SOURCE: “Miracle: The Attack,” in Cyrano de Bergerac and the Polemics of Modernity, Columbia University Press, 1970, pp. 9-54.

In the excerpt below, Harth examines Cyrano's treatment of miracles in his works, noting the author's consistently skeptical view of religion.

The consistent denunciation of miracles by Cyrano is one of the most original aspects of his work. A close examination of his method of assault will provide an understanding of his thinking on such basic issues as religion, sorcery, and superstition. Textual analysis of his treatment of miracles and a discussion of his contemporaries' ideas on them will reveal that Cyrano's position was distinctive.

Cyrano's attack on miracles, whether in his Autre Monde, his letters, or his two plays, is presented in a satirical or ironic fashion. This does not mean that his works are in themselves satires, but merely that the genre of each permits a satirical or...