Quand faire c’est dire: sur le discours de la passion cornélienne
Quand faire c’est dire: sur le discours de la passion cornélienne

Summary/Abstract: By reverting Austin’s well-known formula, “when saying means doing”, this research intends to exhibit Corneille’ s dramaturgy, honed by rhetoric, as pure word performance, whose primary purpose is not communicating ideas. Corneille’s “generic” audience, who shared all the conventions of this first half of the century in innocent consent, was looking for the perfection it aspired to in salon conversations. This involves pleasure through culture, whether the discourse is amorous, heroic or tragic, due to a code that Corneille exploits and enriches, turning the most natural feelings into the most culturally intellectualized words.

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