ABSTRACT
THE hypothesis put forward in this chapter is based upon two main sources: a number of memoires and first-hand accounts concerning events in the seventeenth century, and the conclusions reached by historians who have studied the subject for a long time. l However fragile
it might appear, this hypothesis has at least the merit of offering the
only scientificl explanation for a number of political, 2 social and ideological events which deeply influenced French life, both materially and intellectually, between 1637, the date at which the first 'solitary', Antoine Le Maitre, retired to Port-Royal (and 1638, the arrest of Saint Cyran by Richelieu) and 1677, the date of the first performance of Phedre. In my view, these events are linked with the appearance and development of an ideology which asserted that it is impossible to live a valid life in this world-an ideology that constitutes a world vision which I have called tragic.
