Du Bellay

Joachim du Bellay · French writer, poet, literary critic, and member of the Pléiade (1522–1560) · 1522–1560

Appears in 10 videos · 10 passages.

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani mainly returns to the sonnet "Heureux qui comme Ulysse" from Les Regrets. He sees in it an example of a legend taking the place of history1: du Bellay turns Ulysses' voyage into a happy homecoming, whereas Homer's text contradicts that ending2. He speaks of a "lie" of the happy end3, of which this line has become the emblem4. This reading recurs from 2017 to 2024: he takes it up again in sessions devoted to current political events5. He also cites the Défense et illustration de la langue française, which defends the use of French in literature and, before Descartes, justifies writing in that language6. He further cites du Bellay for the abundance of Renaissance vocabulary, for an allusion in Les Regrets to literary sterility, which he considers a mainly modern problem, and for the images of "hard marble" and "fine slate", which he contrasts with the fluidity of music.

Summary produced automatically from 10 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Who is this?

Joachim du Bellay (French:; c. 1522 – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of La Pléiade. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: Défense et illustration de la langue française, which aimed at promoting French as an artistic language, equal to Greek and Latin.

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Text: Wikipédia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Portrait: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain

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