Full Description
La Matronne Chinoise is a new critical edition of a two-act comedy by Pierre-René Lemonnier, first performed in paris in 1765. Lemonnier adapted a theme which dates back to the Latin writer Petronius, and is also present in an old Chinese story, which had recently been taken up by Voltaire, that of the apparently inconsolable widow who rapidly finds consolation in the arms of another.
The edition is accompanied by a full introduction setting out the play's historical and thematic context, along with an analysis of its versification, and by an appendix reproducing earlier versions of the tale from Petronius to Voltaire.
Contents
Fac-simile de la page de titre de l'edition originale, vii; Fac-simile d'Acte I, scene 1ere, vv. 40-65, viii; Preface, ix; Introduction, 1; Lemonnier et son oeuvre, 2; La representation de La Matrone chinoise, 4; Registres du Theatre-Italien (1765), a la Bibliotheque de l'Opera, 5; Le theme de la " Matrone d'Ephese ", 9; Originalite de La Matrone chinoise, 13; Versification, 19; Presentation du texte, 22; La Matrone chinoise, ou l'epreuve ridicule, 27; Preface, 29; Texte, 33; Notes, 85; Documentation thematique, 89; I Petrone, Satiricon, 89; II Zhuang Zhou, Zhuangzi, 92; III Du Halde, Description (...) de la Chine, 94; IV Voltaire, Zadig, 108; V Freron, Journal etranger, 110; Bibliographie, 113.
