Cornélie: tragédie by Robert Garnier (review)

Abstract

192 Reviews Universitaires de Grenoble, 1975)'. This has involved replacing the orthography ofthe version of 'Le Premier des Meteores' printed in 1567 by that of 1573, but otherwise, apart from the mention of a certain number of more recent critical works, there has been little revision. The notes to this book, illuminating and apposite as they are, contain frequent lengthy quotations from Latin sources which for the purposes of this volume might perhaps have been pruned a little. At almost a hundred pages, they are considerably longer than any other set. In the quarter-century since Demerson's pioneering publication, work in this field has continued, as is clear from the notes to the remaining books. Perrine Galand-Hallyn and Anne-Pascale Pouey-Mounou have edited Books II and III respectively, while Vignes himself has undertaken Books IV to VI, leaving the final three books to Daniel Menager. In introducing each piece the editors consider the likely date of composition (the Poemes were written over a period of twenty-three years), the context, and the dedicatee, sometimes adding a short and specific bibliography. Detailed notes indicate sources, elucidate obscure passages, and explain historical and mythological allusions. The reader is further helped by an extensive glossary. However, there is no general bibliography. Instead, references are made to Vignes's own comprehensive volume on Bai'f in the series 'Bibliographie des Ecrivains Francais' (Paris and Rome: Memini, 1999). High standards have been set by this admirable edition, which will enable Ba'if's poetry to become better known and more justly appreciated. Subsequent volumes will be eagerly awaited. Lancaster University Elizabeth Vinestock Cornelie: tragedie. By Robert Garnier. Ed. by Jean-Claude Ternaux. (Theatre complet, V: Textes de la Renaissance, 53) Paris: Champion. 2002. 178 pp. ISBN 2-7453-0675-8. This, the latest in Champion's complete edition of Garnier's plays, is a welcome ad? dition to the series. Its editor Jean-Claude Ternaux has already produced an edition ofthe earlier play Porcie (see MLR, 97 (2002), 184-85). This, while showing consid? erable scholarship, was in part marred by aspects of its presentation, which made a proper appreciation of what was going on in the play difficult.These problems have, however, been effectivelyovercome in the present volume. The footnotes now appear at the bottom of each page, and relate clearly to the individual lines of the text; they are very full, and reveal the extent of Garnier's debt not only to the ancients but also to contemporary authors, in particular Muret and Grevin; and the reader, through seeing these references alongside each other and alongside the text, gets a proper idea of Garnier's methods of imitation and of contaminatio. The bibliography is full, and reveals an acquaintance with most of the writings (French, British, and American) on French Renaissance tragedy. The introduction is a balanced assessment of Cornelie as a typical example of the genre, which stresses the danger of attempting to graftonto the play more modern concerns such as Teffet-personnage', of tryingto associate the characters too closely with French sixteenth-century counterparts, or of ignoring the essential role played by topoi and 'set pieces' such as dream scenes or formal laments. Above all, like Jean-Dominique Beaudin in his editions of Antigone (Paris: Cham? pion: 1997) and La Troade (Paris: Champion, 1999), Ternaux stresses the essential unity of a play which, in modern terms, might seem dramatically shapeless. Rejecting Lebegue's and Faguet's view ofthe play as 'une suite d'expositions' in which at times Tinteret se disperse', he suggests that 'a la maniere d'un mosai'ste, le dramaturge a juxtapose des elements dont la coherence n'apparait vraiment que lorsque l'on considere l'ensemble' (p. 12). The political discussions of Act IV fall into place once we see Cornelie, wife of Crassus and Pompey, and daughter of Scipio, as an exemplumof MLR, 99.1, 2004 193 Rome and the Republic, with her personal grief for her loved ones being a reflection of a greater grief forthe fate of Rome itself,and the loss of liberty.All in all, this is an excellent edition of one of Garnier's least-known and least...