Abstract EN:

The word and the theme of "desire" saturate the narrative works of duclos, and relate to the theme of predation and libertinism in the subversion of the model provided by la princesse de cloves. "libertinism", as designated by robert darnton in clandestine literature, "sensualism", contingent thought, with its original rooting in the individual point of view, the autobiographical foundation provided by novel-memoirs in the 18th century, the language, all favour the "discourse" of duclos, which captures the essence of libertin discourse, the rising social milieu it represents and its literary mobility. The sceptical and feminist "desire" of the author, like the literary salons of the period, affirms desire as theatre and representation, resolution of happiness; and his "discourse", sometimes erotic, sometimes ferocious, announcing that of sade, but not pornographic, reduced to the discourse of love and to love's strategies, providing a literary model which will be followed by stendhal, responds to the natural emergence of desire by the demonstration of literary talent and "emergence" in life. We have recorded the occurrences of "desire" and analysed the rhetorical strategies at work, comparing the novels written by the author in linear, chronological order with the progression of his thought and moralist mise a distance. The thesis is based on the conflagration of two main texts, the archetypal novel of la princesse de cleves and the narrative works of duclos, and proposes a commentary which meets with the works and analyses of jacques brengues.