Cinna, tragedie chretienne? Essai de mise au point

Abstract

An assessment of the roles of atheism, rationalism, and religious inspiration in the works of Corneille (Athalie, Cinna, Esther, Ph�dre, Polyeucte, Discours, Imitation de J�sus Christ), in those of his contemporaries, and also in nineteenth/twentieth-century critical and historical thought concerning the importance of Roman Stoic philosophy (scintilla animae, synderesis) and Christian theology for Jesuit theater and Early Modern French literature generally. This article proposes new connection between Corneille's Imitation de J�sus and Cinna that proves the former's direct pertinence for the latter and sheds new light on critical debates concerning dramatized conversion narratives in French Classical theater.