Hellenic Whispers: Modes of Greek Literary Influence in Seventeenth-Century French Drama (Medieval and Early Modern French Studies)

Hellenic Whispers builds a picture of how Greek literature was received and reworked by the authors of seventeenth-century French tragedy. Using case studies, the author establishes a new methodology for exploring the variety of responses and creative processes involved in these encounters with classical Greek material. The book explores the complex interactions surrounding these adaptations of Greek dramatic material, involving the input of scribes, editors, translators and earlier authors, and asks the important question of what these dramatists conceived of themselves as doing. Focusing on a time and place where cultural predilections and a lack of linguistic training made engagement with the original Greek texts problematic, the book explores the creative role of intermediary sources, the build-up of chain reactions between sources and the cumulative processes of recreation involved in the genesis of seventeenth-century dramatic texts. The volume also goes on to explore wider questions relevant to the classical tradition and issues of ‘source study’ and reception. Cover Contents Preface Note on Quotations and Translations Tables and Figures Introduction Chapter 1 Greek Tragedy and Seventeenth-Century Dramatists: Overview Chapter 2 Transmissions and Other Influences Chapter 3 Iphigenia in Tauris Chapter 4 Iphigenia in Aulis Chapter 5 Trojan Women / Andromache Conclusions Select Bibliography Select Index of Passages Index This book builds a picture of how Greek literature was reworked by the authors of seventeenth-century French tragedy. The text explores the complex interactions surrounding these adaptations, involving the input of scribes, editors, translators and earlier authors, and asks the important question of what these dramatists conceived of themselves as doing. Introduction -- Chapter 1 Greek Tragedy And Seventeenth-century Dramatists: Overview -- Chapter 2 Transmissions And Other Influences -- Chapter 3 Iphigenia In Tauris -- Chapter 4 Iphigenia In Aulis -- Chapter 5 Trojan Women / Andromache -- Conclusions. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 545-556) And Indexes.