The Lives and Afterlives of Vis and Rāmin

This article is a review of the afterlife, or Nachleben, of the romance Vis and Rāmin, one of the first representatives of its genre in New Persian literature. In addition to providing readers with an extensive bibliography of sources and research concerning the poem, it also analyzes these materials to put forward two basic arguments: one, that moral or religious antipathy to the poem’s contents may not have played as great a role in its fortunes as did aesthetic taste; and two, that V&R proved to be a more widely circulated and durable work than is commonly supposed, but on the level of fragments, not the entire text. In light of these arguments, it is proposed that studies structured around the comparison of fragments—themes, ideas, ethics, and motifs, rather than whole texts—may offer more purchase in constructing models of analysis that situate V&R, and Persian literature more broadly, within a literary oikumene in which it connects and interacts with neighboring traditions.     

Book reviews

ATTARD‐MARANINCHI, M.‐F., Le Panier, village corse à Marseille, Autrement, 1997, 157 pp., 89 F., ISSN 0336 5816

CAYROL, R., Médias et démocratie: la derive, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 115 pp., 75F., ISBN 2 7246 0710 4

CLERC, D., Dictionnaire des questions économiques et sociales, Editions de l'Atelier, 1997, 315 pp., 85F., ISBN 2 7082 3284 3

C?URÉ, S. et al. (eds), Marcel Cachin: Carnets 1906–1947: Volume IV 1935–47, CNRS, 1997, 1190 pp., no price indicated, ISBN 2 271 05124 X

COOPER, F., Decolonisation and African Society. The Labour Question in French and British Africa, Cambridge University Press, 1996, 677 pp., £55 hbk, ISBN 0 521 56251 1; £19.95 pbk, ISBN 0 521 56600 2

DEBRAY, R., Transmettre, Odile Jacob, 1997, 204 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 7381 0461 4

ELKABBACH, J.‐P., 29 mois et quelques jours, Grasset, 1997, 346 pp., 126F., ISBN 2 246 54341 X

ESTABLET, R., Comment peut‐on être Français? 90 ouvriers turcs racontent, Fayard, 1997, 242 pp., 100F, ISBN 2 213 59962 9

FAURÉ, C. (ed.), Encyclopédic politique et historique des femmes, PUF, 1997, 885 pp., 498F., ISBN 213 048 316X

FILLIEULE, O., Stratégies de la rue, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 435 pp., 265F., ISBN 2 7246 0707 4

GAFAITI, H., Les Femmes dans le roman algérien: histoire, discours et texte, L'Harmattan, 1996, 350 pp., 180F., ISBN 2 384 4039 8

GEISSER, V., Ethnicité républicaine. Les élites d'origine maghrébine dans le système politique français, Presses de Sciences Po, 1997, 261 pp., 149F., ISBN 2 7246 0732 5

GRANGE, J., La Philosophie d'Auguste Comte, PUF, 1996, 447 pp., 198F., ISBN 2 1304 7277X

HAUT CONSEIL DE LA FRANCOPHONIE, Etat de la Francophonie dans le monde: données 1995–1996 et 5 études inédites, La Documentation française, 1997, 629 pp., 150F., ISBN 2 11 003683 4

INSEE, La France et ses régions: Edition 1997, INSEE, 1997, 226 pp., 89F., ISBN 2 11 066 505 X

KALYVAS, S., The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe, Cornell University Press, 1996, 300 pp., £15.95, ISBN 0 8014 3241 3

KNIGHT, D., Barthes and Utopia. Space, Travel, Writing, Clarendon Press, 1997, 287 pp., £35, ISBN 0 19 81 5889 0

KOFMAN, S., Rue Ordener, Rue Labat, University of Nebraska Press, 1996, 85 pp., £11, ISBN 0 8032 7780 6

LEVY, S. (ed.), Surrealism: Surrealist Visuality, Keele University Press, 1996, 173 pp., £35, ISBN 1 8533 1 170 7

LLOYD, M. and THACKER, A. (eds), The Impact of Michel Foucault on the Social Sciences and Humanities, Macmillan, 1997, 186 pp., £42.50 hbk, ISBN 0 333 63126; £15.99 pbk, ISBN 0 333 68432 X

LYNCH, F. M. B. France, and the International Economy, Routledge, 1997, 227pp., £45, ISBN 0 415 142 199

MINISTERE DE LA JUSTICE, Les archives contemporaines de l'administration centrale. Guide de recherches, La Documentation française, 1997, 312 pp., 300F., ISBN 2 11090 299 X

MUXEL, A., Individu et mémoire familiale, Nathan, 1996, 226 pp., 139F., ISBN 2 09 190420 1

NEBOIT‐GUILHOT, R. and DAVY L. (eds), Les Français dans leur environnement, Nathan, 1996, 382 pp., 199F., ISBN 2 09 190369 8

REYNOLDS, S., France between the Wars: Gender and Politics, Routledge, 1996, 280 pp., £16.99, ISBN 0 415 12737 8

RITCHIE, A.C., Media French. A Guide to Contemporary French Idiom, with English Translations, University of Wales Press, 1997, 268 pp., £20, ISBN 0 7083 1399 X

RONCAYOLO, M., Les grammaires d'une ville. Essai sur la genèse des structures urbaines à Marseille, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1996, 508 pp., 380F., ISBN 2 7132 1195 6

ROUGELET, P.R.G., La machine à scandales, Albin Michel, 1997, 261 pp., 98F., ISBN 2 226 09274 9

SHERINGHAM, M. (ed.), Parisian Fields, Reaktion Books, 1996, 200 pp., £12.95, ISBN 0 948462 85 X

SHLAPENTOKH, D., The French Revolution in Russian Intellectual Life, 1865–1905, Praeger, 1996, 202 pp., £46.50, ISBN 0 275 95573 7

The French Revolution and the Russian Anti‐Democratic Tradition. A, Case, of False Consciousness, Transaction Publishers, 1997, 324 pp., £20.95, ISBN 1 56000 244 1

TERRIER, D., Les deux âges de la proto‐industrie: les tis‐serands du Cambrésis et du Saint‐Qucntinois, 1730–1880, Editions de I'EHESS, 1996, 311 pp., 150F., ISBN 2 7132 1203 0

TOPPIA, J.‐M., Function politique et délit d'ingérence, L'Aube, 1996, 381 pp., no price indicated ISBN 2 87678 270 7

TREMOIS, C.‐M., Les Enfants de la liberté. Le jeune cinéma français des années 90, Seuil, 1997, 282 pp., 120F., ISBN 2 02 032309 5

TUCK, P., The French Wolf and the Siamese Lamb. The French Threat to Siamese Independence, 1858–1907, White Lotus, distributed by Liverpool University Press, 1995 434 pp., £24.95, ISBN 1 879155 44 3

VANDERVORT, B., Victor Griffuelhes and French Syndicalism, 1895–1922, Louisiana State University Press, 1996, 278 pp., $50, ISBN 0 8071 2045 6