The Roman de Renart is a composite collection written between 1174 and 1250. The work, as it is presented to us today, consists of a collection of branches, which are as many episodes derived from the same narrative framework, that of a playful fight between animals, according to a principle similar, according to some, to what can be observed in our modern equivalent: the animal cartoon. Whether in the oldest or most recent branches, the body is often considered in all its fundamental aspects: it is a sexed and sexual body (the rape of the she-wolf by Renart is thus the casus belli of several branches), which almost constantly gives rise to scatological humor. But above all, it is a body in pain, subject to pain as well as violence. In fact, research has long focused on the nature of these bodies, on the imaginary anthropomorphism that governs this universe, in order to know whether these bodies are of human or animal nature: but in the light of our problem, which relates to physical violence, this question of anthropomorphism has little importance. Indeed, bodies are all the object of physical violence, whether they are of human or animal nature. If research has studied the nature of these bodies at length, their function, on the other hand, has not been sufficiently questioned. - [Author]

Language: French