La novela como género literario en el siglo XVII en Francia

Abstract

This paper deals with the configuration of the novel as a literary genre in France during the 17th century. After a brief introduction to the concept of literary genre, with Aristotle’s "Poetics" as the main source, it deals with the study of the novel as a genre that, although it did not posses a fixed status in its origins, it had become by the 17th century the genre par excellence. A brief survey of the Italian and Spanish forerunners, with a special reference to Cervantes, leads to the study of the development of the novel in France, which is mainly based on the theoretical discourse that the authors brought about within their own production, in Préfaces, Avertissements, Avis au lecteur, etc. This “extradiegétique” relationship that the autor keeps with his/her narrative gives shape, throughout the century, to a history of the novel written by authors who strive to impose both their criteria and their own creative principles on the readers.