Oedipe (Voltaire)
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| Title: | Oedipe |
| Genus: | tragedy |
| Original language: | French |
| Author: | Voltaire |
| Premiere: | November 18, 1718 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris |
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Oedipe ( Oedipus ) is a tragedy in five acts and in verse by Voltaire . The piece was completed and premiered in 1718, but its elaboration began in 1714. With the Oedipe , Marie-François Arouet first appeared in public under the pseudonym Voltaire with the addition of the nobility predicate de .
action
The play about the myth of the Theban king Oedipus is an adaptation of the tragedy of the same name by Sophocles . The action takes place in Thebes. The ancient material as well as the previous treatment by Pierre Corneille were adapted in Voltaire's adaptation to the time of the Régence . The exit follows the template. Voltaire puts the growing painful self-knowledge of the title hero in the foreground and gives the work depth.
Additions
Voltaire added six treatises, named Lettres , to the first edition published by Ribou and Huet in Paris in 1719 , which deal with the originals and their version. In the same year he added a seventh treatise to the second edition, which is aimed at the criticism of an unknown person.
- Au Sujet des Calomnies. Pp. 85-90.
- untitled. Pp. 91-92.
- Critique de l'Oedipe de Sophocle. Pp. 93-107.
- Critique de l'Oedipe de Corneille. Pp. 107-117.
- Critique du nouvel Oedipe. Pp. 118-127.
- Dissertation on the choeurs. Pp. 128-131.
- A l'occasion de plusieurs Critiques qu'on a faites d'Oedipe , seconde Èdition pp. 131-134.
Contemporary reception
The rumors circulating in Paris of an incestuous relationship between the regent Philippe II. De Bourbon, duc d'Orléans and his daughter Marie Louise Élisabeth had led Voltaire to repeatedly write satirical poems on this alleged relationship, which, although not in accordance with the facts, was prompted by the regent's obvious infatuation with his unruly daughter, to whom he allowed almost anything. After several warnings, Philippe Voltaire had Voltaire temporarily locked up in the Bastille in May 1717 , after he had read a poem again in the circle of the regent's political opponents. Nevertheless, both the regent and his pregnant daughter attended the premiere of the tragedy Œdipe in the Comédie-Française on November 18, 1718 , in which the incest relationship of King Oedipus is processed as well as the criticism of the conditions in the rule of Thebes. The regent, to whose mother Liselotte von der Pfalz the work was dedicated and who also attended the premiere, awarded Voltaire a pension of 1200 livres and a gold medal for the play. The British King George I also showed his appreciation with a gold medal and a gold watch that Voltaire gave to his father.
Performances
The piece enjoyed great success when it was premiered on November 18, 1718 in the Comédie-Française , which was immediately followed by 45 performances. Until his dismissal in 1852, the Oedipe was part of the standard repertoire of the Comédie-Française with 340 performances.
Going to press
Voltaire, who prefixed the piece with a dedication to the mother of the regent Liselotte von der Pfalz , received the printing permission personally from the regent Philippe II. De Bourbon. On December 2, 1718, he received his license to practice medicine from the writer and critic Antoine Houdar de la Motte commissioned by the censor . The first printing took place in two types A and B (incorporation of three errata) by Pierre Ribou and Pierre Huet in Paris. Four pirated prints, inscribed: Londres from Tonson, La Haye from Rogissart, Amsterdam from Violet and Amsterdam from Bernard, attest to the success of the piece. The second edition, expanded by a seventh treatise, in three types A, B and C (extended errata or floral element on p. 134) followed in 1719 by Ribou and Huet.
First editions
- Oedipe. Pierre Ribou and Pierre Huet, Paris 1719, p. (Viii). 131, a white sheet, errata on SV with 11 items; sig. a2, () 2, A-Q3, R2. ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
- oedipe , seconde Edition, Pierre and Jacques Ribou, Paris 1719, p. (viii). 134, errata for types B and C on p. 134; sig. a4, A-Q4, R4.
- Oedipus, a tragedy, from the French of the Lord of Voltaire. First translation into German by Heinrich Gottfried Koch , Krauss, Vienna 1756.
- Edipus, treurspel. Het Fransch followed van den Heere A. de Voltaire. First translation into Dutch by Cornelis Haylighert, Leiden 1769.
literature
- Theodore Besterman: The Triumph of Oedipe (1718). In: Voltaire. Winkler, Munich 1971, pp. 55-62.
- José-Michel Moureaux: L'Oedipe de Voltaire. Introduction à une psychocritique. In: Lettres Modernes. Paris 1973.
- PC Mittchel: Voltaire's Oedipe: Propaganda versus art. In: The classical tradition in French literature. Essay presented to RC Knight, Grant and Cutler, London 1977, pp. 167-177.
- Éric van der Schueren: Oedipe. In: Dictionnaire Voltaire. Hachette Livre, 1994, pp. 143 f.
- Siegfried Detemple: Voltaire: The works, catalog for the 300th birthday. Berlin 1994, p. 23.
Web links
- Literature on the Oedipe on the website of the Société des Etudes Voltairiennes
Individual evidence
- ↑ Éric van der Schueren: Oedipe. In: Dictionnaire Voltaire. Hachette Livre, 1994, pp. 143 f.
- ↑ “The Duchess de Berri moved in in striking splendor with an entourage of thirty ladies and sat down on a seat under a canopy of a kind that had never been seen in a French theater. Her advanced pregnancy did the rest to make her the focus of curiosity. ”Joachim G. Leithäuser: He called himself Voltaire: Report of a great life. Cotta-Verlag, Stuttgart 1961, p. 32.
- ^ Voltaire: The works, catalog for the 300th birthday. Berlin, 1994, p. 23.
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