Evariste-D?sir? de Parny, 'Le Paradis perdu'

Evariste-Désiré de Parny, though largely forgotten now, was well known in the nineteenth century for his lyric poems, especially the Poésies Erotiques (1778-81), and the prose-poems in Chansons Madécasses (1787). He also wrote much humorous verse, including the anti-religious La Guerre des Dieux (1799) and Le Paradis perdu (1805). The latter is a parody of Milton's Paradise Lost in four relatively short cantos. It gives a central place to the War in Heaven, casting Satan as a revolutionary. It is highly entertaining in itself, and also an important example of parody as critical response to an original text.

This edition also provides an accurate brief account of Parny's life and works and the contemporary reception of the text; background material on the reception of Milton in France; and a critical account of how Parny's parody engages with what have often been perceived as literary and theological weaknesses, or problem areas, in Milton's text, with due reference to critical discussion of Milton in English.

Text in French with introduction and notes in English.

'Robertson's authorship of a volume on mock epic, including Parny's, and Seth's extensive work on the poet make them an ideal editorial team for this volume.' -- Derek Connon, Modern Language Review 105.4, 2010, 1159-60

'it is particularly interesting to have this careful, commentated and annotated edition of Parny's ironical, erotic and witty version of the Fall.' -- Angus Martin, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 31.1, 2010, 46-47