This book disputes the notion that humanists in sixteenth-century France were ivory-tower academics detached from the world. Through their interpretationsof Homer, they not only played the role of counselor to the king, but participated in national debates about sovereignty and contributed to the developmentof a French national consciousness. This book disputes the notion that humanists, classical scholars in sixteenth-century France, were ivory-tower academics detached from the world around them. Through their interpretations of Homer,they not only played the role of counselor to the king, but participated actively in national debates in their poetry, their art, their pamphlets, their plays. Because Homer was considered an authority on all subjects, including politics, he became a locus for authority issues surroundingthe king. This study shows how Homer was initially used to construct the image of a monarchy which traced its origins back to Troy, but later, after the outbreak of the Wars of Religion, the Greek poet is cited in discussions critical of the monarchy. It examines not only the different hermeneuticpractices of Catholics and Protestants but also their contributions to debates about sovereignty and ultimately to the development of a French national consciousness. Homer's demise at the end of the century parallels the rise of political absolutism. INDICE: Preface Introduction Part I: Part I: Making Homer French, 1530-1560 Chapter 1: Guillaume Bud: Instituting a Homeric French King Chapter 2: Jean Dorat: Toward an Official French Homeric Idiom Chapter 3: Royal Mythography and Its Discontents: Joachim Du Bellay and Etienne de la Botie Part II: Homer and the Problem of Authority During the Wars of Religion (1560-1592) Chapter 4: Homer and the War of Words Chapter 5: Reading Homer Across the Religious Divide: Guillaume Paquelin & Jean de Sponde Chapter 6: Trojan / French Chaos: Garnier's La Troade, Homer, and Raison d'tat Chapter 7: Montaigne, La Botie, Homer: from Parliament to Parley Conclusion Works Cited
- ISBN: 978-0-19-973156-5
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 288
- Fecha Publicación: 15/09/2011
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés