Between conceivable alterity and plausible proximity Medieval literature in Charles Sorel’s Bibliothèque française

Charles Sorel’s Bibliothèque française and Guide invented a classification of French medieval literature through the paradox of alterity and resemblance. Sorel distinguished between history and the other “belles lettres” in order to establish different kinds of interpretations and uses of the literary production of medieval times, one based on their truth, the other on their social and aesthetic dimension.