La Poésie philosophique de Voltaire in SVEC 2003:05, and: Voltaire and the Temple of Bad Taste: A Study of "La Pucelle d'Orléans" in SVEC 2003:05 (review)

REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS145 Le concept de mythe aurait d'ailleurs pu servir d'ancrage théorique à la démonstration et aidé l'auteur à préciser la notion d'« appropriation » définie sans grande fermeté dans son introduction (17). En somme, l'auteur conduit son analyse sans envolée aucune, mais avec rigueur et finesse, et apporte une belle contribution aux études rousseauistes. Pour qui s'intéresse à l'histoire et à la réception des Confessions, l'ouvrage de Kuwase devient incontournable. Pascal Brissette McGiIl University Gwenaëlle Boucher, LaPoésiephilosophique de Voltairein SVEC2003:05, 1-286. Jennifer Tsien, Voltaire and the Temple ofBad Taste: A Study of "LaPuceüe d'Orléans*'in SVEC 2003:05, 287-422. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2003. ISBN 0-7294-0817-5. These two book-length studies are welcome signs ofa revival ofinterestin the critical examination ofVoltaire as a poet. Taken together, tfiey examine his work in the most serious of non-dramatic poetic genres, with special reference to die Poèmesurfe desastre deLisbonne, and the mock epic on the life and mission ofJeanne d'Arc. It is refreshing to learn tfiat tfiis forgotten Voltaire is being brushed offand brought back to tfie light of day. Several years ago, I had the good fortune ofattending a conference where the principal speaker was Maynard Mack, the great Pope scholar, who illustrated his talk about Pope's poetry by reading from the Essay on Man and otherworks. All in attendance were in awe: Pope the poet and Pope the philosopher became one, Pope the poet philosopher. Mack's was a living demonstration that there is such a thing as philosophical poetry, and that die poetry and die philosophy ofPope supported each other, indeed made each other whole. If Gwenaëlle Boucher's book has a weak point, it is diat she does not refer often enough to Pope, who does not figure in her bibliography butwho is mentioned fleetingly in the text when die Discours en vers sur l'homme is mentioned, and that she never cites Mack. These absences are all die more odd in tfiat, given the admiration that Voltaire expressed and felt for Pope, the English poet would seem to have a natural home in a work of this sort. That shortcoming aside, this is a splendid book, and even a courageous one, since Voltaire's verse is so unappreciated in the twenty-first century. Boucher wastes no time in getting to the point in her introduction: the opening section is entided "Le cas Voltaire: ni poète, ni philosophe?" A few hundred pages later, after an exhaustive study ofthe different aspects ofthe French author's philosophical poetryand philosophical prose, the conclusion—altfiough never 146 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION17:1 so starkly stated—is a ringing affirmation: he was both, and both together, in die sense that his poetry supported his philosophy andvice versa; ifhe was not the poet that Pope was, his philosophy was no less profound (or no more shallow) than his English counterpart's. Following a tfiree-section introduction, the book is organized in two almost equal parts: "Poésie et philosophie chez Voltaire," and "La raison ardente." Each of these parts is divided into chapters, which are subdivided into sections. Thus, for example, part 1, chapter 3, "La didactique du vers," contains four sections: "La découverte du sens," "L'heuristique du vers," "Rime et pensée," and "La force argumentative du poème." Similarly, part 2, chapter 2, "Les armes poétiques," contains five sections: "Poétique polémique," Affolement des formes," "Les figures imposées," "Poésie gnomique," and "Rhétorique et poésie." The final chapter ofdiis part constitutes the book's rather too brief conclusion. There follow a "Corpus de la poésie philosophique voltairienne" and a "bibliographie" that includes a listing ofdie "Œuvres poétiques de Voltaire" in die most up-to-date and the most standard, reliable editions, a listing of "Ouvrages publiés avant 1800," and a final listing tfiat is unceremoniously entided "Autres ouvrages." Boucher's arguments are based on careful close readings ofan enormous number of documents related to Voltaire's immense outpouring of poetry and philosophical writings. She seems to have...

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