« Ce discours n’est pas pour votre regard, mes Dames ». Les adresses au féminin dans les prologues de Bruscambille

Abstract

This paper concerns theatrical prologues mainly published between 1609 and 1635 by a French comic actor known as Bruscambille and his strategic uses of feminine apostrophes. Firstly, these apostrophes appear paradoxical because of the pleasant context and co-text which often use misogynist jokes. However, a detailed analysis reveals Bruscambille’s ambivalence towards his feminine audience and demonstrates how gendered apostrophes help to increase the pleasure of dramatic performance. This article is therefore a case-study that sheds light on theatrical and writing comic practices in early seventeenth-century France and on the part which women spectators played on the stage.

Keywords

• Bruscambille
• prologue
• apostrophe
• farce
• public
• pleasure