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pal points is that the writing of history is, within certain bounda-
ries, predictive: that to present, for example, the achievement
of Marot in 1533 solely from the viewpoint of an "eye-witness",
of a critic or reader living in 1533-as /f one ignored what
Ronsard and Du Bellay went on to accomplish-would make
historical knowledge (and periodization) completely impossible.
A confrontation between Marot and Rov.sard is implicit not
only in the delineation of certain currents and movements but
in the critical response to either of the two. The critic living
in 1533, reading ever so freshly L'Adolescenee Cldmentine,
possessed a wealth of contemporary experience which we shall
never be in a position to recapture: but this is counterbalanced
precisely by the sort of information which makes literary
history viable, such as our knowledge of Ronsard and of certain
historical developments that embrace both poets. "Narrative
sentences"-Danto s t a t e s - " r e f e r to at least two time-sepa-
rated events, and describe the earlier event. ''17 It might be
fruitful, on another occasion, to identify the role of such sen-
tences in some of the better histories that we have and thus be
able to recognize in literary historiography, to a greater or
lesser extent, a specific kind of narrative.
ALEXANDRE DIMA
15
226 ALEXANDRE DIMA
15"
228 ALEXANDRE DIMA