« Anatomie du Corps de l’Œuvre » La médecine au service de la théorie littéraire chez Jean-Pierre Camus

In the prefatory material of his narrative works, Jean-Pierre Camus elaborates a whole theory of the genre of histoire dévote. He makes a systematic use of medical metaphors associated with the physician. These rhetorical figures aim not only at the ornamentation of discourse, but also at strengthening its rhetorical impact. Priding himself in the newness of the histoire dévote, he draws on the authority of Seneca who praises the exemplum for its rhetorical energy and for its superiority on the precept, though he does not acknowledge his debt to the modern use of it. Finally, while explaining how literary discourse works, he also conveys a message : how to free oneself from the harshness of this world in order to reach the salvation of one’s soul.