The Abbey of Thélème: an enclave withdrawn from reality and the climax of an elitist society
Matthieu Founeau
École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Montpellier , Francehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1861-0769
Abstract
This article aims to analyze the Abbey of Thélème imagined by François Rabelais to get a clear idea about the initial utopian programme, by means of observing its shapes and limits. It will situate this work at an intersection between humanitarian values, contribution from More, spiritual crisis, and above all a pressing demand for renewal and novelty, resulting from societal and political criticism. It is from this opening statement that we will try to approach the structure, the project and the laws regulating and organizing this particular utopian society, before determining its limits. Attention will be paid to its construction, concrete and theoretical, in a parallel with the architecture of the convent Sainte-Marie de la Tourette designed by Le Corbusier. Thus, we will demonstrate how Rabelais’ linguistic games overstep the ideological project for the benefit of a new type of writing, complex and multifaceted. We will have to understand a lot of paradoxes which allow us to determine the importance of the literature beyond the initial utopian project.
Keywords:
François Rabelais, utopia, humanism, society, spaces, limitsReferences
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École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Montpellier https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1861-0769
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