Epoch of a European Culture
Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre
by
Hyacinthe Rigaud
(1701)
17th-century French literature
was written throughout the
Grand Siecle
of France, spanning the reigns of
Henry IV of France
, the Regency of
Marie de' Medici
,
Louis XIII of France
, the Regency of
Anne of Austria
(and the civil war called the
Fronde
) and the reign of
Louis XIV of France
. The literature of this period is often equated with the
Classicism
of Louis XIV's long reign, during which France led Europe in political and cultural development; its authors expounded the classical ideals of order, clarity, proportion and good taste. In reality, 17th-century French literature encompasses far more than just the classicist masterpieces of
Jean Racine
and
Madame de La Fayette
.
Society and literature in 17th-century France
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]
In Renaissance France, literature (in the broadest sense of the term) was largely the product of encyclopaedic humanism, and included works produced by an educated class of writers from religious and legal backgrounds. A new conception of nobility, modelled on the Italian Renaissance courts and their
concept of the perfect courtier
, was beginning to evolve through French literature. Throughout the 17th century this new concept transformed the image of the rude noble into an ideal of
honnete homme
("the upright man") or the
bel esprit
("beautiful spirit") whose chief virtues included eloquent speech, skill at dance, refined manners, appreciation of the arts, intellectual curiosity, wit, a spiritual or platonic attitude towards love and the ability to write poetry.
Central to this transformation of literature were the salons and literary academies which flourished during the first decades of the 17th century; the expanded role of noble patronage was also significant. The production of literary works such as poems, plays, works of criticism or moral reflection was increasingly considered a necessary practice by nobles, and the creation (or patronage) of the arts served as a means of social advancement for both non- and marginalized noblemen. In the mid-17th century, there were an estimated 2,200 authors in France (mostly nobles and clergy), writing for a reading public of just a few tens of thousands.
[1]
Under
Cardinal Richelieu
, patronage of the arts and literary academies increasingly came under the control of the monarchy.
Salons and Academies
[
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Henry IV's court was considered by contemporaries a rude one, lacking the Italianate sophistication of the court of the
Valois
kings. The court also lacked a queen, who traditionally served
as a focus (or patron) of a nation's authors and poets. Henry's literary tastes were largely limited to the chivalric novel
Amadis of Gaul
.
[2]
In the absence of a national literary culture, private
salons
formed around upper-class women such as
Marie de' Medici
and
Marguerite de Valois
, devoting themselves to discussions of literature and society. In the 1620s, the most famous salon was held at the
Hotel de Rambouillet
by
Madame de Rambouillet
; a rival gathering was organized by
Madeleine de Scudery
.
The word
salon
first appeared in French in 1664 from the Italian word
sala
, the large reception hall of a mansion. Before 1664, literary gatherings were often called by the name of the room in which they occurred --
cabinet
,
reduit
,
alcove
, and
ruelle
. For instance, the term
ruelle
derives from literary gatherings held in the bedroom, a practice popular even with
Louis XIV
. Nobles, lying on their beds, would receive close friends and offer them seats on chairs or stools surrounding the bed.
Ruelle
("little street") refers to the space between a bed and the wall in a bedroom; it became a name for these gatherings (and the intellectual and literary circles evolving from them), often under the wing of educated women in the first half of the 17th century.
[3]
In the context of French scholastica,
academies
were scholarly societies which monitored, fostered, and critiqued French culture. Academies first appeared in France during the
Renaissance
, when
Jean-Antoine de Baif
created one devoted to poetry and music, inspired by the academy of Italian
Marsilio Ficino
. The first half of the 17th century was marked by a phenomenal growth in private academies, organised around a half-dozen or a dozen individuals who met regularly. Academies were generally more formal and more focused on criticism and analysis than
salons
, which encouraged pleasurable discourse about society. However, certain salons (such as that of
Marguerite de Valois
) were closer to the academic spirit.
[4]
In the mid-17th century, academies gradually came under government control and sponsorship and the number of private academies decreased. The first private academy to fall under governmental control was
L'Academie francaise
, which remains the most prestigious governmental academy in France. Founded in 1634 by
Cardinal Richelieu
, L'Academie francaise focuses on the
French language
.
Aristocratic codes
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In certain instances, the values of 17th-century nobility played a major part in the literature of the era. Most notable of these values are the aristocratic obsession with glory (
la gloire
) and majesty (
la grandeur
). The spectacle of power, prestige and luxury found in 17th-century literature may be distasteful or even offensive.
Corneille's
heroes, for example, have been labeled by modern critics as vainglorious, extravagant and prideful; however, contemporary aristocratic readers would see these characters (and their actions) as representative of nobility.
The
chateau of Versailles
, court ballets, noble portraits,
triumphal arches
? all of these were representations of glory and prestige. The notion of glory (whether artistic or military) was not vanity or boastfulness or hubris, but rather a moral imperative for the aristocracy. Nobles were required to be generous, magnanimous and to perform great deeds disinterestedly (i.e. because their status demanded it, without expectations of financial or political gain), and to master their own emotions (especially fear, jealousy and the desire for revenge).
One's status in the world demanded appropriate externalisation ( or "
conspicuous consumption
"). Nobles indebted themselves to build prestigious urban mansions (
hotels particuliers
) and to buy clothes, paintings, silverware, dishes and other furnishings befitting their rank. They were also required to show generosity by hosting sumptuous parties and by funding the arts. Conversely, social parvenus who took on the external trappings of the noble classes (such as the wearing of a sword) were severely criticised, sometimes by legal action (laws concerning sumptuous clothing worn by the bourgeois existed since the Middle Ages).
[5]
These aristocratic values began to be criticised in the mid-17th century;
Blaise Pascal
, for example, offered a ferocious analysis of the spectacle of power and
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
posited that no human act?however generous it pretended to be?could be considered disinterested.
Classicism
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In an attempt to restrict the proliferation of private centers of intellectual or literary life (so as to impose the royal court as the artistic center of France),
Cardinal Richelieu
took an existing literary gathering (around
Valentin Conrart
) and designated it as the official
Academie francaise
in 1634. Other original members included
Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin
,
Jean Ogier de Gombauld
,
Jean Chapelain
,
Francois le Metel de Boisrobert
,
Francois Maynard
,
Marin le Roy de Gomberville
and
Nicolas Faret
; members added at the time of its official creation included
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac
,
Claude Favre de Vaugelas
and
Vincent Voiture
. This process of state control of the arts and literature would be expanded even more during the reign of Louis XIV.
"Classicism" (as it applies to literature) implies notions of order, clarity, moral purpose and good taste. Many of these notions are directly inspired by the works of
Aristotle
and
Horace
, and by classical Greek and Roman masterpieces. In theater, a play should follow the
Three Unities
:
- Unity of place: The setting should not change. In practice this led to the frequent "Castle, interior". Battles take place off stage.
- Unity of time: Ideally, the entire play should take place in 24 hours.
- Unity of action: There should be one central story, and all secondary plots should link to it.
Although based on classical examples, the unities of place and time were seen as essential for the spectator's complete absorption into the dramatic action; wildly dispersed scenes in China or Africa, or over many years would?critics maintained?break the theatrical illusion. Sometimes, grouped with unity of action is the notion that no character should appear unexpectedly late in the drama.
Linked with the theatrical unities are the following concepts:
- Les bienseances
(
decorum
): Literature should respect moral codes and good taste; nothing should be presented that flouts these codes, even if they are historical events.
- La vraisemblance
: Actions should be believable. When historical events contradict believability, some critics advised the latter. The criterion of believability was sometimes used to criticize soliloquy; in late classical plays characters are almost invariably supplied with confidants (valets, friends, nurses), to whom they reveal their emotions.
These rules precluded many elements common in the baroque tragi-comedy: flying horses, chivalric battles, magical trips to foreign lands and the
deus ex machina
; the mauling of Hippolyte by a monster in
Phedre
could only take place offstage. Finally, literature and art should consciously follow Horace's precept "to please and educate" (
aut delectare aut prodesse est
).
These rules (or codes) were seldom completely followed, and many of the 17th century's masterpieces broke these rules intentionally to heighten emotional effect:
- Corneille's
Le Cid
was criticised for having Rodrigue appear before Chimene after having killed her father, a violation of moral codes.
- La Princesse de Cleves'
revelation to her husband of her adulterous feelings for the Duc de Nemours was criticised for being unbelievable.
In 1674 there erupted an intellectual debate
(
la querelle des Anciens et des Modernes
)
on whether the arts and literature of the modern era had achieved more than the illustrious writers and artists of antiquity. The Academy was dominated by the "Moderns" (
Charles Perrault
,
Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin
) and Perrault's poem
"Le Siecle de Louis le Grand"
("The Century of Louis the Great") in 1687 was the strongest expression of their conviction that the reign of Louis XIV was the equal of
Augustus
. As a great lover of the classics,
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
found himself pushed into the role of champion of the
Anciens
(his severe criticisms of Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin's poems did not help), and
Jean Racine
,
Jean de La Fontaine
and
Jean de La Bruyere
took his defense. Meanwhile,
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
and the newspaper
Mercure galant
joined the "Moderns". The debate would last until the beginning of the 18th century.
The term "classicism" is also linked to the visual arts and architecture of the period where it is also known as
Style Louis XIV
, most specifically to the construction of the
Palace of Versailles
(the crowning achievement of an official program of propaganda and regal glory). Although originally a country retreat used for special festivities?and known more for
Andre Le Notre
's gardens and fountains?Versailles eventually became the permanent home of the king. By relocating to Versailles Louis effectively avoided the dangers of
Paris
(in his youth, Louis XIV had suffered during the civil and parliamentary insurrection known as the
Fronde
), and could also keep his eye closely on the affairs of the nobles and play them off against each other and against the newer
noblesse de robe
. Versailles became a gilded cage; to leave spelled disaster for a noble, for all official charges and appointments were made there. A strict etiquette was imposed; a word or glance from the king could make or destroy a career. The king himself followed a strict daily regimen, and there was little privacy. Through his wars and the glory of Versailles Louis became, to a certain degree, the arbiter of taste and power in Europe; both his chateau and the etiquette in Versailles were copied by the other European courts. However, the difficult wars at the end of his long reign and the religious problems created by the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes
made the last years dark.
Prose
[
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]
Les Amours
and
Les histoires tragiques
[
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]
In France, the period following the
Wars of Religion
saw the appearance of a new form of narrative fiction (which some critics have termed the "sentimental novel"), which quickly became a literary sensation thanks to the enthusiasm of a reading public searching for entertainment after so many years of conflict. These short (and realistic) novels of love (or
amours
, as they are frequently called in the titles) included extensive examples of gallant letters and polite discourse, amorous dialogues, letters and poems inserted in the story, gallant conceits and other rhetorical figures. These texts played an important role in the elaboration of new modes of civility and discourse of the upper classes (leading to the notion of the noble
honnete homme
). None of these novels have been republished since the early 17th century, and they remain largely unknown today. Authors associated with
les Amours
were
Antoine de Nerveze
,
Nicolas des Escuteaux
and
Francois du Souhait
.
[6]
Meanwhile, the tradition of the dark tale?coming from the tragic short story (
histoire tragique
) associated with
Bandello
, and frequently ending in suicide or murder?continued in the works of
Jean-Pierre Camus
and Francois de Rosset.
The Baroque adventure novel
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]
By 1610 the short novel of love had largely disappeared, as tastes returned to longer adventure novels (
romans d'aventures
) and their cliches (pirates, storms, kidnapped maidens) that had been popular since the Valois court.
Amadis of Gaul
was the favorite reading matter of Henri IV;
Beroalde de Verville
was still writing, and
Nicolas de Montreux
had just died in 1608. Both Nerveze and Des Escuteaux in their later works attempted multi-volume adventure novels, and over the next twenty years the priest
Jean-Pierre Camus
adapted the form to tell harrowing moral tales heavily influenced by the
histoire tragique
. The best known of these long adventure novels is perhaps
Polexandre
(1629?49) by the young author
Marin le Roy de Gomberville
.
All these authors were eclipsed, however, by the international success of
Honore d'Urfe
's novel
l'Astree
(1607?1633). This story centered on the shepherd Celadon and his love, Astree, and combined a
frame tale
device of shepherds and maidens meeting, telling stories and philosophizing on love (a form derived from the ancient Greek novel "the Aethiopica" by
Heliodorus of Emesa
) with a
pastoral
setting (derived from the Spanish and Italian pastoral tradition from such writers as
Jacopo Sannazaro
,
Jorge de Montemayor
,
Torquato Tasso
and
Giambattista Guarini
) of noble, idealized shepherds and maidens tending their flocks and falling in (and out of) love. The influence of d'Urfe's novel was immense, especially in its discursive structure (which permitted a large number of stories and characters to be introduced and their resolution to be delayed for thousands of pages; a
roman a tiroirs
). D'Urfe's novel also promoted a rarefied
neo-Platonism
, which differed profoundly from the physicality of the knights in the Renaissance novel (such as
Amadis of Gaul
). The only element of d'Urfe's work which did not produce imitations was its
roman pastoral
setting.
