Ancients Against Moderns: Culture Wars and the Making of a Fin de Siecle Book

In a bold and broad swipe, Joan DeJean's book Ancients Against Moderns attempts to draw out the parallels between the cultural debates that wracked France in the late 17th century and the contemporary arguments over virtue, values, taste, and tradition that now divide the United States. DeJean is a knowledgeable guide to the intricacies of the "Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes," focusing particularly on how the debate unfolded in the French Academy between Charles Perrault, an advocate of the Moderns, and Nicholas Boileau, the protector of staid, classical tradition. In describing this debate, DeJean also succeeds in tracing the development of new concepts and meanings, such as the notion of a public audience for literature and an alteration in the language of sentiment and emotion in French letters. She also makes clear just how much was at stake in what may now seem a rarefied disagreement. In reality, matters of moral relativism, the mutability of political forms, and possibilities of social and scientific progress and discovery all hung in the balance. The author's attempts to draw parallels between the past and present debate about cultural change would have been strengthened if the book was not so centered on Gallic examples. Nonetheless, DeJean's book is a stimulating work that succeeds in making clear that ideas matter and history can repeat.Read More