Libido imitandi : Saint-Réal émule de Tacite dans Dom Carlos
Abstract
Can the historian’s work be understood as part of a poetics of imitation characteristic of the classical age? The case of Saint-Réal is exemplary in this regard. In Dom Carlos, the Savoyard historian certainly sought to “write like Tacitus”. The author of the Annals is for him both a model of tragic historiography and a master in the analysis of the passionate dynamics of power. The scene of the prince’s death shows how Saint‑Réal manipulates the sources available to him, modifying historical events in order to adapt them to the Latin archetype. He uses the Annals, first, to transform the fragmentary information provided by the sources into a coherent and dramatic narrative and, second, to represent the modern world as a universe degraded in comparison with an Antiquity in which virtues and vices were equally worthy of admiration.
Presentato: 18 Marzo 2026 | Accettato: 04 Giugno 2026 | Pubblicato 12 Ottobre 2026 | Lingua: fr
Keywords History • Dom Carlos • Tacitus • Imitation • Saint-Réal
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