Médée: Pierre Corneille's Medea (1635) in English translation - Softcover

Corneille, Pierre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1534605010 ISBN 13: 9781534605015

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

An English-language translation of Pierre Corneille's first tragedy, Médée (1635) Little remembered in the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece is Médée, the woman without whom his quest would have been a failure and his life forfeit. When Jason betrays his wife to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth, the very meanings of gratitude, indebtedness, criminality, and love—maternal, paternal, filial, romantic—are held up for scrutiny. Médée (1635) was Pierre Corneille’s first tragedy; but perhaps because we assume it derivative of versions by Euripides and Seneca, it is little known in the English-speaking Americas. This volume offers readers a chance to explore the great seventeenth-century French dramatist’s exploration of Médée’s righteous prowess, his de-gendering of warriorhood and heroism, and his challenge to the purity of justice and human motivations.

About this title

About the Author

1606 - 1684. Avocat, il debute au theatre par des comedies ("Melite, " 1629; "la Galerie du Palais, " 1632-1633; "la Place Royale, " 1633-1634; "l'Illusion comique, " 1635-1636) et devient celebre avec une tragi-comedie, "le Cid" (1637), qui provoque une querelle litteraire. Sensible aux critiques, il se consacre alors a la tragedie -reguliere- ("Horace, " 1640; "Cinna, " 1642; "Polyeucte, " 1643), sans abandonner la comedie a la mode espagnole ("le Menteur, " 1643; "Don Sanche d'Aragon, " 1650) et les divertissements de cour ("Andromede, " 1650). Evoluant vers une utilisation systematique du pathetique et des intrigues plus complexes ("la Mort de Pompee, " 1643; "Rodogune, " 1644-1645; "Nicomede, " 1651), il connait avec "Pertharite" (1651) un echec qui l'eloigne du theatre pendant sept ans. Il traduit en vers l'"Imitation de Jesus-Christ" (1651-1656) et s'occupe de l'edition de son theatre, dont il definit les principes dans les "Examens" de ses pieces et trois "Discours" (1660). Revenu a la scene ("Oedipe, " 1659; "Sertorius, " 1662; "Sophonisbe, " 1663; "Attila, " 1667), il voit le public lui preferer Racine ("Tite et Berenice, " 1670). Corneille peint des heros -genereux- pour qui l'honneur et la gloire meritent tous les sacrifices. Le drame cornelien atteint le -sublime-, mais refuse le -tragique-, puisqu'il est le fait d'etres libres qui decident toujours de leur destin. (Academie francaise.)

Susan Kalter is editor of "Twenty Thousand Mornings", an autobiography by John Joseph Mathews, and Professor of American Literature and Native American Studies at Illinois State University.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1534605010
• ISBN 13: 9781534605015
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 72