Verisimilitude in Corneille's "Héraclius" : the conception of credibility

Abstract

The chapter analyzes one of the most important critical categories of seventeenth-century French dramatic theory. This analysis is based not only on "Héraclius" but on its author's remarks which make it clear that the dramatist's "inventio" should be subject to the requirement for "vrasemblance".

Our chapter contributes to a more subtil comprehension of types of credibility and of relation between verisimilitude, "dispositio" and "inventio".

Keywords

• french tragedy of 17th century
• classicism
• credibility
• verisimilitude
• Corneille
• pathos
• instability
• conceptualisations of Aristotle's categories