In theorizing the origins of the novel, the early 17th century conceived of the form as "an epic in prose"; in truth, the epic poem at the end of the Renaissance had few thematic differences from the novel. Novelistic love had spilled into the epic, and adventurous knights had become the subject of novels. The novels from 1640 to 1660 would complete this melding. These novels contained multiple volumes and were structurally complicated, using the same techniques of inserted stories and tale-within-a-tale dialogues as d'Urfe. Often called
romans de longue haleine
(or "deep-breath books"), they usually took place in ancient Rome, Egypt or Persia, used historical characters (for this reason they are called
romans heroiques
) and told the adventures of a series of perfect lovers sent (by accident or misfortune) to the four corners of the world. Unlike the chivalric romance, magical elements and creatures were relatively rare. Furthermore, there was a concentration in these works on psychological analysis and on moral and sentimental questions which the Renaissance novel lacked. Many of these novels were actually
romans a cle
which described actual contemporary relationships under disguised novelistic names and characters. The most famous of these authors and novels are:
Baroque comic fiction
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Not all fiction of the first half of the 17th century was a wild flight of fancy in far-flung lands and rarefied, adventurous love stories. Influenced by the international success of the
picaresque novel
from Spain (such as
Lazarillo de Tormes
), and by
Miguel de Cervantes
' short-story collection
Exemplary Tales
(which appeared in French beginning in 1614) and
Don Quixote de la Mancha
(French translation 1614?1618), the French novelists of the first half of the 17th century also chose to describe and satirize their own era and its excesses. Other important satirical models were provided by
Fernando de Rojas
'
La Celestina
and
John Barclay
's (1582?1621) two satirical Latin works,
Euphormio sive Satiricon
(1602) and
Argenis
(1621).
Agrippa d'Aubigne
's
Les Aventures du baron de Faeneste
portrays the rude manners and comic adventures of a Gascon in the royal court.
Charles Sorel
's
L'histoire comique de Francion
is a picaresque-inspired story of the ruses and amorous dealings of a young gentleman; his
Le Berger extravagant
is a satire of the d'Urfe-inspired pastoral, which (taking a clue from the end of
Don Quixote
) has a young man take on the life of a shepherd. Despite their "realism" Sorel's works remain highly baroque, with dream sequences and inserted narration (for example, when Francion tells of his years at school) typical of the adventure novel. This use of inserted stories also follows Cervantes, who inserted a number of nearly autonomous stories into his
Quixote
.
Paul Scarron
's most famous work,
Le Roman comique
, uses the narrative frame of a group of ambulant actors in the provinces to present both scenes of
farce
and sophisticated, inserted tales.
Cyrano de Bergerac
(made famous by
Edmond Rostand
's 19th-century play) wrote two novels which, 60 years before
Gulliver's Travels
or Voltaire (or science fiction), use a journey to magical lands (the moon and the sun) as pretexts for satirizing contemporary philosophy and morals. By the end of the 17th century, Cyrano's works would inspire a number of
philosophical novels
, in which Frenchmen travel to foreign lands and strange utopias. The early half of the 17th century also saw the continued popularity of the comic short story and collections of humorous discussions, typified by the
Histoires comiques
of
Francois du Souhait
; the playful, chaotic, sometimes-obscene and almost-unreadable
Moyen de parvenir
by
Beroalde de Verville
(a parody of "table talk" books, of
Rabelais
and of
Michel de Montaigne
's
The Essays
); the anonymous
Les Caquets de l'accouchee
(1622); and Moliere d'Essertine's
Semaine amoureuse
(a collection of short stories).
A select list of baroque comique writers and works includes:
- Agrippa d'Aubigne
(1552?1630)
- Les Aventures du baron de Faeneste
(1617, 1619, 1630)
- Beroalde de Verville
(1556?1626)
- Le Moyen de parvenir
(
c.
1610
) (with game that manages the composition and interchangeable gags, the book teaches boys mainly girls living in a good way)
- Francois du Souhait
(c.1570/80 ?1617)
- Histoires comiques
(1612)
- Moliere d'Essertine (c.1600?1624)
- Charles Sorel
(1602?1674)
- L'histoire comique de Francion
(1622)
- Nouvelles francoises
(1623)
- Le Berger extravagant
(1627)
- Jean de Lannel
- Le Roman satyrique
(1624)
- Antoine-Andre Mareschal
- Paul Scarron
(1610?1660)
- Cyrano de Bergerac
(Hector Savinien) (1619?1655)
- Histoire comique des Etats et Empires de la Lune
(1657)
- Histoire comique des Etats et Empires du Soleil
(1662)
In the second half of the 17th century, contemporary settings would be also used in many classical
nouvelles
(
novellas
?especially as a moral critique of contemporary society).
The
Nouvelle classique
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By 1660, the multi-volume, baroque historical novel had largely fallen out of fashion. The tendency was for much shorter works (
nouvelles
or
petits romans
), without complex structure or adventurous elements (pirates, shipwrecks, kidnappings). This movement away from the baroque novel was supported by theoretical discussions on novel structure, which sought to apply the same Aristotelian and Horacian concepts of the three unities, decorum and verisimilitude that writers had imposed on the theater. For example,
Georges de Scudery
, in his preface to
Ibrahim
(1641), suggested that a "reasonable limit" for a novel's plot (a form of "unity of time") would be one year. Similarly, in his discussion on
La Princesse de Cleves
, the
chevalier
de Valincourt criticized the inclusion of ancillary stories within the main plot (a form of "unity of action").
[7]
An interest in love, psychological analysis, moral dilemmas and social constraints permeates these novels. When the action was placed in an historical setting, this was increasingly a setting in the recent past; although still filled with anachronisms, these
nouvelles historiques
demonstrated an interest in historical detail. A number of these short novels recounted the "secret history" of a famous event (like Villedieu's
Annales galantes
), linking the action to an amorous intrigue; these were called
histoires galantes
. Some of these short novels told stories of the contemporary world (such as Prechac's
L'Illustre Parisienne
).
[8]
Important
nouvelles classiques
were:
The best-known of all of these is Madame de Lafayette's
La Princesse de Cleves
. Reduced to essentially three characters, the short novel tells the story of a married noblewoman during the reign of Henri II who falls in love with another man, but who reveals her passion to her husband. Although the novel includes several inserted stories, on the whole the narration concentrates on the unspoken doubts and fears of the two individuals living in a social setting dominated by etiquette and moral correctness; despite its historical setting, Lafayette was clearly describing her contemporary world. The psychological analysis is close to the pessimism of
La Rochefoucauld
, and the abnegation of the main character leads ultimately to a refusal of a conventional happy ending. For all of its force, Madame de Lafayette's novel is not the first to have a recent historical setting or psychological depth (as some critics contend); these elements may be found in novels of the previous decade, and are already present in certain of the
Amours
at the beginning of the 17th century.
