Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, $5.95 paper. University of PennsylvaniaGerald Prince Albert Camus, The Stranger, by Patrick McCarthy xii & 109 pp.
In spite of these reservations, I believe that Boschetti succeeds in showing how much a Bourdieu-inspired sociology of culture can contribute to literary and philosophical criticism and history. Above all, in her attempt to prove that cultural production and cultural success are governed by the configuration of the cultural field, she leaves litde room for individual choice and action or, if one prefers, for disorder and chance. She also frequendy takes "sociological" shortcuts: the dispositions characterizing the personalists of Esprit-they are first-generation Catholic inteUectuals who come from the upwardly mobüe and salaried provincial (lower) middle class-account for their group ethos: "an ascetic and meritocratic, spiritualist, and elitist moral rectitude" (p. She often relies on conventional psychology to account for certain attitudes: for instance, Zola's depiction of professors as faüed writers is explained by his flunking his exams and his being rejected as a candidate for the Académiefrançaise (p. Boschetti's work, however, is not entirely persuasive. More generaUy, Boschetti's work constitutes a suggestive reflection on the reasons texts are written and read in certain ways at certain times. Nizan, Aron, Merleau-Ponty, Bataüle) and she provides a fascinating assessment of such majorjournals as Esprit, Critique, and La Nouvelle Critique. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:ġ82Philosophy and Literature pages on prominent friends, famüiars, and rivals ofher protagonist (e.g.
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