Transplanting the Laurel: Mapping France in Du Bellay's Landscape
e-France, Volume I, 2007 ISSN 1756-0535 Transplanting the Laurel: Mapping France in Du Bellay’s Landscapes∗ Louisa MACKENZIE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE Joachim Du Bellay’s vernacular poetry has often struck readers as, variously, sincere, transparent, modest, modern, personal, original, melancholic, accessible. Certainly, when compared to the myth-laden, erudite and often self-promoting verse of his contemporary Pierre de Ronsard, Du Bellay’s poetry – particularly Les Regrets with their portrait of a homesick Frenchman disgusted at the corruption of the Italian and papal courts - does invite this kind of reading. Du Bellay himself describes the Regrets as ‘papiers journaux’, a ‘secretaire’ of his intimate thoughts (Regrets 1). It is tempting, and easy, to take him at his word, to read his sublime descriptions of Anjou as simple, unmediated homesickness, and his satire of Roman society as nothing more than moral indignation. On the other hand, knowledge of the satiric and lyric traditions which Du Bellay is imitating might lead one to conclude that the impression of intimacy is entirely derivative. However, as François Rigolot has shown, to debate whether Du ————— ∗ I would like to thank the journal’s two anonymous reviewers for their generous and constructive comments. In particular, the first reviewer drew my attention to a collection of essays in press (Campagnoli et. al., c. 2007), proceedings from the 2005 Seminari Pasquali in Bologna dedicated to L’Olive which looks absolutely germane to my reading of L’Olive, particularly the mentioned contributions by G. H. Tucker and G. Polizzi. The book is still forthcoming at the time of writing, and because of deadline constraints I have unfortunately been unable to consult it despite placing a rush order.
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