Project Details
Description
This research case attempts to prove that Louis Meigret (ca. 1500 - ca. 1560), as a grammarian and as a political science translator, whose words and deeds reflect the concept and operation of “Republic of Letters” during the period of Francois I. As a grammarian, he met the challenges and opportunities presented by printing; he proposed the earliest systematic spelling reform plan in 1542, faced criticism and continued to defend until 1551. As an affirmed professional translator, he was commissioned by the Duke of Anne de Montmorency (1493-1567) to translate the compilation of The Conspiracy of Catiline in 1547. In the same year, he also translated Cicero's On Duty. Linguistics and political science – whose common interest is to construct norms -- intersect exceptionally in him: in the process of building language science and reaching a consensus on language policy, can one appeal to public reason? This research adopts Koselleck's conceptual history and social history as the framework. On the one hand, we can capture how Meigret understand “Res Publica” from his translation of Cicero's On Duty (1547), which is expected to characterize the concept of “Res Publica” in the 1540s. On the other hand, through the proposal of spelling reform and its related debates in 1542-1551, we can carry out a social historical investigation about whether (or to what extent) the literati community at that time reflected the “Republic of Letters”. On the whole, after examining Meigret’s linguistic theories in my doctoral dissertation, I hope to expand to the conceptual history/social history of the "Republic of Literati", in order to provide a historical investigation of the knowledge community in the early modern stage.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 1/08/22 → 31/07/23 |
UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This project contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Keywords
- History of Literature
- Conceptual History and Social History (Koselleck)
- Reception of Cicero in France of 16th Century
- Renaissance Studies
- History of Linguistic Theories
- History of Political Ideas
- History of Books
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