French Literature Reviews - 2026
Alain Corbellari, Le complot en littérature
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Review published in Acta Fabula (November 2023, vol. 24, no. 10):
“Did someone say 'conspiracy'?”, by Chloé Chaudet
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Were Molière’s plays written by Corneille? Shakespeare’s by Florio? Homer’s poems by a woman?
This book explores those heterodox literary views which, beyond mere mystification, drift into conspiratorial thinking. The point here is neither to discuss literary works that stage conspiracies, nor to reduce all literary mystifications to conspiracies. In fact, literary conspiracies have genuinely existed in the realm of letters: false charters were forged in the Middle Ages, and romantic-era authors falsified or invented sources to satisfy their contemporaries' yearning for roots. However, those who hunt down such plots can easily be carried away by their obsession with uncovering “what is being hidden from us”; furthermore, we must question the motivations of those who have tried so desperately to convince us that Shakespeare, Molière, and Homer were not who we thought they were.
Read the book's introduction on Fabula…
Alain Corbellari is Professor of Medieval French Literature at the Universities of Lausanne and Neuchâtel. His research has focused in particular on the history of medieval studies and the reception of medieval culture in modernity. His recent publications include: Le Philologue et son double. Études de réception médiévale (2014), Des fabliaux et des hommes. Narration brève et matérialisme au Moyen Âge (2015), Prismes de l’amour courtois (2018), Le Moyen Âge à travers les âges (2019), and, published by Presses Universitaires de Vincennes in the same series, Moyen Âge et critique littéraire (2021).
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Table of Contents
Foreword…
Chapter 1. When Writers Seek the Grail
Chapter 2. Medieval Anonymity: A Strategy of Obfuscation?
Chapter 3. The Vertigo of Pseudonymity
Chapter 4. Forgeries and Uses of Forgery
Chapter 5. The Romance of Science
Chapter 7. In Hatred of the Theater
Chapter 8. On Several Accursed Poets
Conclusion. Keeping a Level Head
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Published online on Cairn.info on 04/12/2024
ISBN 9782379243479
Online ISBN 9782379243486
The phenomenon of literary mystification and heterodox authorship theories has long occupied a curious space between playful invention and paranoid interpretation. From debates over the true identities behind canonical texts to the historical fabrication of medieval documents, questions of authenticity and hidden authorship frequently cross the boundary from literary skepticism into full conspiratorial thinking.
Alain Corbellari is Professor of Medieval French Literature at the Universities of Lausanne and Neuchâtel, and his research has focused in particular on the history of medieval studies and the reception of medieval culture in modernity. Readers interested in the history of criticism and the reception of literary myths may find this study relevant.