TY - JOUR
AU - Banks, Bryan A
AB - If a hallmark of Enlightenment studies has been breaking monolithic categories like the ‘French Enlightenment’ into their composite parts, emphasizing dialogue, and new forms of Enlightenment discourse, then it only makes sense to forefront the critics of the more mainstream Enlightenment, however one colours it. Jessica Goodman and six of her French-language students took on the project of translating a palpable critique of Diderot and d’Alembert’s encyclopaedic Enlightenment, Charles Palissot de Montenoy’s Les Philosophes (first published in 1760). Goodman and her students published their translation under a Creative Commons license, which makes the ebook version of this text completely free to all interested—a laudable choice, promising greater equitable access to knowledge than most of the radical French men of the Enlightenment would have wanted, especially for a text so critical of their work. This translation features an introduction, which offers the necessary context of the pamphlet wars surrounding the Encyclopédie, Jansenist quarrelling, as well as the more personal dynamics that explain Pallisot’s rise and fall from the French cultural milieu of the period. Particular emphasis is placed on the exchange between Voltaire and Pallisot and Pallisot and Diderot. Pallisot’s play presents the ‘philosophes as an exploitative cabal who advocated adherence to their philosophical way of life out of pure self-advancement’. When not tearing the philosophes down for their self-aggrandizement, readers will likely focus on the most famous moment of the play, the actor Préville’s pantomime of near-Rousseauian replica character who walks on the stage on all fours eating leaves, as if he was an ass. The authorial group also opens up a discussion of the project, which could prove a useful model for French-language or any translation class to undertake. Goodman began this experiment with six students, outlining the problems they might face in the preparation of the text and in the process towards publication. In particular, Goodman stresses that such a project works for both students and the principal researcher. Students get a glimpse into the work that academic translators do and the academic translator benefits from the labour and insight of her students. Student-driven research and production, according to the Goodman, allow for a student-centred learning experience that stretches well beyond the classroom. This student-assisted model bleeds into the construction of the translation as well. Less attention is placed on producing a critical edition of Les Philosophes and instead making Pallisot’s work as accessible as possible—a decision both reflecting the authorial process and the ultimate objective, which was to have a text ready for student use. What follows the introduction are the English translation of Pallisot’s text and the original French, based on the 2002 edition by Olivier Ferret, which used the 1760 original edition of the text. Each section contains the text and a preface composed by Palissot. The text is highly readable for a modern audience. This text is teachable and would be ideally suited for a course on the Enlightenment, French theatre, or even Old Regime Europe. The bite of Pallisot’s discourse crisscrosses much territory in Enlightenment studies, making this tract ideal for teaching. The closed network of the Enlightenment publishing world that forged a ‘low’ Enlightenment, as Robert Darnton argues, echoes throughout the text. The increasing prevalence of wives and women in the lives of the philosophes too exemplifies the shift towards critical domestic studies that scholars like Meghan Roberts have explored so well. The construction of philosophical celebrity, which Antoine Lilti has published on to such wide acclaim too finds resonances in this study. Some odd type-face and italics are present in the introduction are a little disorienting. Whether this is the fault of the translators, or the publisher is unclear. Yet, beyond this typographical issue, Goodman and her six students have made a valuable primary source available and having done so in an open-access format will guarantee that teachers make use of it. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of French History 2021. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of French History 2021.
TI - The Philosophes
JF - French History
DO - 10.1093/fh/crab038
DA - 2021-10-20
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/the-philosophes-JVF06hySYh
SP - 404
EP - 405
VL - 35
IS - 3
DP - DeepDyve
ER -