An Introduction to SixteenthCentury French Literature and Thought

the long version

"The age of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Erasmus, Luther and Machiavelli produced in France too some of Europe's greatest ever literature and thought: Montaigne's Essays, Rabelais's comic fictions, Ronsard's poetry, Calvin's theology. These and numerous other extraordinary writings emerged from and contributed to cultural upheavals: the movement usually known as the Renaissance, which sought to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture for present-day purposes; religious reform, including the previously unthinkable rejection of Catholicism by many in the Reformation, culminating in decades of civil war in France; the French language's transformation into an instrument for advanced abstract thought. This book introduces this vibrant literature and thought via an apparent paradox."--Jacket.