Des allégories au chevet de l’auteur: ‹Le Livre de l’Esperance› d’Alain Chartier

Abstract

This article proposes to put into perspective the contribution of Alain Chartier to the format of the allegorical first-person narration, by taking into account the representation of allegorical creation in ‹Le Livre de l’Esperance›, the author’s latest work: ‹The Book of Hope›, which had a decisive influence on later poets, seems in fact to constitute an analysis, and perhaps a criticism, of the subjective dimension of allegorical figures. Opposing two modes of allegorical figuration, one finding its principle in the imagination tormented by Melancholy and generating negative creatures, the other in memory, opened by Understanding, which allows the appearance of theological virtues, Chartier’s work raises the question of the legitimacy of allegorical writing and its capacity to establish authority.