Phaedra by Jean Racine 🇫🇷 (French Classical Tragedy), translated by Richard Wilbur
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2020
- A discussion with a few readings from Racine’s great tragedy.
Recommended if you like:
Hippolytus by Euripides
Andromache by Jean Racine
Heroines by Ovid
The Greek Myths by Robert Graves
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For French Classical comedy try:
The Misanthrope by Molière
Tartuffe by Molière, my discussion: • Tartuffe by Molière 🇫🇷...
The Francophile Reader’s Molière in May event: • Molière mai 2020 / Mol...
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Really deep analysis - I can tell you’ve familiarized yourself with this work in a meaningful way. I’m going to put this on my reading list and rewatch this video, perhaps a few times! Reading a play like this is so much more interesting when you aren’t going in “cold”, i.e. if you have an idea of what to look out for!
tripp Thanks! I know what you mean about having the context for a work to make sense. There have been times I start reading something, have that a-ha, and go read a few articles or other books before restarting.
Hope you’re having a good week!
Cheers, Jack
Great discussion Jack! I really liked how you compared the play with Euripides' account. I didn't realize that there are no gods on stage. Also, Greek mythology always confuses me because of all the murder and incest. You explained it well. I find Phaedra's confidante to be the most interesting. She does anything for her mistress. Potiphar's wife is a story trope that is quite common in Western literature, so maybe there is an influence there.
Thank you, Fariba! I agree that Phaedra's confidante, Oenone, is interesting as the actual agent of so much of the action. I was enjoying the poetry and language so much in this reread, that I became very focused on the character of Phaedra, but that aspect of the play will be another aspect to explore in the future.
Best, Jack
This is a great video, the way he explains it is so interesting
Awesome video, thank you! :)
I know it is nearly a century later but there is an interesting comparison between Gluck's opera Iphigénie en Tauride (1779) and Goethe's Iphigenie auf Taurus (1787) - I was privileged to see a production of the opera in one season and the next to see the Goethe play (probably because it was on the syllabus for Abitur - the main exams for 18 year olds in Germany - used for deciding university access - so, I think like SAT, but not multiple guess)
It was interesting to see that in Gluck written for the French stage - there was a dea ex machina in the form of Diana - who arrives and sorts everything out and in Goethe - the gods are talked about but completely absent.
I feel this gods being present and active and gods being discussed is an internal dialogue to Western European culture for several centuries.
BTW are you going to read some Molière, I love Molière - one of the first performances at our theatre to be cancelled in the covid-19 crisis was Der eingebildet Kranke (Le Malade imaginaire) and so on the theatre's RUclips channel they had an imaginary opening night party.
I didn't know about those operas, (though I've read the corresponding tragedy by Euripides), but they sound interesting. I agree that the presence of the supernatural exists in a particularly fascinating way. The shifts between the growth of rationalism and then the growth of Nature as its own almost separate entity in Romanticism are part of what makes reading across the times interesting.
I also love Moliere. I read Tartuffe in May. I'm probably going to read Racine's Berenice when I get to the life of Titus in Suetonius next month, so sometime this fall either Don Juan or a reread of The Misanthrope will happen.
I hope you have a nice start to the week.
Cheers, Jack
The literary impact of Phedre is completely lost in any language other than French. Alexandrine verse crashes in English. "Arianne, ma soeur, de quel amour blessee, vous mourutes aux bords ou vous futes laissee" is lost in English!
I agree; it’s rare for a translation to capture the flow from poetry or nuance in general language. Wilbur’s poetry is ana amazing effort at an impossible task.
Hope your week started well, Brian!
Best, Jaxk
@@ramblingraconteur1616 With that, I completely agree! My grandmother was French, and I was introduced to literature that most thirty year olds have never read. I enjoy watching your vids and thank you for taking the time to respond. Keep up the awesome work.
@@brianhudson7822 Wow, I can imagine that is a great connection to build with your family. Is Phaedra your favorite play from Racine?
@@ramblingraconteur1616 Yes, Phedre is my favorite. It is a masterpiece of technique and craft, and there is not one word out of place. Iphigenie comes in a close second on my list. I tell people that if they want to learn about psychology then they should read Racine. What are your favorite writers?
@@brianhudson7822 I have a weird affinity for Racine’s Andromache. There are so many writers that I enjoy that a list of 50 wouldn’t be enough! I have a tendency to think about connections between works, and I enjoy most of what I read, but I may just be very lucky at what I select.
pretend to be greek when its convenient ..?