Thesis Format

Monograph

La collection des Voyages imaginaires, songes, visions et romans cabalistiques (1787-1789) : enjeux éditoriaux, génériques et idéologiques dans l'Europe des Lumières

Author

Florian PontyFollow

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

French

Supervisor

Leclerc, Jean

2nd Supervisor

Ballestra-Puech, Sylvie

Affiliation

Université Côte d'Azur

Joint Supervisor

Abstract

This thesis focuses primarily on the collection of Voyages imaginaires, songes, visions et romans cabalistiques published by Charles-Georges-Thomas Garnier (1787-1789). It includes numerous French fictional works from the late 17^th and 18^th centuries, along with several translations, mainly from English. Novels such as Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Voltaire’s Micromégas, Cyrano de Bergerac’s L’Autre Monde, and Lucian of Samosata’s A True Story are featured in this collection.

The collection established by Garnier constitutes a good point of reference to better understand what brings together these fictions and what characterizes them. Although the modern critics tend to assign them to the genres of utopia, science fiction or to the French concept of fantastique, this study aims to explore the rich and nuanced genre categorisation specific to this period, situating it within the framework of modern concepts. The thesis proposes a critical journey structured around an examination of the paratext, shedding light on the foundations of Garnier’s editorial project. The analysis focuses first on how these paratexts shape the reception of the works and create a cohesive narrative. This initial perspective gradually broadens to consider the collection effect revealing the intricate networks of meaning that form a comprehensive cartography of the imagination. This exploration is further enriched by a reflection on literary genre, articulated through two dimensions: the relationship to travel, characterized by a rhetoric of verisimilitude that pastiches authentic narratives, and the relationship to imagination, examining their connections to fantasy, rational conjecture and the fantastique.

Finally, three key statements emerge from the paratextual apparatus and are confirmed in the course of the study. First, the imaginary voyages have a strong propensity for intertextuality and hypertextuality in Gérard Genette’s sense. Second, these fictions are part of the novelistic category known at the time as works of imagination (ouvrages d’imagination) alongside fairy tales and oriental tales. Finally, they are supposed to have an educational impact on the reader, thus contributing to a project of critical edification.

Summary for Lay Audience

This thesis focuses primarily on the collection of Voyages imaginaires, songes, visions et romans cabalistiques published by Charles-Georges-Thomas Garnier between 1787 and 1789. These stories include well-known works such as Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Cyrano de Bergerac’s L’Autre monde and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

The study seeks to better understand what links these fictions together and how they are organised by Garnier. Although today we associate them with genres such as utopia or science fiction, this research examines how these genres were perceived at the time thanks to the prefaces by the publisher and the authors of the collection.

Three main points emerge: these stories are constructed in relation to other genres and works, they were classed as works of the imagination (ouvrages d’imagination) alongside fairy tales, and they were intended to educate their readers.

Recommended Citation

Ponty, Florian, "La collection des Voyages imaginaires, songes, visions et romans cabalistiques (1787-1789) : enjeux éditoriaux, génériques et idéologiques dans l'Europe des Lumières" (2024). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 10617.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/10617

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