00.00/0 Cl UNIVERSIIT OF TORONTO PRESS ))8 EUGENE jOLIAT French writers hoped for preferment by staying close to the king and his entourage , Challe had already dabbled in the fur trade in Acadia, travelled to Copenhagen and Stockholm, and seen Constantinople, Smyrna, and Jerusalem. But it is his voyage around the Cape and into the lndian Ocean that concerns us here. He spent nineteen months, in 16<)0-1, on board the £Cueil, one of the vessels of a squadron sent to harass English and Dutch shipping and ensure for France a profitable trade route to India. Challe was the ship's writer, that is to say the purser in charge of all the necessities of life aboard ship, and (in his capacity as eerivain du ROI) the official keeper of the ship's log, while being at the same time a sort of notary, authorized to take depositions, record deaths, draw up wills, and so on. He not only recorded the weather and the daily rounds of activity aboard, but also enlarged upon his own general views on life. His aesthetic is obviously at odds with the abstract impersonal trend of contemporary writing: 'Combien passerais-je de moments inutiles si rna plume et mon papier n'en remplissaient pas Ie vide? Compte-t-on pour rien les idees tumultueuses et confuses qui frappent I'esprit lorsqu'il est livre alui-meme?' (p 108). Challe's subject-matter, as one might expect, is extremely varied: factual notations such as a sow eating heryoung in the animal pens on board; wine giving out, leaving the sailors with only brandy to drink; a young Indian woman calmly committing suttee; discussions on measuring the height of a mountain, or on the luminescence of tropical waters; philosophical treatises on the soul, on predestination , divine grace, papal infallibility, and so on. The sheer dynamism of all this adds up to a masterpiece of reporting. Challe's style is sinewy and straightforward : here was a man expert at making his reader see and understand. The work of editing done by Messrs Deloffre and Menemencioglu is well-nigh impeccable; it is obviously the sort ofbook that called for extreme thoroughness in the search for primary sources and the explanation of practices now obsolete. This easily accounts for the fact that, in this first critical edition, for some 540 pages of text there are 140 pages of introduction and notes. Everything pertinent has been explained: along with the illustrations provided, the notes set off every facet of this extraordinary Journal, which teems with life, and often has the raciness of a novel. I found it fascinating throughout, and I predict that it will become known as a prose classic of the early eighteenth century. I did notice a few misprints, which the reader can rectify for himseU: 'De instabilitate cordis humain' (note 164); 'Man mauvre monsieur' (p 204);'Tropique du Capricone' (p 231); 'Rogatin' for Ragotin (note 1050); 'dont' forsont (p 552, note 4', line 5). On P 333 'l'Intimite dans les Plaideu,s de M. Racine' should read 'L'intime ...' Commenting (p 651) on the illustration on p iv, the editors locate Challe's cabin, marked 47 on the deck plan of the feueil, as being 'celie qui se trouve Ie plus vers I'avant': 'vers I'aniere' was meant. But to mention such minor 'coquilles' seems invidious in a book of this scope. ...