De « Riquet à la Houppe » dans les réécritures contemporaines Un éclairage sociopoétique

To illustrate his theoretical presentation of sociopoetics, Alain Montandon uses the rewriting of traditional tales in contemporary times. Pascale Auraix-Jonchière reminds us that many tales, and long before the term was in use, present characters that can be described as ‘disabled’. We propose to focus on the main character of ‘Riquet à la houppe’, stigmatised, despite his high-ranking birth, by an accumulation of infirmities. After having enjoyed undeniable success from the 17th to the 19th century, this little-known tale is rarely published today. We wish to examine this rarity in some reformulations, including iconographic ones. To observe these variations, in which disability echoes social representations, we will study the trio of characters in the tale: not only the eponymous hunchbacked, lame and ugly hero, but also the two sisters who are also ‘disabled’, one ugly and witty, like Riquet, the other with a beauty that struggles to compensate for her mental and intellectual deficit. How are these characters represented in contemporary production? How are their handicaps socially considered when ‘the tyranny of appearances’ (Amadieu, 2002) or the influence of feminist currents incite to renew the look on this tale?