Awards

• Winner of Winner, The Literary Encyclopedia Book Prize 2022, in the category Literature in languages other than English Shortlisted, R. Gapper Book Prize, Society for French Studies.
• Winner of Winner, The Literary Encyclopedia Book Prize 2022, in the category Literature in languages other than English.

Overview

Following the assassination of Henri IV in 1610, the political turbulence of Louis XIII's early reign led to renewed efforts to police the book trade. Yet this period also witnessed a golden age of so-called 'libertine' literature, including a plethora of sexually explicit and irreverent poetry as well as works of free-thinking that cast doubt on the dogma of Church and State. As France moved closer towards absolutism, a number of unorthodox writers were forced to defend themselves before the law courts. Libertines and the Law examines the notorious trials of three subversive authors. The Italian naturalist philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini was brutally executed for blasphemy by the Parlement de Toulouse in 1619. The Jewish convert Jean Fontanier was burned at the stake two years later in Paris for authoring a text refuting Christian teaching. Finally, the trial of the infamous poet Théophile de Viau for irreligion, obscenity, and poetic descriptions of homosexuality proved to be a landmark in French literary and social history, despite the poet eventually escaping the death penalty in 1625. These trials are contextualised with a conceptual history of libertinism, as well as an exploration of literary censorship and the mechanics of the criminal justice system in early modern France. Drawing from rarely explored archival sources, newly discovered evidence, and legal manuals, Libertines and the Law provides new insights into the censorship of French literature and thought from the perspectives of both the defendants and the magistrates. Through a diverse corpus including poetry, philosophical texts, religious polemics, Jewish teachings, and private memoirs, it sheds new light on this crucial period in literary, legal, and intellectual history.

Full Product Details

9780197267004

Table of Contents

Reviews

Adam Horsley's remarkable book brings seventeenth-century criminal archives into the realm of literary analysis. * Tom Hamilton, The Seventeenth Century * A rigorous and critical re-evaluation of some crucial issues in seventeenth-century literature and culture that opens the way for future research to bridge the gap between law and literature * Tom Hamilton, The Seventeenth Century *

An important contribution to scholarly efforts to give intellectual, literary, but also social substance to seventeenth-century libertinage. [...] Horsley's book constitutes a thorough investigation into the reading records created by trials involving men of letters, but it also explores the ways in which the latter consolidated a reality that they helped to write. * Laurence Giavarini, French Studies * Horsley's meticulous archival study and expert analysis of legal arguments and practices reveals with extraordinary acuity how this society sought to define freedom of thought and action, whether in political and religious matters or in social conduct, and how to repress it * The Literary Encyclopedia * Adam Horsley's remarkable book brings seventeenth-century criminal archives into the realm of literary analysis. * Tom Hamilton, The Seventeenth Century * A rigorous and critical re-evaluation of some crucial issues in seventeenth-century literature and culture that opens the way for future research to bridge the gap between law and literature * Tom Hamilton, The Seventeenth Century * A highly impressive book...covering the fields of literary studies, criminology, and political and religious history, displaying extraordinary new research and discoveries of previously unknown and unstudied manuscripts. The breadth, scholarship and creativity of Libertines and the Law make it essential reading for students of early modern French law and literature. * Nicolas Hammond, Law & Literature *

An important contribution to scholarly efforts to give intellectual, literary, but also social substance to seventeenth-century libertinage. [...] Horsley's book constitutes a thorough investigation into the reading records created by trials involving men of letters, but it also explores the ways in which the latter consolidated a reality that they helped to write. * Laurence Giavarini, French Studies * Horsley's meticulous archival study and expert analysis of legal arguments and practices reveals with extraordinary acuity how this society sought to define freedom of thought and action, whether in political and religious matters or in social conduct, and how to repress it * The Literary Encyclopedia * Adam Horsley's remarkable book brings seventeenth-century criminal archives into the realm of literary analysis. * Tom Hamilton, The Seventeenth Century * A rigorous and critical re-evaluation of some crucial issues in seventeenth-century literature and culture that opens the way for future research to bridge the gap between law and literature * Tom Hamilton, The Seventeenth Century *

Author Information

Adam Horsley is currently a Lecturer in French at the University of Exeter. He studied for his PhD at the University of Nottingham, one year of which was spent in Paris whilst teaching at the Université de Paris VII Denis Diderot. He subsequently taught at Nottingham for three years as an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow. He is the author of a number of studies on seventeenth-century French libertine literature, criminal history and material bibliography.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available