| My work examines the emergence of the independent "author" in early Renaissance France, drawing upon the poetry of the most prolific of the grands rhetoriqueurs, Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473- ca. 1516). Lemaire's independence as an author stems from the rapidly changing dynamics of a patronage system which, revolutionized by the advent of print technology, decreased dependence on a patron's favor and gave increased attention to the author's identity and personal concerns. A certain literary self-assertion is evident in Lemaire's poetry, in which he foregrounds his own personal, economic, and intellectual concerns. While scholars have previously concentrated their attention on instances of Lemaire's authorial self-assertion in the paratextual material of his works, my study examines such moments in the text proper of four of his early poems, Le Temple d'Honneur et de Vertus (1503), La Plainte du Desire (1504), Les Epitres de l'Amant Vert (1505), and "Les Regretz de la Dame Infortunee (1506)." By creating literary personae and poetic images which serve implicitly as vehicles for authorial self-expression, Lemaire is able to overcome the social, political, and generic constraints under which he operates. Lemaire asserts his poetic role by restoring harmony and concord to the very scenes of chaos and ruin he has himself evoked. This restorative poetic act mirrors the Creator's divine organization of the cosmos, and offers a peace and order reflective of the divine harmony prevailing in the universe. Yet for Lemaire, the fallibility of the poet's perception, the limits of language, the constraints of subjectivity and representation, and the materiality of the physical objects the poet uses all present obstacles to perfect representation, ultimately distinguishing the poet's creation from that of his Creator. Because he cannot truly represent the "real," it becomes the poet's duty to provide asymptotic approximations of it, projections forever approaching the elusive "reality" being represented but never seizing it entirely. By thus emphasizing his own role and limitations as a poet, Jean Lemaire de Belges effectively calls attention to his own literary enterprise, asserting a certain authorial self-consciousness that marks the emergence of the author in sixteenth-century France. |
