French Literature Reviews - 2026
Anthology of the Works of Étienne Dolet, Humanist-Printer (M. Picquier, ed.)
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Marcel Picquier (ed.), Anthologie des oeuvres d'Etienne Dolet, humaniste-imprimeur
Anthology presented by Marcel Picquier and Jacques André éditeur
Lyon: Jacques André éditeur, 2016.
EAN13 : 9782757003329
18.00 EUR
Publisher's Overview
Fire could not conquer Reason. The stake consumed the man, but not his thought. The ashes of Étienne Dolet’s books were scattered, yet the ideas of justice, tolerance, and liberty that once rested between their pages took root anew across the entire Republic of Letters; they continue to sprout to this day, as this volume amply demonstrates. Herein we have gathered significant texts reflecting the work and thought of the printer from Lyon. Many of these pages remain strikingly relevant, as current events continually draw us back to an era when daring to think for oneself, free from the constraints and dogmas of the Church, could lead straight to imprisonment, torture, and death. Is our own age really any different? Dolet was condemned on the pretext that he had challenged the dogma of the immortality of the soul. We shall not debate that point here, preferring instead to let the texts speak for themselves. Rather, we wish to highlight the enduring vitality of the humanist ideal—the freedom of thought and expression—which we must continually defend against the ever-renewed folly of unfounded beliefs.
Table of Contents
Dolet and Free Thought
A Word from Ferdinand Buisson
Introduction
– Remarks on Textual Establishment and Translation
Biography
– Formative Years
– Dolet the Printer
– Downfall and Execution
– Dolet: True to Himself and His Values Until Death
– Dolet and Posterity
I – Two Orations Against Toulouse
Prefatory Letter from Simon Finet to Claude Cottereau
First Oration
– It is my duty
– Drunken nonsense
– Practicing friendship and communal living
– It is from you that the homeland demands this…
Second Oration
First Excerpt
– Poverty, meager resources… he threw all this in my face
– In praise of Simon de Villeneuve
– I bear a grudge against the barbarism of barbarian Toulouse
Second Excerpt
– Panegyric to the French and King Francis Ier
Third Excerpt
– The Lutheran heresy
– I subscribe to nothing less than the iniquitous stubbornness of heretics
– The barbarism of Toulouse. Professor Caturce "burned alive"
– The "ridiculous superstitions" of Toulouse
– Jean de Boyssoné harassed and condemned
II – Dialogue Against Erasmus
Prefatory Letter Addressed to Guillaume Scève
I devote myself to literature… I am inflamed by a new love
I attack Erasmus
The "stupid sect" of the Lutherans
Three Excerpts from the Dialogue
i - The Reception of Thomas More, Life in Padua
2 - "Word and Words" - Pernicious Theologians
3 - "Portrait of the Orator" - Independence of Thought from Dogma
– In praise of Thomas More
– The Death of Erasmus
III – Commentaries on the Latin Language
Letter to Budé
i - In Praise of the Renaissance of Letters
ii - The Delights of Music
iii - Printing
iv – Fatum
v - The Formidable Justice of Men
vi - Death
vii - Posterity
viii - Opinions on the Immortality of the Soul
IV – Cato Christianus
Prefatory Letter. Étienne Dolet greets Jacques Sadolet
V – The Pre-Birth of Claude Dolet
On Catholic Religious Doctrine to Be Professed
Excerpt from the Latin Genethliac of Highly Unorthodox Thought
On His Relations with Friends
On the Choice of a Spouse
On War and the Soldier’s Profession
VI – Amorous Tales by Madame Jeanne Flore
Portrait of Pyralius
Venus Leads Rosemonde and Andro to Their Bedchamber
Daurine Demands the Freedom to Marry the Man She Loves
VII – Carmina
Character and Love of Liberty
To Jacques Sadolet
Book, if one seeks
His Affection for His Masters in Padua
Hatred of Monks and Theologians
Sentiments on the Love of Helen
Against the Court
Patriotism and Devotion to the King
Love of Letters and the Hope That They Ensure Immortality
Meditations on the Power of Destiny and Death
VIII – The Manner of Translating Well from One Language into Another
Prefatory Letter from Étienne Dolet to My Lord of Langey
Étienne Dolet to the French People
The Manner of Translating Well from One Language into Another
IX – Dolet as Translator of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations
And of the Axiochus Attributed to Plato
Tusculan Disputations
– First Excerpt. Is Death an Evil?
– Second Excerpt. No Reason to Fear the Underworld
– Third Excerpt. Death Is a Good
– Fourth Excerpt. The Nature of the Soul Discussed
– Fifth Excerpt. The Immortality of the Soul Is Uncertain
Axiochus
X – Freedom of Thought and Expression
Dolet Defies the Censors
Prefatory Letter to the Lyon Edition of Marot's L'Enfer
Prefatory Letter for the Edition of Erasmus's The Christian Knight
XI – The Second Hell
Étienne Dolet offers humble greetings to his dearest and principal friends
Epistle to the Most Christian and Most Powerful King Francis
Epistle to the Sovereign and Venerable Court of the Parliament of Paris
To His Most Reverend Lordship the Cardinal de Tournon
To His Friends
XII – Dolet to the Most Christian King
Final Appeal to the King in the Troyes Edition of The Second Hell
Tribute to Marguerite of Navarre, Sister of King Francis Ier
XIII – Canticle of Étienne Dolet Imprisoned
XIV – The Courts and History
Dolet's Death Sentences
Dolet's Defense
Portraits from Dolet's Era
Bibliography
Index
This volume presents a selection of texts by the sixteenth-century printer, humanist, and scholar Étienne Dolet, whose life and work unfolded against the backdrop of religious and intellectual upheaval in Renaissance France. Gathered under the editorial direction of Marcel Picquier, the collection includes orations, dialogues, letters, and translations that illustrate Dolet's intellectual trajectory and his defense of independent thought. The materials assembled in the book highlight his engagement with contemporary controversies, his literary output, and the circumstances of his condemnation and execution.
Within the broader landscape of sixteenth-century studies, Dolet's trajectory exemplifies the intersection of humanist inquiry, early modern publishing, and religious censorship. The selections showcase his reflections on language, translation, and civic liberty, offering insight into the intellectual networks of the Republic of Letters. Readers interested in Renaissance humanism and the history of censorship may find this gathering of Dolet's writings a relevant point of entry into the period's intellectual debates.