The Law of the Name. The Imaginary Recipient in Corneille's Le Cid

Abstract

The article introduces the notion of an ‘imaginary recipient’ as constitutive in creative writing when the poet calculates the reception of his/her work. However, it is not the intention by this notion to repeat the Hermeneutical idea of aesthetic response, but to introduce a notion that can account for the fact that authors attempt to anticipate various (authoritative) recipients' interest in their work of art. As these interests may be conflicting, it becomes possible to explain inconsistencies in the work, and in the case of Corneille's Le Cid, it becomes possible to account for the collision between two different sets of values in the play: a traditionel code of honour and a contemporary political situation in which the code of honour is disadvantageous to certain of the play's inscribed recipients. This clash of interests also explains why the play was poorly received by the establishment.