French Literature

French LiteratureAthalie by Racine by C. Fontaine; Racine's Athalie by C. A. EggertReview by: F. M. WarrenModern Language Notes, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Feb., 1896), pp. 60-62Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2918424 .

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ig Febrzzary, I896. MODERN LANG UAGE NOTES. Vol. xi, No. 2. 120

respond to a feeling for a change in spelling corresponding to a new pronunciation of de- rivatives of Popular Latin e. We may suppose that the stages in our scheme between ei and 6e were compassed in a comparatively brief space of time; when, however, the written ei arrived at the pronunciation 6e the divergence in pronunciation and orthography was so evident that a conscious effort to reconcile the two was made. The result of this attempt was the use in writing of oi. The question may naturally arise: Wlhy, in altering the orthography of ei, was only the first vowel (e) changed (to o) and the i left? May not the following suggestions account for this? In virtue of its conservative nature, already noticed, orthography when it does chlange to suit the pronunciation of a given combination often seizes upon the more prominelnt part of that combination and denotes it, leaving the less marked portion utnaltered. Now in the present instance, either because the change (in pronunciation) of the first element e (of ei) to o (of oe) was so much greater from a pho- netic point of view than that of the second element i (of ei) to e (of oe), or because the accent, bearing originally upon the o, ren- dered the eniunciation of the ulnstressed e (of 6e) indistinct, only the e (of ei) was altered in spelling, the i being left intact; hienice the result, oi.

Although important changes in pronunciation have affected our combiniationi since it has passed the oe-stage, tlhe uise of oi to indi- cate whatsoever degree of chalntge has never been interfered with (except sporadically by grammarians); oi remained in the sixteenth century wlhen the pronuinciationi was we; and we continue to write it notwithstanading ouir present pronunciation, 7va, anid it was only at a recent date that ai was substituted for it in words in whiclh oilhad had the valuLe of simple e (as; Franfais) for three centuries. Such a state of orthography may be partly due to the fact that the French in becomnitng a fixed literary medium, cluiig the mor-e tenaciously to traditional script; it nmay be due partly also to the coincidence that this oi<,o onice written, appealed immediately to the eye as belonging to the very numerouis class of words in which oi was etymological (originating for the most

part in o+a palatal and aut-fa palatal, as mziroir, joie), all three of these oi's had the same developmenit in prolnunciation, alnd the etymological foundation for the orthography of the latter two, if it did not help to fashion oi to denote the pronunciation of oe<ei, (sup- positioln by no means impossible), may at least be adduced as favoring the retention of oi after the latter had once made its appearance.

L. EMIL MENGER. Johns Iopkins University.

FREAN CI LITERA TURE.

Alkalie by Racine, with a Biography, Biblical References an(d Explanatory Notes in Enig- lish by C. FON rAINE, B.L., L.D., New York: W. R. Jenkitns. Boston: C. Shoenhof. 8vo, pp. iii, III. 25 cts.

Racine's A/ialie, edited with an IntrodLuc- tionl, containing a Treatise on Versification, and witlh Notes by C. A. EGGERT, Plh. D., Boston: D. C. Heatlh & Co., Svo, pp. xxvi, 130. 30 cts.

THE publication in the same year of two separate editions of Racinie's famous tragedy lnaturally invites of itself a comparisoni between the two, and at first siglht wvould seem to make the task of the reviewer an easy onle. On closer inspection, however, the books be- fore us reveal entirely different conceptiolns in their respective authors of the object an(d plur)pose of their work, anid thereby demand aniiother method of analysis from the oine sug- gested by their titles.

Mr. Fonitainie lhas had in minid a text for c ass tratnslatiotn, anid rapid tranislation at that. Accordinigly, after a short sketch of his auLthor and a list of the proper tnames in the play, with their corresponding Etnglish equiivalents, and biblical references (in all barely five pages of prinit), lhe comles at once to the play itself. On the way, the list of characters is annotated with the n-ames of the actors who took part in the first tlhree representations.

