RIRE MEDECIN ET MEDECIN POUR RIRE : IMAGINAIRE DU RIRE PROPHYLACTIQUE DANS LE CONTE DU GRAAL.

Laughter, underlines Jacques Le Goff, is a cultural phenomenon which is not the same according to the societies. In the Middle Ages, laughter is linked to breath, madness, speech and well-defined times in the calendar. He was released during the Carnival period but condemned by certain monastic rules. In the European literature of the 12th and 12th centuries, the laughter of the prophet Merlin is played out over time while the false doctors of the erotic fabliaux make people laugh and heal against all expectations. An episode called "The Lady Who Never Laughed" in the The Story of the Grail (Chrétien de Troyes) presents him with another form of laughter; a prophylactic laughter that Perceval provokes and which allows the young lady to heal. The question of laughter is essential here because the healing of mutism is caused by an unexpected laughter and is followed by a prediction by the young woman who has been silent until now. This episode presents a wonder-worker Perceval, far from the image of the silly knight (nice) at the beginning of the tale. To understand this laughter, we will rely on symbols, folklore and myths, pillars of the imagination, in order to highlight the secrets of the relationship between laughter and medicine, between popular and learned sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]