‘An Entertainment Which Should Comprise All That the Stage Can Furnish ’: Les Amants magnifique—Miłość wspaniała
Patryk Kencki
Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5650-6578
Abstract
This article is an analysis of the 18th century Polish rendering of Molière’s Les Amants magnifiques by Duchess Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa, supplemented by its edition in the appendix. The publication presents Radziwiłłowa's translation of the play itself as well as its 1749 performance at Nieśwież, where the Radziwiłłs had their private court theatre. The drama employs a play within a play device, the article discusses some issues regarding the phenomenon of metatheatricality. First of all, it presents some key proposals of understanding it, going back to the classifications advanced by Tadeusz Kowzan and the system devised by Sławomir Świontek on the basis of a theory of communication. The author advances his own proposition of tackling metatheatre that enables analysis of the phenomenon not only in reference to drama alone, but also in reference to theatrical performances. Starting with the assumption that the theatre performance is an artificial reality where there is an innate tension between reality and the imaginary convention, he distinguishes four aspects that pertain to metatheatricality. They are as follows: separation of a play within the play from the performance as a whole; transgression consisting in playing with the limits of the spectacle; two-way identification of the actor and the character being portrayed; and finally, absorption of the macrocosm of the world into the microcosm of the spectacle. The author argues that deployment of the above-mentioned conceptual tools enables us to better understand the purpose for which the Duchess utilised the metatheatrical devices proffered by Molière. He claims that they were used to present the reality as being a kind of theatrum vitae humanae, on the stage of which the man is being tested. And although his progress is frustrated by various illusions and traps set up by others, by holding on to his virtue (to love, in particular) he is nonetheless able to act in accordance with his destiny, governed by Divine Providence.
Keywords:
Molière, reception of Molière, translation, Polish theater 1700–1800, Les Amants magnifiques, metatheater, Franciszka Urszula RadziwiłłowaReferences
Abel, Lionel. Metatheatre: A New View of Dramatic Form. New York: Hill and Wang, 1963.
Google Scholar
Baltrušaitis, Jurgis. Le miroir: Essai sur une légende scientifique – Révélations, science-fiction et fallacies. Paris: Seuil, 1978.
Google Scholar
Egan, Robert. Drama within Drama: Shakespeare's Sense of His Art in King Lear, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.
Google Scholar
Forestier, Georges. Le théâtre dans le théâtre: Sur la scène française du XVIIe siècle. Genève: Librairie Droz, 1981.
Google Scholar
Forestier, Georges. “La catégorie des ‘comédies des comédiens’ au XVIIe siècle”. L'Information Littéraire, no. 3 (1982): 102-107.
Google Scholar
Forestier, Georges. “Le théâtre dans le théâtre ou la conjonction de deux dramaturgies à la fin de la Renaissance”. Revue d'Histoire du Théâtre, no. 2 (1983): 162–173.
Google Scholar
Homan, Sidney. When the Theater Turns to Itself: The Aesthetic Metaphor in Shakespeare. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1981.
Google Scholar
Hornby, Richard, Drama, Metadrama, and Perception. London: Associated University Presses, 1986.
Google Scholar
Kowzan, Tadeusz. Théâtre miroir: Métathéâtre de l’Antiquité au XXI siècle. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2006.
Google Scholar
Mersmann, Antonie. Das „Schauspiel im Schauspiel” im französischen Drama des XVII. Jahrhunderts. Münster: Westfälischen Vereinsdruckerei, 1925.
Google Scholar
Nelson, Robert J. Play within a Play: The Dramatist’s Conception of His Art. Shakespeare to Anouilh. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958.
Google Scholar
Schmeling, Manfred. Das Spiel im Spiel.: Ein Beitrag zur Vergleichenden Literaturkritik. Rheinfelden: Schäuble Verlag, 1977.
Google Scholar
Schmeling, Manfred. Métathéâtre et intertexte: Aspects du théâtre dans le théâtre. Paris: Lettres Modernes, 1982.
Google Scholar
Schöpflin, Karin. Theater im Theater: Formen und Funktionen eines dramatischen Phänomens im Wandel. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1993.
Google Scholar
Schwab, Hans. Das Schauspiel im Schauspiel zur Zeit Shakespeares, Wien: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1896.
Google Scholar
Świontek, Sławomir. Dialog – dramat – metateatr: Z problemów teorii tekstu dramatycznego. Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Errata, 1999.
Google Scholar
Vieweg-Marks, Karin. Metadrama und englisches Gegenwartsdrama. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1989.
Google Scholar
Voigt, Joachim. Das Spiel im Spiel: Versuch einer Formbestimmung an Beispielen aus dem deutschen, englischen und spanischen Drama. Dissertation. Universität Göttingen, 1954.
Google Scholar
Wachowski, Jacek. Performans. Gdańsk: słowo/obraz terytoria, 2011.
Google Scholar
Authors
Patryk KenckiInstitute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5650-6578
PhD, Assistant Professor of Theater Studies at the Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences, managing editor of Pamiętnik Teatralny (to 2019). He conducts research on the history of Old Polish theater, with particular emphasis on the biblical tradition and the reception of French comedies. He published Inspiracje starotestamentowe w dramacie polskiego renesansu (1545-1625) (Warszawa, 2012).
Statistics
Abstract views: 255PDF downloads: 96
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Patryk Kencki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The author grants a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Pamiętnik Teatralny should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). By submitting an article the author agrees to make it available under CC BY 4.0 license.
From issue 1/2018 to 3/2022 all articles were published under a Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free nonexclusive license (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in Pamiętnik Teatralny, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Patryk Kencki, Molière in Nipu, or the Absence of «The Misanthrope» on Old Polish Stages , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 72 No. 1 (2023): Molière: Revisited (with essay cluster curated by Patryk Kencki)
- Patryk Kencki, Returning to Molière: Introduction , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 72 No. 1 (2023): Molière: Revisited (with essay cluster curated by Patryk Kencki)
- Patryk Kencki, The Theatre Studies Perspective on Polish Folk Festival Rituals , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 65 No. 1/2 (2016)
- Patryk Kencki, A Nieśwież Sganarelle Comedy , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 66 No. 4 (2017)
- Patryk Kencki, Pourceaugnac and Dreynar: Tribulations of a Newcomer , Pamiętnik Teatralny: Vol. 66 No. 3 (2017)
