French Literature Reviews - 2026
Alberto Frigo, L’évidence du dieu caché. Introduction à la lecture des Pensées de Pascal.
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Alberto Frigo, L’évidence du dieu caché. Introduction à la lecture des Pensées de Pascal, Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, Cours Collection, 2015.
EAN: 9791024005430
230 p.
EUR 13
Publisher's Presentation:
In the Pensées, the idea appears intimately bound to the form that expresses it. Hence the charm, but also the difficulty, of a text whose perfect clarity often risks masking its extraordinary complexity. Through a succession of relentless analyses and striking examples, Pascal sketches a portrait of humanity ever in search of stable truth and lasting happiness. Shaking readers out of their indifference, prompting them to reflect on the paradoxes of the human condition, and showing them that to account for it, one must accept a truth that lies beyond reason: such is the task to which Pascal devotes all the resources of his intellect and his writerly art.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Notice, 7
Foreword, 9
Introductory Chapter
The Papers of M. Pascal
A heap of detached thoughts, 11
The copies, 16
A talk at Port-Royal, 22
Editing the Pensées, 25
Reading the Pensées, 32
Part One – Christian and Honnête Homme
Chapter I
The Truths of the World
Its rule is honnêteté, 44
A horrible perfection, 52
Chapter II
The Truths of Grace
The economy of salvation, 62
A central truth and apparent contrarieties, 65
Double discourse, heretical discourse, 68
Chapter III
Several highly important thoughts on miracles
Miracles and doctrine, 73
Resistance to miracles, 80
Part Two – On the True Religion
Chapter IV
The Study of Man
Vanity, 92
Wretchedness, 99
Reason of effects, 104
Chapter V
A subject of contradictions
Greatness, 113
Contrarieties, 119
Ennui, 125
Diversion, 127
Philosophers, 130
Sovereign good, 131
Chapter VI
The Wisdom of God
APR, 133
Submission and use of reason, 136
Excellence of this way of proving God, 141
Christian morality, 147
Chapter VII
The History of Truth
Falseness of other religions, 156
That the law was figurative, 157
Perpetuity, 162
Prophecies and proofs of Jesus Christ, 163
Beginning, 164
Conclusion, 172
Final Chapter
Pascal's Writing
Montaigne, 180
The Bible, 188
The "abstract sciences", 193
Anthology of critical texts, 201
Bibliography, 209
Index of cited thoughts, 219
This study by Alberto Frigo offers readers a structured pathway through the complex textual history and philosophical depth of Blaise Pascal's masterpiece. Originally left as a vast collection of manuscript fragments after the author's death, the Pensées demand a careful approach that accounts for both their fragmentary nature and their rigorous apologetic design. Frigo examines how Pascal deployed brilliant rhetorical strategies and striking paradoxes to shake readers out of spiritual indifference, addressing the enduring human quest for truth, happiness, and stable meaning amid existential uncertainty.
The volume serves as an invaluable resource for students and scholars of seventeenth-century French literature, classical philosophy, and religious thought. By analyzing key themes such as human wretchedness, diversion, and the limits of reason alongside the truths of grace, the book illuminates Pascal's intellectual dialogue with figures like Montaigne and the traditions of Port-Royal. It provides essential analytical tools for anyone seeking to understand how literary form and theological argument intertwine in one of the foundational texts of Western intellectual history.