Abstract EN:

Despite the interest, carried on for a few years over the baroque period, has made it possible to enrich our vision of the 17th century by discovering the splendour and the inventiveness of this movement - eclipsed too long by classicism - with regards to Literary Baroque, we must admit that many works remain to be discovered. It is thus the case of Antoine de Nervèze's work which still remains partially unknown. As for the man, after having known two decades of success, he disappeared little by little from the memories. He was indeed a prolific writer - his work was published or republished from 1597 to 1632. His novels, mostly romantic and sentimental novels, were published in a collected form entitled "Les Amours Diverses" (Various Love Affairs), which after having ensured him honours and fame, brought him the most virulent criticisms ever, his style being qualified as "pure gibberish" and "phoebus". Nevertheless, the review of these texts not only makes it possible to discover some interesting writing techniques, but also and especially, to analyse the personal approach of this noble man, a mundane per necessity, who was also an excessively heart devout person. Indeed his approach asserts itself more clearly in his other pious and moral novels which represent the major part of his work. One can recognize Antoine de Nervèze as the precursor of Preciosity, the devout Novel and the initiator of a moral conception of the nobility announcing that of "the honnête homme (honest man)".