L’Esprit de l'épopée. Éléments pour une théorie du genre et de la valeur épiques dans le domaine indo-européen

Long regarded as the highest of literary genres, epic poetry, in turn, invites us to conceive of being itself as hierarchy. Against its reduction to the Homeric model and its relegation to primitivism, this study proposes to begin with the situation of epic in the 21st century—starting from the end and tracing backwards—to uncover what in the epic belongs to the untimely. Epic spirit thus emerges as a poetic ghost, calling for a renewed literary evolutionism. This genealogical inquiry is followed by a demonstration of the intrinsic link between epic and value, explored through an Indian, Iranian, European, and American corpus, spanning the ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary periods. The concepts of globalized imaginary, meta-epic, psychospeleology, and serious game are mobilized to clarify the notion of epic value. To embrace the vitality and contemporaneity of the epic, its manifestations in the visual arts are also examined. From this investigation emerges a reconstruction and axiological theorization that justify both the traditional and unexpected features of the long poem recounting the deeds of a hero in service of his community. Beyond the diversity of its forms, epic is ultimately grasped—in terms of value—as a ludic engagement with the theologico-political. For the listener and the reader alike, this engagement is fulfilled through the poetic experience, under the sign of aesthetic chills.