Pleasure and the "bien souverain" in Gabrielle de Coignard's Oeuvres chrestiennes
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TitlePleasure and the "bien souverain" in Gabrielle de Coignard's Oeuvres chrestiennes
Date Created2020
Other Date2020-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (xii, 431 pages)
DescriptionThe main question we set out to answer in this dissertation is: can Gabrielle de Coignard’s outlook, as perceived through her Œuvres chrestiennes, be described as hedonistic and, if so, to what extent?
In Chapter I, we explore “hedonism” as a concept and philosophical tradition, as well as various conceptions of the nature and meaning of pleasure. Chapter II provides an overview of Coignard’s life as well as preliminary considerations on her ethical outlook and her sense of “calling” as a Christian poet. In Chapters III, IV, and V, a series of comparative readings assess Coignard’s conception of the sovereign good and the roles played by pleasure therein. By comparing the content and form of Coignard’s poetry – especially of Sonnet XXV, in which we find the sole occurrence of the expression “bien souverain” – with pieces written by some of her male and female contemporaries (some secular others religious), we come to appreciate specific ways in which Coignard assimilates and also rejects what her counterparts wrote on love, suffering, pleasure, and the highest good. In Chapter IV, we demonstrate how Coignard is more reticent than Anne de Marquets when making rhetorical use of the supreme “bien” and the pleasurable effects it is believed to contain. In Chapter V, a similar reticence is demonstrated with respect to Luis de Granada’s Vray chemin, from which Coignard borrows directly when writing De la gloire et felicité de la vie eternelle.
Our conclusion is not only that Coignard’s implied ethical system cannot be described as hedonistic, but that she actively fights this very possibility: she explicitly names God the “seul bien souverain,” isolates the concept in its own category, makes sure to prevent any reduction of it to pleasure, and upholds this same position throughout her œuvre. She seems acutely aware that poems purporting to describe celestial bliss might both reduce it to ordinary human pleasures and make those a goal to be coveted under the guise of beatitude. That is why, when she dedicates an entire poem to the topic of “félicité,” she does not give herself full expressive license to treat this subject.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
LanguageEnglish, French
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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