Ebook: L’influence française et le rôle de John Dryden dans l’évolution des idées générales et de la rhétorique en Occident [thesis]

The evolution of Western thought was expressed in striking fashion by the development of rhetoric. It was the baroque, in its several expressions, especially early baroque which marked a decisive turning point in this development, since it expressed the crisis in thinking after the Reformation and the promotion of the sciences.

Since England was strongly influenced by classical and French literature, as was John Dryden himself, the definition of the fundamental principles of these literatures is important for an understanding of the development of rhetoric (prose) in the seventeenth century and of the work of Dryden as a catalyst in transmitting these principles as a general tradition to his own period, a tradition which carried on after him into our own times.

We have attempted to show by this study the unity which is found in the parallel developments of rhetoric and of criticism, and of the simplification of English prose, as well as of the "central tradition," into our own times. Finally, we have seen the role of Dryden, thanks to the French influence, in the direction which these developments took after him.

Vol. I considers, in five chapters: (1) The Question of Style: The Classical World and Subsequent Centuries. Renaissance and Seventeenth Century. (2) The French Renaissance and Ciceronianism: Comparison with England. (3) Anti Ciceronianism: Diverse Styles. (4) The Baroque. (5) Plain Prose.

Vol. II studies, in three chapters: (1) French Influence in England. (2) Dryden and France. (3) The Prose of Dryden.