Undead Dindenault: economics, theatre, and economic theatre in Rabelais's Quart livre and beyond

Eastop, Zak

Abstract

This article is primarily concerned with the Dindenault episode (chapters V-VIII) of François Rabelais’s Quart livre, which deals with economic and theatrical themes simultaneously. While previous studies have tackled these themes separately, I outline how they ought to be considered in tandem and, indeed, rely on one another for significance. I argue that in the Dindenault episode, Rabelais’s use of common theatrical structures and motifs serves as a stage upon which to mount socio-economic critique, constituting a performance of theatrical economics, in the context of a broader example of economic theatre. I then turn to one of the nineteenth-century afterlives of Rabelais’s texts – Théodore Labarre’s and Henri Trianon’s 1855 opera Pantagruel – claiming that the interdependence of the Dindenault scene’s economic and theatrical themes is retroactively confirmed by its move into one of its ‘downstream contexts’: the shepherd’s scandalous afterlife on the musical stage of Second Empire France.

Citation

Eastop, Z. (2023). Undead Dindenault: economics, theatre, and economic theatre in Rabelais's Quart livre and beyond. Early Modern French Studies, 45(2), 114-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2022.2065062

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 5, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023-12
• Deposit Date: May 6, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 5, 2022
• Journal: Early Modern French Studies
• Print ISSN: 2056-3035
• Electronic ISSN: 2056-3043
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 45
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 114-130
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20563035.2022.2065062
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1207880