Picture and Counter-Picture: An Attempt to Involve Context in the Interpretation of Théâtre Italien Iconography

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-233
Author(s):  
Bent Holm
Keyword(s):  
Louis Xiv ◽  
Political Allegory

On 23 February 1653 the 15-year old Louis XIV performed in the court ballet La Nuit (Plate 21), at the Petit-Bourbon in Paris. A political allegory with clear allusions to recent events, it represented the suppressed rebellion of the Fronde, with a promise of a glorious future for the realm. The dénouement featured the monarch in an apotheosis, in the shape of Le Roy Soleil (Sun King), who dispels the dark forces of the night. This was certainly Louis's first appearance in the role, but definitely not the last.

Staging the World: The Devils as Theatrum Mundi

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-514
Author(s):  
Christophe Van Eecke
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Tidal Wave ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Mise En Abyme ◽  
Political Allegory ◽  
The World

When Ken Russell's film The Devils was released in 1971 it generated a tidal wave of adverse criticism. The film tells the story of a libertine priest, Grandier, who was burnt at the stake for witchcraft in the French city of Loudun in the early seventeenth century. Because of its extended scenes of sexual hysteria among cloistered nuns, the film soon acquired a reputation for scandal and outrage. This has obscured the very serious political issues that the film addresses. This article argues that The Devils should be read primarily as a political allegory. It shows that the film is structured as a theatrum mundi, which is the allegorical trope of the world as a stage. Rather than as a conventional recreation of historical events (in the tradition of the costume film), Russell treats the trial against Grandier as a comment on the nature of power and politics in general. This is not only reflected in the overall allegorical structure of the theatrum mundi, but also in the use of the film's highly modernist (and therefore timeless) sets, in Russell's use of the mise-en-abyme (a self-reflexive embedded play) and in the introduction of a number of burlesque sequences, all of which are geared towards achieving the film's allegorical import.

Le Télémaque De Fénelon (1699), Chef D’oeuvre Utopique

Moreana ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (Number 139- (3-4) ◽  
pp. 87-102
Author(s):  
Germain Marc’hadour
Keyword(s):  
Louis Xiv

Le roman intitulé Les Aventures de Télémaque, fils d’Ulysse, connut, dès sa parution ( 1699), un succès qui n’a pas eu d’éclipse. Il a fourni au moins deux termes au vocabulaire international: mentor et Salente. L’impact de l’oeuvre est inséparable de la personnalité de l’auteur: Fénelon avait publié un Traité de l’éducation des filles, qui contribua à le faire nommer précepteur du petit-fils de Louis XIV, poste qui l’achemina vers celui d’archevêque de Cambrai. Son vaste diocèse, où More avait signé la Paix des Dames en 1529, jouxtait les Flandres, et pâtissait des guerres menées sur cette frontière jusqu’à la paix d’Utrecht (1713). L’Ulysse dont il se fait le Mentor par Télémaque interposé est l’héritier présomptif du Roi-Soleil: il le promène de nation en nation pour lui faire honnir celles qui sont belliqueuses, et apprécier celles où la loi est souveraine, où l’agriculture est à l’honneur, et d’où sont bannis le luxe et l’ostentation. La palme rev ient à la république de Salente, véritable famille comme l’Utopie de More, et en outre dotée d’un climat idyllique. Louis XIV se fâcha: “Il décrie mon règne!” Bossuet s’offusqua: “écrire un roman est indigne d’un prêtre.” Mais l’oeuvre s’est imposée comme un classique.

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