This is the second volume of a projected translation into
English of all twelve of Jean Racine's plays--only the third time
such a project has been undertaken in the three hundred years since
Racine's death. For this new translation, Geoffrey Alan Argent has
taken a fresh approach: he has rendered these plays in rhymed
"heroic" couplets. While Argent's translation is faithful to
Racine's text and tone, his overriding intent has been to translate
a work of French literature into a work of English literature,
substituting for Racine's rhymed alexandrines (hexameters) the
English mode of rhymed iambic pentameters, a verse form
particularly well suited to the highly charged urgency of Racine's
drama and the coiled strength of his verse.
Complementing the translation are the illuminating Discussion,
intended as much to provoke discussion as to provide it, and the
extensive Notes and Commentary, which clarify obscure references,
explicate the occasional gnarled conceit, and offer their own fresh
and thought-provoking insights.
Bajazet, Racine's seventh play, first given in 1672, is based on
events that had taken place in the Sultan's palace in Istanbul a
mere thirty years earlier. But the twilit, twisting passageways of
the Seraglio merely serve as a counterpart to the dim and errant
moral sense of the play's four protagonists: Bajazet, the Sultan's
brother; Atalide, Bajazet's secret lover; Roxane, the Sultaness,
who is madly in love with Bajazet and dangles over his head the
death sentence the Sultan has ordered her to implement in his
absence; and Akhmet, the wily, well-intentioned Vizier, who
involves them all in an imbroglio in the Seraglio, with disastrous
consequences. Unique among Racine's plays, Bajazet provides no
moral framework for either protagonists or audience. We watch as
these benighted characters, cut adrift from any moral moorings,
with no upright character at hand to serve as an ethical anchor and
no religious or societal guidelines to serve as a lifeline, flail,
flounder, and finally drag one another down. Here, Racine has
presented us with his four most mercilessly observed, most subtly
delineated, and most ambiguously fascinating characters. Indeed,
Bajazet is certainly Racine's most undeservedly neglected
tragedy.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!