Poet, novelist, sometime member of Mademoiselle de Montpensier's circle
and correspondent of the Mercure Galant, Cantenac (Bordeaux 1630-1714)
was notorious in his own time but has only recently become the subject
of serious study. This is the first critical edition of Les Marguerites,
poemes hEroique, a volume originally published in Bordeaux in 1676.
Written in alexandrines, divided into five cantos (chants), Les
Marguerities offers a fascinating example of playful contemporary poetic
taste where epic heroism is transformed into gallantry. This is a volume
in the Textes litteraires/Exeter French Texts. The text, introduction
and essential notes are all in French.