« Mes fragments » : la reconstruction (im)possible de l’oeuvre littéraire de Maximilian Lamberg

Abstract

This article presents and analyses the ‘fragments’ of the works of Maximilian Lamberg (1729–1792), i.e. his marginal, unfinished or lost texts. In order to reconstruct Maximilian Lamberg’s bibliography as completely as possible, it is necessary to carry out a real historical investigation in search of his marginal texts. This research will enable us to situate Maximilian Lamberg more clearly on the map of the eighteenth-century ‘Republic of Letters’, and to grasp his writing in its variety of forms and registers. In addition, according to the example of Lamberg, we would also like to develop a more general problem: how can the historical profession itself enrich literary history, and what tools are available to researchers? Why is it important to reconstruct the complete works of an almost forgotten author in order to better understand the forms of literary life in the Europe of the Enlightenment? And what are the limits of such an approach?