An attempt has been made in this edition of â? Le Cidâ to comprise within the necessary limitations of space as much material as possible to assist the student in appreciating the work as a piece of literature and in forming a true idea of its great value as a historical and social document. The text follows the Marty-L aveaux edition (in the Hachette series of â? Les Grands Ecrivains de France â) except that the modern ai has been substituted for the oi of the older orthography. The text of the drama is followed by an account of the Quarrel of the Cid, related as far as possible in the language of the participants or of contemporaries, or of the earliest historians of the affair. Then comes the â? Examenâ which contains the poetâs answer to his critics. In the notes to this â? Examenâ are contained the main objections of ScudÃry and the A cademy, which Corneille tries to answer. The Introduction contains a brief account of the poetâs life; of the French drama before the â? Cid â; of Guillen de Castroâs Spanish original; and of the theatrical and social environment in which this tragedy was produced. The Vocabulary furnishes all the means for a faithful and intelligent translation of the text. The meaning of each word has been chosen with reference to the contexts in which it occurs; and the student should be made to select the most applicable meaning given. Care has also been taken to point out the difference between seventeenth-century and modern usage of words. The Notes are given up to syntactical and literaryhistorical comment, which, necessarily, has been limited to the bare essentials.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
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L'histoire de Rodrigue et Chimène est bien connue : tout concourt au bonheur des deux amants, jusqu'à ce que Rodrigue accepte, question d'honneur, de se battre en duel contre le père de Chimène. Vaincu, il perd la vie ; vainqueur, il perd Chimène, donc la vie. L'essence du dilemme cornélien tient en ces quelques mots, et c'est tout l'art de Corneille que d'inventer une issue à cette tragédie en apparence inextricable.
Mais Le Cid, c'est aussi un scandale retentissant - on accuse la pièce d'invraisemblance - et un triomphe inouï. Il faut imaginer la querelle : tout Paris amoureux de Chimène, tout Paris se consumant pour Rodrigue, des auteurs en colère, l'Académie prise à partie et Corneille aux anges : quel bruit, mais quel succès !
Il n'en restera pas là : aux admirateurs des dilemmes tragiques et des amours impossibles, il donnera Cinna, Horace et Polyeucte. Seul le talent d'un Racine, une génération plus tard, parviendra à faire de l'ombre au vieux maître de la tragédie. --Karla Manuele