{"title":"Theatrical Competition, Age, and the Career Race: ‘Old Corneille’ Rivals Racine","authors":"H. Bilis","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.2004344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.2004344","url":null,"abstract":"In 1670, Corneille and Racine duelled on the Parisian stage by presenting, within a week of each other, their particular version of the emperor Titus’s farewell to his beloved Bérénice. While this episode of the playwrights’ careers is well known, scholars have tended to minimize the importance of the head-to-head showdown in the overall arc of Corneille and Racine’s relationship. This essay argues for understanding their theatrical confrontation as an inflection point for their rivalry and explores how the rhetoric of age factored into the framing of their competition leading up to the Bérénice battle. The playwrights repeatedly called attention to their age in differentiating themselves from one another and used age to justify their authority over their rival. In focusing on the role age played in shaping Corneille and Racine’s theatrical showdown, the analysis calls attention to the dynamic between growing old, competing, and staying relevant in the theatrical circles of seventeenth-century France.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"44 1","pages":"138 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46225647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gambling by the Numbers: Frain du Tremblay and Barbeyrac on the Moral Uses of Probability","authors":"Michael J. Call","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1991679","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1991679","url":null,"abstract":"The invention of probability mathematics in the seventeenth century added a novel element to the long European cultural discussion surrounding gambling. While the mathematicians regularly used gambling games in setting up and solving problems, they were often reluctant to make broader moral claims regarding the practice beyond establishing if a game was fair. Two French-language moralists, however, drew on probability in their explorations of games and the morality of play, although in contradictory ways. Jean Frain du Tremblay’s Conversations morales sur les jeux et les divertissements attempted to use probability mathematics in order to argue that chance did not exist. Overstating probability’s claims, Frain du Tremblay argued that the results of games of chance were predictable and that they thereby demonstrated God’s order. By contrast, Jean Barbeyrac’s Traité du jeu criticized the inability of probability to predict unerringly what would happen next. Based on this perceived flaw, Barbeyrac similarly rejected probability’s claim to establish the morality of games of chance, although his purported proofs show his own inability to master the implications and mechanisms of the new ‘geometry of chance.’ Together the two authors show the struggle for non-mathematicians to understand the implications of probability for early modern concepts of chance.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"44 1","pages":"156 - 169"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41847409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor’s Note","authors":"Nicholas Hammond","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1980843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1980843","url":null,"abstract":"(2021). Editor’s Note. Early Modern French Studies: Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 123-123.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138532409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Henri de Mesmes (1532–1596) et ses ‘petits mémoires’","authors":"Nicolae Virastau","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1965730","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1965730","url":null,"abstract":"Grand protecteur des arts du XVIe siècle, conseiller d’Henri III et chancelier de son épouse, Henri de Mesmes est souvent cité pour ses liens supposés avec Michel de Montaigne et Étienne de la Boétie. C’est à son récit de soi que cette étude s’intéresse, selon une approche littéraire et sociocritique. Connu seulement par une édition fautive du XIXe siècle, cet écrit qui ne fut à l’origine qu’un brouillon, a été souvent qualifié de Mémoires. Plutôt qu’une œuvre achevée, il s’agit d’un témoignage de circonstance, conservé par les descendants d’Henri de Mesmes, qui l’ont fait circuler, plus de soixante ans après la mort de l’auteur, à côté d’autres pièces censées prouver la généalogie illustre de leur famille. L’enjeu serait de montrer la collaboration sur plusieurs générations dans la production et la promotion d’un récit de soi sous l’Ancien Régime.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"44 1","pages":"107 - 123"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46929478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Consoling les vrais athées: Diderot and the Problem of the Afterlife","authors":"Phoebus Cotsapas","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1928882","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1928882","url":null,"abstract":"This essay is an exploration of Denis Diderot’s attitude towards mortality. Diderot’s work displays significant unease regarding the prospect of dying in a godless universe, and features various strategies for helping the existentially worried atheist cope with eventual annihilation. Most notably, throughout the course of his literary career Diderot developed two distinct schemes that might allow for a meaningful transcendence of death compatible with atheism. A comparison of these two apparently complementary schemes, which I call material and historical transcendence, reveals many parallels, but on further consideration it becomes clear that they are incompatible in a number of important ways.