Le déguisement et ses miroirs. Histoire et souvenirs dans les “Mémoires” de l’abbé de Choisy

Abstract

In the Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de Louis XIV and the Mémoires de l’abbé de Choisy habillé en femme, the abbot of Choisy, who proposes to give an account of his life as well as drawing a portrait of Louis XIV, mobilizes different regimes of memory. Hybridizing fictionnal and real history, while intertwining historical and subjective time, Choisy underlines the boundaries that traditionally separate personal memory and national history. The memorialist’s project appears both ambiguous and scandalous, as the story of the Sun King’s exploits coexists with autobiographical elements detailing the abbot’s transvestite adventures. This article shows that the experience of memory and that of identity are bound under the sign of the travesty, which is a means of dissimulation and unveiling of oneself.