The notes followitng the text are eviclenitly the result of class room work. They clearly reproduce whlat the editor-'s experience lhas shown hiim to be necessary to a qLuick render- inig of the originial. Foor they are, witlh few

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I21 Februtary, i896. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xi, No. 2. T22

exceptiotns, detailed translations. How far such methods of editing should go, whether they shlould encroaclh on the ground of the lexicon and grammar, is perhaps still a matter under discussion. Yet we think that the majority of instr-uctors believe that there is greater daniger in assisting the student too much, in annotating our modern texts, than too little. One objection to Mr. Fontaine's use of the metlhod is that he has occasionially allowed himself to give his own meaning to Racine's words. He translates 1onzEraire once by " common, vulgar " (p. 24, 1. I9), anld in other passages he rather obscures the inter- pretation of hiis author by renderings which are either vague or are badly proof-read. Suclh instances may be found on p. 26, 1. 26; p. 28, 1. 9; p. 3I, 1. 7; p. 43, 1. I3; p. 57, 1. II; p. 83, 1. 8.

Occasionally the editor gives a note on the versification, or hie comments on Racine's use of words. In the latter. case his statements are not always felicitous, as in the example of W,blaisiirs (p. i6, 1. 6), whiclh has here its cus- tomary sevTenteenith century meaninlg, or in regard to the gender of amourTi (p. 17, 1. 28), masculine as well as feminine with Racine.

Perhaps the chief drawback of this edition- allowing the editor his view of what an edition of a classical tragedy should be-is in the printing of the text. The lines are not numbered at all, either consecutively or by page, nor are the acts and scenes indicated in the head lines of the right-hand pages. Such omissions-omission of essentials we think- makie reference to the different parts of the play wearyingly difficuilt, and offer numerous stumiblinig-blocks to the feet of tile editor himself. On the first page, for instance, the name of the speaker is evidenitly counted for a line in the note referenices, while on the second it is not. Elsewhere half-lines seem to be reckoned as whole ones. Suclh inconiveniences to quick handling should be remedied in a second edition.

Prof. Eggert has entered upon the prepara- tion of hiis edition in a somewhat more com- prelhensive spirit. Instead of furnishing hiis pupils with a text for rapid reading, he has

aimed particularly at presenting to them a piece of literature, one of the best in the history of the Frenclh drama. His work as an editor is to call attention to those characteris- tics of Alhalie which have given it its reputa- tioin. The mere translation of the play into Eniglish is,therefore,a secondary and incidenital matter with him. For this reason he recapitu- lates inl his Introduction the leadinig events of Racine's career, and insists on the significance of his two religious tragedies. After this historical prelude comes a careful sttudy of Frenclh classical versificationi, based on the linies of the play itself. Sonme eleven pages are thus devoted, which dispose of the subject with the same clearniess and thoroughlness that Matzke has shown in hiis chapter on the versificationi of the romantic school, conitainied in his edition of HIerna;i. Instructors in Frenich literature are certainly unider obliga- tions to these two editors for their adequate presenitation of a not very allurinig theme.

After the Ilntroduction comes Racine's pre- face to Allialie, which treats of its sources anid the suggestions furnished him by the Scriptures. T he text follows next, the lines being numbered consecutively throughout the whole tragedy. The notes of the editor are in the mainI historical and literary. Consider- able attention is paid to the language of the author, in those passages where it differs from the usages of the present (lay. Also the de- vices of the poet in adapting his vocabulary to the demands of hiis verse are repeatedly noticedl. Among other interesting matter adduced to throw light oni Raciine's literary procedures are quotations from his favorite writers of Roman antiquity, wlhere such quo- tationis have an exvident bearinig on the tlhought and style of the play. The Latinisms allowed by the purists of the tinme are also pointed out. rranslations are giveen wherever reqUired, and syntactical constructionis are commen-ted upon or conistrued, as the case demands.

Indeed in all respects, this edition of Aihalie meets the requirements of that literary study wlvich should be especially bestoxved on the masterpieces of the Frenich drania. It is the most complete in its equipment of anly of the editions of classical tragedy publislhed in this country, and shoulcd serve as a model and

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I23 February, I896. MVODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xi, No. 2. 124

standard for futnre editors in the same field. F. M. WARREN.

Adelbert CoUIe,?e.

FRENCH EPICS.

