La Prude
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| Title: | La Prude |
| Genus: | comedy |
| Original language: | French |
| Author: | Voltaire |
| Publishing year: | 1748 |
| Premiere: | December 15, 1747 at the Théâtre d'Anet |
| Place of premiere: | Sceaux |
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La Prude , or with an expanded title La Prude ou la Gardeuse de cassette (The pious pious and the treasure keeper after Johann Christoph von Zabuesnig), is a 1747 comedy in five acts and verses by Voltaire . The piece was only performed once on December 15, 1747 in Sceaux in front of the Duchesse du Maine . The first printing took place in 1748 as part of the Dresden edition of works by Conrad Walther.
action
The confusing plot takes place in Marseille. Adine, a young Turk disguised as a boy, and her uncle Darmin seek protection from his friend, the misanthropic Captain Blanfort, and are exposed to the intrigues of the sanctimonious widow Dorfise.
Literary source and biographical references
La Prude is an adaptation of the Plain Dealer by William Wycherley , written in 1674 and written by Voltaire in 1739. The original title was La Dévote . Wycherley's Plain Dealer, on the other hand, was based on motifs from Le Misanthrope by Molière .
Performances and contemporary reception
Voltaire submitted La Prude to the Comédie-Française without success . On December 15, 1747, the play was performed once in Sceaux at the Théâtre d'Anet in front of the Duchesse du Maine in the presence of Voltaire. Voltaire played in a prologue before the performance, which is placed in front of the work in the printed editions. Émilie du Châtelet and Marguerite de Launay, Baronne Staal took on roles. La Prude was no longer played but played repeatedly. The readers criticized the suppression of Wicherley's crude-erotic puns and would have liked to have wished for an exuberance between these two poles. This also expresses a contemporary preliminary remark on La Prude in François-Canut Richoff's edition of Voltaire's theatrical works: "It seems the English are taking too many liberties and the French too few".
Going to press
The text of the Prude appeared for the first time in the eighth volume of the Dresden edition of works by Walther.
First editions
- La Prude ou la Gardeuse de cassette , in: Oeuvres de Mr. de Voltaire, Nouvelle Édition, Volume VIII, Dresden, Walther, 1748, 8 °, pp. 129-264. on-line
- La Prude ou la Gardeuse de cassette , Paris, aux dépens de la Compagnie des libraires, 1759, 8 °, 28 (recte 82) pp.
- La Prude ou la Gardeuse de cassette , Paris, Duchesne, 1763, 12 °, 120 p. Online
literature
- Theodore Besterman : Mahomet and Friedrich (1740–1741) , in: Voltaire, Winkler, Munich, 1971, p. 207.
- Hugh Gaston Hall. From Le Misanthrope to La Prude via The Plain dealer. Molière, Wycherley, Voltaire : L'influence de The Plain dealer sur La Prude de Voltaire, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, 10, N ° 19, 1983, pp. 787-806.
- Jack Yashinsky. Voltaire's La Prude: influences, philosophy, dramaturgy . Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century, 217, 1983, pp. 147-57.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Theodore Besterman: Mahomet and Friedrich (1740–1741), in: Voltaire, Winkler, Munich, 1971, p. 207.