Renart, personnage des frontières
Reynard, a Frontier Character

Summary/Abstract: Our present study depicts Reynard, the cunning hero always on the move, whose advent was prompted by the Trickster archetype, inspired by the feudal order and engendered by the French medieval classicism, not only in his capacity of protagonist of the Reynardian saga, but also in his capacity of elusive and unstable champion of the frontier. A proteiform character, due to his changing and rippling identity, Reynard manages to deceive both his enemies and the readers / the audience. He oscillates between Reynardy and (d)evilness, through the illusory metamorphosis that invests him with a dual nature (animal and human). A role player, in hisworld Reynard is a liminal character and meanwhile a challenger of the frontiersinterfering with his freedom of movement. Lying on the border of life and death, of good and evil, resurrecting each and every time from his apparent destruction like the Phoenix from his pyre, the Reynardian hero embodies Mankind facing its timeless yearnings and frailties.

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