Crafting Enlightenment: Artisanal Histories and Transnational Networks

Abstract

which excuse and justify everything’ (p. 55); he considers it equal to any model, ancient or modern, of pastoral writing. Maréchal also comments on biblical translations and adaptations — neither Rousseau nor Favart fare particularly well (pp. 55–56) although Racine does better (p. 133). Sheila Delany’s own translation is strong, and this is the third in a trilogy of Maréchal translations she has undertaken. Initially a Chaucerian, she translated Maréchal’s Nouvelle légende dorée (1790) and La Femme abbé (1801) as Anti-Saints (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2012) and The Woman Priest (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2016). Her interest is in the long history of religion and satires thereof, as is emphasized by the placing of For and Against the Bible within Brill’s ‘Studies in Critical Research on Religion’. Her Introduction is framed within a discussion of religious discourse in modern America, starts with an anecdote about Donald Trump’s Vice-President, Mike Pence, and criticizes nations where there is no separation of powers. If her presentation of the French Revolution can be sensationalizing or partisan (in 1800, for example, ‘there was a climate of fear for many, decadence for others’, while Napoleon crowning himself emperor is termed ‘this horror’, p. 6), her commentary is nonetheless perfectly serviceable, and Maréchal would no doubt be only too pleased to be harnessed to further anti-religious polemic.