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Failed seductions and the female spectator : pleasure and polemic in the Lettre sur la comédie de l’Imposteur
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dc.contributor.author | Prest, Julia Tamsin | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-06-08T14:30:06Z | |
dc.date.available | 2016-06-08T14:30:06Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-01-10 | |
dc.identifier | 165676186 | |
dc.identifier | 5ac41228-15dd-4bb8-a96f-b5f919ad94c9 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Prest , J T 2017 , ' Failed seductions and the female spectator : pleasure and polemic in the Lettre sur la comédie de l’Imposteur ' , Yale French Studies , vol. 130 . | en |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0002-3266-7390/work/54818972 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8953 | |
dc.description | ISBN: 9780300221633. | en |
dc.description.abstract | The anonymous author of the Lettre Lettre sur la comédie de l’Imposteur (1667) makes the extraordinary claim that Molière’s Tartuffe, ou l’hypocrite, now renamed Panulphe, ou l’Imposteur, offers a powerful attack on, and a reliable inoculation against galanterie solide. The argument turns on an intriguing theory of ridicule whereby the effect of seeing in performance Panulphe-Tartuffe’s attempted seduction of La Dame-Elmire is so powerful that the extreme sense of ridicule it engenders among the theatre audience is indelible and will inevitably be called to mind in any similar off-stage encounters. The play, it is argued, is thus endowed with a significant moral function that can only benefit the French nation currently in the sway of a tide of sexual immorality. The argument put forward is intriguing, yet slippery in its moral ambiguity and sometimes obfuscatory logic. Here I unpick these claims, paying particular attention to the emphasis placed on the response of the female spectator. I also speculate on the author’s purpose in writing this portion of a letter in which different types of pleasure--rhetorical, aesthetic and moral, as well as the very pleasure of polemic--are put into the service of a polemic that extends far beyond the immediate concerns of the Tartuffe controversy | |
dc.format.extent | 165985 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Yale French Studies | en |
dc.title | Failed seductions and the female spectator : pleasure and polemic in the Lettre sur la comédie de l’Imposteur | en |
dc.type | Journal item | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. French | en |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
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