This 1992 book studies the importance of typographic shapes in French Renaissance literature in the context of psychoanalysis and of the history of printed writing.

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. A secret space: Marot's Rondeaux; 2. The Rabelaisian hieroglyph; 3. Ronsard's sonnet-pictures; 4. The turn of the letter: from Cassandre to Hélène; 5. Montaigne's test of style: De l'exercitation; 6. A colossal abyss: Des coches; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.