La epístola Eloisa to Abelard de Alexander Pope y sus traducciones e imitaciones en Francia en el siglo XVIII

Abstract

This paper examines the «birth» of works in the tradition of the Heroides in France in the 18th century, originating with the various translations that the epistle Eloisa to Abelard (1717), by Alexander Pope, spawned. The English poet, following in the footsteps of the Roman poet Ovid, would compose a 366-line poem based on the story of the star-crossed lovers Abelard and Eloisa. A poet much admired and imitated in France, his epistle would circulate extensively amongst writers in the country, being imitated and translated both in verse and prose. The author who would contribute to the expansion and development of the poetic subgenre of works following the legacy of the Heroides in France would be CharlesPierre Colardeau, with his Lettre d'Héloïse à Abailard, a free translation of M. Pope, a work published in 1758. His translation would make popular a new kind of «lettre en vers», «épître héroïque» or «élégie», as these poems were termed, which featured expressions of passions and sincere feelings by their characters, who wrote in the first person, moving readers.