New at IWP Books: The Characters of Jean De La Bruyère, Translated by Helen Stott, 1890.

Jacques Barzun on La Bruyère: “La Bruyère’s exercise of free speech is remarkable. The chapter on the nobility is more daring than Molière’s ridicule of the marquis, because the author speaking in his own voice discusses the ways of an entire class. His targets are named in his chapter headings; the list covers all of society: the Great, the Wealthy, the Town, the Court, the Sovereign, Man and the Morals of Our Time, Fashion, Preachers, Freethinkers, Journalists, and a few more who appear scattered among the rest. By the end of this procession one has the feeling that one has read a novel — or more exactly, a novelist’s notes for one, with the fullness Henry James adopted when describing his projected works.” (From Dawn to Decadence)