The Shape of Change

In The Shape of Change, Anne L. Birberick and Russell Ganim bring together essays by fourteen established scholars who dedicate their studies to David Rubin as they explore the ways in which artistic endeavor shapes and is shaped by literary memory. The volume is divided into two sections. The first section, “Continuity and Discontinuity,” offers essays by Jody Enders, Timothy Reiss, Twyla Meding, Marie-Odile Sweetser, Robert Corum, Jr., and the editors themselves and considers the ways in which seventeenth-century authors draw upon generic conventions or diverse artistic media to create works that reflect the aesthetic and moral values of their time. The second section, entitled “La Fontaine,” focuses primarily on Jean de La Fontaine's masterpiece,Les Fables. Here the problem of imitation and innovation as it relates to genre, influence, and literary reputation is examined in essays by Jules Brody, Richard Danner, Judd Hubert, Catherine Grisé, Michael Vincent, Nicholas Cronk, and Ralph Albanese, Jr. The Shape of Change serves as a fine scholarly contribution to the studies of French seventeenth-century literature and La Fontaine. The essays are thoughtful as well as thought provoking and the volume's critical diversity is nicely balanced by its thematic coherence. In its ability to stimulate new thinking, this collection of essays will be of interest to both students and scholars of early modern France.