Un joyeux quart de sentences: études rabelaisiennes LII par Marie-Luce Demonet, Stéphan Geonget (review)

Reviews 219 Demonet, Marie-Luce, et Stéphan Geonget. Un joyeux quart de sentences: études rabelaisiennes LII. Genève: Droz, 2012. ISBN 978-2-600-01607-0. Pp. 190. 70 CHF. The inclusion of Rabelais’s Fourth Book of Pantagruel in the 2012 agrégation has resulted in renewed interest in and an impressive number of publications on this relatively little-taught text. This collection of eleven articles mostly combines presentations of two preparatory workshops, which reunited some of the foremost specialists on the topic. The pedagogical and scholarly aspirations of the contributions, although not always well balanced, make this a recommended reading for the specialist and the more casual reader. Daniel Ménager opens the volume fittingly with a discussion of the first text of the Fourth Book, the dedicatory epistle addressed to the Cardinal of Châtillon, in which the critic sees the reflection of many of Rabelais’s preoccupations: the equivalence of reading and healing; the defense against all kinds of inquisitions; a lesson in interpretation. In a similar vein, Jean Céard also analyzes a somewhat neglected episode (île des Macraeons), which deals with prodigies and miracles in order to underline the importance of “coded language” that demands interpretation (29). Nicolas Le Cadet’s overview of the Andouilles episode, although somewhat negligent of some recent scholarship, seeks to better define its function and place in the narrative, linking it to the ‘thawing’ of language that aligns it with the previous articles. Stéphan Geonget focuses on another major episode, the Papimanes, to investigate the meaning of the notion of ‘literature’ at the time, notably by juxtaposing transparent allegory and polysemy or history/polemics and fiction. Marie-Luce Demonet is interested in Rabelais’s mastery of nautical vocabulary and its implications, for instance its illustration of the different stylistic and lexical levels that also serve as intentional distractions of the reader. Myriam Marrache-Gouraud contributes two articles, more general discussions of the notion of curiositas as well as of the concept of Pantagruelism, the latter functioning as an ethos but more importantly as a guiding principle of how to read. Frédéric de Buzon adds another layer to the discussion of the status of “meaning” by looking at the role of music and sounds, culminating in the “atomisme sonore”of the Thawing Words-episode (115). John O’Brien focuses on the experimental concept of the tragicomedy, an agent of ambivalence mediating, for example, laughter and violence. Bérengère Basset studies the ethical, philosophical, and hermeneutical implications of Rabelais’s use of apophthegmata, which facilitates the juxtaposition of Pantagruel’s and Panurge’s respective attitudes (inquiry v. dogma) or of gravitas and facetiae in order to elaborate meaning through language. Jean Lecointe, finally, suggests that Rabelais’s ambition was to conceive of a national masterpiece in the tradition of Homer, Virgil, or Ovid, a morality play in prose within the framework of contemporary treatises (Josse Bade, Sébillet), combining abstraction and individualization, allegory and decorum personarum, grotesque and sublime elements, a fascinating premise that requires more detailed treatment, however. Like most recent publications on the Fourth Book,the focus of this fine collection is centered on Rabelais’s complex concept of interpretation, a problem that continues to mobilize scholars of the Renaissance. Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY Bernd Renner Dozo, Björn-Olav,Anthony Glinoer, et Michel Lacroix, éd. Imaginaires de la vie littéraire: fiction, figuration, configuration. Rennes: PU de Rennes, 2012. ISBN 9782 -7535-1862-9. Pp. 376. 20 a. The introduction and twenty-three essays in this Québécois, Belgian, and French collection examine“comment la littérature se pense comme création et discours, mais aussi comme lieu de socialisation et de travail collectif” (back jacket). Edited by the three founding members of GREMLIN (Groupe de recherche sur les médiations littéraires et les institutions), the volume focuses on prose and poetry of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from Balzac to Stephen King. It emphasizes the self-conscious tradition, including satiric and parodic self-representation by real, fictive, and symbolic writers, editors, and publishers. The four sections treat type characters, legendary figures in literary history, intermediaries (journalists, reviewers...