Commentaires sur Corneille
Author: Voltaire
Volume: 53-55
Series: Œuvres complètes de Voltaire
Volume Editors: David Williams
Publication Date: 1974
Pages: 1513
ISBN: 978-0-7294-0048-0
Price: £255
About
Voltaire claimed that his monumental Commentaires sur Corneille was among his proudest achievements. However, though highly influential within his own lifetime the commentary quickly generated hostility from critics, and even embarrassment, after the eighteenth century.
This set of three volumes is the only modern critical edition of Voltaire’s longest, most sustained piece of literary criticism, and demonstrates ably that the commentary is not simply concerned with Pierre Corneille, but covers an enormously rich territory outside the immediate area of Corneilian theatre, with its treatment of plays by Shakespeare, Caldéron, Racine and Thomas Corneille. Furthermore, Voltaire’s notes reflect his thoughts, distilled over half a century, on literature, language, taste, beauty and decadence, at a pivotal stage of his evolution as a critic of French and European culture.
Table of contents
Commentaires sur Corneille (critical edition by David Williams)
I: Introduction (vol.53)
II: Médée–Rodogune (vol.54)
III: Andromède–Le Comte d’Essex (vol.55)
Reviews
Un réexamen sans préjugés des commentaires ne pourra que montrer combien les jugements de Voltaire sont fondés et judicieux. L’excellente introduction de D. W. qui retrace la genèse du texte, analyse ses différentes parties, passe en revue ses sources et influences et donne finalement un aperçu sur la réception de cet ouvrage au 18e siècle, constitue une première étape vers une réévaluation des Commentaires. […] Grâce à la patience de D. W. qui lui a permis de mener à bien une entreprise digne de respect, grâce à sa grande compétence dans le domaine des études voltairiennes, nous possédons dorénavant une excellente édition d’un texte qui reste un des grands témoignages de la critique littéraire du 18e siècle.’
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