French Literature Reviews - 2026
A.-L. de Meyer, Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), un penseur à l’âge du baroque
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Review published in Acta Fabula (April 2022, vol. 23, no. 4): “Thinking Through Crisis & Disorder with Kenelm Digby”, by Christabelle Thouin-Dieuaide.
Anne-Laure de Meyer,
Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), un penseur à l’âge du baroque,
Honoré Champion, collection “Libre pensée et littérature clandestine N°78”, 2021.
EAN13: 9782745355508 — 580 p. — 88 €
The epitome of the seventeenth-century honnête homme, Sir Kenelm Digby maintained a lifelong curiosity across the entire spectrum of human knowledge. He developed a distinctive physical and metaphysical worldview rooted in a personal interpretation of atomism. A systematic thinker, Digby sought to restore unity to a chaotic world and to matter in a state of permanent flux. He attempted to transcend the crisis of his era through a distinctly baroque impulse that highlights transience, movement, and metamorphosis. In this study, Anne-Laure de Meyer examines Digby’s thought, its development, and its key influences, while highlighting the underlying baroque dimensions of his philosophy.
Anne-Laure de Meyer, an alumna of the École Normale Supérieure and holder of the agrégation in English, earned her Ph.D. from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in 2017. A specialist in seventeenth-century intellectual history, her research focuses on English philosophy and the circulation of ideas in the early Republic of Letters.
Published by Honoré Champion in the collection Libre pensée et littérature clandestine, this monograph examines the intellectual trajectory of an emblematic figure of early modern intellectual history. Rooted in the seventeenth-century Republic of Letters, Kenelm Digby embodied the ideal of the honnête homme through his engagement with natural philosophy, metaphysics, and natural science. Anne-Laure de Meyer analyzes how Digby formulated a unique brand of atomism to make sense of a world perceived as fragmented and unstable. The study traces the development of his systematic thought and its key intellectual influences, shedding light on the circulation of philosophical ideas between England and continental Europe during a turbulent historical era.
This volume will prove especially valuable to scholars and students of early modern philosophy, intellectual history, and seventeenth-century English literature. By contextualizing Digby's writings within the broader cultural and scientific shifts of the period, the book addresses central questions concerning the relationship between science, metaphysics, and literature in the baroque age. Readers interested in the history of atomism and the conceptual frameworks used to navigate seventeenth-century crises will find a rigorous, well-documented guide. It offers essential insights into how early modern thinkers sought intellectual synthesis amidst widespread political, religious, and philosophical upheaval.