The journey literature of Rabelais, Du Bellay, and Aneau: Visions of community in mid-sixteenth-century France

The centralization of the French monarchy and the Protestant Reformation marked France in the sixteenth century. Just as France was becoming more unified, religious tensions led to thirty years of civil war. French authors variously recorded these social transformations in their writings. This study of the journey literature of Francois Rabelais, Joachim Du Bellay, and Barthelemy Aneau examines their use of the literary form of the journey for social commentary. Through the discursive mode of a distant journey, these authors reflect on the evolution of French society at the time of Henri II's rule (1547-1559). Rabelais's Quart Livre, Du Bellay's Regrets, and Aneau's Alector, histoire fabuleuse display a concern with community that anticipates the internecine conflicts that would soon ravage France.;The introduction presents the literary tradition of the journey and its contemporary manifestations. More's Utopia (1516) provided a model of the journey to showcase the idea of community. Rabelais, Du Bellay, and Aneau composed their journey narratives in the increasingly repressive context of France in the late 1540s and 1550s. They each adapted the journey topos to portray social interactions. The first chapter traces the thread of violence that runs through Rabelais's Quart Livre (1548; 1552). Rabelais represents the nefarious effects of social and religious intolerance in the insular communities visited by his travelers on their sea voyage. The second chapter on Du Bellay's Regrets (1558) looks through the critical lens of the poet and traveler faced with modern-day society. Du Bellay compares Rome's corruption to a France long engaged in war to warn of the decline of French culture. The third chapter shows how Aneau's Alector (1560) promotes a vision of universal concord under the guise of a fabulous tale. Aneau imagines a society where images of order and harmony surround its citizens instead of the division and violence that were overtaking France.;Despite their nationalist overtones, each work assesses the deteriorating fabric of the French community. These authors write obliquely of their country's undoing and provide a counter-message in these stories of journeys: the resilience of community lies in camaraderie, appreciation of creative endeavor, and proper governance.