LA LITTÉRATURE PLAISANTE FACE À LA CENSURE: LE CHASSE-ENNUY DE LOUIS GARON ET LA RÉSERVE DE TOUT DIRE
PLEASANT LITERATURE IN THE FACE OF CENSORSHIP: LOUIS GARON'S BOREDOM BLOWER AND THE RESERVE OF TELLING EVERYTHING

Summary/Abstract: Through their sometimes-obscene themes and irreverent language, jesting literature in general, and the facétie, in particular, belong to a literary category targeted by authors and public institutions aiming to impose a certain level of respectability on any text accessible to the general public, in line with decency and Christian principles. The numerous attempts to censor various collections of jests and tales that exceed these imposed boundaries have proven quite successful; however, when analysing the way that the tales of the Decameron and the humorous anecdotes of Chasse-ennuy address jesting, even facetious themes, it is not difficult to notice a shift in style. While Boccaccio openly criticizes monks, for example, depicting them in the most scandalous roles, Garon, almost three centuries later, adopts a more restrained, often implicit critique.To highlight the elements that contributed to this stylistic transition concerning less respectable themes, characteristic of jesting literature, the literary analysis method provided by the New Historicist approach seems most suitable: by taking into account the context in which these texts were published, this article aims to reveal the socio-historical aspects that contributed to Chasse-ennuy's less audacious approach compared to its literary predecessors, such as the Liber Facetiarum and the Decameron.

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