The Romance studies’ section of project C6 examines the representation of demonic illusions, dreams and conjurations of demons on stage as well as their depiction in dramatic texts of the French theatre of modern age, which emerged around 1570. This section takes the period of time before the formation of the doctrine classique into account. In this period of time, one can perceive, on the one hand, a great variety of genres which has not yet been limited normatively, and, on the other hand, a high prevalence of ghosts’ apparitions and demonic illusions on stage. The corpus to be examined is composed of tragedies which feature dreams and ghosts’ apparitions (especially Robert Garnier, Alexandre Hardy, François Tristan L’Hermite) as well as of dramatic genres from the early 17th century. Having emerged under Italian and Spanish influence, the latter combine elements from the pastoral drama with elements from the tragicomedy. It is especially the frequent interconnections drawn between demonic illusions and dreams that are of central interest (e.g.: Racan: Les Bergeries, 1625; Mairet’s Sylvie, 1626; de Croisilles: Thirsis et Uranie, Chasteté invincible, 1633), which are in many cases linked to concepts that hold aesthetic relevance. In research, Corneille’s Illusion comique (1636) is often considered the point of transition from demonic to aesthetic illusion and can therefore be interpreted as a culmination point of this development.
