The century of political, religious and cultural turmoil that shook France after the sudden death of Francis I in 1547 was also a period of intense literary nation-building. This study shows how canonical authors contributed to the creation of the French as an imaginary community and argues that early modern literary texts also provide venues for an incisive critique of the idea of nation. Informed by contemporary theories of nationhood, the original readings of Du Bellay's Defense, Ronsard's Discours and d'Aubigne's Tragiques, Montaigne's Essays, Malherbe's odes, and Corneille's Le Cid and Horace demonstrate the critical function of allegories such as Mother France or tropes like the graft and reveal the pertinence of these early modern figurations for current debates about the nation-state in a postmodern era and globalized world.
- ISBN10 6613135348
- ISBN13 9786613135346
- Publish Date 1 April 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 28 September 2011
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Associated University Presses
- Imprint University of Delaware Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 222
- Language English