Nous avons le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire conjoint PEARL (Sorbonne Nouvelle) – Modernités 16-18 (Sorbonne), ce jeudi 12 février à 17h.
Nous aurons le plaisir d’entendre :
Béatrice Fuga (Université d’Angers) sur “An Antidote to Pathological Passions. The (Mis)fortunes of Jacques Ferrand’s Traité de l’essence et guérison de l’amour in France and England”.
Lieu: Salle Mezzanine, Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 4 rue des Irlandais, Paris 5e.
Abstract: Between 1619 and 1620, a series of investigations from the Inquisition took place in Toulouse’s printing shops, which resulted in the banning of a number of texts, including the – until then – rather inconspicuous Traicté de l’essence et guérison de l’amour ou de la mélancolie érotique, written by Jacques Ferrand. He undertook a thorough revision of his treatise, republished in 1623 under the same title, but expunged from all its problematic content – especially the chapters in which Ferrand drew from astrology and other “damnable remedies” to cure love (but also to procure it). The reprinting of the treatise was ultimately beneficial to Ferrand’s career, since the second edition sparked much more enthusiasm among the public: the text, printed in Paris, circulated in France and was promptly translated into English by Edmund Chilmead (1640). In this paper, I will offer an analysis of Ferrand’s text in its first and second editions, which, in turn, will be compared to the English translation. Through this comparative reading, I will examine the different ethical, epistemological and medical approaches to lovesickness that can be brought about by the trad-aptation of Ferrand’s work. The Traicté represents also a turning point in the diagnosis of erotomania in the seventeenth century, for it spurred the debate on the nature and the cures to love melancholy. Ferrand’s work blurs the epistemological boundaries between science and literature, testifying to the gradual distancing from an idealisation of love melancholy, to favour a more scientific, but also more gendered approach. I will therefore show how Ferrand’s treatise, as well as Chilmead’s translation, epitomise the evolution of socio-cultural preoccupations in regards to contemporary issues of sexuality and marriage.
Bio: Beatrice Fuga is Lecturer at the University of Angers, and she holds a PhD in early modern English literature and translation. Her thesis deals with the circulation and translation of the Italian short story in early modern Europe. She has recently started a new project on the medical representation of lovesickness and sexual pathologies in early modern France and England.
Rappel des séances suivantes:
Mercredi 1er avril, 17h – Susan Manly (University of St Andrews) – “Maria Edgeworth and Practical Education”. Lieu: Salle Mezzanine, Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 4 rue des Irlandais, Paris 5e.
Jeudi 28 mai, 17h – Isabelle Bour (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle) – “Jane Austen philosophe?” Lieu: Salle Mezzanine, Maison de la Recherche de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 4 rue des Irlandais, Paris 5e.
Au plaisir de vous y retrouver nombreux.
Line Cottegnies, Alexis Tadié pour Sorbonne Université, Anne-Marie Miller-Blaise, Ariane Fennetaux pour l’Université Sorbonne Nouvelle.
