Les éclats du rire. Le Régiment de la calotte, ou les stratégies aristocratiques de la gaieté française (1702-1752) - article ; n°3 ; vol.52, pg 477-511

Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales - Année 1997 - Volume 52 - Numéro 3 - Pages 477-511
Bursts of Laughter. The Skullcap Regiment or Aristocratic, French Merrymaking Strategies (1702-1752). A. de Baecque.
This study explores the case of a group of laughers which was particularly active during the first half of the 18th century, the Skullcap Regiment. This group, while reaffirming its aristocratic cultural heritage, sought to play the role of jester in the king's court. The Skullcap Regiment also occupies a particular place in the literary scene of the time, fighting against the vulgarity of the farce and the grotesque and opposing the tragedians and the academics in the name of a reasoned and guarded use of laughter. Finally this study focuses on the rituals practiced by this group of merrymakers: initiations, invectives, punitive expeditions; it is by way of this particular ceremony that the group forges an identity: that of bel esprit.
35 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.