Descartes and Corneille: A Re-examination

It is now over a century since the striking resemblances were first put forward between Corneille's characters and the implied `hero' of Descartes' Traité des Passions. Since direct influence of one on the other seemed precluded by the dates of their writings, the puzzle invited many attempts at other explanations. One which was published in this journal in the early part of the last century ascribed the similarities to the direct influence of St François de Sales, in whose writings additional textual resemblances were found. Another detailed study promoted the influence of Honoré d'Urfé. A decade or so later, it was suggested that the resemblances in the four writers could perhaps be explained by the fact that all four went to Jesuit schools.