How Legend Constructs French National Identity: Jeanne D'arc

Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2007 How Legend Constructs French National Identity: Jeanne d'Arc Stephanie Louise Coker Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Coker, Stephanie Louise, "How Legend Constructs French National Identity: Jeanne d'Arc" (2007). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 2459. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2459 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. HOW LEGEND CONSTRUCTS FRENCH NATIONAL IDENTITY: JEANNE D’ARC A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of French Studies by Stephanie Louise Coker B.A., Mississippi College, 2000 M.A., Louisiana State University, 2004 December 2007 © Copyright 2007 Stephanie Louise Coker All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements First, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Katharine Jensen. Thank you for believing in me as a scholar, encouraging my creative interpretation of texts, and helping me to hone my writing skills. Your enthusiasm in the classroom and your constant pursuit of excellence both in teaching and writing inspire and challenge me. While others might have dismissed my fascination with that famous maiden Jeanne d’Arc, you wholeheartedly supported my passion. I am truly grateful for your wisdom in guiding me through this project and for your enduring patience in reading countless drafts. Without your direction, this work would not exist. In addition, I say merci beaucoup to the French faculty at LSU and, in particular, my committee. To Jack Yeager whose constant support and passion for teaching French is always refreshing. To Greg Stone who piqued my interest in medieval studies and introduced me to the writer Christine de Pisan. And to Kevin Bongiorni who suggested the idea of “constructing national identity” which became the central theme of this work. I also want to publicly acknowledge Caroline Nash who believed in and encouraged my pedagogical development during my time at LSU. From writing French exams to teaching literature, working with her was a true joy. Another debt of gratitude is owed to Connie Simpson who works tirelessly behind the scenes. Thanks to all my friends at LSU whose camaraderie and support mean so much to me. In particular, thank you to Lori Knox for her constant friendship and encouragement. I am also grateful to Debbie Pierce, my mentor at Mississippi College, who encouraged my pursuit of French language and literature. Her life and example taught me the wonder of exploring other cultures. Thank you to the staff of the Centre Jeanne d’Arc in Orléans, France, iii who welcomed me, even though they were officially closed to the public. Thanks also to my church family whose prayers have sustained me during this season of my life. In closing, words cannot express the gratitude owed my mother, father, and brother Joseph who have always believed in me. For their love and support, I am eternally grateful. I dedicate this work to them and to the newest additions to my family, Cary and Julia Lane, who bring joy to my heart. I reserve, however, my utmost thanks for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whose sovereign hand has guided me on this journey. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. iii Abstract................................................................................................................................ vi Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Writing/Righting Identity in Medieval France: Christine de Pisan and Jeanne d’Arc........................................................... 30 2 From Victime to Vainqueur: François d’Aubignac Rewrites the Trial of Jeanne d’Arc........................... 63 3 Profaning the Pucelle?: Voltaire Comments on the Body Politic...................................................... 94 4 Preoccupied with Jeanne d’Arc in Postwar France: Jean Anouilh and the Frustration of Liberation.......................................... 126 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 160 Bibliography....................................................................................................................... 167 Appendix A: Christine de Pisan’s Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc, Followed by an English Translation ........................................................... 173 Appendix B: Subsequent Versions of Voltaire’s La Pucelle d’Orléans............................ 196 Appendix C: Image of de Gaulle’s Free French Flag......................................................... 197 Vita...................................................................................................................................... 198 v Abstract Since the fifteenth century, French authors have (re)told the story of Jeanne d’Arc. There is a sense of timelessness that accompanies her reception by the French public. In this transhistorical study, I look at Jeanne’s legend in light of four centuries and reveal how French authors (re)appropriate the Maid for their own political purposes. Along with the timeliness of Jeanne’s appearance, I investigate the gendered nature of her depictions. In short, I examine how Jeanne’s legend constructs, reconstructs, and deconstructs French national identity. In 1429, Christine de Pisan composes Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc, a poem that celebrates her contemporary in fifteenth-century France. Pisan’s poem appears near the end of the Hundred Years War when France is occupied by the English. During this period, the people doubted Charles VII’s legitimacy and the French monarchy was in danger. As the different factions within France begin to join forces, the new nation of France is born. In seventeenth-century France, the monarchy gains prestige as Louis XIV will soon take the throne. In 1642, François Hédelin d’Aubignac penned the drama La Pucelle d’Orléans, in which he depicts the Maid as an eloquent rhetorician who commands the courtroom. In this period of Absolutism, d’Aubignac’s Jeanne parallels the king. During the Age of Reason, Voltaire writes his mock epic La Pucelle d’Orléans (1762) in which he questions Jeanne’s purity. This scandalous work offers a political commentary, advising the gullible French public to question the established institutions—namely, the monarchy and the Church. Voltaire’s epic anticipates one of the greatest national turning points for France: the revolution. In the twentieth century, France endures German occupation in World War II. Jean Anouilh’s drama L’Alouette (1953) offers a postwar commentary on the state of France as they vi must rebuild French national identity after the Liberation. In a period when Absurdist theatre emerged, Anouilh’s play reflects the absurdity of war. The author writes a masculine hero and champions the individual: true to himself and responsible for his own actions. vii Introduction “Joan was a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind that she finds no equal in a thousand years. She embodied the natural goodness and valour of the human race in unexampled perfection. Unconquerable courage, infinite compassion, the virtue of the simple, the wisdom of the just, shone forth in her.” --Winston Churchill “I could not kill the Maid. She is up and alive everywhere.” --Executioner in Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw 1 Two Burgundian nobles are discussing Jeanne’s imminent arrival when one exclaims: “She’s the Maid of Lorraine.” The other seemingly dismisses the gravity of the situation when he replies skeptically: “That’s a myth.” To this remark, the first Burgundian admonishes his comrade with a warning: “Never underestimate the power of a myth” (emphasis added). This scene from Christian Duguay’s film Joan of Arc (1999) captures the French people’s enduring belief in the celebrated maid as deliverer of the nation of France. In 2005—over five hundred seventy-five years after the city’s famous deliverance by the Maid—I walked the streets of Orléans where I personally discovered Jeanne’s ongoing popularity. One may peruse the holdings of the Centre Jeanne d’Arc, founded in 1974 by leading Johannic scholar Régine Pernoud or simply visit the Cathédrale Sainte-Croix where the stained-glass windows retell Jeanne’s story. In the city’s center at the Place du Martroi stands a huge statue of Jeanne on horseback with her sword in hand. Famous as a standard bearer before the army, the Maid here is surrounded by the flags of the European Union, France, and Orléans. One may tour the Maison de Jeanne d’Arc, the house where the Maid lodged is now a modern- day museum.1 Filled with historic monuments, Orléans also capitalizes on the Maid’s appeal to tourists. For example, I stayed at the Hôtel d’Arc and strolled down the

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