L'Association négative. Depuis la syntaxe jusqu'à l'interprétation - Larrivée, Pierre

Langue et Cultures. Genève: Droz. 256 pages.

Pierre Larrivée untangles the old grammatical paradox allowing for several negations within the same negative clause through his work of the scope of negations. The scope of each negation over the same predicate is what allows for concordant values. The frequent co-occurrence of negative items, cases of double negation and the expletive negative, as compared to constituent negation, help to demonstrate this. Analysis of these phenomena is based on a large body of data of different varieties of French considered in the light of historical, typological, and psycholinguistic tendencies. While extensive reference is made to current analysis, Pierre Larrivée maintains his independence from any particular model. Starting from syntactic generalisations, the work provides an innovative solution to a classic interpretative issue.

Contre les enseignements de la logique, les langues naturelles admettent que plusieurs négations s'emploient dans une même proposition négative. A partir de ses travaux sur la notion de portée de la négation, Pierre Larrivée dénoue, dans L'Association négative, ce vieux paradoxe grammatical. Toute négation peut avoir une portée propositionnelle. Cette dernière, dénoncée par les réflexes morphosyntaxiques d'anticipation et de cliticisation, permet la mise en commun des valeurs négatives par la visée d'un même prédicat. Pour preuve, qu'il suffise de mentionner les possibilités de cooccurrences entre négations, les cas de double négation et l'analyse de la négation explétive, ainsi que la comparaison avec la portée de constituant. Ces phénomènes sont considérés à travers un ensemble étendu de données de différentes variétés du français, à la lumière de mécanismes historiques, typologiques et psycholinguistiques, en tenant compte des propositions des formalismes existants dont est donnée une critique raisonnée. L'originalité de la démarche permet d'offrir à partir des manifestations morphosyntaxiques une solution simple et élégante à une question classique d'interprétation.

Sartre, Self-Formation and Masculinities - Jean-Pierre Boulé

"It's a bold undertaking, a fascinating tour de force, unrivalled in the Sartre literature. The results are brilliant, effective, and persuasive: Sartre's deficits and compensations are made clear, but never unfeelingly or abstractly. Accordingly, this study will be must reading for Sartre specialists as well as those interested in the relationship of psychology to biography." · Ronald Aronson, Wayne State University

"By using the theme of masculinity, Boulé succeeds in illuminating in a fresh way well-known material from Les Mots and the various biographies. Future studies of Sartre will not be able to disregard the important new questions posed by Boulé's work." · Ian H. Birchall, Independent Writer,
formerly Middlesex University

‘The central analysis/interpretation of Sartre is fascinating, in the very complex areas of the psychology of his childhood, its effects upon the rest of his life, and his convoluted attitudes on gender. It is penetrating, consistent, subtle and has that vital characteristic of drawing together all kinds of elements of Sartre that might otherwise have remained unconnected.

Over and above all of this, there is a sense of genuine interest/curiosity as well as discovery: we actually see Professor Boulé learning things about Sartre, and sometimes changing his mind.’-Terry Keefe, Lancaster University

Published on the occasion of Sartre’s Centenary, this book helps to understand the man behind the work, offering a psycho-social analysis of Jean-Paul Sartre with an emphasis on his masculinity. Sartre’s development is contextualised in terms of his psycho-sexual formation and processes of
self-constitution, with reference to childhood experiences. The main period under detailed study is 1905-1945, before Sartre became the Sartre. It concentrates on his early childhood, his teenage years in La Rochelle, the years at the Ecole Normale, and the first few years of his adulthood, with specific attention on the war years. An analysis of Sartre’s relationships follows, with Simone de Beauvoir and other women and men (including love and sex), before a postscript covering the period 1973-1980. This essay is not a reductive account. It tells the story of Jean-Paul Sartre, from the inside out, so that the achievements of one of the major intellectuals of the 20^th Century can be measured against his own internal struggles.

Jean-Pierre Boulé is Professor of Contemporary French Studies at the Nottingham Trent University. He is the author of Sartre médiatique (1992) and has also written books on Hervé Guibert and on AIDS literature in France. His last book was HIV Stories: The Archaeology of AIDS Writing in France (2002). He is the co-founder of the UK Society for Sartrean Studies, and has given papers at Sartre conferences in Canada, France, The United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

The City in French Writing: The Eighteenth-Century Experience - edited by Síofra Pierse

The City intrigues and fascinates in every era. The City in French Writing explores images of urban life and the city as depicted in eighteenth-century French writings, with particular reference to Paris, Geneva and the utopian ideal. The eighteenth-century French city posed particular challenges to
writer and citizen alike, presenting possibilities and pitfalls specific to the pre-Revolutionary decades. In contrast to previous studies of the beautiful or of the imaginary city, these essays in this collection consider everyday life on the streets of the metropolis, providing an outlook that is novel and markedly distinct.

Most striking is the dramatic change in focus between the early and late decades of this troubled century. Initially, the city can be construed as a space which allows individuals to evolve and to flourish. Later in the century, the city is depicted textually as being unstable, in both moral and
civic terms. In a stark transition, the city thus evolves from a place of great potential into a space of real danger, teetering on the verge of revolutionary chaos.

Some of the essays are written in French. The French title of the book is Ecrire la ville au dix-huitième siècle.

The Editor - Síofra Pierse is lecturer in French at University College Dublin.

 
CONTENTS

PART ONE: URBAN MOBILITY 1 Descript and Non-Descript in La Vie de Marianne and Le Paysan Parvenu, Will McMorran; 2 'Du Fouet à la Plume': Coaches and Coachmen in L'Histoire de Guillaume, Cocher, John P. Greene; 3 Le Monde Marginal du Chevalier des Grieux et Manon Lescaut, Josephine Grieder; 4 Paris ou l'Éducation du Lecteur, Ioana Galleron Marasescu;