Diaphanous bodies: projections of ecstasy, insolence, and yearning in Les États et Empires du Soleil by Cyrano de Bergerac

Abstract

In Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac’s (1619–55) tale of a voyage to the sun, Les États et Empires du Soleil, a cosmic traveller’s physical body, as well as his light-propelled spacecraft, undergo eerie transformations. After the vehicle shines like enamel and gold in blazing sun rays, it fades to transparency. Meanwhile, the narrator’s body becomes diaphanous, revealing inner organs that gleam in hues of scarlet, vermillion, and garnet. This article develops a close reading of this passage. The authors analyse the passage’s narrative descriptions, first alongside Neoplatonic metaphors of saintly bodies as prisms for divine light, then in relation to early modern discourse about optics, magnetism, and anatomy, and finally as burlesque allusions to an infant’s conception and birth. At length, the authors suggest that these descriptions can inspire feelings of ecstasy, insolence, and yearning in readers, and that this array of sentiments can facilitate an experience of freeing the imagination.