Jeanne d'Arc entre les nations by Ton Hoenselaars and Jellel Koopmans (review)

] 1 4 Women in French Studies author, he says, and he explores the gendering of the je in works by Marot, Guillet, and Labé. The quintessentialje ofthe French Renaissance, Montaigne wrote specifically to a print public, says Gray. By the late sixteenth century, audiences read more quickly and read more; Montaigne forced them to slow down. Marie de Gournay, whom Gray calls a savvy self-promoter and perhaps the only professional woman writer in Renaissance France, exploited the needs of a new print public to make a career for herself as an editor and writer. Most significantly for Gray, it seems, the print industry offered up controversial works in the vernacular for consumption by a general reading public . If Montaigne wrote of spontaneous sex change, cross-dressing, hermaphroditism , and androgyny to illustrate human difference, Brantôme mined these same themes for their sensational appeal. As with the Querelle des Femmes a century earlier, these topics had high commercial value, and, Gray adds, works on sexuality soon acquired a pornographic bent. He offers no criteria for defining pornography. Despite his identification ofMarie de Gournay as the only professional woman writer in Renaissance France, Gray concludes that what was marginal in the French Renaissance was not women or women writers, but homosexual discourse. Although he goes too far in his dismissal of modern feminist interpretations , Gray provides valuable lessons for reading texts ofthe French Renaissance . Reading and writing strategies change over time, and scholars occasionally need to be reminded of these changes. As Gray stresses repeatedly, literature does not equal life, and textual realities do not necessarily reflect social realities. Gray's most significant contribution in this book is his insightful analysis ofthe role ofthe libraires-imprimeurs in shaping the literary production of the French Renaissance. The connections he makes between technology and content, between the media and the message, are as revelatory for Renaissance France as they are for us today. Carrie F. KlausDePauw University Ton Hoenselaars, and Jellel Koopmans, eds. Jeanne d'Arc entre les nations. Cahiers de recherches des instituts néerlandais de langue et de littérature françaises. Amsterdam-Atlanta: Rodopi, 1998. ISBN: 90-420-0338-3. Pp. 147. $32.00. A collection of eight scholarly articles, Jeanne d'Arc entre les nations assembles in one volume some of the most current historical and literary research on a seemingly inexhaustible topic: La Pucelle. Hoenselaars and Koopmans have both edited and contributed to the research and in my opinion offer two of the most approachable articles that would appeal to students as well as scholars in the field of French Studies. This work provides a comparative overview of past and original research on Joan's role and representation in French history, politics, literature and the arts. Koopmans offers an intriguing cultural analysis ofJoan in "Jeanne d'Arc auteur de sa propre légende." The author offers the hypothesis that Joan may Book Reviews1 1 5 well have strategically created her own image during her process, that she, Joan, may very well be nothing other than "une simple construction" (6). Koopmans suggests that Joan alone may be responsible for the creation of the cultural construct of herself and her image and does so above all during her trial. The contribution by Hoenselaars, "La Jeanne d'Arc de Shakespeare et l'art du recyclage" provides an analysis ofthe playwright's portrayal ofJoan in Henry VI. Hoenselaars provides a cultural analysis ofthe "image désavantageuse" of Joan as depicted in the play and attributes this negative image to biased sources that rely upon stereotypes ofthe French commonly held by the English during this period. This article emphasizes the important role played by "un réservoir de préjugés" in Shakespeare's representation of Joan. Contributions by Krumeich, "Jeanne d'Arc vue d'Allemagne," and by Hushahn, "Effleurements d'horizon: Die Jungfrau von Orléans," offer cultural analyses from the German point of view. While Krumeich provides a broad and historical overview ofrepresentations ofJoan in the arts, literature and theater as well as in scientific discourse, Hushahn focuses on Schiller's tragedy of 1 80 1 . CC. Barfoot's "Une révision de la pucelle: la 'Jeanne d'Arc' du 'ren...