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Conceptions of Europe in Renaissance France: Essays in Honour of Keith Cameron. Ed. David Cowling. Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi (Faux Titre, 281), 2006. 204 pp. ISBN 90–420–2006–7, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 44, Issue 1, January 2008, Page 91, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqm133
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Extract
This collection of ten articles is organised around the general theme of Europe as it was perceived during the Renaissance. It is rigorously constructed in three parts. The first of these (pp. 21–98), which addresses “problems of definition”, contains articles on the ideological, chronological and linguistic problems, ambiguities and identities which inform the nascent conception of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. In the second section (pp. 99–152), three analyses of literary corpora (from the writings of Du Bartas, d'Aubigné and Baïf) study the particular situation of sixteenth-century relations between France and England. The three articles constituting the final section (pp. 153–204) examine the more general theme of “alterity” as a key building-element in the formation of a European identity. These articles treat somewhat exotic-sounding objects, such as the voyage theme in Rabelais, the supposed Ottoman view of sixteenth-century Christians in Europe, and the “livre des contrariétés” sub-genre, which sought to define national characteristics through contrast with other nations. The chapters are of a high quality, and are also generally complementary, though not without offering up some fruitful tensions and contradictions. Literary for the most part, they present a typically seiziémiste mix of reflection on both history and letters.
