Abstract

Emblems and devices played a central role in the cultural life of seventeenth-century France. They were used as an essential component of royal entries, ballets and funerals. They were often the subject of discussion among the salonistes, or could be used for political propaganda and the dissemination of religious doctrine. ;Our aim is to apply such relatively recent knowledge to improve our understanding of French literature of the period in context. The thesis centres around two case studies of major, but very different authors, Rene Descartes and Jean de La Fontaine. ;In the case of Descartes, teaching manuals such as the Ratio studiorum indicate that emblems and devices played an important role in his early education at the Jesuit college of La Fleche. Engravings of devices from a ceremony in which Descartes took part confirm this importance. Analysis of Descartes's rhetoric suggests that he drew upon the style and images of his Jesuit forefathers, but in order to present a completely different message. ;Scholars have been aware that La Fontaine based some Fables on emblems. The example of Guillaume Gueroult's Premier livre des emblemes suggests that even Fables taken from AEsop include passing references to emblems. Furthermore, the Fables and other works, such as Les Amours de Psyche or the Songe de Vaux, are structured differently from modern texts: descriptive passages evoke visual images which place the narrative in a different light. ;Understanding the interaction of text and image inherent in emblematics allows us to understand the structure of La Fontaine's texts in context. The evidence of manuscripts of the Recueil Conrart supports this claim: these manuscripts indicate that the device and the fable were closely related forms in La Fontaine's time, and that devices were an important means of expression for members of his close social milieu. ;Applied to other writers, such as Jean Racine, Blaise Pascal or Madeleine de Scudery, the method of this study could help set our reading of seventeenth-century French literature in general in a new and richer perspective