La théorie (littéraire) de l’économique au xvii^e siècle Compétence performative et réussite économique dans l’Histoire comique de Francion

The article offers a rereading of La Vraie Histoire comique de Francion by Charles Sorel in order to demonstrate the economic knowledge inscribed in the novel. It models an economics founded on theatrical practices which demand a certain performative competency on the part of the subject, while allowing him to realise his own aims. As such, an economic agent emerges who begins to free himself from providential economics so as to take his fortune in his own hands.