French Renaissance Literature - The Short Story

The Short Story

The French Renaissance is dominated by the short story (under various names: "conte", a tale; "nouvelle", a short story like the Italian novella; "devis" and "propos", a spoken discussion; "histoire", a story). For the period, part of the attraction of the dialogued short story and the frame tale (with its fictional speakers discussing each other's stories) lies in their "performability" by someone reading out loud to a non-literate public and in their grab-bag and (frequently) digressive structure: these tales are capable of taking on all kinds of material, both sophisticated and vulgar.

The Decameron, the short story collection by the Italian author Boccaccio — with its frame tale of nobles fleeing the plague and telling each other stories — had an enormous impact on French writers. The sister of Francis I, Marguerite of Navarre — who was the center of a progressive literary circle — undertook her own version ("the Heptameron") which — although incomplete — is one of the masterpieces of the century. Other important writers of short stories include Noël du Fail and Bonaventure des Périers. As the century progressed, the use of oral discourse, multiple voices and table talk led to a dialogued form which often seems revolutionary and chaotic to modern ears.

The French reading public was also fascinated by the dark tragic novellas (“histoires tragiques”) of Bandello which were avidly adapted and emulated into the beginning of the seventeenth century (Jacques Yver, Vérité Habanc, Bénigne Poissenot, François de Rosset, Jean-Pierre Camus).

Short story collections in France in the Renaissance:

• Anon. Cent nouvelles nouvelles (1462)
• Philippe de Vigneulles Nouvelles (c.1515) - most are lost
• Anon. Le Paragon des nouvelles honnestes et délectables (1531)
• Nicolas de Troyes Le grand paragon des nouvelles nouvelles (c1533-37)
• Bonaventure des Périers Cymbalum mundi (1537)
• Giovanni Boccaccio Le Décaméron - Antoine Le Maçon, translator (1545)
• Noël du Fail Propos rustiques de maistre Léon Ladulfi (1547)
• Noël du Fail Les Baliverneries ou contes nouveaux d’Eutrapel (1548)
• La Motte-Roullant Les fascetieux devitz des cent nouvelles nouvelles, tres recreatives et fort exemplaires... (1549) - (109 tales, mostly versions of Cent nouvelles nouvelles)
• Bonaventure des Périers Les Nouvelles récréations et Joyeux devis (90 tales) (1558)
• Pierre Boaistuau, ed. Histoires des Amans fortunez (1558) - truncated version of l’Heptaméron (67 tales) without dialogues between the stories
• Marguerite de Navarre L’Heptaméron Claude Gruget, ed. (1559)
• Pierre Boaistuau Histoires tragiques extraictes des oeuvres italiennes de Bandel.... (1559) - translation of Bandello.
• François de Belleforest Continuation des histoires tragiques, contenant douze histoires tirées de Bandel.... (1559) - translation of Bandello.
• Pierre Viret Le Monde à l'empire (date?) satirical pamphlet
• Pierre Viret Le Monde démoniacle (1561) satirical pamphlet
• François de Belleforest and Pierre Boaistuau Histoires tragiques - 7 vols. Belleforest’s continuation of the translation of Bandello, published with Boaistuau’s (1566–1583)
• Jacques Tahureau Les dialogues, Non moins profitables que facetieux (1565)
• Henri Estienne Apologie pour Hérodote (1566) (includes 180 tales)
• Estienne Tabourot des Accords Les Bigarrures (1572)
• Jean Bergier Discours modernes et facecieux (1572) - (13 tales)
• Jacques Yver Le Printemps d’Yver, contenant plusieurs histories discourues en cinq journées (1572)
• Duroc Sort-Manne (pseudo. for Romannet Du Cros) Nouveaux recits ou comptes moralisez (1573)
• Jeanne Flore Comptes amoureux (1574) (7 tales)
• Antoine Tyron Recueil de plusieurs plaisantes nouvelles, apaphthegmes et recreations diverses (1578)
• Bénigne Poissenot L’été (1583)
• Gabrielle Chappuys Cent excellentes nouvelles (1583) - translation of the Hecatommithi by Italian Giovanni Battista Giraldi (also known as Cintio)
• Gabrielle Chappuys Les facétieuses journées (1584) - translation of Italian tales
• Antoine du Verdier Le compseutique ou Traits facétieux (1584) - mostly lost
• Guillaume Bouchet Les sérées (1584, 97, 98)
• Estienne Tabourot des Accords Apophtegmes du Sieur Gaulard (1585)
• Noël Du Fail Les contes et discours d'Eutrapel (1585)
• De Cholières Les matinées (1585)
• Vérité Habanc Nouvelles histoires tant tragiques que comiques (1585).
• Bénigne Poissenot Nouvelles histoires tragiques (1586).
• De Cholières Les après-dînées (1587)
• Estienne Tabourot des Accords Les Escraignes dijonnaises (1588)