Other novelistic forms after 1660
[
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]
The concerns of the
nouvelle classique
(love, psychological analysis, moral dilemmas and social constraints) are also apparent in the anonymous
epistolary novel
Lettres d'une religieuse portugaise
(
Letters of a Portuguese Nun
) (1668), sometimes attributed to
Guilleragues
, which were a sensation when they were published (in part because of their perceived authenticity). These letters, written by a scorned woman to her absent lover, were a powerful representation of amorous passion with many similarities to the language of Racine. Other epistolary novels followed by Claude Barbin,
Vincent Voiture
,
Edme Boursault
,
Fontenelle
(who used the form to introduce discussion of philosophical and moral matters, prefiguring
Montesquieu
's
Lettres persanes
in the 18th century) and others; actual love letters written by noble ladies (Madame de Bussy-Lameth, Madame de Coligny) were also published.
Antoine Furetiere
(1619?1688) is responsible for a longer comic novel which pokes fun at a bourgeois family,
Le Roman bourgeois
(1666). The choice of the bourgeois
arriviste
or
parvenu
(a social climber, trying to ape the manners and style of the noble classes) as a source of mockery appears in a number of short stories and theater of the period (such as
Moliere
's
Bourgeois Gentihomme
). The long adventurous novel of love continued to exist after 1660, albeit in a far shorter form than the novels of the 1640s. Influenced as much by the
nouvelles historiques
and
nouvelles galantes
as by the
romans d'aventures
and
romans historiques
, these historical novels?whose settings range from ancient Rome to Renaissance Castille or France?were published into the first decades of the 18th century. Authors include
Madame Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy
, Mlle
Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force
, Mlle Anne de La Roche-Guilhem,
Catherine Bernard
and Catherine Bedacier-Durand.
A history of the novel,
Traitte de l'origine des romans
(1670), was written by
Pierre Daniel Huet
. This work (much like theoretical discussions on theatrical
vraisemblance
,
bienseance
and the nature of tragedy and comedy) stressed the need for moral utility; it made important distinctions between history and the novel, and between the epic (which treats of politics and war) and the novel (which treats of love). The first half of the 17th century had seen the development of the biographical
memoire
(see below), and by the 1670s this form began to be used in novels.
Madame de Villedieu
(real name Marie-Catherine Desjardins), author of a number of
nouvelles
, also wrote a longer realistic work which represented (and satirized) the contemporary world via the fictionalized
memoires
of young woman recounting her amorous and economic hardships,
Memoires de la vie d'Henriette Sylvie de Moliere
(1672?1674).
The fictional
memoire
form was used by other novelists as well.
Courtilz de Sandras
' novels (
Memoires de M.L.C.D.R.
in 1687,
Memoires de M. d'Artagnan
in 1700 and
Memoires de M. de B.
in 1711) describe the world of Richelieu and Mazarin without gallant cliches; spies, kidnappings and political machinations predominate. Among the other
memoires
of the period the best-known was the work of Englishman
Anthony Hamilton
, whose
Memoires de la vie du comte de Grammont...
(telling of his years in the French court from 1643 to 1663) was published in France in 1713. Many of these works were published anonymously; in some cases it is difficult to tell whether they are fictionalized or biographical. Other authors include abbe Cavard, abbe de Villiers, abbe Olivier and le sieur de Grandchamp. The realism (and occasional irony) of these novels would lead directly to those of
Alain-Rene Lesage
,
Pierre de Marivaux
and
Abbe Prevost
in the 18th century.
In the 1690s, the
fairy tale
began to appear in French literature. The best-known collection of traditional tales (liberally adapted) was by
Charles Perrault
(1697), although many others were published (such as those by
Henriette-Julie de Murat
and
Madame d'Aulnoy
). A major revolution would occur with the appearance of
Antoine Galland
's first French (and indeed modern) translation of the
Thousand and One Nights
(or
Arabian Nights
) (in 1704; another translation appeared in 1710?12), which would influence the 18th-century short stories of
Voltaire
,
Diderot
and many others.
The period also saw several novels with voyages and utopian descriptions of foreign cultures (in imitation of Cyrano de Bergerac, Thomas More and Francis Bacon):
- Denis Vairasse
?
Histoire de Sevarambes
(1677)
- Gabriel de Foigny
?
Les Avantures de Jacques Sadeur dans la decouverte et le voyage de la Terre australe
(or
la Terre australe connue
(1676)
- Tyssot de Patot ?
Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Masse
(1710)
Of similar didactic aim was
Fenelon
's
Les Aventures de Telemaque
(1694?96), which represents a classicist's attempt to overcome the excesses of the baroque novel; using a structure of travels and adventures (grafted onto
Telemachus
?the son of Ulysses), Fenelon exposes his moral philosophy. This novel would be emulated by other didactic novels during the 18th century.
Poetry
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]
Because of the new conception of
l'honnete homme
(the honest or upright man), poetry became one of the principal genres of literary production of noble gentlemen and the non-noble professional writers in their patronage during the 17th century. Poetry was used for all purposes. A great deal of 17th- and 18th-century poetry was "occasional", meaning that it was written to celebrate a particular event (a marriage, birth or a military victory) or to solemnize a tragic occurrence (a death or a military defeat); this type of poetry was favored by gentlemen in the service of a noble or the king. Poetry was the chief form of 17th-century theater; the vast majority of scripted plays were written in verse (see "Theater" below). Poetry was used in satires (
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
is famous for his
Satires
(1666)) and epics (inspired by the Renaissance epic tradition and by
Tasso
) like
Jean Chapelain
's
La Pucelle
.
Although French poetry during the reign of Henri IV and Louis XIII was still largely inspired by the poets of the late
Valois court
, some of their excesses and poetic liberties found censure?especially in the work of
Francois de Malherbe
, who criticized
La Pleiade
's and
Philippe Desportes
's irregularities of meter or form (the suppression of the
cesura
by a
hiatus
, sentence clauses spilling over into the next line?
enjambement
?
neologisms
constructed from Greek words, etc.). The later 17th century would see Malherbe as the grandfather of poetic classicism. The Pleiade poems of the natural world (fields and streams) were continued in the first half of the century?but the tone was often elegiac or melancholy (an "ode to solitude"), and the natural world presented was sometimes the seacoast or some other rugged environment?by poets who have been tagged by later critics with the "baroque" label (notably
Theophile de Viau
and
Antoine Gerard de Saint-Amant
).
Poetry came to be a part of the social games in noble salons (see "salons" above), where
epigrams
, satirical verse, and poetic descriptions were all common (the most famous example is
"La Guirlande de Julie"
(1641) at the Hotel de Rambouillet, a collection of floral poems written by the salon members for the birthday of the host's daughter). The linguistic aspects of the phenomenon associated with the
precieuses
(similar to
Euphuism
in England,
Gongorism
in Spain and
Marinism
in Italy)?the use of highly metaphorical (sometimes obscure) language, the purification of socially unacceptable vocabulary?was tied to this poetic salon spirit and would have an enormous impact on French poetic and courtly language. Although
preciosite
was often mocked (especially in the late 1660s, when the phenomenon had spread to the provinces) for its linguistic and romantic excesses (often linked to a misogynistic disdain for intellectual women), the French language and social manners of the 17th century were permanently changed by it.
[9]
From the 1660s, three poets stand out.
Jean de La Fontaine
gained enormous celebrity through his
Aesop
and
Phaedrus
-inspired "Fables" (1668?1693), which were written in an irregular-verse form (different meter lengths are used in a poem).
Jean Racine
was seen as the greatest tragedy writer of his age. Finally,
Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux
became the theorizer of poetic classicism. His
Art poetique
(1674) praised reason and logic (Boileau elevated Malherbe as the first of the rational poets), believability, moral usefulness and moral correctness; it elevated tragedy and the poetic epic as the great genres and recommended imitation of the poets of antiquity. "Classicism" in poetry would dominate until the pre-romantics and the French Revolution.
A select list of French poets of the 17th century includes:
Theater
[
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]
Theaters and theatrical companies
[
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]
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, public theatrical productions in Paris were under the control of guilds. During the last decades of the 16th century, only one of these continued to exist; although
les Confreres de la Passion
no longer had the right to perform mystery plays ( since 1548), they were given exclusive rights to oversee all theatrical productions in the capital and rented out their theater (the
Hotel de Bourgogne
) to theatrical troupes for a steep price. In 1599 the guild abandoned its privilege, which permitted other theaters and theatrical companies to operate in the capital. In addition to public theaters, plays were produced in private residences, before the court and in the university. In the first half of the 17th century the public, the humanist theater of the colleges and the theater performed at court exhibited a diversity of tastes; for example, while the tragicomedy was fashionable at the court during the first decade, the public was more interested in tragedy. Early theaters in Paris were often placed in existing structures like
tennis courts
; their stages were narrow, and facilities for sets and scene changes were often non-existent (this would encourage the development of unity of place). Eventually theaters would develop systems of elaborate machines and decors, fashionable for the chevaleresque flights of knights found in the
tragicomedies
of the first half of the 17th century.
In the early part of the 17th century, theater performances took place twice a week, starting at two or three o'clock. Theatrical representations often encompassed several works; they began with a comic prologue, then a tragedy or tragicomedy, then a farce and finally a song. Nobles sometimes sat at the side of the stage during the performance. Since it was impossible to lower the house lights the audience was always aware of each other, and spectators were notably vocal during performances. The place directly in front of the stage, without seats?the
parterre
?was reserved for men, but since these were the cheapest tickets the parterre was usually a mix of social groups. Elegant people watched the show from the galleries. Princes,
musketeers
and royal pages were given free admission. Before 1630, an "honest" woman did not go to the theater. Unlike England, France placed no restrictions on women performing on stage; however, the career of actors of either sex was seen as morally wrong by the Catholic Church (actors were
excommunicated
) and by the ascetic religious
Jansenist
movement. Actors typically had stage names referring to typical roles or stereotypical characters.
In addition to scripted comedies and tragedies, Parisians were also great fans of the Italian acting troupe who performed their
Commedia dell'arte
, a kind of improvised theater based on types. The characters from the
Commedia dell'arte
would have a profound effect on French theater, and one finds echoes of them in the braggarts, fools, lovers, old men and wily servants which still populate French theater. Finally,
opera
reached France during the second half of the 17th century.
The most important theaters and troupes in Paris were:
- Hotel de Bourgogne
? Until 1629 this theater was occupied by various troupes, including the
Comediens du Roi
directed by Vallerin Lecomte and (at his death) by Bellerose (Pierre Le Messier). The troupe became the official
Troupe Royale
in 1629. Actors included Turlupin, Gros-Guillaume, Gautier-Gargouille, Floridor, Monfleury and
la Champmesle
.
- Theatre du Marais
(1600?1673) ? This rival theater of the Hotel de Bourgogne housed the troupe
Vieux Comediens du Roi
around
Claude Deschamps
and the troupe of Jodelet.
- La troupe de Monsieur
? Under the protection of Louis XIV's brother, this was Moliere's first Paris troupe. It moved to several theaters in Paris (the
Petit-Bourbon
and the
Palais-Royal
) before combining in 1673 with the troupe of the
Theatre du Marais
and becoming the troupe of the
Hotel Guenegaud
.
- La
Comedie francaise
? In 1680, Louis XIV united the
Hotel de Bourgogne
and the
Hotel Guenegaud
into one official troupe.
Outside Paris, in the suburbs and the provinces, there were many wandering theatrical troupes; Moliere got his start in such a troupe. The royal court and other noble houses were also important organizers of theatrical representations,
ballets de cour
, mock battles and other forms of
divertissement
for their festivities; in the some cases, the roles of dancers and actors were held by the nobles themselves. The early years at Versailles?before the massive expansion of the residence?were entirely devoted to such pleasures, and similar spectacles continued throughout the reign. Engravings show Louis XIV and the court seated outside before the
Cour du marbre
of Versailles, watching the performance of a play.
The great majority of scripted plays in the 17th century were written in verse. Notable exceptions include some of Moliere's comedies;
Samuel Chappuzeau
, author of
Le Theatre Francois
, printed one comedy play in both prose and verse at different times. Except for lyric passages in these plays, the meter used was a twelve-syllable
alexandrine
line with a regular pause (or
cesura
) after the sixth syllable. These lines were put into rhymed
couplets
; couplets alternated between "feminine" (i.e. ending in a mute
e
) and "masculine" (i.e. ending in a vowel other than a mute
e
, a consonant or a nasal vowel) rhymes.
Baroque theater
[
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]
17th-century French theater is often reduced to three great names?
Pierre Corneille
,
Moliere
and
Jean Racine
?and to the triumph of "classicism". The truth, however, is far more complicated. Theater at the beginning of the 17th century was dominated by the genres and dramatists of the previous generation; most influential in this respect was
Robert Garnier
. Although the royal court had grown tired of the
tragedy
(preferring the more-escapist
tragicomedy
), the theatergoing public preferred the former. This would change in the 1630s and 1640s when (influenced by the long baroque novels of the period) the tragicomedy?a heroic and magical adventure of knights and maidens?became the dominant genre. The amazing success of Corneille's
Le Cid
in 1637 and
Horace
in 1640 would bring the tragedy back into fashion, where it would remain for the rest of the 17th century.
The most important source for tragic theater was
Seneca
and the precepts of
Horace
and
Aristotle
(plus modern commentaries by
Julius Caesar Scaliger
and
Lodovico Castelvetro
); plots were taken from classical authors such as
Plutarch
and
Suetonius
, and from Italian, French and Spanish short-story collections. The Greek tragic authors (
Sophocles
and
Euripides
) would become increasingly important by the middle of the 17th century. Important models for the 17th century's comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy were also supplied by the Spanish playwrights
Pedro Calderon de la Barca
,
Tirso de Molina
and
Lope de Vega
, many of whose works were translated and adapted for the French stage. Important theatrical models were also supplied by the Italian stage (including the
pastoral
) and Italy was also an important source for theoretical discussions on theater, especially regarding decorum (see, for example, the debates on
Sperone Speroni
's play
Canace
and
Giovanni Battista Giraldi
's play
Orbecche
).
[10]
Regular comedies (i.e. comedies in five acts modeled on
Plautus
or
Terence
and the precepts of
Aelius Donatus
) were less frequent on the stage than tragedies and tragicomedies around the start of the 17th century; the comedic element of the early stage was dominated by
farce
, satirical monologues and by the
commedia dell'arte
.
Jean Rotrou
and
Pierre Corneille
would return to regular comedy shortly before 1630. Corneille's tragedies were strangely un-tragic (his first version of
Le Cid
was even listed as a tragicomedy), as they had happy endings. In his theoretical works on theater, Corneille redefined both comedy and tragedy around the following suppositions:
- The stage?in both comedy and tragedy?should feature noble characters (this would eliminate many lowbrow characters, typical of farce, from Corneille's comedies). Noble characters should not be depicted as vile (reprehensible actions are generally due to ignoble characters in Corneille's plays).
- Tragedy deals with affairs of state (wars, dynastic marriages); comedy deals with love. For a work to be tragic, it need not have a tragic ending.
- Although
Aristotle
says that
catharsis
(purgation of emotion) should be the goal of tragedy, this is only an ideal. In conformity with the moral code of the period, plays should not show evil being rewarded or nobility being degraded.
The history of the public and critical reaction to Corneille's
Le Cid
may be found in other articles (he was criticized for his use of sources, his violation of good taste, and for other irregularities not conforming to Aristotian or Horacian rules), but its impact was stunning.
Cardinal Richelieu
asked the newly formed
Academie francaise
to investigate and pronounce on the criticism (it was the Academy's first official judgement), and the controversy reveals a growing attempt to control and regulate theater and theatrical forms. This would be the beginning of 17th-century "classicism". Corneille continued to write plays through 1674 (mainly tragedies, but also what he called "heroic comedies"). Many were successful, although the "irregularities" of his theatrical methods were increasingly criticized (notably by
Francois Hedelin, abbe d'Aubignac
); the success of
Jean Racine
from the late 1660s signaled the end of his preeminence.
A select list of dramatists and plays, with indication of genre (dates are often approximate, as date of publication was usually long after the date of first performance), includes:
- Antoine de Montchrestien
(c.1575?1621)
- Sophonisbe
, AKA
La Cathaginoise
, AKA La Liberte (tragedy) 1596
- La Reine d'Ecosse
, AKA
L'Ecossaise
(tragedy) 1601
- Aman
(tragedy) 1601
- La Bergerie
(pastoral) 1601
- Hector
(tragedy) 1604
- Jean de Schelandre
(c.1585?1635)
- Tyr et Sidon, ou les funestes amours de Belcar et Meliane
(1608)
- Alexandre Hardy
(1572?c.1632) Hardy reputedly wrote 600 plays; only 34 have survived.
- Scedase, ou l'hospitalite violee
(tragedy) 1624
- La Force du sang
(tragicomedy) 1625 (the plot is taken from a Cervantes short story)
- Lucrece, ou l'Adultere puni
(tragedy) 1628
- Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan
(1589?1670)
- Les Bergeries
(pastoral) 1625
- Theophile de Viau
(1590?1626)
- Les Amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisbe
(tragedy) 1621
- Francois le Metel de Boisrobert
(1592?1662)
- Didon la chaste ou Les Amours de Hiarbas
(tragedy) 1642
- Jean Mairet
(1604?1686)
- La Sylve
(pastoral tragicomedy) c.1626
- La Silvanire, ou La Morte vive
(pastoral tragicomedy) 1630
- Les Galanteries du Duc d'Ossonne Vice-Roi de Naples
(comedy) 1632
- La Sophonisbe
(tragedy) 1634
- La Virginie
(tragicomedy) 1636
- Tristan L'Hermite
(1601?1655)
- Mariamne
(tragedy) 1636
- Penthee
(tragedy) 1637
- La Mort de Seneque
(tragedy) 1644
- La Mort de Crispe
(tragedy) 1645
- The Parasite
1653
- Jean Rotrou
(1609?1650)
- La Bague de l'oubli
(comedy) 1629
- La Belle Alphrede
(comedy) 1639
- Laure persecutee
(tragicomedy) 1637
- Le Veritable saint Genest
(tragedy) 1645
- Venceslas
(tragicomedy) 1647
- Cosroes
(tragedy) 1648
- Pierre Corneille
(1606?1684)
- Melite
(comedy) 1629
- Clitandre
(tragicomedy, later changed to tragedy) 1631
- La Veuve
(comedy) 1631
- La Place Royale
(comedy) 1633
- Medee
(tragedy) 1635
- L'Illusion comique
(comedy) 1636
- Le Cid
(tragicomedy, later changed to tragedy) 1637
- Horace
(tragedy) 1640
- Cinna
(tragedy) 1640
- Polyeucte
("Christian" tragedy) c.1641
- La Mort de Pompee
(tragedy) 1642
- Le Menteur
(comedy) 1643
- Rodogune, princesse des Parthes
(tragedy) 1644
- Heraclius, empereur d'Orient
(tragedy) 1647
- Don Sanche d'Aragon
("heroic" comedy) 1649
- Nicomede
(tragedy) 1650
- Sertorius
(tragedy) 1662
- Sophonisbe
(tragedy) 1663
- Othon
(tragedy) 1664
- Tite et Berenice
("heroic" comedy) 1670
- Surena, general des Parthes
(tragedy) 1674
- Pierre du Ryer
(1606?1658)
- Lucrece
(tragedy) 1636
- Alcione
1638
- Scevola
(tragedy) 1644
- Jean Desmarets
(1595?1676)
- Les Visionnaires
(comedy) 1637
- Erigone
(prose tragedy) 1638
- Scipion
(verse tragedy) 1639
- Francois Hedelin, abbe d'Aubignac
(1604?1676)
- La Cyminde
1642
- La Pucelle d'Orleans
1642
- Zenobie
(tragedy) 1647 (written with the intention of affording a model in which the strict rules of the drama were served)
- Le Martyre de Sainte Catherine
(tragedy) 1650
- Paul Scarron
(1610?1660)
- Jodelet
1645
- Don Japhel d'Armenie
1653
- Isaac de Benserade
(c.1613?1691)
Theater under Louis XIV
[
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]
By the 1660s, classicism had imposed itself on French theater. The key theoretical work on theater from this period was
Francois Hedelin, abbe d'Aubignac
's
Pratique du theatre
(1657), and this work reveals to what degree "French classicism" was willing to modify the rules of classical tragedy to maintain the unities and decorum (d'Aubignac, for example, saw the tragedies of
Oedipus
and
Antigone
as unsuitable for the contemporary stage). Although Pierre Corneille continued to produce tragedies until the end of his life, the works of
Jean Racine
from the late 1660s on totally eclipsed the late plays of the elder dramatist. Racine's tragedies?inspired by Greek myths,
Euripides
,
Sophocles
and
Seneca
?condensed their plot into a tight set of passionate and duty-bound conflicts between a small group of noble characters, concentrating on these characters' double-binds and the geometry of their unfulfilled desires and hatreds. Racine's poetic skill was in the representation of
pathos
and amorous passion (like
Phedre
's love for her stepson); his impact was such that emotional crisis would be the dominant mode of tragedy until the end of the 17th century. Racine's two late plays (
Esther
and
Athalie
) opened new doors to Biblical subject matter and the use of theater in the
education of young women
.
Tragedy during the last two decades of the 17th century and the first years of the 18th century was dominated by productions of classics from Pierre Corneille and Racine, but on the whole the public's enthusiasm for tragedy had greatly diminished; theatrical tragedy paled beside the dark economic and demographic problems at the end of the 17th century, and the "comedy of manners" (see below) had incorporated many of the moral goals of tragedy. Other later-17th century tragedians include
Claude Boyer
,
Michel Le Clerc
,
Jacques Pradon
,
Jean Galbert de Campistron
,
Jean de La Chapelle
, Antoine d'Aubigny de la Fosse, l'abbe Charles-Claude Geneste and
Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon
. At the end of the 17th century (in Crebillon's plays especially), there occasionally appeared a return to the theatricality of the beginning of the century: multiple episodes, extravagant fear and pity, and the representation of gruesome actions on stage.
Early French opera was especially popular with the royal court during this period, and composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully
was extremely prolific (see the composer's article for more on court ballets and opera in this period). These works carried on in the tradition of tragicomedy (especially the
pieces a machines
) and court ballet, and also occasionally presented tragic plots (or
tragedies en musique
). Dramatists working with Lully included
Pierre Corneille
and
Moliere
but the most important of these librettists was
Philippe Quinault
, a writer of comedies, tragedies, and tragicomedies.
Comedy in the second half of the 17th century was dominated by Moliere. A veteran actor, master of farce, slapstick, the Italian and Spanish theater (see above), and "regular" theater modeled on
Plautus
and
Terence
, Moliere's output was great and varied. He is credited with giving the French
comedy of manners
(
comedie de mœurs
) and the comedy of character (
comedie de caractere
) their modern form. His hilarious satires of avaricious fathers,
precieuses
, social parvenues, doctors and pompous literary types were extremely successful, but his comedies on religious hypocrisy (
Tartuffe
) and libertinage (
Dom Juan
) brought him criticism from the church;
Tartuffe
was only performed because of the king's intercession. Many of Moliere's comedies (like
Tartuffe
,
Dom Juan
and
Le Misanthrope
) veered between farce and the darkest of dramas, and their endings are far from purely comic. Moliere's
Les precieuses ridicules
was certainly based on an earlier play by Samuel Chappuzeau (best known for his work
Le Theatre Francois
(1674), which contains the most detailed description of French theatre during this period).
Comedy until the end of the 17th century would continue on the path traced by Moliere; the satire of contemporary morals and manners and the "regular" comedy would predominate, and the last great "comedy" of Louis XIV's reign (
Alain-Rene Lesage
's
Turcaret
) is a dark play in which almost no character exhibits redeeming traits.
Below is a select list of French theater after 1659:
- Comedies of
Moliere
(pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622?1673)
- Thomas Corneille
(1625?1709, brother of Pierre Corneille)
- Timocrate
(tragedy) 1659, with the longest run (80 nights) recorded of any play of the 17th century
- Ariane
(tragedy) 1672
- Circe
(tragicomedy) 1675 (cowritten with
Donneau de Vise
)
- Psyche
(opera) 1678 (in collaboration with Moliere and
Jean-Baptiste Lully
)
- La Devineresse
(comedy) 1679 (cowritten with Donneau de Vise)
- Bellerophon
(opera) 1679
- Medee
(tragedy) 1693
- Philippe Quinault
(1635?1688)
- Jean Racine
(1639?1699)
- Jacques Pradon
(1632?1698)
- Pyrame et Thisbe
(tragedy) 1674
- Tamerlan, ou la mort de Bajazet
(tragedy) 1676
- Phedre et Hippolyte
(tragedy) 1677; this play, released at the same time as Racine's, enjoyed momentary success
- Jean-Francois Regnard
(1655?1709)
- Le Joueur
(comedy) 1696
- Le Distrait
(comedy) 1697
- Jean Galbert de Campistron
(1656?1723)
- Andronic
(tragedy) 1685
- Tiridate
(tragedy) 1691
- Florent Carton Dancourt
(1661?1725)
- Le Chevalier a la mode
(comedy) 1687
- Les Bourgeoises a la mode
(comedy) 1693
- Les Bourgeoises de qualite
(comedy) 1700
- Alain-Rene Lesage
(1668?1747)
- Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon
(1674?1762)
- Idomnee
(tragedy) 1705
- Atree et Thyeste
(tragedy) 1707
- Electre
(tragedy) 1709
- Rhadamiste et Zenobie
(tragedy) 1711
- Xerxes
(tragedy) 1714
- Semiramis
(tragedy) 1717
Other genres
[
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]
Moral and philosophical reflection
[
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]
The 17th century was dominated by a profound moral and religious fervor unleashed by the
Counter-Reformation
. Of all literary works, devotional books were the century's best sellers. New religious organisations swept the country (see, for example, the work of
Saint Vincent de Paul
and
Saint Francis de Sales
). The preacher
Louis Bourdaloue
(1632?1704) was known for his sermons, and
theologian
?orator
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet
(1627?1704) composed a number of celebrated funeral orations. Nevertheless, the 17th century had a number of writers who were considered "
libertine
"; these authors (like
Theophile de Viau
(1590?1626) and
Charles de Saint-Evremond
(1610?1703)), inspired by
Epicurus
and the publication of
Petronius
, professed doubts of religious or moral matters during a period of increasingly reactionary religious fervor.
