Hobart and William Smith Colleges

23 May 2014 Collaboration on Gallouts New Book

Catherine Gallout, professor of French and Francophone studies, has studied Marivaux her entire career. While she has also published extensively on other writers and other subjects, Gallout has been drawn back to the 18^th century French playwright, essayist, and novelist, for his surprisingly contemporary subject matter and the modernity of his style.

Thats the reason he is the most produced classical playwright on the French stage, says Gallout.

This spring, Gallout published Marivaudage:theories & pratiques dun discours (Oxford Studies in the Enlightenment, 2014), a collection of essays exploring the style of Marivaux as it is discussed by his contemporaries and is remembered today.

Marivauxs style gave birth to a common term in French, marivaudage, now coined for an excess of language and a preciousness of expression. Whereas Marivauxs ambition was to create a new and transparent expression, he was reviled by his contemporaries for feminine style and vulgarity, says Gallout, who edited the essays and wrote the books Introduction and the essay Voil bien des riens pour un veritable rien: les enjeux du marivaudage (Much ado about nothing: the stakes of marivaudage.) I wanted to see the discussion reframed in terms that are much more contemporary and political, through the lens of cultural studies and contemporary textual criticism. Its a very interdisciplinary book thats more reflective of what marivaudage is than the way its remembered.

When her publisher asked what image she would like to use for the books cover, Gallout wanted to use a Valentine card that Kathleen Tocke 95 made for her, which featured an inset of Jean-Antoine Watteaus painting, LEnseigne de Gersaint (1720). In Watteaus painting, a man is packing away a portrait of Louis XIV; on the Valentine, and on the cover of Marivaudage, the portrait is the 1743 Van Loos portrait of Marivaux.

Tocke, who is a member of the U.S. Sailing team, a 2013 U.S. national champion, and is currently competing in the French World Cup, has remained in touch through the years.

I have kept this card hanging over my desk all along, and when my publisher asked for a cover, it seemed like the natural choice because of the witty reference to Marivaux, says Gallout, who contacted Tocke for permission, and asked Assistant Professor of Art Christine Chin to touch up the image according to the publishers specs, readying it for the cover.

Marivaux is an author Ive been researching my whole career, and this book is something Ive had in my head for a very long time. Now its finished and features the most important Marivaux scholars, Gallout says. Including Kathleen, an old friend, and Christine, my colleague, in this project, it feels like a complete circle.

The image above features the cover ofMarivaudage:theories & pratiques dun discours, a collection of essays.