Post by rabagas on Mar 6, 2003 21:01:44 GMT -5
In 1831, Alfred de Vigny wrote Shylock, The Merchant of Venice
a comedy in three acts.. He had previously written Othello, The Moor of Venice which was successfully produced. It was actually an earlier project than Othello, and he thought after the success of that play he could bring it off. Accordingly he entered into negotiations, but because there was another Shylock and several other Shakespeare adaptations then being performed the play was dropped and did not appear until 1839 in volume vi. of his collected works. It wasn't performed until 1905 by the Comedie Francaise
De Vigny is considered one of the great Romantic writers. He belonged to the Romantic Cenacle along with Hugo. His fame today rests mainly on his poetry and his excellent novels, Cinq Mars, Stello, Servitudes et Garndeurs Militaires, and his one successful play, Chatteron. He is also remembered as the lover of Madame Dorval, the great Romantic actress.
So much for the background, now about the play.
Like most French adaptations of Shakespeare this version contains cuts both of scenes and characters. Launcelot Gobbo has vanished along with
Portia's other suitors except for Bassanio. The intention is to focus action on the main story, get rid of distracting sub plots which is the usual classicizing tendency of French dramatists when they encounter Shakespeare. The effect in this play is to emphasize the rather unpleasant anti-semitic core of the play.
Shakespeare's subplots tend to cushion and relieve this aspect of the play. Now that the subplots are gone in favor of dramatic economy, the starkly unpleasant main plot is intensified to a degree I found far more unpleasant than the original.
But as always cuts and revisions are revealing since they reflect the original work in a new light. It's often difficult to imagine Shakespeare's dramas unfolding differently. That's because he tells his stories very effectively dramatically. But when a markedly different version is presented, then we see that Shakespeare made certain choices and we can better guage their effect (if not always their motivation) which is why I find this sort of comparison so fascinating.
I also felt that the Portia/Bassanio; Lorenzo Jessica plot which is essentially a fairy tale wasn't very well wedded to the cheated miser story (Shylock & Jessica).But, on the other hand, I had the impression that Portia is a sort of magic person, who dispenses wealth and happiness like a good fairy, and even "morphes" into an androgynous attorney in order to make good prevail.I've seen the original performed and didn't come to an awareness of this until working this translation.
As far as the translation into French is concerned I was rather disappointed in de Vigny's poetry; de Vigny has a deservedly high reputation as a poet, but not based on this work. I felt he had trouble understanding Shakespeare's meaning on occasion and that was reflected in some rather inept verse.I think he would have done better to use prose.
I intend to make the translation available soon on Blackmask so anyone interested can judge for himself.
a comedy in three acts.. He had previously written Othello, The Moor of Venice which was successfully produced. It was actually an earlier project than Othello, and he thought after the success of that play he could bring it off. Accordingly he entered into negotiations, but because there was another Shylock and several other Shakespeare adaptations then being performed the play was dropped and did not appear until 1839 in volume vi. of his collected works. It wasn't performed until 1905 by the Comedie Francaise
De Vigny is considered one of the great Romantic writers. He belonged to the Romantic Cenacle along with Hugo. His fame today rests mainly on his poetry and his excellent novels, Cinq Mars, Stello, Servitudes et Garndeurs Militaires, and his one successful play, Chatteron. He is also remembered as the lover of Madame Dorval, the great Romantic actress.
So much for the background, now about the play.
Like most French adaptations of Shakespeare this version contains cuts both of scenes and characters. Launcelot Gobbo has vanished along with
Portia's other suitors except for Bassanio. The intention is to focus action on the main story, get rid of distracting sub plots which is the usual classicizing tendency of French dramatists when they encounter Shakespeare. The effect in this play is to emphasize the rather unpleasant anti-semitic core of the play.
Shakespeare's subplots tend to cushion and relieve this aspect of the play. Now that the subplots are gone in favor of dramatic economy, the starkly unpleasant main plot is intensified to a degree I found far more unpleasant than the original.
But as always cuts and revisions are revealing since they reflect the original work in a new light. It's often difficult to imagine Shakespeare's dramas unfolding differently. That's because he tells his stories very effectively dramatically. But when a markedly different version is presented, then we see that Shakespeare made certain choices and we can better guage their effect (if not always their motivation) which is why I find this sort of comparison so fascinating.
I also felt that the Portia/Bassanio; Lorenzo Jessica plot which is essentially a fairy tale wasn't very well wedded to the cheated miser story (Shylock & Jessica).But, on the other hand, I had the impression that Portia is a sort of magic person, who dispenses wealth and happiness like a good fairy, and even "morphes" into an androgynous attorney in order to make good prevail.I've seen the original performed and didn't come to an awareness of this until working this translation.
As far as the translation into French is concerned I was rather disappointed in de Vigny's poetry; de Vigny has a deservedly high reputation as a poet, but not based on this work. I felt he had trouble understanding Shakespeare's meaning on occasion and that was reflected in some rather inept verse.I think he would have done better to use prose.
I intend to make the translation available soon on Blackmask so anyone interested can judge for himself.
