This is the first comprehensive study to appear in English of the controversial Lettres Provinciales (1656-7), Pascal's major polemical work against the Society of Jesus. The author approaches the text from two related angles. He analyses in detail the substance and structure of the letters themselves, a process which casts light on the nature of polemic as a literary genre. Adducing much material not easily accessible to scholarship, he examines the (mainly) Jesuit counter-polemic, thereby setting the Provinciales in the context of a broader polemical exchange. Finally, the author explores the links between the Provinciales and Pascal's Pens 'ees , demonstrating a closer connection between the two works than is generally recognized, and offering some insight into the relationship between polemics and apologetics. This book is intended for all students of Pascal, of Jansenism and the Jesuits, and of French thought in the seventeenth century.
- ISBN10 0198151551
- ISBN13 9780198151555
- Publish Date 1 June 1989
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 7 October 2002
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Clarendon Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 223
- Language English