Diabolic Deeds: Transgression and Corporeality in The
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Vanderbilt Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive DIABOLIC DEEDS: TRANSGRESSION AND CORPOREALITY IN THE HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES By: Laura M. Nelson Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in French May 2013 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Lynn T. Ramey Professor Robert F. Barsky Professor Edward H. Friedman Professor Paul B. Miller Professor Virginia M. Scott i Copyright © 2013 by Laura M. Nelson All Rights Reserved ii For Mr. B, Mama, Junior, and Elisabeth iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have written this dissertation without the help of many. I thank Lynn Ramey for her dedication to my project and careful reading coupled with constructive criticism. Lynn challenged me to dig deeper and think harder about the implications of my discoveries and met with me weekly for writing sessions despite the fact that she was on leave. We are both grateful for the great coffee at Jo Zoara. I credit Virginia Scott with the resurrection of this project at a time when I did not think it was possible, as well as supporting me from start to finish in my lengthy graduate career. I thank Holly Tucker for her inspiration for the project. Ed Friedman graciously served on my qualifying exam committee as well as a reader for the dissertation and I appreciate his willingness to do so. Paul Miller has taken care of the intricacies of paperwork, as well as agreeing to be a part of my committee. Robert Barsky generously agreed to serve on my committee and I thank all of my committee members for the time they have invested. My friends and colleagues Joany McRae Kleinlein, Leah Lyons, Ann McCullough, and Nancy Goldberg have provided unwavering support and Ann set me straight at a critical moment. My dear friend and former classmate Heather Garrett Pelletier has patiently listened to every up and down along the way, and always found the words I needed to hear. Charlotte Carey, Marian Macpherson, Billy and Sally Ledbetter, Fran Miller, Gabrielle Flecher, and Jacqueline Biard have been true friends and offered encouragement throughout my journey. I could not have completed this task without the love of my family. Mr. B always believed in me and I miss being able to share this achievement. Mama, Kim, and Meador have always been confident that I would finish. Junior and Elisabeth have lived through the experience and been a constant source of iv strength, as well as forgiveness, for all the time I spent with my books and computer instead of with them. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iv INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 IN THE BEGINNING ............................................................................................... 3 OVERVIEW AND HISTORY OF THE GENRE ............................................................. 6 CHAPTER ONE-DEMON SEED: THE RISE OF EXORCISM IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ........................................................................................ 17 ENTER THE DEVIL: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ......................................... 17 THE DEVIL .......................................................................................................... 18 FAMOUS DEMONIACS ......................................................................................... 24 EXORCISM .......................................................................................................... 27 WITCHES VS. THE POSSESSED ............................................................................ 29 BURNED AT THE STAKE: THE ACTUAL TRIAL OF GAUFRIDY ............................. 39 GAUFRIDY: THE ROSSET VERSION ...................................................................... 43 THE MARKS OF THE DEVIL ................................................................................. 52 WORDS, MOUTHS, AND TESTIMONY .................................................................. 59 A TRAGIC END ................................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER TWO-DEMON LOVE ............................................................................... 73 DEMONS IN THE FLESH ............................................................................................ 73 DIABOLIC SEDUCTION ........................................................................................ 76 vi A CURIOUS END ................................................................................................. 94 DEVILISH COPULATION .................................................................................... 101 TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES ............................................................................ 111 CHAPTER THREE-BODIES IN PARTS AND PIECES ......................................... 117 MEDICAL MUTILATION: MUTILATION AND VENGEANCE ........................ 117 FEMININE RAGE DISTORTION ........................................................................... 135 SELF-MUTILATION AND SUICIDE ...................................................................... 144 MOTHERLY MUTILATION ................................................................................. 153 THE OVERKILL ................................................................................................. 161 CHAPTER FOUR- THE CORPSE ............................................................................. 169 A CHURCH BURIAL? ......................................................................................... 169 REPENTANCE AND HYPOCRISY ......................................................................... 174 MADNESS – DEMONIC OR DIVINE? ................................................................... 179 SPECTACULAR TORTURE .................................................................................. 181 FOREIGN INTERFERENCE .................................................................................. 184 THERE MUST BE PUNISHMENT ......................................................................... 193 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 200 FUNCTIONS OF THE FANTASTIQUE .................................................................... 203 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 213 vii INTRODUCTION My dissertation focuses on the representations and treatment of the human body in the Histoires tragiques, a literary genre published largely between 1559 and 1648. Histoires tragiques are collections of stories of Italian origin that are a mixture of fait divers, anecdotes, and novellas. The tales cover many types of transgressive behavior and were written with a moralizing intent. They are rife with bloodshed, death, demons, demonic possession, murder, and violence. I analyze the confluence of the exterior influences of scientific advances and church instabilities with the representation of the bodily manifestations of transgression found within the tales. This dissertation examines the reasons for the proliferation of demonic possession and witchcraft accusations because of political, religious, and economic factors. I also look at the results of sins as actualized on the human body and follow Michel Foucault’s theories on punishment, torture, and confinement to illustrate the locus of control unified in church and state, that while threatened by divisive factors, is mirrored and promoted in the Histoires tragiques. I investigate the nature of ecstatic religious experience against the backdrop of the Histoires tragiques and the masochistic apparatus found in its quest that appears to parallel Christian spirituality. I also explore the early modern beliefs about the human body, death, and the corpse as illustrated in the tales. Despite their popularity as best sellers in the seventeenth century, the Histoires tragiques have been marginalized in French literary studies. Although the genre is important enough to be given a brief mention in most anthologies of literary history, few 1 authors have delved more deeply into researching these works. In terms of research, the Histoires tragiques have been marginalized and neglected. Maurice Lever, writes of this neglect in his Le roman français au XVIIe siècle, Il est regrettable que les historiens de l’âge baroque n’aient pas accordé à ces histoires l’attention qu’elles méritaient, et que des rapprochements n’aient pas été tentes avec la tragédie française de la même époque, à laquelle Jean Rousset a consacré une étude intitulée le Théâtre de la cruauté.1 Not only have historians of the Baroque neglected the Histoires tragiques, but literary critics and authors have also disregarded the stories in general until recently. Another useful point of literary reference for the placement of the Histoires tragiques in literary history is Henri Coulet’s Le Roman jusqu’à la Révolution as he recognizes and points out the influence of the Histoires tragiques on other French literary genres. There is but a short list of works devoted uniquely to the Histoires