Libertine consolations in the baroque age: The poetics of diversion and the ethics of pleasure according to Théophile de Viau

The “libertine consolations” provide a counterpoint to the dominant tropes of the consolatory discourse of the baroque age. Here, we examine the distinct effects brought about by the forms of Epicureanism in Théophile de Viau’s work, notably through diversion, a practice recommended by Lucretius and commented on by Montaigne, which Viau used in diverse contexts to modify the genre of consolation and transform the thinking related to it.