Evocations of Eloquence: Rhetoric, Literature and Religion in Early Modern France - Essays in Honour of Peter Bayley (Medieval and Early Modern French Studies)

This collection of essays by leading scholars from France, Great Britain and North America is published in honour of Peter Bayley, former Drapers Professor of French at the University of Cambridge and a leading scholar of early modern France. The volume reflects his scholarly interest in the interface between religion, rhetoric and literature in the period 1500 �1800. The first three sections of the book are concerned with the early modern period. The contributors consider subjects including the eloquence of oration from the pulpit, the relationship between religion, culture and belief, and the role of theatre and ceremony during the seventeenth century. They engage with individuals such as the theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, the dramatists Molière, Racine and Corneille, and the philosophers Bayle and Pascal. The volume concludes with a section that is concerned with critical influences and contexts from the sixteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Throughout, the authors offer stimulating new perspectives on an age that never ceases to intrigue and fascinate.-- Provided by publisher Contents 7 Nicholas Hammond and Michael Moriarty Introduction 11 Part I Eloquence of the Pulpit 17 John D. Lyons Bossuet and the Tragic 19 Anne Régent-Susini Religious Discourse and Legal Discourse in Seventeenth-Century France 35 Emma Gilby Having the Last Word: Authority in Bossuet’s Funeral Orations 47 Part II Religion, Culture and Belief 61 Henry Phillips Secular and Religious Cultures in Seventeenth-Century France 63 Richard Parish Chantons l’Auteur de la lumière, Jusqu’au jour où son ordre a marqué notre fin 79 David Wetsel Self-Annihilation, Self-Hatred and Original Sin in Pascal’s Pensées 97 Michael Moriarty Pascal: The Wager and Problems of Order 109 Olivier Tonneau The Science of the Cross 127 Edward James Pierre Bayle on Reason, ‘Sentiment’ and God 143 Richard Maber No Miracles Please, We’re English 157 Part III Theatre and Ceremony 171 Nicholas Hammond The Child’s Voice 173 Michael Hawcroft Racine’s Rhetorical Questions 185 Noël Peacock The Gods from the Machine 205 John O’Brien Stilts; Or, a Not So Tall Story 221 Part IV Contexts and Intertexts 237 Philip Ford Of Lions, Bears and Pigs 239 Pierre Zoberman Topoi of (the) Renaissance in Seventeenth-Century France 259 Emmanuel Bury Guez de Balzac critique de l’éloquence sacrée, entre philologie et rhétorique 273 John Leigh Voltaire’s Little Oraisons funèbres? 295 Jenny Mander Politeness to Strangers: The Mark or Mask of Civility? 309 Nicholas White Fidelity and Invention 325 Neil Kenny ‘Je ne me réputerai totalement mourir’ 347 Notes on Contributors 361 Index 365 Reflects the author's scholarly interest in the interface between religion, rhetoric and literature in the period 1500-1800. In this book, the contributors consider subjects including the eloquence of oration from the pulpit, the relationship between religion, culture and belief, and the role of theatre and ceremony during the seventeenth century.