French Literature Reviews - 2026
Sylvie Lefèvre, La Magie du codex. Corps, folio, page, pli, cœur
Other Literary Studies
Review published on Acta Fabula (March 2025, vol. 26, no. 3) as part of the critical dossier « New Perspectives on Reading » : « Journey to the Center of the Codex », by Clara de Raigniac
7 B&W illustrations, 145 color illustrations, Index.
Far from offering yet another history of the book, this essay focuses on the materiality of its folded modern form—the codex—and the ways in which it invites our physical manipulation. It treats the book primarily as a physical body with which the reader is prompted to interact through a series of gestures: opening and closing it, thumbing through its pages, dog-earing corners, using fingers as bookmarks, leaving behind personal traces and memories, and even getting lost within its pages. The central articulation of the fold generates movement (in movable books, pop-ups, and flip books) while also allowing pages to embrace one another. Finally, the book can even take flight like a bird. Eschewing rigid thesis-driven arguments, the book offers an almost phenomenological approach to the codex.
The structure of the work guides the reader from the book's opening toward its center, moving from the cover all the way to its heart: the fold. Through a wealth of examples illustrated with images and quotations, the book takes a meandering stroll across works of all kinds—manuscript and printed, precious and humble, for adults and children alike, from the Middle Ages to the present day. It vividly demonstrates how the reader's own body is summoned into dialogue by this complexly constructed object. Through prolonged familiarity—and its occasional obsolescence in the face of dematerialized formats—the inherent magic of this object has been forgotten. The selection of texts is eclectic, ranging from Jean Froissart and Christine de Pizan to Charles Nodier and Georges Perec, from Walter Benjamin and Victor Hugo to Lewis Carroll, and from Martin Le Franc to Harold Foster, André Franquin, and Thisou Dartois…
Sylvie Lefèvre is a specialist in medieval French literature. Having taught at the ENS (rue d’Ulm), the University of Tours, and Columbia University in New York, she is currently a professor at the Sorbonne. A distinguished editor of texts (including the Roman de Renart in the Pléiade series, Marguerite de Navarre’s L’Heptaméron for Champion, and medieval love letters for Le Livre de Poche), her scholarship has explored the works of Nicole Oresme, Antoine de La Sale, and Charles d’Orléans, among others. She is a correspondent for the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and a research fellow at the Institute for Research and History of Texts (CNRS).
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Turning the Page
Openings
Open Book: First Pages
A Banal Gesture? Opening and Closing the Book
The Revolution of the Book and the Page
The Double Spread: Another Opening
Reference Games: Trellis-Columns, Folio-Sheets, Pages
A Fine Page? Starting on a Recto or Verso
The Invention of the Title Page
Thresholds
Labyrinths
Books of Sand
Passages: Doors and Windows
Frontispieces
Porticos, Tables, and Charts
Planes and Displays
The Thickness of the Book
The Thickness of the Page: Recto and Verso
Pierced Books: Real and Fake Holes
Presenting Text to the Reader: Displays and Scaffolding
The Third Dimension in the Book: The Reader-Activated Book (I)
Between the Pages
Free Hand(s)
Pulpitum in ecclesia: l’analogium
Hand, Finger, and Index
Bookmarks
Souvenirs or Lector in Libro
Authors Buried in Their Books
Serpentes
Inserted Sheets: Cinema Within the Book (II)
The Magic of the Fold
Articulation and Boundary
Crossing or Turning the Page
Flip Book and Pop-Up (III): Movement and the Third Dimension.
The Fold and the Cross
Single Heart, Double Heart
Embracing Within the Book
Taking Flight: From Architecture to Anatomy
Verba volant, scripta manent
The Movable Book and Its Body
The Eagle
Flying Books
Notes
Index of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books
Index of Names and Titles
Subject Index
Book Sizes for Image Captions
Credits
The study of the material book and its historical forms has long occupied scholars of literature and bibliography, connecting codicology with the broader history of reading practices. By examining the physical characteristics of the codex—such as its binding, the fold, and the handling of pages—this essay engages with a tradition that considers texts not merely as abstract works, but as physical objects shaped by human interaction. The text draws on a diverse array of examples ranging from medieval manuscripts to contemporary printed works, reflecting the wide scope of historical bibliography and material culture.
Sylvie Lefèvre explores the physical gestures involved in reading, such as opening and closing the book, turning pages, and using bookmarks, presenting the codex as an interactive object that engages the reader's body. The volume moves from the outer cover toward the center and the fold, incorporating numerous illustrations and references to authors across various centuries. Readers interested in the history of the book and the phenomenology of reading may find this work relevant to their pursuits.