Fictional Truth and the Prologue of the "Heptameron"

Abstract

to prove that the Queen was basically telling the truth. He insists upon the originality of her work, even though he conclusively proves that many of her tales have their origin in other material (2: 685).2 His enthusiasm for the Queen seems to blind him to the fact that her text is fictitious and, as such, operates by a set of rules which by necessity undermines the veracity he wishes her to have. Nicole Cauzaran also searches for a rapprochement between the textual and the real and concludes that Marguerite, like other storytellers, simply conformed to an unstated tradition du genre (L'Heptameron 33).3 Marguerite's claim to truth, Cauzaran says, is a trompe l'oeil, a kind of narrative disguise through which she cheats her readers into believing the veracity of her verisimilitude (les origines 6).4 A cursory reading of the bibliography of works about the Heptameron reveals that many critics have sought to solve this particular dilemma proposed by the author, each with some degree of satisfaction. But the question hangs over the text like the sword of Damocles: What does Marguerite mean by vrai?5 The answer lies in an understanding and a definition of fictional truth. Michael Riffaterre, in his work Fictional Truth, clearly delineates fictional truth from factual truth, for . .. truth in fiction is not based on an actual experience of factuality, nor does the interpretation or esthetic evaluation of fictional narrative require that it be verified against reality. Rather, truth in fiction rests on verisimilitude, a system of representations that seem to reflect a reality external to the text, but only because it conforms to a grammar. Narrative truth is an idea of truth created in accordance with the