This thesis re-examines the role of marriage in the golden age of seventeenth-century French comedy. It reconsiders received wisdom on the subject to challenge acceptance of the final promise of marriage as a dénouement complet to comedy. Through an analysis of the themes of discontent, cuckoldry, fertility, non-heteronormative desire and widowhood, it offers an alternative view of what comedy can encompass. Close reading of works by Molière, Quinault, (Thomas) Corneille, (Françoise) Pascal, Ulrich and de Visé establishes that comedy can be both enjoyable and satisfying while incorporating elements that conflict with the marriage ideal. This thesis does not attempt to provide a full socio-historical reading of seventeenth-century attitudes to marriage, although an understanding of contemporary attitudes provides a starting point for close textual analysis. Critical theories, notably gender theory, are used where appropriate to further clarify the role of marriage in comedy. Chapter One presents and problematizes the framework of marriage as the structuring principle of comedy, drawing on themes of compatibility, discontent and desire. The second chapter focuses on anxiety regarding cuckoldry in comedy, relating it to the promise of marriage. An analysis of the desires of older characters in projected comedic marriages, particularly as these desires relate to fertility, is the guiding principle of Chapter Three, which also sets out essential terms of reference for the fourth chapter on widowhood and queer desire. The thesis demonstrates that rather than constituting a satisfying and happy ending, a constant challenge is posed to the promise of marriage by on-stage marriages, fears of cuckoldry, widowhood, and ‘inappropriate' or queer desires. I propose a more nuanced reading, showing that comedy can be fully satisfying and structurally complete without a final promise of marriage, and that, rather, comedy can incorporate significant elements that appear antithetical to the ideal of marriage typically associated with the genre.

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Divertissement mondain ayant rencontré un vif succès au cours du XVIIIe siècle, la parade de société est une forme dramatique que l’histoire littéraire a longtemps considérée comme mineure et par là même sans intérêt. Inspirées des spectacles forains et populaires, mais reprises et jouées dans les meilleures compagnies parisiennes, ces pièces graveleuses, grossières, ordurières pour reprendre l’expression consacrée, n’intéressent aux XIXe et XXe siècles que quelques érudits amateurs d’anecdotes grivoises. Les jugements d’ordre moral et esthétique sur la parade sont sévères, se multiplient jusqu’au XXIe siècle et contribuent à reléguer cette forme dans l’oubli. Seules les études portant sur des parades écrites par des auteurs reconnus comme Beaumarchais ou Potocki donnent à ces spectacles quelque légitimité critique. Le champ d’études est donc encore largement inexploré et la présente thèse se propose entre autres de retracer l’histoire de cette forme, en étudiant les conditions d’émergence, les manifestations et la réception de la parade au XVIIIe siècle. Mais au-delà de cette dimension documentaire, nous voudrions montrer dans cette étude, notamment par une analyse méthodique de la dramaturgie de ces pièces, à quel point celles-ci, comme le théâtre de société dans lequel elles s’inscrivent, sont le lieu d’expériences dramatiques, d’une approche parodique des savoirs et d’une remise en question du théâtre officiel. / While widely popular as a form of entertainment among eighteenth-century aristocratic circles, the dramatic genre known as ‘parade de société’ has long been regarded by literary historians as a minor one, and therefore unworthy of scholarly attention. Parades find their origins in the shows that took place in fairs and markets in Paris, yet they were later taken up by the best salons of the town. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, few were interested in these ribald plays except for a handful of scholars delving into bawdy double entendre and sexual innuendoes. Up until the twenty-first century, the parade has been condemned on moral as well as aesthetic grounds and has gradually fallen into oblivion. Only the parades written by well-known authors such as Beaumarchais and Potocki have been carefully studied and have been granted some critical legitimacy. This field of research has therefore been left largely unexplored. My aim in this dissertation is to trace the history of the parade and examine the emergence, development and reception of the genre in the eighteenth century. Going beyond mere description, I want to scrutinize the dramatic devices at work in these plays to show how, similarly to the ‘théâtre de société’ to which they belong, parades make possible a number of dramatic experiments, how they approach all forms of knowledge in a parodic way, and call into question the codes of established drama.

A quelle(s) logique(s) répondent les dispositifs de création réalisés par Antonin Artaud et David Nebreda ? Quel statut attribuer à leurs « œuvres », si tant est que l’on puisse accoler cette appellation à leurs travaux ? Pour répondre à ces questions, nous mènerons une réflexion d’ordre esthétique et nous nous interrogerons parallèlement sur la spécificité du processus de création dans la psychose. Nous étudierons les productions d’Artaud et de Nebreda sous l’angle de la mise en scène et de la performativité. Nous mettrons également en lumière l’abolition de la représentation, l’effondrement de la scène et les limites du jeu / je. Nous montrerons ainsi la prédominance des registres Réel et Imaginaire conçus par Jacques Lacan. Chez ces « artistes » transgressant les frontières des genres et de l’art, les manifestations incontrôlées du corps et les conflits intrapsychiques donnent lieu à des recréations simultanées du monde et du langage, qui, en même temps qu’elles s’apparentent au déroulement d’une cérémonie de mise à mort, tracent des signes inédits, forment d’étranges parcours et s’orientent vers l’horizon d’une nouvelle naissance. / Which logic is guiding the multimodal creations proposed by Antonin Artaud and David Nebreda ? What kind of status can be applied to their “(art)works” ? In order to answer these questions, we will lead an esthetical research and study concurrently the specificities of the creative process in psychosis. We will examine Artaud’s and Nebreda’s productions through the notions of setting and performativity. We will underline the abolition of representation and the crumbling of the stage as well as the limits of play / subjectivity. We will show the predominance of the Real and Imaginary registers as they have been conceived by JacquesLacan. By Artaud and Nebreda, the uncontrolled corporal manifestations and the intra-psychicconflicts generate simultaneous recreations of the body and language as, in the same time, they achieve a sort of sort killing ceremony, tracing unseen signs, outlining strange trails and pointing toward the horizon of a new birth.