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Reviewed by:
  • Le Antigoni sofoclee del Cinquecento francese
  • Carmel McCallum-Barry
Michele Mastroianni . Le Antigoni sofoclee del Cinquecento francese. Biblioteca dell' "Archivum Romanicum" Serie 1: Storia, Letteratura, Paleografia 316. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2004. 264 pp. index. append. bibl. €30. ISBN: 88–222–5314–0.

Mastroianni's study sheds light on a period of French drama not often treated, focusing on translations of Sophocles' Antigone in France from 1541–80, three in Latin (Hervet, Rataller, and Lalemant), and three in French (Calvy de la Fontaine [1542], J.-A. de Baïf [1573], and Robert Garnier [1580]). The French versions are his main concern, interpretationes rather than merely translations of Sophocles, but, Mastroianni says, Alamanni's Italian version (1533), influenced the French reworkings. Mastroianni has edited Calvy's Antigone and written on aspects of Renaissance French translations; here he presents key passages of Sophocles' play followed by the versions of his chosen authors, who comment on their model using strategies typical of French Renaissance interpretations. These strategies are a) enlargement and explication of the text by amplificatio and repetition of key themes, b) alteration of the model to give an ethical tone more attractive to an early modern audience and Christianize its meaning (reductio ad christianum), c) providing a contemporary historical and political dimension for the action, and d) transforming it according to schemata derived from newer genres such as stories of tragic love and Petrarchan love lyric.

Six chapters describe these strategies operating on different aspects of thetext, with an appendix on pre-Renaissance Antigone. The problems outlined in "Translating the Tragedy" show that amplification and repetition of themes are necessary to clarify the difficulties of the Greek text and accentuate pathetic aspects of the situation. Characteristic concerns of the early modern period are addressed in the translations where, together with a fondness for sententious moralizing, we find in all versions an emphasis on obedience to the sovereign, counterbalanced by the association of tyranny with popular favor. Both Calvy and Garnier, reversing Sophocles' plotting, make Ismene inform Antigone of the decree against the burial of Polynices. Mastroianni does not suggest reasons why, but perhaps it produces sympathy for Antigone, whose harshness towards her sister in Sophocles has proved highly problematic for post-classical audiences and authors.

The second chapter is "Christian Antigone." By using vocabulary with strong Christian associations (charité, piété, péché), the playwrights impose a christianizing ideology on the Greek text, and Antigone's burial of her brother brings her to a kind of sainthood as she obeys God's law rather than the king's. For Mastroianni the religious viewpoint expressed here echoes parts of Christian liturgy and the church fathers.

In "Creon and Justice" the contest between Creon and Antigone is viewed in terms of the correct behavior of the ruler, a topic dear to early modern thinkers. This emphasis involves the loss of an important dimension of the original, for in Sophocles the behavior of both Creon and Antigone is questioned, and it should be noted that although Creon is shown to be wrong, no one ever says that Antigone is right.

The next chapter looks at "The Choruses." From Seneca to the present day, [End Page 957] the chorus has always proved difficult to handle; linguistic difficulties and dense mythological allusions inhibit comprehension, and the democratic community exemplified in the choruses is alien to most societies after fifth century Athens. The French dramatists make changes according to the strategies outlined above.

Next is "Unconquerable Love." Drama of the Cinquecento and after was expected to deal with unhappy love, and the choral ode to Eros, provides material for amplification on this favored theme. Innovations include an Antigone affected by the pangs of love and introduction of the conventional courtly vocabulary of love; here Garnier's version provides the best illustration of these techniquesat work. Mastroianni's methodology does not include any assessment from a literary or performative point of view; it seems to me that Garnier's freer version was the more successful, but I would have welcomed an expert's judgment here. Alamanni's Italian translation is treated first to introduce Calvy's similar version ("considerazioni affini possono essere fatte," 173), but without...

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