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TILI BOON CUILLÉ NARRATIVE INTERLUDES: MUSICAL TABLEAUX IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH TEXTS Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006 pp. xxiv + 284, ISBN 0 8020 3842 5

Narrative Interludes is a contribution to the bourgeoning field of tableau theory. However, unlike previous scholarship, which has focused upon a particular figure or genre, Cuillé’s book focuses exclusively upon a particular type of tableau – the musical tableau. Whilst scenes incorporating musical elements were nothing new to eighteenth-century literature, from around the time of Rousseau onwards, Cuillé notes a change in the way these scenes were employed. Musical scenes were, more often than not, used to represent a sexual tension between two, or even three, of the story’s main characters. In short, the music lesson functions as a metaphor for a lesson in sexual education. What Cuillé notes, however, is not a change in the content of these scenes, but a change in their function. The scenes become increasingly woven into the plot, forming an ever more important part of the drama and heightening the effect of the music in particular. For this reason Cuillé perceives them to be tableaux. A tableau, at least in theory, was a moment where the action was suspended, so as to bring the emotional side of the drama to the forefront of the narrative. Indeed, in his Entretiens sur le Fils naturel (1757), Diderot suggests that modern drama should consist solely of emotional tableaux, the emotional reaction of characters being of considerably more interest than the actual actions that occur. The one major criticism I would have of Cuillé’s book, then, is that the title fails to do justice to its contents. A narrative interlude would suggest a break in the telling of the story, yet all of Cuillé’s examples (and indeed her own definition of a musical tableau) suggest that these musical scenes form an essential part of the narrative structure. It seems strange then for the book title to undermine its own argument. Cuillé’s aim is to ‘demonstrate how eighteenth-century authors enhanced the expressive power of the narrative tableau by drawing not only on contemporary theories of visual arts but on contemporary theories of music’ (xvi). After an introductory chapter that provides a thorough and useful assessment of scholarly developments in tableau theory, two large sections follow that each consist of three case-study style chapters. The first three chapters focus on the interrelations of music and language in the works of Diderot, Cazotte and Beaumarchais. Cuillé looks at the impact of Rousseau’s Lettre sur la musique français (1753) noting that the ensuing debate surrounding it was as much concerned with the French language as with music. Cuillé goes on to assess how these authors use musical tableaux to challenge Rousseau’s statements on music and language. Part II – ‘Music and Morality: La Querelle Des Femmes’ – focuses upon four female authors: