17th-century French literature
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17th-century French literature was written throughout the
Society and literature in 17th-century France
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 honnête 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
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
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, réduit, alcôve, and ruelle. For instance, the term ruelle derives from literary gatherings held in the bedroom, a practice popular even with
In the context of French scholastica,
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
Aristocratic codes
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
One's status in the world demanded appropriate externalisation ( or "conspicuous consumption"). Nobles indebted themselves to build prestigious urban mansions (hôtels 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 François de La Rochefoucauld posited that no human act—however generous it pretended to be—could be considered disinterested.
Classicism
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),
"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
- 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 bienséances (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 Phèdre 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 Chimène after having killed her father, a violation of moral codes.
- La Princesse de Clèves' 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 (
The term "classicism" is also linked to the visual arts and architecture of the period where it is also known as
Prose
Les Amours and Les histoires tragiques
In France, the period following the
The Baroque adventure novel
By 1610 the short novel of love had largely disappeared, as tastes returned to longer adventure novels (romans d'aventures) and their clichés (pirates, storms, kidnapped maidens) that had been popular since the Valois court.
All these authors were eclipsed, however, by the international success of
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'Urfé. 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 héroiques) 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 à clé which described actual contemporary relationships under disguised novelistic names and characters. The most famous of these authors and novels are:
- Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701)
- Ibrahim, ou l'illustre Bassa (4 vols. 1641)
- Artamène, ou le Grand Cyrus (10 vols. 1648–1653)
- Clélie, histoire romaine (10 vols. 1654–1661)
- Almahide, ou l'esclave reine (8 vols. 1661–1663)
- Roland Le Vayer de Boutigny (1627–1685)
- Mithridate (1648–51)
- Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède
- Cassandre (10 vols. 1642–1645)
- Cleopatre (1646–57)
- Faramond (1661)
Baroque comic fiction
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
A select list of baroque comique writers and works includes:
- Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630)
- Les Aventures du baron de Faeneste (1617, 1619, 1630)
- Béroalde 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)
- François du Souhait (c.1570/80 –1617)
- Histoires comiques (1612)
- Molière d'Essertine (c.1600–1624)
- Semaine amoureuse (1620)
- Charles Sorel(1602–1674)
- L'histoire comique de Francion (1622)
- Nouvelles françoises (1623)
- Le Berger extravagant (1627)
- Jean de Lannel
- Le Roman satyrique (1624)
- Antoine-André Mareschal
- La Chrysolite (1627)
- Paul Scarron (1610–1660)
- Virgile travesti (1648–53)
- Le Roman comique (1651–57)
- 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
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 Scudéry, 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 Clèves, 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 Préchac's L'Illustre Parisienne).[8]
Important nouvelles classiques were:
- Jean Renaud de SegraisNouvelles françoises (1658)
- Madame de LafayetteLa princesse de Montpensier (1662)
- Madame de VilledieuJournal amoureux (1669)
- Jean Donneau de Visé Nouvelles galantes et comiques (1669)
- Madame de VilledieuAnnales galantes (1670)
- Madame de LafayetteZaïde (1671)
- Madame de VilledieuAmour des grands hommes (1671)
- César Vichard de Saint-Réal Don Carlos (1672)
- Madame de VilledieuLes Désordres de l'amour (1675)
- Jean de Préchac L'Héroïne mousquetaire (1677)
- Jean de Préchac Le voyage de Fontainebleau (1678)
- Madame de LafayetteLa Princesse de Clèves (1678)
- Jean de Préchac L'Illustre Parisienne, histoire galante et véritable (1679)
The best-known of all of these is Madame de Lafayette's La Princesse de Clèves. 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
The concerns of the nouvelle classique (love, psychological analysis, moral dilemmas and social constraints) are also apparent in the anonymous
A history of the novel,
The fictional mémoire form was used by other novelists as well.
In the 1690s, the
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 Sévarambes (1677)
- Gabriel de Foigny – Les Avantures de Jacques Sadeur dans la découverte et le voyage de la Terre australe (or la Terre australe connue (1676)
- Tyssot de Patot – Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé (1710)
Of similar didactic aim was
Poetry
Because of the new conception of l'honnête 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-Despréaux 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
Poetry came to be a part of the social games in noble salons (see "salons" above), where
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-Despréaux became the theorizer of poetic classicism. His Art poétique (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:
- François de Malherbe (1555–1628)
- Honoré d'Urfé (1567–1625)
- Jean Ogier de Gombaud(1570?–1666)
- Mathurin Régnier (1573–1613), nephew of Philippe Desportes
- François de Maynard(1582–1646)
- Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan(1589–1670)
- Théophile de Viau (1590–1626)
- François le Métel de Boisrobert (1592–1662)
- Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant(1594–1661)
- Jean Chapelain (1595–1674)
- Vincent Voiture (1597–1648)
- Jacques Vallee, Sieur Des Barreaux(1599–1673)
- Tristan L'Hermite(1601?–1655)
- Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
- Paul Scarron (1610–1660)
- Isaac de Benserade (1613–1691)
- Georges de Brébeuf (1618–1661)
- Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695)
- Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711)
- Jean Racine (1639–1699)
- Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu (1639–1720)
- Jean-François Regnard (1655–1709)
Theater
Theaters and theatrical companies
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 Confrères 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 Hôtel 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:
- Hôtel de Bourgogne – Until 1629 this theater was occupied by various troupes, including the Comédiens 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 Champmeslé.
- Claude Deschampsand the troupe of Jodelet.
- La troupe de Monsieur – Under the protection of Louis XIV's brother, this was Molière's first Paris troupe. It moved to several theaters in Paris (the Petit-Bourbon and the Hôtel Guénégaud.
- La Comédie française– In 1680, Louis XIV united the Hôtel de Bourgogne and the Hôtel Guénégaud into one official troupe.
Outside Paris, in the suburbs and the provinces, there were many wandering theatrical troupes; Molière got his start in such a troupe. The royal court and other noble houses were also important organizers of theatrical representations,
The great majority of scripted plays in the 17th century were written in verse. Notable exceptions include some of Molière's comedies;
Baroque theater
17th-century French theater is often reduced to three great names—Pierre Corneille, Molière 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
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.
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 Liberté (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 Méliane (1608)
- Alexandre Hardy (1572–c.1632) Hardy reputedly wrote 600 plays; only 34 have survived.
- Scédase, ou l'hospitalité violée (tragedy) 1624
- La Force du sang (tragicomedy) 1625 (the plot is taken from a Cervantes short story)
- Lucrèce, ou l'Adultère puni (tragedy) 1628
- Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan(1589–1670)
- Les Bergeries (pastoral) 1625
- Théophile de Viau (1590–1626)
- Les Amours tragiques de Pyrame et Thisbé (tragedy) 1621
- François le Métel 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
- Penthée (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 Alphrède (comedy) 1639
- Laure persécutée (tragicomedy) 1637
- Le Véritable saint Genest (tragedy) 1645
- Venceslas (tragicomedy) 1647
- Cosroès (tragedy) 1648
- Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
- Mélite (comedy) 1629
- Clitandre (tragicomedy, later changed to tragedy) 1631
- La Veuve (comedy) 1631
- La Place Royale (comedy) 1633
- Médée (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 Pompée (tragedy) 1642
- Le Menteur (comedy) 1643
- Rodogune, princesse des Parthes (tragedy) 1644
- Héraclius, empereur d'Orient (tragedy) 1647
- Don Sanche d'Aragon ("heroic" comedy) 1649
- Nicomède (tragedy) 1650
- Sertorius (tragedy) 1662
- Sophonisbe (tragedy) 1663
- Othon (tragedy) 1664
- Tite et Bérénice ("heroic" comedy) 1670
- Suréna, général des Parthes (tragedy) 1674
- Pierre du Ryer (1606–1658)
- Lucrèce (tragedy) 1636
- Alcione 1638
- Scévola (tragedy) 1644
- Jean Desmarets (1595–1676)
- Les Visionnaires (comedy) 1637
- Erigone (prose tragedy) 1638
- Scipion (verse tragedy) 1639
- François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (1604–1676)
- La Cyminde 1642
- La Pucelle d'Orléans 1642
- Zénobie (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'Arménie 1653
- Isaac de Benserade (c.1613–1691)
- Cléopâtre (tragedy) 1635
Theater under Louis XIV
By the 1660s, classicism had imposed itself on French theater. The key theoretical work on theater from this period was
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'abbé Charles-Claude Geneste and Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. At the end of the 17th century (in Crébillon'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 pièces à machines) and court ballet, and also occasionally presented tragic plots (or tragédies en musique). Dramatists working with Lully included Pierre Corneille and Molière 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 Molière. A veteran actor, master of farce, slapstick, the Italian and Spanish theater (see above), and "regular" theater modeled on
Comedy until the end of the 17th century would continue on the path traced by Molière; the satire of contemporary morals and manners and the "regular" comedy would predominate, and the last great "comedy" of Louis XIV's reign (Alain-René 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 Molière (pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673)
- Les précieuses ridicules1659
- L'Ecole des femmes 1662
- Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur 1664
- Dom Juan ou Le festin de pierre 1665
- Le Misanthrope1666
- L'Avare 1668
- Le Bourgeois gentilhomme 1670
- Les Fourberies de Scapin1671
- Les Femmes savantes1672
- Le Malade imaginaire 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
- Circé (tragicomedy) 1675 (cowritten with Donneau de Visé)
- Psyché (opera) 1678 (in collaboration with Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully)
- La Devineresse (comedy) 1679 (cowritten with Donneau de Visé)
- Bellérophon (opera) 1679
- Médée (tragedy) 1693
- Philippe Quinault (1635–1688)
- Alceste (musical tragedy) 1674
- Proserpine (musical tragedy) 1680
- Amadis de Gaule (musical tragicomedy) 1684, based on the Renaissance chivalric novel
- Armide (musical tragicomedy) 1686, based on Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered
- Jean Racine (1639–1699)
- La Thébaïde (tragedy) 1664
- Alexandre le Grand (tragedy) 1665
- Andromaque (tragedy) 1667
- Les plaideurs (comedy) 1668, Racine's only comedy
- Brittanicus (tragedy) 1669
- Bérénice (tragedy) 1670
- Bajazet (tragedy) 1672
- Mithridate (tragedy) 1673
- Iphigénie en Aulide (tragedy) 1674
- Phèdre (tragedy) 1677
- Esther(tragedy) 1689
- Athalie (tragedy) 1691
- Jacques Pradon (1632–1698)
- Pyrame et Thisbé (tragedy) 1674
- Tamerlan, ou la mort de Bajazet (tragedy) 1676
- Phèdre et Hippolyte (tragedy) 1677; this play, released at the same time as Racine's, enjoyed momentary success
- Jean-François 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 à la mode (comedy) 1687
- Les Bourgeoises à la mode (comedy) 1693
- Les Bourgeoises de qualité (comedy) 1700
- Alain-René Lesage (1668–1747)
- Turcaret (comedy) 1708
- Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1674–1762)
- Idomnée (tragedy) 1705
- Atrée et Thyeste (tragedy) 1707
- Electre (tragedy) 1709
- Rhadamiste et Zénobie (tragedy) 1711
- Xerxes (tragedy) 1714
- Sémiramis (tragedy) 1717
Other genres
Moral and philosophical reflection
The 17th century was dominated by a profound moral and religious fervor unleashed by the
An outgrowth of counter-reformation Catholicism,
Mémoires and letters
The 17th century is noted for its biographical "mémoires". The first great outpouring of these comes from the participants of the
Notes
- ^ Alain Viala, Naissance de l'écrivain,, Paris: Minuit, 1985, p.145 and pp.240-246.
- ^ Solnon, Jean-François. 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 Bénichou (Morales du Grand siècle. Paris: Gallimard, 1948.).
- ^ The classic, albeit outdately judgemental, book on these early novels is: Reynier, Gustave. Le Roman sentimental avant l'Astrée. Paris: Corti, 1908.
- ISBN 978-2-07-041443-7). Valincourt's criticism is discussed on pages 267-9. Scudéry's one-year limit is mentioned on page 261.
- ^ The classic work on the "nouvelle classique" is: Godenne, René. Histoire de la nouvelle française aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Publications romanes et françaises, 108. Geneva : Droz, 1970.
- ^ The classic on the "précieuses" is: Bray, René. La préciosité et les précieux, de Thibaut de Champagne à 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.
- ISBN 0-521-30008-8
References
General
- (in French) Adam, Antoine. Histoire de la littérature française au XVIIe siècle. First published 1954–56. 3 vols. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997.
- (in French) Dandrey, Patrick, ed. Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: Le XVIIe siècle. Collection: La Pochothèque. Paris: Fayard, 1996.
Prose
- (in French) Adam, Antoine, ed. Romanciers du XVIIe siècle. (An anthology). Collection: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1958.
- (in French) Coulet, Henri. Le roman jusqu'à la Révolution. Paris: Colin, 1967. ISBN 2-200-25117-3
Poetry
- (in French) Allem, Maurice, ed. Anthologie poétique française: XVIIe siècle. Paris: Garnier Frères, 1966.
Theater
- (in French) Scherer, Jacques, ed. Théâtre du XVIIe siècle. (An anthology). Collection: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1975.