Mystification or The Portrait Story
Mystification or The Portrait History (the original title was in French Mystification ou histoire des portraits ) is a dialogue piece by the French author Denis Diderot .
content
The story is based on a true story in which Diderot was also involved. The Russian ambassador to France, Prince Gallitzin , wanted to marry 19-year-old Amalie von Schmettau , but had given his former maitresse M lle d'Ornet, called M lle Dornet by Diderot , some portraits, which he would be happy to return to before the marriage would have brought into his possession.
The scene takes place in the studio of the painter M me Therbouche . Besides the young Dornet, who is sick on a sofa, and the painter, a certain Bonvalet-Desbrosses, allegedly a Turkish doctor, and Diderot himself are involved. The prince helps himself the doctor who M lle Dornet suggests that it could only be healthy if it separates itself from all mementos of her lover.
Publication history
The text was published for the first time in February 1954 by Yves Benot in the communist magazine Les Lettres françaises .
Diderot had planned a complete edition of his works during his lifetime, but had not got beyond the planning and preparation stage. Some of his estate was destroyed, others scattered, some of his manuscripts went to St. Petersburg together with Diderot's library, which Katharina's ambassador to France, Prince Gallitzin , had acquired while Diderot was still alive. A significant part fell as heir to the Vandeul family - Diderot's daughter Marie-Angélique Diderot was married to Abel François Nicolas Caroillon de Vandeul (1746-1813). The present manuscript was part of the so-called Fonds Vandeul , where it was rediscovered by the American Romanist Herbert Dieckmann .
reception
The French director Sandrine Rinaldi made a film of the same name in 2003 based on the play by Diderot. Rinaldi transfers Diderot's story to the Paris of today, while the protagonists speak their dialogues according to the Diderot text, which has contributed to the artificial impression of the film and has led to irritation in the film critics.
expenditure
- Mystification or The Portrait Story . With. Ill. By Pablo Picasso . Translated by Pan Rova. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1956.
literature
- Klaus Semsch: The function of metaphors in Denis Diderot's work. V. Mystification , in: Tropics and Metaphors in the Discourse of the Humanities of the 19th Century . Berlin 2011. pp. 101-104.
- Jean-Christophe-Rebejkow: A Propos de Mystification: L'ironie de Diderot . In: The Romanic Review. Vol. 89. No. 4. 1998.