Research: The querelle on theater in seventeenth-century France. Pascal's legacy in the conflict between Racine and NicoleThis project is based on the research and bibliographical work underlying the querelle sur la moralité du théâtre that exploded in France towards the end of the 17th century. I argue that the clash between Racine and Nicole takes shape in De la Comédie. In this text, Nicole condemned the theater as a form of perversion of the human soul and described it as the cause of an inevitable human detachment from faith in God. In my interpretation, this conflict is nourished by the influence, even if not explicitly mentioned, of Blaise Pascal's theses on the problem of Grace. Therefore, this research project intends to explore further the strictly Pascalan presence in the dramaturgical structure of Racine's tragedies and in the arguments presented in some of his epistolary and theoretical material. The main aim of the Ph.D. project is to dig deeper into the direct testimonies of the personalities who intervened in the querelle and to keep a specific focus on Nicole and Racine's personal and intellectual relationship, through a close analysis of their writings. Needless to say, the research will also focus on aspects of Racine's existence to understand the intellectual and personal debt he owed to his teacher Nicole, with whom he had a close relationship from his earliest childhood that signed him for the rest of his life. I will reflect on the intellectual role of Nicole, one of the most important figures on the Jansenist front. Finally, I will consider Jansenist thought as a whole, focusing on Port-Royal's position. I will go through the texts of its most important exponents, including Arnauld, and other reflections on the core of Jansenism to understand the theological ground that feeds Port-Royal's positions against the theater.
keywords
Theatre; dispute; grace; love; passion