La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières

Contrary to what some critical texts of the siècle de Lumières — which ignore pastoral drama — might lead us to think, Tasso’s work does not fall into disrepute at that time. On the contrary, it is obvious that it remains very popular among the French intellectual elite. In fact, it even goes throug...

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Main Author: Jean-Louis Haquette
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut du Monde Anglophone 2004-12-01
Series:Etudes Epistémè
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/3882
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author Jean-Louis Haquette
author_facet Jean-Louis Haquette
author_sort Jean-Louis Haquette
collection DOAJ
description Contrary to what some critical texts of the siècle de Lumières — which ignore pastoral drama — might lead us to think, Tasso’s work does not fall into disrepute at that time. On the contrary, it is obvious that it remains very popular among the French intellectual elite. In fact, it even goes through a revival at the end of the period. This is the paradox which the essay tries to explore. The paper deals mainly with the French translations of Tasso’s pastoral play, but it also studies the Italian editions of the work published in France. All these texts allow us to understand better some aspects of the « horizon of expectancy » of the French public in terms of pastoral works. Aminta, when it leaves the stage, becomes a model of new-found pastoral « simplicity » which contrasts with the gallant shepherds of the beginning of the century as well as with the complex world shown in Guarini’s Faithful Shepherd. Like Daphnis and Chloe, Aminta and Sylvia embody, in the translators’ eyes, an ideal of « naivety » and « sensibility » in keeping with those of Gessner’s shepherds. These texts also stage in an exemplary way the nostalgic quest for one’s origins, a theme which crops up in many aspects of the aesthetic thinking at the end of the century of the Enlightenment.
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spelling doaj.art-0b191b1042c8422c936697981a0fd3eb2022-12-21T20:08:37ZengInstitut du Monde AnglophoneEtudes Epistémè1634-04502004-12-01610.4000/episteme.3882La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des LumièresJean-Louis HaquetteContrary to what some critical texts of the siècle de Lumières — which ignore pastoral drama — might lead us to think, Tasso’s work does not fall into disrepute at that time. On the contrary, it is obvious that it remains very popular among the French intellectual elite. In fact, it even goes through a revival at the end of the period. This is the paradox which the essay tries to explore. The paper deals mainly with the French translations of Tasso’s pastoral play, but it also studies the Italian editions of the work published in France. All these texts allow us to understand better some aspects of the « horizon of expectancy » of the French public in terms of pastoral works. Aminta, when it leaves the stage, becomes a model of new-found pastoral « simplicity » which contrasts with the gallant shepherds of the beginning of the century as well as with the complex world shown in Guarini’s Faithful Shepherd. Like Daphnis and Chloe, Aminta and Sylvia embody, in the translators’ eyes, an ideal of « naivety » and « sensibility » in keeping with those of Gessner’s shepherds. These texts also stage in an exemplary way the nostalgic quest for one’s origins, a theme which crops up in many aspects of the aesthetic thinking at the end of the century of the Enlightenment.http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/3882
spellingShingle Jean-Louis Haquette
La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières
Etudes Epistémè
title La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières
title_full La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières
title_fullStr La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières
title_full_unstemmed La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières
title_short La réception de l’Aminta en France au siècle des Lumières
title_sort la reception de l aminta en france au siecle des lumieres
url http://journals.openedition.org/episteme/3882
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