Jean Rotrou, 'L'Hypocondriaque ou Le Mort Amoureux' by Jean-Claude Vuillemin (review)

Abstract

MLR,96.3,200 I 8I9 Pierre de Larivey: LesWrompertes . Ed.byKEITH CAMERON andPAUL WRIGHT. (Exeter French Texts, Textes Litteraires FranSais, I00) Exeter: University ofExeter Press.I997. XXVi + I06 pp. £I0.99. Thisvolume brings to one hundred thenumber oftexts published byExeter University Pressin thehighly regarded Wextes Litteraires series editedbyKeith Cameron. Wellproduced andattractively presented, this modern edition ofPierre deLarivey's LesTromperaes isinallrespects a worthy successor totheother volumes intheseries. Thetext reproduced here isthat oftheonly known edition ofthe play, which waspublished inTroyes byPierre Chevillot inI6II,both separately andwith twoother comedies byLarivey, under thetitle Wrois Comedies des sixdernieres dePierre deLar7vey, Champenois. However, no other workfollowed thispublication. The distinctive feature ofCameron andWright's edition istheclosereproduction ofthe original spellings andpunctuation (with the exception ofthe standard normalization ofu/vandi/jspellings). Awide-ranging critical apparatus accompanies thetext of the play. Unfamiliar words areexplained infootnotes that alsocontain variants and point toparallels insource material, anda goodglossary atthebackofthebook usefully complements theexplanatory references given inthenotes. Theintroduction offiers a measured discussion ofthepossible dateofcomposition oftheplay, a study ofthesources, both Italian andLatin, a rapid review ofthe characters andan exploration ofvarious linguistic issues. It alsoincludes a selective bibliography which, surprisingly enough, doesnotlist Pierre Voltz's seminal bookonLa Comedie (Paris: Armand Colin,I964).Myonly regret isthat this presentation oftheplayis bothtooshort andtoosketchy, with little ofthein-depth analysis expected ofa scholarly edition. Nevertheless it shouldprovide theright stimulus forfurther research onLarivey. Pierre de Larivey was,as theeditors makeclear, oneofthe most prolific comicwriters ofthesixteenth century, andhisplaysconstitute an invaluable example ofdramatic practice andcreative translating inRenaissance France. Although they might nothavebeenproduced intheir author's lifetime, they arefar from being a kind of'theatre dansunfauteuil', andwith their vitality and zestthey testify totheatrical qualities that were tohavea determining influence on the evolution ofFrench comic drama. GOLDSMITHS COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OFLONDON MARIE-CLAUDE CANOVA-GREEN j}ean Rotrou, 'INHypocondrzaque ouLeMortAmoureux . Ed.bYJEAN-CLAUDE VUILLEMIN. (Texteslitteraires franSais, 502) Geneve:Droz. I999. XCiii+ I47 pp. 32.80 SwF. Rotrou'sfirst playappearsherewitha substantial but curiously structured introduction byJean-Claude Vuillemin. ICHypocondrzaque isfirst contextualized in terms ofitsauthor's biography, the'esthetique du spectaculaire' thatVuillemin considers tobe theunderpinning oftragicomedy (although thequestion ofstage spectacle islargely ignored here), andthebaroque. Vuillemin next turns tothe play itself, discussing possible historical and literary sources. He breaksoS foran examination ofitsuseofthedecor simultane, incorporating a scene byscene account oftheplaythat acknowledges itssubstantial debt toJohn Golder's excellent article onthesamesubject ('LnHypocondrzaque deRotrou: unessaidereconstitution d'une despremieres mises enscenea l'HoteldeBourgogne', Revue d'histoire dutheatre, 3I (I979),247-70). Thisiswithout a doubt oneofthe most interesting andilluminating portions oftheintroduction. Equally fascinating, ifperhaps somewhat surprising at thispoint, is thefollowing section inwhich theplayis considered in terms of Reviews 820 seventeenth-century theories onmadness andmedicine, thecomment that oneof the play's two heroines would haveacted diffierently 'sielleavait luFoucault' being a particular delight. Perhaps, though, rather more effiort might havebeenmadeto elucidate theimplications oftheplay'stitle for thetwentieth-century reader (the Dictionnaire del'Academie fanfaise ofI 694defines hypocondriaque as'Maladedesfumes delaratte deshypochondres, causes parunebilenoire, quilerendent extremement melancolique & visionnaire'). NextVuillemin discusses thesignificance ofcrossdressing intheplay.However, heneglects tocomment onthesexual equivoque that themajority ofsuchscenes (including thisone)explicitly setouttocreate. The introduction concludes with anastonishing twenty-one pagesontheestablishment ofthetext inwhich allchanges tothespelling oftheedition onwhich thepresent volume isbasedareminutely andperhaps unhelpfully discussed. To conclude, this isa worthy edition ofa playthat deserves tobebetter known bya dramatist whois currently invogue. Itwill beinteresting tocompare itwith the version duetoappear in2003inthe Societe destextes fran,cais modernes multi-volume edition ofRotrou's complete works currently being published under the direction ofGeorges Forestier. UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM JAN CLARKE Avez-vous luRacine.2: Miseaupointpolemique. ByJEAN ROHOU. Paris: L'Harmattan. 2000.407pp. 208F. Thismise aupoint attempts torectify what JeanRohouseesasmisinterpretations of Racine's tragedies. Itsscopeisvastandcovers interpretations ofspecific events in Racine'slife, thedichotomy between theformal composition oftheatrical works andthe agency ofcharacters, historical context, critical interpretation, the academic approach asopposed tomise enscene (with, inparticular, a longanalysis ofBondy's Phedre) anda lastchapter devoted entirely toBarthes. Attimes someofthepoints seemcontradictory: attributing agency tocharacters whoarepart of,andserve, a formal construction suchastragedy (seenbyRohouasthepreat danger incritical work), appears tobe unavoidable when'uneceuvre litteraire [...] nepeutetre pervcue qu'a travers unesensibilite, uneaffiectivite, uneculture, uneattitude facea la vie' (pp.8-9). Suchcontradictions, whichare acknowledged in partbythe author, canbe seentobe theproduct ofthemany strands Rohoutries topull together inthis volume. Nonetheless the bookoXers aninteresting survey ofvarious approaches tothetexts andthestaging ofRacine'stragedies. Although many of them aredismissed byRohouasnaive ormisguided, hedoesnot really propose...