Die Franzasisc/e Heldensage. Akadetmnische Antrittsvorlesung gehalten am 25. Januar, I894, voIn Dr. CARL VORETZSCH, ausser- ordentlichem Professor der romanischein Phi- lologie an der Universitt Tiibingen. Heidel- berg: Carl WVinter's Universitatsbuchhaind- lung, I894. Svo, pp. 32.

THE above essay presents to the reader a very clear and succinct summing up of the present state of scholarly researclh into that vast and entertaininig field of mediaval literature which is fitly designated as the French Epic. Though most of the facts here set forth and many of the views advanced are the common property of Romance scholars, this short pamphlet will well repay a perusal, because of the neat and careful mannier in which the chief prob- lems that are encountered by the literary in- vestigator, and the necessary limitations to his investigationis in this domain, are set forth.

It will, perhaps, not be out of place to call to mind a few of the facts to which Prof. Vor- etzsclh lhas especially directed our attention. One of the earliest and most celebrated workers in this field was the German poet Ludwig Uh- land, who as far back as the Year I8I2 pub- lishe(d a monograph entitled Ueber das all- fra9zz6sisckle Epos.' His co-worker Immanuel Bekker led the way in the publicationi of texts by his edition of the Provenual epic of Fiera- bras.2 Prof. Voretzsch then draws a parallel between German anid French epic tradition, and finds that the former has mainly been studied from the poinit of view of the propa- gation of legendary recitals, whilst the latter has been investigated chiefly as a special cate- gory of literary production. This differenice

4i-,4--4 ffm nt he olif-nr to-r- he-Ac;ilv extzrdn;n

I First ptiblished in Die Mustn, Eiloe niorddeuLtsche Zeit-

schrift, herausgegeben von Friedrich Baron de la Motte Fouqud und Wilhelm NeuLmann, vol. iii, pp. 59-IOI, and vol. iv, pp. I0O-I55. In i86o it was reprinted in: Uhiands Sckriflen zotr Gesch. der Dich:ung tndS age, herauLsgegeben von Ad. Keller und Wilh. Holland, vol. iv, pp. 326-406.

2 Der Roman von Fierabras, Provenzzozisch. Herausg. von Immanuel Bekker, Berlin, 1829. 4to.

able by the difference in the two traditions themselves: the developnment of the German epic is shroudded in mystery and has its chief interest as a mnixture of myth and history, whereas the French epic has arisen within historic times and presents to us all phases of epic literatuLre in great abunidance. FuLrther- more, we find that the German epic is of heathen origin, the French of Christiani; the German epic has a great central point in the Nibelungenzlied, the French is practically witlhout such, for its tradition does not centre in the Chansonl de Rolanzd in a degree at all comparable to that wlhiclh exists in the case of the Germani poem. Finally, as embodying a general truth -with regard to the French Epic, the statement may be made that it is the history of the nation in its heroic period em- bellished by tradition and poetical inspirationi.

GEORGE C. KEIDEL.

_7o/ns Hopkins Un^ziversily.

CORRESPONDENCE.

MIRACLE PLAYS.

TO THE EDITORS OF MOD. LANG. NOTES,

SIRS: -SO far as I have noticed, the histor- ians of the dramia do not find positive proof of the presentation of miracle plays earlier than the thirteenth cenitury. Ebert, for example, in hiis 'Sluclien zur Gesclzickl,e des MfilMela/terlichen Drazzasi calls a referenice to the repraesenlai/o passiontis el mnorlis Cli risli, in I244 " die alteste Nachricht voni dem geist- licheni Schauspiele der Italiener. " Some titmie since ini reading Bishop Liutprand's narrative of hiis eilmbassy to Constanitiniople in 968, J camiie across a passage wlhiclh seemed clearly to prove that miracle plays existed in Conistaniti- nople ini thie tenth century. As the histories of dramatic literature whichl I haxre conisuilted make no reference to the matter, it seemed worth while to call attenition to the passage in question2 wlhich reads as follows:

Decimotertio (i. e. Caleuidas Augusti [July 20]) autem, quo die leues Graeci raptioniem Heliae propl-hetae ad caelos ludis sceniicis celebranit.

I 7ahrb.fii-r roman it. Eng. Lit., Md. v, S.51.

2 Iiutprandi Legatio, 3I J11fo. Germ. Hist. SS. iii, 353-4

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