La rhetorique du desir dans la "Delie" de Maurice Sceve. (French text);

Abstract

This dissertation examines the relation between a rhetoric of desire and the context in which it was produced. Unlike previous work mainly focused on form, this study shows that the subjectivity of the Delie and its reflection on language are connected to a specific historical situation. The desire of the lover for his lady provides the vehicle for political, ethical, and religious considerations. By means of a rhetoric of desire, Sceve expresses anxieties and aspirations similar to those of contemporary humanists such as Erasmus, Guillaume Bude, and Thomas More. The structure of the desire shows the contradictory tensions that drive the politics and the religious debates of the period. The inscription of love reproduces theological concepts that are at the heart of the controversy between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. The lover tries in vain to reach a state of perfection and his repeated efforts underscore his belief in the idea of merit (chapter 1). Sceve also questions the politics of Francis I, even as he upholds a nationalistic conception of literature (chapter 2). The Delie is finally an appeal for spiritual values and unity at the very moment these ideals are threatened. The inner tensions are expressed by a coincidentia oppositorum whereby the poet emphasizes rupture rather than synthesis (chapter 3). The dialectic of desire highlights instability, and the certainty of uncertainty.