Beyond pastoral: Rusticity and the reframing of court culture in 16th century French literature

My dissertation challenges interpretations of the pastoral literary genre in Renaissance France by contrasting it to the Virgilian tradition of the Georgics in various 16th century works. I argue that what I have termed "rustic discourse," often conceived as a watered down form of pastoralism, is an expression of resistance to the building of the absolutist state. Through the study of a selection of 16th century authors, I demonstrate how the rustic discourse corresponds to a search for communitarian unity. My dissertation begins with a comparison of the poetry of Joachim Du Bellay and Pierre de Ronsard, underlying the question of the place---and political responsibility---of the humanist in early modern French society. I proceed with considerations of a more historical nature examining the work of Noël du Fail, a close follower of Rabelais. In particular, I explicate how his use of the rustic discourse functions as a literary device that bypassed the Sorbonne's censorship as well as generated an authoritative discourse, unfolding the author's greater project of religious, judicial and political reformation, largely ignored by modern criticism up until now. The last part focuses on the case of Bernard Palissy, a 16th century ceramicist and scientist whose written works have benefited from an increasing attention over the last decade. I offer a new perspective on Palissy's works, showing his investment in the building of a Protestant kingdom through agricultural teaching. Thus the dissertation shows in detail how religious and political minorities developed new modes of literary discourse as ways of defining their relationship to emerging state power. My work engages recent critical thinking on collective identity, minority discourse, and nation building.