PIERRE BOAISTUAU - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

Besides Boaistuau’s importance for the study of sixteenth-century print culture, the
significance of fully examining the contents of his books also lies in the fact that they
can add greatly to different areas of scholarship. As mentioned earlier, Boaistuau is
usually remembered either as an importer of two literary genres to France or as a
writer of monstrous births, although this is only half the case. His oeuvre is far more
diverse and complex, touching issues of narrative fiction, philosophy, political theory,
historical writing, theology and natural philosophy. By looking at Boaistuau, we look
at the rise of certain disciplines and at the new orientations of study in France at that
time. The transformation and popularisation of the nouvelle is only one field of study,
while the examination of related fields such as translation and patronage, and the
associations between history, law and literature can also benefit. The transitions and
fusions of different features and trends experienced in sixteenth-century literature are
evident throughout the career of Boaistuau, who followed different literary genres and
different styles of writing. Such trends, which have been hitherto neglected but are
clearly manifested in his work, are the use of history for the praise of French
monarchy; the shaping of a religious rhetoric aimed at bolstering the Catholic faith;
the knowledge explosion and classification; and the early stages of encyclopaedism.
Addressing such issues adds new material to the investigation of Boaistuau in relation
to the history of mentalités; as Jean Delumeau rightly wrote, Boaistuau cannot be
described as just an ordinary advocate of sixteenth-century French literature but as a
representative of the history of mentalities: ‘Boaistuau, on l’a dit, appartient plus à
l’histoire des mentalités qu à celle de la littérature’. 69
69 Delumeau, J., Histoire de la Bretagne (Toulouse, 1969), p. 297.
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