Corneille, an artisan of history
Abstract
This dissertation examines Pierre Corneille's indebtedness to a wide range of historical sources (Latin, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and Biblical), in the genesis of five major plays, namely: Le Cid (1637), Horace (1640), Cinna (1641), Polyeucte (1642), and Rodogune (1645). Already in the seventeenth century, Corneille appeared as much a historian as a dramatist given his concern with historical accuracy and with troubling ambiguities among historical fragments. This research studies specifically the historical data which Corneille adopted, changed, and sometimes invented. Such a literary historical approach detailing the extrinsic textual influences upon Corneille's intrinsic theatrical form has guided this work. Contrary to the views of some critics, history has never been disengaged from literature and drama. Both the contents and techniques of historical representations, the interplay of matter and form, come together in the five Cornelian plays chosen. Exterior restraints, imposed as part of the Cinq Auteurs' attempts at prescription for the seventeenth-century drama, seemingly smother aesthetic freedom. These mores can be perceived as an external threat to the internal balance and organic unity of Cornelian drama. With a preference for the nonversimilitude, Corneille appears to resist the impositions of power in the name of a radical liberation, yet equally masters them in a conscious display of his own ingenuity and erudition. This study traces Corneille's historical, theatrical backdrop to discover where Corneille's claim to autonomy and difference lies. Distortion is both fruitful and necessary. The French dramatist altered historical sources in order to make them more aesthetically relevant. This manipulated matter derived from history induces autochthonous and original creations, even if they are so-called imitations of previous documents. Historical representations, being the referential grounds for the power in Corneille's theater, constitute also the power of his theater. The power of Corneille's theater evolves from his ability to control historical matter, while at the same time, he remains independent of it and manipulates it. Through his cognizant creative use of history and his craftmanship of theatrical form, Corneille, one of the world's greatest dramatist, is equally a notable artisan of history.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Kelly, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Romance literature|Theater
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