Satire and the Corpus Mysticum During Crises of Fragmentation
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Body Satyrical: Satire and the Corpus Mysticum during Crises of Fragmentation in Late Medieval and Early Modern France A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in French and Francophone Studies by Christopher Martin Flood 2013 © Copyright by Christopher Martin Flood 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Body Satyrical: Satire and the Corpus Mysticum during Crises of Fragmentation in Medieval and Early Modern France by Christopher Martin Flood Doctor of Philosophy in French and Francophone Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Jean-Claude Carron, Chair The later Middle Ages and early modern period in France were marked by divisive conflicts (i.e. the Western Schism, the Hundred Years’ War, and the Protestant Reformation) that threatened the stability and unity of two powerful yet seemingly fragile social entities, Christendom and the kingdom of France. The anxiety engendered by these crises was heightened by the implicit violence of a looming fragmentation of those entities that, perceived through the lens of the Pauline corporeal metaphor, were imagined as corpora mystica (mystical bodies). Despite the gravity of these crises of fragmentation, ii each met with a somewhat unexpected and, at times, prolific response in the form of satirical literature. Since that time, these satirical works have been reductively catalogued under the unwieldy genre of traditional satire and read superficially as mere vituperation or ridiculing didacticism. However, when studied against the background of sixteenth- century theories of satire and the corporeal metaphor, a previously unnoticed element of these works emerges that sets them apart from traditional satire and provides an original insight into the culture of the time. French humanists were convinced of a significant, etymological relationship between the literary form satire and the mythological satyr, a notion still debated today. This assumed connection informed the sixteenth-century concept of satire in several ways, but the most important relates to the common image of the satyr’s hybrid physical composition. Imposing this image of hybrid corporality upon the metaphorical corpora of the Catholic Church and kingdom of France, certain satirists subtly posited within their corrective satirical works a hybrid mystical corporality that would have permitted continued union as an internally diverse social body. I designate this emphasis on continued social corporality communicated by satire the satyrical. This dissertation has for goal the definition and examination of the satyrical as a literary and social phenomenon from its emergence in the late Middle Ages to its pinnacle during the Renaissance and concomitant Protestant Reformation, and rapid decline at the end of the sixteenth century. This is accomplished by means of a thorough analysis of the evolution of satire as a general literary mode, from its origins in Antiquity iii to the Renaissance, and individual examinations of representative works from the periods in question as they relate to their historical contexts. iv The dissertation of Christopher Martin Flood is approved. Malina Stefanovska Zrinka Stahuljak Brian P. Copenhaver Jean-Claude Carron, Committee Chair v For my wife and children. vi Table of Contents Introduction Weapon, Instrument, and Metaphor: Satire in the Middle Ages and Renaissance ... 1 Chapter One Satire and the Satyrical: New Perspectives on an Enduring Literary Tradition ........ 6 I. Satire: (Re)Defining a Most Misunderstood Mode .................................................................. 7 II. The Ancient Origins of Satire: An Etymological Thorn in the Philologist’s Side ................ 17 Rome’s Satirical Sources: The Greeks and the Hebrews ...................................................... 30 III. From Satire to the Satyrical ................................................................................................. 43 Satire and Christianity: The Allegorical Turn ....................................................................... 43 The Corpus Mysticum: The Social Foundation of the Satyrical ............................................ 56 IV. Defining the Satyrical Body: From Mythological Creature to Societal Embodiment ......... 64 Conclusion The Satyrical: A Particular Truth Revealed ............................................................ 73 Chapter Two Satyrical Beginnings in the Late Middle Ages .............................................................. 76 I. A Horse Is a Horse…: Satyrical Hybridity in the Roman de Fauvel ...................................... 79 II. A Body Wounded: Philippe de Mézières’s Epistre au Roi Richart .................................... 103 III. Mother France and Her Children: Alain Chartier’s Quadrilogue Invectif ......................... 117 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 132 Chapter Three Humanism, Humor, and Satyrical France .................................................................. 135 I. Folly and the Théologastres: Early Sixteenth-Century, Humanist Satire ............................. 140 Erasmus: The Praise of Folly ............................................................................................... 141 The Anonymous Farce des Théologastres .......................................................................... 147 vii II. The Poetics of Sacrilege: The Satires of Théodore de Bèze ............................................... 163 Satyres chrestiennes de la cuisine papale ............................................................................ 169 La comédie du pape malade et tirant à la fin ...................................................................... 182 III. The Catholic Response ....................................................................................................... 194 Artus Désiré: Priest, Pamphleteer, and Gadfly .................................................................... 196 Pierre de Ronsard and the Discours des misères de ce temps ............................................. 209 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 219 Chapter Four The Wars of Religion and the Death of the Satyrical ................................................. 221 I. The Anonymous Dialogue d’entre le Maheustre et le Manant ............................................ 232 II. Writing the Fragmented Body: Aubigné’s Les Tragiques .................................................. 243 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 262 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 263 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 269 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the faculty and staff of the UCLA department of French and Francophone Studies for their encouragement and support throughout my doctoral work. I wish to particularly thank my committee: Jean-Claude Carron, Zrinka Stahuljak, Malina Stefanovska, and Brian Copenhaver. They are exceptional, generous mentors without whose help this project would not have been possible. My greatest thanks go to Jean- Claude Carron, who patiently and expertly steered me through one yearlong and two summer research fellowships, which together culminated in this dissertation. Throughout my studies he has been a kind and wise advisor to whom I owe much. My thanks go out to the UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies and UCLA Graduate Division, whose generous financial support in the form of stipends, teaching assistantships, and the abovementioned fellowships made it possible for a married student with one, two, and finally three children to complete doctoral studies. I must also express my deep gratitude to the BYU Department of French and Italian. It was during my undergraduate studies there that faculty members first suggested I study French. They mentored and trained me in the MA program, then brought me back after my doctoral coursework as an instructor, giving me a fantastic opportunity and indispensible resources that permitted me to complete this dissertation. But even more than a nice, private office to write in and faculty privileges at the university library, my colleagues at BYU have been great sources of moral support and kind advice throughout the dissertation process and transition from student to professor. ix Finally, I want to thank my friends and colleagues at UCLA: my fellow grad students, our University Village community, my friends and leaders at church. But most of all, I thank my family: my late parents, who taught me the importance of education; my siblings, who have encouraged and, when necessary, harassed me throughout my education; my in-laws, who take care of our family in all manner of challenges; my children, who fill my life with joy and meaning; and, above all, my wife, whose love and support sustain me. x VITA 2005 B. A., Philosophy Brigham Young University Provo, Utah 2005-07 Student Instructor Department of French and Italian Brigham Young University 2007 M. A., French Studies Brigham Young University Provo, Utah 2008-09