Abstract

François Villon’s contemporary image comes from the late nineteenth century, when the medieval poet was elected by literary historiography as the creator of modern lyricism in France. But there are many evidences showing that Villon’s testaments would belong to a genre of the medieval burlesque theatre called “dramatic monologue”. These evidences can be divided into three different groups: the material evidences, such as the history of the transmission of his manuscripts and editions along with other burlesque dramas; the textual evidences, such as the dramatic resources used in the monologue; and the historical evidences, such as his imitation by various burlesque compositions of the time, and the testimonies and anecdotes referring to Villon as a farceur. But how could a testament be played by an actor, if it is a written genre by definition? We argue that, as soon as the actor puts on the mask of the deceased testator character, he simply transmits the words actually spoken in the first person by the repentant villain’s phantom that lies beyond. From this point of view, the repentant villain’s farce (which is played in this dramatic monologue) is, on the one hand, a parody of the poetic forms of the lovers’ testament from the time, and on the other hand, a parody of the Bible’s narrative structure.

Keywords:
Medieval comic theatre; François Villon; parody