Quasi un’introduzione. Tre volti del "ressentiment" fra poesia, teatro e romanzo

This study explores the evolution of ressentiment in French literature, tracing its conceptual and linguistic development from the Renaissance to the modern novel. While traditionally associated with anger or hostility, ressentiment, influenced by thinkers like Scheler and Girard, emerges as a more complex phenomenon: a passive yet corrosive accumulation of perceived injustices, frustrations, and unfulfilled desires. The analysis moves through the poetic melancholy of Du Bellay, the tragic selfdestructiveness of Racine’s Phèdre, and the bitter illusions of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. By examining these literary figures, the article reveals how resentment manifests not only in explicit grievances but also through irony, nostalgia, victimhood, and selfinflicted suffering.