De ciel en ciel: lecture de deux romans de Béroalde de Verville

Abstract

In this paper I will deal with the sky, seen as a place of divinity and as a celestial space in two novels by the baroque writer Béroalde de Verville: Les Amours d’Æsionne (1597) and La Pucelle d’Orléans (1599). These novels have in common the themes of war and love. But they are different as regards the evocation of the celestial space, linked above all to the action of Fortune and Destiny in the first work, while, in the second, it is closely connected to the religious theme, perhaps because of its protagonist, which is a heroine in the Christian tradition. She is, however, transformed by Béroalde into a character in communication with “intelligences supérieures” or “puissances séparées” (that are not better identified), becoming a sort of syncretic figure. These entities are also present in Æsionne. One of the main characters in this novel is in fact the Flambor hermit who brings together in himself the power of a magician, of a quasi-deity in possession of a superior knowledge obtained through contact with the “puissances célestes”.