L' Âge des enfants (XVIe–XVIIe siècles) by Jean-Pierre van Elslande (review)

This broad study analyses children's characters in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, the two centuries during which children played a role in shaping the humanist cultural project. Jean-Pierre van Elslande examines the child subject, which, in genres as varied as poetry, comedy, tragedy, pedagogical treatises, memoirs, moralistic discourse, and fairy tales, brought to light the issues arising from modern times. Van Elslande successfully argues that modernity—as opposed to an idealistic representation of ancient times—was ushered in at the end of the seventeenth century by children. The book contains ten chapters preceded by an Introduction. In the Introduction, the author distinguishes between 'children' and 'childhood'—the latter a concept that would not appear until the eighteenth century, when the values of innocence and nostalgia would irrevocably change the role that children played in literature. The first chapter explores poems by Clément Marot dedicated to the children of royal families, which transmitted a humanistic heritage while revealing the potential of future generations. Chapter 2 focuses on pedagogical texts by humanist savants which emphasized the transformational aspects of the Ancients. Chapter 3 highlights Pantagruel's and Gargantua's childhood narratives in Rabelais's novels, which, though rooted in history, break with tradition through the characters' unexpected exploits. Chapter 4 examines the impact of utopian literature on children's education. Chapter 5 argues that Montaigne valued children, not for their future contribution to humanity, but for the fresh perspective they brought to looking at the world around them. Chapter 6 examines the child subject in memoirs by Agrippa d'Aubigné, Nicolas Goulas, and Mme de Staal de Launay, authors who developed a strong sense of self despite their educators' best efforts to mould them to tradition. Chapter 7 explores novels by Charles Sorel and Tristan L'Hermite which demonstrated how lived experiences gave children the opportunity to re-invent themselves. Chapter 8 discusses plays by Racine, Corneille, and Molière in which the child's 'présence d'esprit' (p. 183) served as a reminder that one cannot form another human being to one's own preferences. Chapter 9 demonstrates how 'moralistes' such as La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyère viewed children as beings that needed correction to become exemplary adults. Chapter 10 focuses on fables and tales by La Fontaine and Perrault, works that employed the viewpoint of children, with their natural gifts of observation, to give an accurate portrayal of the world as it was in reality. In the Conclusion, the author argues that, by the end of the seventeenth-century, society viewed the child as symbolic of the modern era. To bridge the gap between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Van Elslande compares the humanist savant's pre-occupations with those of Rousseau, who was concerned with protecting man and what he had become from the growing corruptive forces of society. Refreshing and unique, this beautifully written study brings to light a theme rarely broached in Renaissance and early modern studies. This book will interest scholars and students who work on sixteenth- or seventeenth-century literature, but with its relatable topic, it would be a welcome addition to any library.