La Notion de perplexité à la Renaissance by Stéphan GeongetReview by: Bernd RennerThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Summer, 2008), pp. 534-535Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20478941 .

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534 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIX/2 (2008)

It is claimed that de Thou conceived of his Historiae sui temporis as "the paper equiva lent of the Bibliotheca Thuana," which provides an appropriate transition to the final chap ter, "Thuanus Bifrons? De Thou and the History of His Own Times:" Although not claiming to be a comprehensive discussion of the mammoth History, this chapter proposes to see de Thou's main work as deeply rooted in his sociointellectual world and as a manifestation of the roles he had set out to play. Among the topics usefully discussed here are the function of the brief biographies scattered throughout the History, the relation between the use of the first and the third person, and the influence of Tacitus. Since de Thou's later misfortunes largely originated in the international reaction to his History (notably papal condemnation in 1609), it is appropriate that a conclusion should concentrate on "The Final Years" of his fall from grace.

One of the declared purposes of this book is to show that de Thou was more than a president of Parlement in the active world and historian in the literary world. It makes a richly detailed and convincing case that he was also a patron and peacemaker on the one hand, and a significant poet and letter writer on the other. The author has made consider able use of manuscript sources, for example the Dupuy manuscripts in the Bibliotheque nationale de France, which contain the bulk of de Thou's poetic production. She also gives deserved attention to the third-person autobiography, the Commentarii. In discussing the History she shows an acquaintance with the Latin text that is both broad and deep. As Sam uel Kinser made clear in his fundamental 1966 study of de Thou's works, there are no short cuts to the History. Not only are all translations seriously inadequate; even the best Latin text (the 1733 London edition) must be complemented by variants that have never been fully registered. The case of de Thou's mostly unprinted poetry points to the same conclu sion: the philological basis for a full understanding of his work is lacking. In the face of such obstacles, it is a tribute to Ingrid De Smet's erudition, but also to her tact as a reader, that she brings de Thou alive as no one has before.

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La Notion de perplexite a la Renaissance. Stephan Geonget. Geneva: Droz, 2006. 484 pp. SF 168.00. ISBN 978-2-600-01017-7.

REVIEWED BY: Bernd Renner, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY

Stephan Geonget's thorough study of the notion of perplexity in the Renaissance sets out to accomplish a nearly impossible task: to elucidate the two major areas in which this complex concept thrives, the judicial and the theological realms, and then to apply the results of this analysis to some major and minor literary figures' writings (Bouchet, Marot, D'Aubigne, but above all Rabelais and Montaigne). After a detailed examination of the first two areas (just over 300 pages), in which the study also ventures into literary interpretation from time to time, it is precisely in the third category, the actual literary application, that the reader is left wanting more, as the critic seems a little too quick to wrap up what is a highly promising approach to essential problems of early modern writing.

The study is divided into three main parts: the judicial ("Antinomies de lois") and theological ("Conflits interieurs") categories that are at the origin of the notion of perplexity as well as the final venture into literary manifestations of the concept ("Rabelais, de la per plexite au 'thelema"'). Above anything else, perplexity is a technical problem in the sixteenth century, dealing with contradictory laws or opposing interpretations of them. One main example that is examined in the study is the case of erroneously phrased testaments where

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Book Reviews 535

the letter of the text has to be corrected to abide by its spirit (see Africanus's "Ad legem Fal cidiam"). More problematic were truly irresolvable cases, which were to be decided arbi trarily ("quaestio pro amico") or postponed indefinitely, such as in the famous Areopagite episode that is featured prominently in many texts, for example in Rabelais and Montaigne, who were preoccupied by this general issue to a point where they examined it time and again from multiple angles to illustrate concerns such as skepticism or to use it as a vehicle for judicial satire.

In the theological realm, the moral dilemma of perplexity opposes the believer's con science and the precepts of the Church. Saint Augustine, Saint Gregory, and Saint Thomas Aquinas, for instance, struggled to provide answers to the problem. Those answers will dif fer greatly between Protestants and Catholics; whereas the former believe in the conscience functioning as God's voice, which overrides all other rules and thus helps overcome per plexity, the latter see conscience as a tool that was corrupted and deceived by earthly con siderations. Therefore, the Church's precepts are to be followed unconditionally. There are, however, situations where one will find oneself in irresolvable perplexity, torn between two alternatives that both require sinful actions. Such cases of necessitaspeccandi hold particular interest for contemporary theologians and lead, as Geonget shows quite convincingly, to the broader concept of the "moral dilemma," leading from medieval "tutiorism" to Jesuit "prob abilism." The larger context for this conflict derives from the Fall, which inaugurated the opposition between the flesh and the spirit, between the earthly and heavenly cities within man, whose intermingling is the very illustration of perplexity, the essential marker of life on earth.

A generalization of the concept in the course of the early modern period is also notice able in this context, first from the purely theological domain to the juridical (perplexitas juris), the conflict between letter and spirit as well as the choice between contradictory laws (antinomie de lois), then the more subjective and thus more problematic perplexitas facti, the confrontation between conscience and religious precepts, and finally the simple choice between opposing courses of action, independent of any theological or juridical context. This process toward a broader sense of the concept is well documented in dictionaries such as Robert Estienne's, Jean Nicot's, and Antoine Furetiere's.

When it comes to the more concrete literary interpretation that these observations will allow, the Rabelaisian chronicles take center stage, especially the episode of Theleme and the role of Panurge. The notion of perplexity seems to be a welcome tool to enhance the oft quoted increasing ambivalence of the Rabelaisian chronicles, their virtually irresolvable polysemy and "open" structure calling for a collaborative interpretative effort of all "suffi cient" readers. In the case of the trickster, Geonget stresses the central importance of the third and fifth books, even though one could ask oneself in which way the posthumous fifth book, culminating in the consultation of the oracle of the divine bottle, adds any significant layers of meaning to the repeatedly formulated lesson of the third book ("know thyself," "let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind"). At Theleme, the problem is centered around many contradictory signs that are prone to inducing perplexity: the "totalitarian" inscription clashing with the liberal motto ("do as you wish"), which, in turn, fosters har mony, not chaos. Geonget makes a convincing case by trying to explain such apparent con tradictions that make up this ideal abbey as a strong indication of Theleme's function as an image of the ideal heavenly city, celestial Jerusalem.

Geonget's study is a very valuable contribution to early modern studies. The wealth of information, the careful readings, and the wide scope of this book will certainly promote our understanding of a complex issue and enrich future work along the paths opened up by this study.

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