Fiction in the Archives : Pardon Tales and Their Tellers in Sixteenth-Century France / Natalie Zemon Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Natalie Zemon, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--France--History--16th century.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Criminals' writings, French--History and criticism.

Criminals' writings, French.

Fiction--Technique.

Fiction.

French prose literature--16th century--History and criticism.

French prose literature.

Pardon in literature.

Pardon--France--History--16th century.

Pardon.

Storytelling--France--History--16th century.

Storytelling.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 p.) : illus

Place of Publication:

Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

To receive a royal pardon in sixteenth-century France for certain kinds of homicide—unpremeditated, unintended, in self-defense, or otherwise excusable—a supplicant had to tell the king a story. These stories took the form of letters of remission, documents narrated to royal notaries by admitted offenders who, in effect, stated their case for pardon to the king. Thousands of such stories are found in French archives, providing precious evidence of the narrative skills and interpretive schemes of peasants and artisans as well as the well-born. This book, by one of the most acclaimed historians of our time, is a pioneering effort to us the tools of literary analysis to interpret archival texts: to show how people from different stations in life shaped the events of a crime into a story, and to compare their stories with those told by Renaissance authors not intended to judge the truth or falsity of the pardon narratives, but rather to refer to the techniques for crafting stories. A number of fascinating crime stories, often possessing Rabelaisian humor, are told in the course of the book, which consists of three long chapters. These chapters explore the French law of homicide, depictions of "hot anger" and self-defense, and the distinctive characteristics of women's stories of bloodshed. The book is illustrated with seven contemporary woodcuts and a facsimile of a letter of remission, with appendixes providing several other original documents. This volume is based on the Harry Camp Memorial Lectures given at Stanford University in 1986.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

Illustrations

Introduction

ONE The Time of Storytelling

TWO Angry Men and Self Defense

THREE Bloodshed and the Woman's Voice

Conclusion

APPENDIX A Transcriptions of Letters of Remission

APPENDIX B Sources on the Wife-Homicide of Claude Dater

APPENDIX C The Dismissal of Letters of Remission

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 31. Jan 2022)

ISBN:

1-5036-2095-6

OCLC:

1294424272