« Il était une fois... le roman grec »

Résumé En Fr

A thorough examination of the process, which leaded, during the 16th century, to the rediscovery of Heliodorus’ novel and those of the other ancient Greek novelists emphasizes the importance of Jacques Amyot’s seminal translation of the Aethiopica (1548). Jacques Amyot did not only translate the Aethiopica , but he introduced the book to his readers in a “Prœsm”. Though he pretends the piece to be a mere presentation of Heliodorus’ work, a basic explanation of its rules, Amyot in fact sets there the poetics of a new genre of the modern belles-lettres, the novel. He uses the Aethiopica to advocate implicitly a new way of writing fiction. Amyot’s translation was so important through all Europe during 16th and 17th centuries, that the “Prœsm” conditioned for ages the way the ancient novels were read. It determined when they were thought to have been written, how, according to which principles and rulings and, consequently, which aim they were supposed to endeavour. Once this is made clear, it appears necessary to make a tabula rasa of the critical heritage concerning the ancient Greek novels and to look at them anew. What truly were those works? To which genre did they belong? What are they telling their readers about? What means their use of fiction? None of our common knowledge about them is so far rooted merely on historical evidences.

Une analyse scrupuleuse de la découverte des textes d’Héliodore et de ses pairs au XVIe siècle révèle le rôle capital de la traduction que J. Amyot proposa des Éthiopiques en 1548. J. Amyot ne fut pas seulement un passeur. Il accompagna son œuvre d’un « Prœsme » qui jette les fondations d’un genre nouveau des belles-lettres, le roman, tout en prétendant qu’il en déduit les règles de l’œuvre d’Héliodore. Son emprise fut si forte sur ses contemporains que les textes anciens ne furent jamais lus indépendamment de ce prisme. Il conditionna peu à peu leur histoire, leur chronologie, leur conception poétique, leur édition. Ce fait avéré, la nécessité de pratiquer une tabula rasa s’impose. C’est toute la vision critique de l’objet « roman grec » qui est ainsi mise en cause, appelant à repenser entièrement la catégorie d’ouvrages qu’on désigne de la sorte.