This dissertation is a study of Renaissance representations of law and violence (in its etymological sense of transgression) through readings of Christine de Pizan, Alvaro de Luna, Marguerite de Navarre, Pierre Boaistuau, Jacques Yver, and Bénigne Poissenot. I explore depictions of law and violence from the point of view of both historical development and literary genre.
From the historical point of view, this dissertation shows that the Renaissance is a period of transition towards the interiorization and the secularization of the idea of law. This happens in the context of the Reformation, which empowers the self as a moral authority through a new law that is called: la loi de la conscience. The dissertation stresses the political aspects of this inner law inscribed in the self and highlights the genesis of theories of civil disobedience, tracing them back to literary examples of resistance to authorities in short narratives.
Stretching my analysis from history to literary genre, I also show that Renaissance short narratives, with their link to faits divers, are a privileged genre for talking about law and violence. Early modern short stories are representations of, and discussions on, law and violence, while peace in its purest form, when not meant as pacification, doesn't lend itself to narration.
The dissertation thus aims to contribute both to a history of subjectivity and to a history of the politics of the short narrative.
© 2003