Rene Descartes
' (1596?1650)
Discours de la methode
(1637) and
Meditations
marked a complete break with medieval philosophical reflection.
An outgrowth of counter-reformation Catholicism,
Jansenism
advocated a profound moral and spiritual interrogation of the soul. This movement would attract writers such as Blaise Pascal and
Jean Racine
, but would eventually come under attack for heresy (they espoused a doctrine bordering on predestination), and their monastery at
Port-Royal
was suppressed.
Blaise Pascal
(1623?1662) was a satirist for their cause (in his
Lettres provinciales
(1656?57)), but his greatest moral and religious work was his unfinished and fragmentary collection of thoughts justifying the Christian religion named
Pensees
(
Thoughts
) (the most famous section being his discussion of the "pari" or "
wager
" on the possible eternity of the soul). Another outgrowth of the religious fervor of the period was
Quietism
, which taught practitioners a kind of spiritual meditative state.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
(1613?1680) wrote a collection of prose entitled
Maximes
(
Maxims
) in 1665 which analyzed human actions against a deep moral pessimism.
Jean de La Bruyere
(1645?1696)?inspired by
Theophrastus
's characters?composed his own collection of
Characters
(1688), describing contemporary moral types.
Francois de La Mothe-Le-Vayer
wrote a number of pedagogical works for the education of the prince.
Pierre Bayle
's
Dictionnaire historique et critique
(1695?1697; enlarged 1702), with its multiplicity of
marginalia
and interpretations, offered a uniquely discursive and multifaceted view of knowledge (distinctly at odds with French classicism); it would be a major inspiration for the
Enlightenment
and
Diderot
's
Encyclopedie
. Important Les Femmes and Grief des Dames and Digression about Montaigne's Essays by Madame Marie de Gournay
Memoires and letters
[
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]
The 17th century is noted for its biographical "memoires". The first great outpouring of these comes from the participants of the
Fronde
(like
Cardinal de Retz
), who used the genre as political justification combined with novelistic adventure.
Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy
(known as Bussy-Rabutin) is responsible for the scandalous
Histoire amoureuse des Gaules
, a series of sketches of amorous intrigues by the chief ladies of the court.
Paul Pellisson
, historian to the king, wrote a
Histoire de Louis XIV
covering 1660?1670.
Gedeon Tallemant des Reaux
wrote
Les Historiettes
, a collection of short biographical sketches of his contemporaries.
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac
's collected letters are credited with executing (in French prose) a reform paralleling Francois de Malherbe's in verse.
Madame de Sevigne
's (1626?1696) letters are considered an important document of society and literary events under Louis XIV. The most celebrated memoires of the 17th century, those of
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
(1675?1755), were not published until over a century later.
we also remember Ninon de Lenclos's Lettres and the little book La Coquette vengee.
Notes
[
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]
- ^
Alain Viala
,
Naissance de l'ecrivain,
, Paris: Minuit, 1985, p.145 and pp.240-246.
- ^
Solnon, Jean-Francois.
La Cour de France
. Paris: Fayard, 1987. Chapter VIII.
- ^
Dandry,
op. cit.
, 1149-1142.
- ^
Viala.
op.cit.
Viala's first chapter is entirely devoted to these academies. By his count, 70 were created during the 17th century.
- ^
This kind of expenditure mandated by social status has been studied by sociologists such as
Norbert Elias
(
The Court Society.
First English language edition: Oxford: Blackwell, 1983.); there are also many links to the theories of sociologist
Marcel Mauss
on the "gift". Another key analysis of these values can be found in the work of
Paul Benichou
(
Morales du Grand siecle.
Paris: Gallimard, 1948.).
- ^
The classic, albeit outdately judgemental, book on these early novels is: Reynier, Gustave.
Le Roman sentimental avant l'Astree.
Paris: Corti, 1908.
- ^
See the edition of Madame de Lafayette's
La Princesse de Cleves
edited by Bernard Pingaud (Paris: Folio, 2000.
ISBN
978-2-07-041443-7
). Valincourt's criticism is discussed on pages 267-9. Scudery's one-year limit is mentioned on page 261.
- ^
The classic work on the "nouvelle classique" is: Godenne, Rene.
Histoire de la nouvelle francaise aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles
. Publications romanes et francaises, 108. Geneva : Droz, 1970.
- ^
The classic on the "precieuses" is: Bray, Rene.
La preciosite et les precieux, de Thibaut de Champagne a Giraudoux
. Paris: 1960. Much recent scholarship has been published, such as: Backer, Dorothy.
Precious Women: A Feminist Phenomenon in the Age of Louis XIV.
New York: Basic Books, 1974.
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See, among other works: Bray, Rene.
La formation de la doctrine classique en France
. Paris: Hachette, 1927. For an analysis of theatre development in the Renaissance, see: Reiss. Timothy. "Renaissance theatre and the theory of tragedy."
The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism.
Volume III: The Renaissance. pp. 229-247.
ISBN
0-521-30008-8
References
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General
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- (in French)
Adam, Antoine.
Histoire de la litterature francaise au XVIIe siecle.
First published 1954?56. 3 vols. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997.
- (in French)
Dandrey, Patrick, ed.
Dictionnaire des lettres francaises: Le XVIIe siecle.
Collection: La Pochotheque. Paris: Fayard, 1996.
Prose
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- (in French)
Adam, Antoine, ed.
Romanciers du XVIIe siecle.
(An anthology). Collection: Bibliotheque de la Pleiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1958.
- (in French)
Coulet, Henri.
Le roman jusqu'a la Revolution.
Paris: Colin, 1967.
ISBN
2-200-25117-3
Poetry
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- (in French)
Allem, Maurice, ed.
Anthologie poetique francaise: XVIIe siecle.
Paris: Garnier Freres, 1966.
Theater
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- (in French)
Scherer, Jacques, ed.
Theatre du XVIIe siecle.
(An anthology). Collection: Bibliotheque de la Pleiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1975.