RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK 2010-2011

GEOFFREY TURNOVSKY (University of Washington, Seattle)

Thursday, 24 February
5:30 PM (Pane Room, Alexander Library)

Authorial Modesty and its Readers: /Mondanité/ and Modernity in
17th-Century France

Abstract: The culture of mid 17th-century mondanité has been of growing
interest to scholars seeking to rescue this "archive galante" from the
neglect, on one hand, of Classicism and its champions, and on the other,
of a Romantic view that sees this culture's rootedness in elite
sociability as corrupt and archaic. My talk builds on recent work by
Delphine Denis, Alain Viala, and others, who have undertaken to
characterize the particular logic of mondanité, contextualizing it as an
articulation of intellectual modernity. This work has highlighted
authorial identities and strategies, with "modern" generally indicating
the autonomy and legitimacy of writers. I look at the question from the
reader's side, where the literary output of mondaine culture spoke to the
desires and expectations of consumers in a new market that, along with the
books sold by Barbin and other publishers of "nouveautés," dealt in
experiences of fashionability and up - to - date-ness, which were also
integral to mondanité's modernity.

More about RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK 2010-2011 events and
directions at:
http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/book_history/RSHOB_2010-2011.html


For their support for the lecture series, the Rutgers seminar in the
History of the Book would like to thank the following programs and units
at Rutgers:

Center for Cultural Analysis | Departments of English, French, and History
| Program in Early Modern Studies | Rutgers University Libraries | School
of Arts and Sciences (Dean's Office) | School of Communication and
Information | The Transliteratures Project



-- 
Marija Dalbello
Associate Professor
School of Communication and Information
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