| Summary: | With the discourse analysis as framework, this study focuses on the ethos, the representation of the Other and the argumentation in the discourse of religious controversy of the protestant Philippe Duplessis-Mornay. The corpus, which consists of the prefaces of two editions of the Traité de l’eucharistie (1598 and 1604), was subject to a systematic survey of the personal pronouns je, nous, vous as well as references to Duplessis-Mornay’s direct opponents, in a diachronic perspective (the two editions have been compared). The analysis has shown the discursive strategies of Duplessis-Mornay, including a subtle management of the ethos and the relationship with the Other in order to convince the reader. The build-up of an ethos by an interposed author (frequent use of quotations), observed in the edition of 1598, has increased in that of 1604. This edition is also characterized by an ethos of justification which intends to invalidate an unfavourable prediscursive ethos resulting from adverse reactions to the first edition. The ethos of caritas and the authorial ethos are also very present in the discourse of the author in both editions. In his relation to the Other, Duplessis-Mornay uses a strategic approach, alternating nous inclusif and nous exclusif, and referring most often the notion of vous dans l’erreur to authors recognized by Catholics themselves, through quotations. Only direct opponents of the author are stigmatized by their representation in the third person. Duplessis-Mornay’s discourse, in both prefaces, is characterized by a diplomatic and persuasive attitude.
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