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help Cartesians feel in better possession of this crucial part of the philosopher’s early life history. Boston College (MA) Stephen Bold MASSON, PIERRE, et GUY DUGAS, éd. André Gide et Jean Amrouche: correspondance 1928–1950. Lyon: PU de Lyon, 2010. ISBN 978-2-7297-0832-0. Pp. 351. 18 a. An ambitious young man writes to a great author, seeking a mentor and an entrée into the Parisian literary world. Gide writes back: his recent journey through French Equatorial Africa having opened his eyes to colonial abuses, he is particularly receptive to the concerns and conflicts of 23-year-old Jean El-Mouhoub Amrouche, a self-styled “fils africain de la France” (47). Born in Algeria to Kabyle converts to Catholicism, Amrouche grew up in Tunisia, where his academic success propelled him toward the prestigious École Normale de Saint-Cloud. The ensuing correspondence—some 150 letters spanning more than two decades— offers insights into two key issues for mid-twentieth-century France: the beginnings of decolonization and the reconfiguration of the Parisian intellectual and publishing world in the wake of the Second World War. Certain Amrouche letters portray the divisions of the colonized subject with great poignancy: a passionate, idealistic proponent of France and French letters, Amrouche felt alienated both in North Africa and in Europe, where he was dismissed as a “bicot” (274). His letter of 7 August 1945, which denounces the French military’s massacre of Algerian demonstrators at Sétif and laments the French inability to accept ‘primitive’ North Africans’ political sophistication and will to autonomy, is perhaps the most searing of the collection (168). A tireless advocate for Algerian independence—most notably in his radio journalism—Amrouche played a significant role in mediating between de Gaulle and the FLN. Because Gide’s interests tend to dominate the correspondence, however, this facet of Amrouche’s work receives limited treatment in this volume. More attention is devoted to Gide’s efforts to reclaim his place on the French intellectual stage after Aragon and other communist intellectuals labeled him a collaborator. Basing their allegations on the sometimes accommodationist tenor of Journal excerpts Gide published in the Nouvelle Revue Française—co-founded by Gide but taken over by collaborationist Drieu la Rochelle during the Occupation—many of Gide’s accusers were in fact motivated by resentment over Gide’s previous denunciation of Soviet totalitarianism. During Gide’s wartime stay in North Africa, Gide and Amrouche were in frequent contact: both men endured the 1942–43 German occupation of Tunis, and after that city’s liberation both moved to Algiers, where de Gaulle would soon found his shadow government. Throughout this phase and in the war’s aftermath, Gide and Amrouche served each other’s interests—with the bulk of the effort on Amrouche’s side. Without Gide’s patronage, Amrouche might never have launched the Algiers-based literary review L’Arche; without Amrouche’s tireless efforts on his behalf, Gide might never have regained his place in French letters. Advised that it would not be prudent to return to metropolitan France until the political climate cooled, Gide tasked Paris-bound Amrouche with placing a raft of short manuscripts—all very different in tone from his NRF diary excerpts— in friendly periodicals. At their most frequent and urgent, between 1943 and 1947, Reviews 1035 when Gide was attempting to redress his image, the Gide-Amrouche letters illuminate a key chapter in French literary history: that of the upheavals that shook the French intellectual and publishing world in the aftermath of the Liberation. This enlightening collection of letters is supported by an outstanding critical apparatus, with copious notes identifying people, historical events, and periodicals. Given the volatility and politicization of Liberation-era publishing, the clarifications about each periodical’s director, contributors, and political slant are invaluable. An incisive introduction, index, and appendices—documents relating primarily to the founding of L’Arche and Gide’s attempts to reinsert himself in the postwar intellectual conversation—round out the volume. New College of Florida Jocelyn Van Tuyl NORMAN, LARRY F. The Shock of the Ancient: Literature and History in Early Modern France. Chicago: UP of Chicago, 2011. ISBN 978-0-226-59148...

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