French Literature Reviews - 2026

Anna Olga Duhl, Poétique du drame, drame du poétique. Enjeux du sujet dans le théâtre, des rhétoriqueurs à Marguerite de Navarre
Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Anna Olga Duhl

Poétique du drame, drame du poétique. Enjeux du sujet dans le théâtre, des rhétoriqueurs à Marguerite de Navarre

Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. "Recherches littéraires médiévales", 2023

From the hagiographic mystery plays of the Rhétoriqueurs to the comedies of Marguerite de Navarre, the status of the lyric "I" unfolds through a series of transformations where reason and passions, poetry and drama collide. This reveals a model of the inspired subject, creator of a discourse that is both reflexive and performative.

This scholarly study examines the evolving status of the lyric subject across a pivotal transitional era in French literature, bridging late medieval forms and early Renaissance drama. By tracing the trajectory from the hagiographic mystery plays cultivated by the Rhétoriqueurs to the nuanced comedies penned by Marguerite de Navarre, Anna Olga Duhl highlights how dramatic texts negotiate the complex interplay between reason and human passion. The work investigates the emergence of an inspired literary persona whose discourse operates simultaneously as a reflexive meditation and a performative act on stage.

The book will prove particularly valuable to scholars, graduate students, and researchers specializing in medieval and Renaissance French literature, theatrical history, and the development of early modern subjectivity. It provides essential critical tools for understanding how fifteenth- and sixteenth-century writers redefined authorship and theatrical representation. Readers interested in the broader intellectual traditions surrounding rhetoric, religious drama, and the genesis of modern dramatic voice will find this volume a rigorous and illuminating contribution to scholarship.

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