French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Compagnon, Un été avec Pascal
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Un été avec Pascal
Antoine Compagnon
Les Équateurs Publishing
June 2020
240 pages
ISBN: 9782849907581
Following his work on Montaigne, Antoine Compagnon invites us to spend a summer with Pascal. These two fierce champions of freedom of thought explore humanity, society, the universe, power, faith, anxiety, death, and games—the all and the nothing.
The thinking reed, the two infinities, the wager, or Cleopatra's nose: the Pensées contain countless unforgettable formulations and imagery. Pascal was a virtuoso of the French language, but above all an incomparable mathematician and physicist, as well as an exceptional philosopher and theologian.
Several of his maxims are deeply ingrained in the mind of every French person: “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me”; “He who would act the angel acts the beast”; “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.”
In forty-one chapters (including six previously unpublished), Antoine Compagnon retraces the life of the genius Pascal while probing the significance of his elliptical thoughts. Employing a combinatorial turn of mind, Pascal explores every possible avenue of reflection, addressing issues of violence and truth, tyranny, the subtle art of discernment, distraction, and the golden mean.
At least since Chateaubriand, we have tended to overlook the fact that the Pensées lay the groundwork for an "Apology for the Christian Religion." For us, Pascal embodies the modern human torn between science and faith, subject to the tragedy of the hidden God and the anguish of the human condition.
“One ought to put in the newspaper, I don't know, Pascal's… Pensées,” said Swann in Proust's work. That is somewhat what we have attempted to do in this Summer with Pascal.
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Two articles on this book can be read on nonfiction.fr:
Antoine Compagnon follows his acclaimed volume on Montaigne with a forty-one-chapter journey into the mind of Blaise Pascal, mathematician, physicist, theologian, and master of French prose. The book traverses Pascal's vast intellectual terrain, revisiting famous concepts such as the thinking reed, the two infinities, the wager, and the hidden God. Compagnon illuminates how these fragments grapple with human anxiety, authority, faith, science, and the fragile grandeur of the human condition, presenting Pascal as a timeless champion of intellectual freedom and self-examination.
Rooted in the tradition of accessible yet erudite literary essays, the work bridges the gap between seventeenth-century philosophy and modern concerns, echoing literary echoes from Chateaubriand to Marcel Proust. It serves as an illuminating companion for students of French literature, philosophy enthusiasts, and general readers seeking to understand the enduring power of the Pensées. By contextualizing Pascal's unfinished apology for Christianity within his broader scientific and moral inquiries, this volume offers fresh perspectives on a towering figure of the French intellectual heritage.
"Day by Day, Thinking with Pascal", by Anne Coudreuse (published online September 4, 2020)
"Pascal: Pensées That Remain Essential", by Maryse Emel (published online September 12, 2020).