Michelet, teórico do romance

Abstract

In this article we aim to examine the theoretical-critical foundations that underpin the ambivalent approach to the novel as a genre sustained in the work of Jules Michelet. Our hypothesis is that there is a theory of the novel in Michelet's work which would explain his problematic views on this genre, torn between attraction and refusal. In order to do this, the article revisits, first, the theoretical structure on which this historiographic work is based, particularly its relationship with the philosophy of Giambattista Vico. Second, we undertake a first attempt to systematize Michelet's criticism of the novel by taking into account the historic-theoretical approach proposed in the La Bible de l'Humanité (1864).