A research network on the notion of obscenity in Renaissance France

什么是淫秽，在文艺复兴时期是一个无休止的争论话题，就像今天一样。人们常常简单地认为，文艺复兴时期的法国文化是一种“拉伯雷式”的放荡，在17世纪突然出现了官方对淫秽的反应，最明显的开始是1623年对thassaophile de Viau的审判，他写了一首关于鸡奸的臭名昭著的十四行诗。然而，法国文艺复兴时期的淫秽史远比这幅图所允许的要复杂得多。从法律到文学，从宗教到医学，各行各业的作家和艺术家都在不断地担心自己的作品和同时代人的作品是否能被接受。例如，医生是否有权用法语出版妇科方面的文章，不仅非专业人士可以阅读，甚至女性也可以阅读？一个喜剧演员的黄段子能开到什么程度才会激怒观众呢？当翻译者面对一部超越他/她能力范围的古代或意大利作品时，他/她应该怎么做？为什么给男孩写的下流古诗的拉丁文注释中包含了作者性仪式的自传体段落？我们能从那些把梅毒描绘成一个站在凯旋队伍后面的女人或者把女性生殖器描绘成一只在乡间游荡的野兽的创作作品中，了解到文艺复兴时期的淫秽观念吗？我们该如何理解利用粪便学来污蔑对手的宗教宣传？我们的网络汇集了来自英国、美国、法国、荷兰和瑞士的二十多位法国文艺复兴研究专家，为这些有趣的问题提供答案。该网络将成为该领域富有成效和充满活力的新研究人员进行国际和跨学科合作的催化剂。超过一半的网络成员是早期职业研究人员，他们将得到我们团队其他成员中经验丰富的杰出研究人员的补充和支持。

What constituted obscenity was an endlessly provocative topic of debate in the Renaissance, as it is today. It is often simplistically assumed that the culture of Renaissance France was one of 'Rabelaisian' debauchery, abruptly followed by an official reaction against obscenity in the course of the seventeenth century, beginning most obviously in 1623 with the trial of Théophile de Viau, who had penned an infamous sonnet on sodomy. However, the pre-history of obscenity in Renaissance France is far more complex than this picture allows. Writers and artists in the most diverse fields, from law to literature and from religion to medicine, are constantly worrying about the acceptability or otherwise of both their work and that of their contemporaries. For instance, does a doctor have the right to publish a text on gynaecology in French, which can then be read not only by non-specialists, but even by women? How far can a comedian go in his dirty jokes before outraging his audience? What should a translator do when faced with an ancient or Italian work which oversteps his/her limits? And why is it that learned Latin commentaries to obscene ancient poetry addressed to boys contain autobiographical passages about their authors' sexual rites of passage? What can we learn about Renaissance notions of obscenity from creative works which portray syphilis as a woman bringing up the rear of a triumphal procession or which depict the female genitalia as a wild animal roaming the countryside? What are we to make of religious propaganda which uses scatology to sully its opponents?Our network brings together a team of over twenty specialists in French Renaissance studies from the UK, USA, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland to provide responses to these intriguing questions. The network will serve as a catalyst for the international and interdisciplinary collaboration of productive and dynamic new researchers in the field. Over half of the network members are early career researchers, who will be complemented and supported by the experienced and eminent researchers who constitute the rest of our team.