Boursault's Career Strategies. Issue 2 (2nd July 2016) - Foulkes, Michael
Abstract : Using Edme Boursault as a case study, this article explores the strategies used by authors in seventeenth-century France to advance their careers. It illustrates ways in which authors sought patronage, some of the positive and negative experiences of the patronage system, and the importance placed on 'gift-giving'. It considers the ways authors used controversy and polemical literary quarrels as a means of generating interest in their works – a strategy of which Boursault made particular use. Finally, the article examines Boursault's strategic approach in extending his repertoire by writing in several genres to ensure his career was sustainable. Boursault was writing at a period of key changes in the French literary world, and also at a time of decline in royal patronage, so his career trajectory provides a useful analysis of a minor author's employment of a range of strategies to build and maintain a career as a writer at this time.