Abstract: The aim in this article is to see to what extent the juxtaposed paths of Tristan L’Hermite and Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac illustrate one of the specificities of literary life in France in the early seventeenth century: the combination of provincial roots and Parisian influence, made all the more complex by being woven into the heart of the networks of fidelity and service that bind writers to their patrons, princes, and grands seigneurs.
