French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Vintenon, Philosophical Fantasy in the Renaissance
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Bibliographical reference: Alice Vintenon, Philosophical Fantasy in the Renaissance, Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2017, coll. Travaux d'Humanisme et Renaissance
576 pages
ISBN: 13978-2-600-15798-8
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This book examines the development, during the Renaissance, of a category of fiction characterized both by comic implausibility and philosophical pretensions. This tension, reminiscent of Lucian's True History, is observed in particular in the six "fantasies" analyzed: Alberti's Momus, Orlando Furioso, Folengo's Baldus, the Rabelaisian books, Ronsard's Seasons, and Philippe d'Alcripe's Nouvelle Fabrique. These case studies are preceded by theoretical chapters examining the status that poetics reserve for fictions that display their own falsehood: far from being systematically equated with lying or decried as aesthetic failures, they benefit from the valorization of fictional invention, wonder, and the products of creative fantasy. Nevertheless, they maintain an ambiguous relationship with the tradition of allegorical reading, to which they refer while resisting hermeneutic domestication.
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES
PART ONE
Musa fantastica: Fantasy and Verisimilitude in Renaissance Reflections on Fiction
CHAPTER I – "NEITHER TRUE NOR PROBABLE": THE STATUS OF FANTASTIC FICTION IN RENAISSANCE POETICS
Fantastic Fiction: Contours of a Suspect Category
The Limits of Fictional Invention among Readers of Aristotle
CHAPTER II – ILLUSTRATIONS AND DEFENSES OF THE "FANTASTIC MUSE"
Two Ancient Defenses of Creative Fantasy and Their Legacy in the Renaissance
The Excellence of "Bizarre Fantasies" in the Debate on Grotesques
The Place of Whimsical Fiction among Theorists of the Comic
CHAPTER III – THE FANTASTIC FABLE AS A NON-DOGMATIC FORM: THE SPIRIT OF LUCIAN IN THE RENAISSANCE
The Place of Fiction in the Critique of Dogmatism
When Fantasy "Lies" Less than Verisimilitude
"I write about things that do not exist in any way and absolutely cannot exist": Humanist Variations on the Fantasy of the True History
PART TWO
Phantasia plus quam fantastica: Fantasy and Allegory
CHAPTER IV – FANTASY DOMESTICATED BY ALLEGORY
The Resilience of the Platonic Tradition: The Unworthiness of Implausibility
The Augustinian Legacy: The Distinguished Figure of the Lie
The Fantastic Veil of Fables: The Virtues of the "Différance" of Meaning
The Incredible as an Index of Allegorical Meaning
Contested Fantasy as an Index of Allegory
CHAPTER V – PHILOSOPHERS' VIEWS ON CREATIVE FANTASY
The Role of Imagination in the Cognitive Process
The Uses of Imaginatio Fictrix
Alta fantasia: Fantasy as a Pathway to a "Higher Meaning"
PART THREE
Italian Explorations of the Potential of Fantasy
CHAPTER VI – FANTASY AND SUBVERSION IN ALBERTI'S MOMUS
"Shameful, Monstrous Fictions Unworthy of the Gods"
The Derailments of Allegory
Truth and Its Simulacra
CHAPTER VII – "L'ALTA FANTASIA MI GUIDA...": FICTION AND RESISTANCE TO ALLEGORY IN ORLANDO FURIOSO
Orlando Furioso as a "Book of Fibs"
Implausibility Debated
Fantastic Fiction and Its Resistance to Moralization
CHAPTER VIII – FANTASY, POETRY, AND POLEMIC IN FOLENGO'S MACARONICS
Merlin's "More than Fantastic Fantasy": Diseased Imagination or Inspired Fancy?
Merlin Coccaie, Protean Narrator: The Liar and His Masks
Decoding "More than Fantastic Fantasies": Is Baldus a Philosophical Poem?
PART FOUR
Rabelais and Some French "Fantasists"
CHAPTER IX – "OYSONS BRIDEZ, LIEVRES CORNUZ...": THE MODES OF BEING OF RABELAISIAN FANTASY
Between Parody and Thought Experiment: Whimsical Fiction Confronting Dogmatism
"To a Higher Meaning": The Role of Fantasy in the Interpretation of Rabelaisian Fiction
Neither Grotesques nor Hieroglyphs? The Deformity of the Monsters in the Quart Livre
CHAPTER X – RONSARD AND PLAYFUL FICTION: ON THE SEASONS
Fantasy, Verisimilitude, and Truth in Ronsard's Poetics
The Hynnes des Saisons as "Philosophical Fantasy"
CHAPTER XI – THE "TRUTHFUL FACTORY" OF PHILIPPE D'ALCRIPE
The Making of Implausibility
Implausibility Exhibited: The Regime of Proof in the Nouvelle Fabrique
"A liar is not believed even when telling the truth": The Improbable "Strokes of Truth" in the Nouvelle Fabrique
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
During the early modern period, European writers frequently employed comic invention and extravagant narrative structures to explore complex intellectual questions. Works characterized by playful implausibility often engaged with classical literary models, notably the satirical tradition associated with Lucian, while simultaneously negotiating contemporary Renaissance debates concerning poetics, verisimilitude, and the limits of creative license. These texts occupied a distinctive space between serious philosophical inquiry and irreverent storytelling, challenging orthodox modes of interpretation.
Alice Vintenon examines the development of this category of fiction through analyses of specific Renaissance texts, preceded by theoretical investigations into the status of fantastic narrative within sixteenth-century poetics. Readers interested in the history of Renaissance literature and the interplay between fiction and philosophy may find this study relevant.
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