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"44 1","pages":"210 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43261107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Alain Viala, 20th November 1947 – 30th June 2021","authors":"K. Ibbett","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1991678","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1991678","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":"124 - 127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46261206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Le Théâtre Français au Septentrion (1669–1728): Diplomatie, Échanges Culturels et Migration entre Paris et Copenhague","authors":"C. Jeanneret","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1911499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1911499","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines diplomacy, cultural exchanges, and theatre performance between France and Denmark. Based on new archival documents that, for the first time, take into account both French and Danish sources, we shed new light on the transnational history of French theatre in the Northern periphery of Europe. On one hand, the roles of cultural mediators are examined, such as Henning Meyercrone, the Danish ambassador in France, who recruited the French theatre company sent to Copenhagen and who was himself an actor. On the other hand, we trace the career of René Magnon de Montaigu, director of the first permanent French company in Copenhagen. Until now, Montaigu was completely unknown in France, but we were able to trace his debut in Paris in the royal company. The French diaspora in Denmark also played the role of ambassador, since it embodied and transmitted French culture in a context of migration.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":"200 - 221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20563035.2021.1911499","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42375436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Influence of Isaac de Lapeyrère upon Jacques Joseph Duguet, the Father of Figurisme, with Respect to the Reconversion of Israel in ‘Romans’ 9–11","authors":"A. M. Vileno, R. Wilkinson","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1898864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1898864","url":null,"abstract":"The following essay seeks to contribute to the appreciation of the reception of Isaac de Lapeyrère's views, specifically concerning the conversion and future territorial prospects of the Jews. Drawing attention to the period when Lapeyrère lived together with Joseph-Jacques Duguet in the Oratory at Aubervilliers, we show his influence upon the father of figurisme and his later disciples. Lapeyrère was the source of Duguet's separation of the conversion of the Jews from the Time of the End, but the two men disagreed over the prospect of future territorial kingdom for the Jews. Both men looked forward to a renewal of the Church, but the theologians of the Port-Royal tended to view that in the context of the immediate sufferings of their community.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"44 1","pages":"170 - 187"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20563035.2021.1898864","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48281860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Voltaire’s Incomplete Works (and Why They Will Stay that Way)","authors":"N. Cronk","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1902197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1902197","url":null,"abstract":"The Complete works of Voltaire published by the Voltaire Foundation were begun in 1968 and will be completed in 203 volumes in 2021. In so far as discoveries of manuscripts and editions will continue to be made, this monumental edition is necessarily incomplete. But it is also incomplete in another more profound sense. Eighteenth-century editions of Voltaire present an often unstable version of the text; Voltaire cultivates an open and fluid style, making frequent use of self-quotation, and blurring traditional generic boundaries; Voltaire's characteristically slippery authorial posture, making frequent use of anonymity and pseudonymity, adds further instability to the œuvre. For all these reasons, Voltaire's works present a particular challenge to the critical editor of a print edition – a challenge that perhaps can only be fully met in a digital critical edition.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":"222 - 239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20563035.2021.1902197","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49226772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Marie Mancini Writing for Her Life","authors":"Sarahb . Nelson","doi":"10.1080/20563035.2021.1898863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2021.1898863","url":null,"abstract":"If Marie Mancini, niece of Louis XIV's chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, has come down through the ages, it has been because of her youthful love affair with the king and the scandal she caused later. She and her sister Hortense fled their marriages and travelled together and separately – but unaccompanied by the train their station demanded and unauthorised by their husbands – across western Europe. They sought merely an independent existence. Marie Mancini was a reader, writer, and précieuse, but her surviving writings were produced in service of her real-life circumstances. This article explores Marie's tactics in pursuit of autonomy. It examines her delicate position as she sought to argue her case; it maps the strategy of her published memoir and describes the particularity of her authorial voice; and it takes the measure of her success in staking a claim, both in her own time and in ours.","PeriodicalId":40652,"journal":{"name":"Early Modern French Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":"128 - 143"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/20563035.2021.1898863","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42734291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}