Jean-Pierre Camus: is it possible to render an 'immoral genre' moral? Cover Image

Jean-Pierre Camus : la moralisation d’un genre immoral est-elle possible ?
Jean-Pierre Camus: is it possible to render an 'immoral genre' moral?

Author(s): Maja Pawłowska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, French Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Instytut Filologii Romańskiej & Wydawnictwo Werset
Keywords: Jean-Pierre Camus; roman dévot (pious romance); novel, immoral genre; French 17th century novel

Summary/Abstract: Camus complements his novels with long peritexts, thus using his ecclesiastic authority to legitimise their moral and didactic value. In these peritexts he opposes the licentious novels to his own devout works of fiction, which are, in his own words, not only valuable and worth recommending, but also capable of saving the readers’ souls, put in danger by other texts. In any case, a close reading of these peritexts reveals a view which challenges the idea of the novel’s insidiousness and which bears witness to Camus’s great fascination with this officially condemned literary genre.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 32-39
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: French