Etudes Epistémè (Nov 2024)
Le paradoxe, figure de la mémoire littéraire féminine de la Saint-Barthélemy. Marguerite de Valois, Charlotte Arbaleste et Renée Burlamacchi
Abstract
Marguerite de Valois, Charlotte Arbaleste and Renée Burlamacchi recounted their experiences of the St Bartholomew's Day massacre. Each of them obviously occupied a different place, since the first memorialist was a Catholic, who belonged to the royal family and witnessed the massacre of the princes in the Louvre, whereas the other two were Protestants and experienced the event in the city. Yet all three authors use the literary figure of paradox to give form to their experience. This figure allows them to make an event based on such strong contradictions intelligible. It is through paradox that these three female authors reveal their historical awareness but also shape their own place. Renée Burlamacchi, a hidden child, discreetly bears witness to popular characters and reveals a talent for narration that is rarely highlighted. Charlotte Arbaleste gives literary form to the resistance to "perplexity" and, like Abraham, consents to the sacrifice of her daughter rather than abjure her faith, but also decides to act. Marguerite de Valois learns to use irony in order to resist and draws a figure of herself that opposes that of her brother Charles IX in her relationship with Catherine de Medici. All of them thus give shape to their individual consciousness and allow us to understand aspects of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre that concern the silent victims.
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