Reforming French Culture : Satire, Spiritual Alienation, and Connection to Strangers

Structured loosely along the lines of a 'lives of the Reformers', this book spotlights a prolific half-dozen of the key polemical crusaders 'of the religion': in order, Conrad Badius, Pierre Viret, Henri Estienne, Simon Goulart, Jean de Léry, and Théodore de Bèze; all of whom, with somewhat unexpected yet ineluctable logic, lead to Michel de Montaigne. Central to Hoffmann's thesis is the notion of estrangement, which, at the grave risk of oversimplifying what is in truth an artfully subtle argument, he demonstrates was as much a modus operandi of the reforming proselytizers and polemicists as it became... Reforming French Culture is a ground-breaking work on the literary genre of Reformation satire -- colloquial, obscene, scatological -- designed to mock the excesses as well as the essence of the Roman Catholic rite and hierarchy. Enticingly, Hoffmann proposes that while romance, with its episodic, heroic narrative, is the literary genre of Counter-Reformation, satire is the genre of Reformation. This minor category of Renaissance French literature is an unstudied continent that plays a key role, not only in French literature, but also in French history, and in the evolution of French culture more generally. From this deceptively small focus, the volume opens up huge vistas: on the Reformation, on French history, and on the symbiosis of spirituality and estrangement to which it views modern French culture as heir. Rather than using literature to illustrate history, or contextualizing literature through historical background, this book brings literary understanding (what satire is and what it does) to bear on historical understanding. Situated at the crossroads of religion, literature, and cultural history, it explores how France, in this period, became a culturally Protestant country while remaining confessionally Catholic. -- From publisher's website Introduction1: Background: Purging an Unreformed Past2: Becoming Religious Foreigners3: The Devotional Force of Incredulity4: Pilgrims of Satire: To Go Home5: Noplace Anywhere: 'Observation' as Worship6: From Communion to Communication7: The Legacy of French Reformation Satire In this volume, George Hoffmann presents a study of Protestant satirical texts in sixteenth-century France and their role in French literature and history, examining how France became a culturally Protestant country while remaining confessionally Catholic. George Hoffman. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 215-257) And Index.