Raphaëlle Décloître, Le récit allégorique de la fin du Moyen Âge : poétique d’un effacement inévité

Abstract

This thesis focuses on allegorical narratives written between 1453 and 1510, which are the last direct representatives of the important allegorical-narrative tradition popularized by the Roman de la Rose. Insofar as they are anchored in relation to a before and in the absence of an after, these texts have developed a late poetics of their own, based on respect for the literary heritage rather than on rivalry, on the preservation of writing procedures rather than on their renovation. Dissociating themselves from the critical filiation inaugurated by Jean de Meun, they thus revive the non-confrontational allegorical-narrative proposals of Guillaume de Lorris, whom they honor with a certain conservatism. If the study of the last manifestations of a genre requires, in addition to focusing on poetic considerations, placing late works in literary history (to understand their state of posterity and finality), it seems that, in the case of the last allegorical narratives, the poetics of the texts is revealing of their positioning: beyond the cultural upheavals of the turn of the 16th century, the peaceful relationship of these works to their filiation seems to have encouraged little renewal of the practice.

Keywords

• Allegory
• Filiation
• Narratology
• Narrative
• Poetics
• Poetics of Genres