Understanding Rance: The Spirituality of the Abbot of La Trappe in Context

by Bell, David N.
ISBN: 9780879071059
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Overview

Both during his lifetime and afterwards Armand Jean le Bouthiellier, the abbe de Rance, was a controversial figure. Alive, he was extravagantly admired by many, yet had, as one recent biographer observed, 'an unhappy genius for incurring hostility unnecessarily'. Dead, he continued to evoke extreme reactions-he was either loved or loathed. One biographer nicknamed him 'the thundering abbot'; others depicted him in hagiographical panegyrics. The present volume sets Rance against the colorful and extravagant world of seventeenth-century France and corrects both masterly and entertaining caricatures by exploring the world which surrounded and formed this ever fascinating monk: the privileged circles of the ancient regime in which Rance moved from his birth in 1626; and the austere monastic environment he created at la Trappe. 'This is not so much a book about Rance as around Rance, Dr Bell writes. 'I do not expect that it will persuade people who do not like Rance to like him; it may, however, serve to explain why he said and did what he said and did in the way that he said and did.'
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Author: Bell, David N.
  • ISBN: 9780879071059
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.50 x 0.84
  • Number Of Pages: 371
  • Publication Year: 2005
Language: English