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Thematic Development in Jodelle's Conti*'Amours by Gale Crouse# When Etienne Jodelle's works were first published in 1574, just over a year after the poet's death, his editor and lifetime friend, Charles de La Mothe, grouped seven sonnets under the heading "Contr'Amours." In his introduction to this first edition, La Mothe commented that he could include only seven sonnets "par ce que l'on n'en a encore peu recouvrer le reste,"1 and he went on to explain that the "Contr'Amours" should contain over three hundred works. Balmas has recently uncovered two additional sonnets and two longer poems which he convincingly attributes to Jodelle (pp. 529-30), but the total number remains far short of the three hundred attested to by La Mothe. The few poems which are known, however, offer valuable insight into Jodelle's work as a poet, especially in terms of poetic structure and thematic development. The "Contr'Amours" present a bold and original poetic statement of the anti-Petrarchan sentiment which was common in the midsixteenth century, especially among the Pléiade poets. Both Du Bellay, in his "Contre les Pétrarquistes,"2 and Ronsard, in the "Elegie à son livre"' and in an "Odelette à sa maistresse,"4 had criticized the excesses and the effusiveness of the traditional expressions of love. In a "Chanson" (pp. 320-335) Jodelle himself had made a similar criticism.5 Jodelle's "Contr'Amours" are unique, however, in that they constitute an illustration rather than merely a statement of anti-Petrarchism. •GAI.E CROUSE (Ph.D.. University of Wisconsin-- Madison) teaches French and integrated humanities courses at the University of South Dakota where he is chairman of the Department of Modern Languages. He has taught at San Diego State College and at the Ecole Normale d'instituteurs in Chateauroux. France. He is editor of the Language Rt>und Table Bulletin of South Dakota and a member of the Advisory Council of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. His affiliations include AATE. ACTKI.. RMMl. A. and SDKI. A. 1 Etienne Jodelle. Oeuvres completes. cá. Enea Balmas (Paris: Gallimard. 1965), I, 72. Kurt her references to this edition will he given in the text of the study. ; Oeuvres françaises de Jitachim du Bel/ai . ed. Charles Marty-I.aveaux (Paris: Lemerre. 1867). II. .'3.1-3.18. 'Oeuvres comp/eres. ed. Gustave Cohen (Paris: Gallimard. 1950), I. 112. 'Ibid. II. 798 ^ Balmas suggests that Du Bellay's anti-Petrarchism may have been inspired by Jodelle. See his Cn poeta del Rinasfimento francese: Flienne Jodelle. La sua vna. 11 suo lempo ( Klorence: I.. S. Olschki. 1962), p. 445. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW7 Contr'Amours Unrequited or even rejected love is Jodelle's alleged reason for the creation of the "Contr'Amours," an interpretation supported by the poet's contemporary, Etienne Pasquier, who writes that Jodelle "estoit d'un esprit sourcilleux, et voyant que tous les autres poetes s'adonnoient à la célébration de leurs dames, luy, par un privilege spécial, voulut faire un livre qu'il intitula Contr'Amours, en haine d'une dame qu'il avoit autresfois affectionnée___6 There is no real evidence to substantiate the notion that Jodelle's poems were actually inspired by an unfortunate love affair, however, nor should this be a major consideration since the question of sincerity is often meaningless in a sixteenth-century context.7 As Piéri points out in his study of the style of the Petrarchists, "Leurs développements enthousiastes sont un procédé de rhétorique. Jodelle, dépité contre l'amour, explique comment il savait embellir l'objet de sa passion, transformer ses défauts mêmes en qualités."8 What the "Contr'Amours" present most notably is a vivid example of Jodelle's verve for writing. In these works he finds the perfect occasion to parody the traditional themes oflove poetry, especially the much-used and much-abused Petrarchan mode. Thematic modification allows him a new vocabulary and opens the possibility for unusual poetic effects. Into the sonnets of the "Contr'Amours" Jodelle pours his love for language and rhetorical innovation. The poet's creative enthusiasm is manifest...

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