Imago Mundi at the Château de Grignan
Lire en Fête was celebrated in France from the 13th to the 15th
October 2000. The Conseil général de la Drôme, the
Centre de recherche sur la littérature des Voyages of the Université
de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) and the Centre de Recherches Littéraires
Pluridisciplinaire of the Université de Nice have combined their
efforts to organise a cycle of three colloquia entitled Imago Mundi. The
theme for the year 2000 was Lettres et images d'Europe: the image of European
countries through lettres covering historical, literary, anthropological
and iconographical perspectives from the 16th to the 20th centuries. The
choice of the Château de Grignan for this European meeting was not
fortuitous. It was at this château that between 1671 and 1696 Madame
de Sévigné addressed to her daughter, the comtesse de Grignan,
764 letters many of which, published after her death, established her reputation
as a writer. Ms Carmen Depasquale, lecturer in French, was invited to participate
in this colloquium as an "ambassador of Malta". Her paper was entitled
Malte, 'abrégé de l'Europe': quelques lettres de Daydie,
Froullay et Dolomieu. A young knight's impressions of Malta and life at
sea through the eyes of a general of the galleys are the themes of two
letters by the bailli de Froullay. The letters of chevalier Daydie are
those of an observer who comments on Maltese events in which the principal
actor is the ambassador of the Order in Paris. One letter of commander
Dolomieu describes Malta as an astronomer's paradise, however, many of
his letters to his French and Italian friends depict his anger and disappointment
vis-à-vis the advisers of Grand Master Rohan who, by their intrigue
and abuse of the law precipitate the end of the Order's rule in Malta.
A live recording of the proceedings of the colloquium was registered
and can be viewed, together with the activities of the Centre de Recherche
sur la Littérature des Voyages (CRLV), Université de Paris-Sorbonne
(Paris IV) on website http://www.crlv.org.
13 October 2000