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BERNARD J BOURQUE,
AUTHOR​​
SCHOLARLY BOOKS BY DR. BOURQUE
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Isaac de Benserade.
Théâtre complet
ISBN: 978-3-3811-3261-4
This book is the first critical edition of Isaac de Benserade's complete theatrical works. Known today primarily as the composer of librettos for court ballets during the reign of Louis XIV, Benserade is also the author of six plays, including four tragedies, a tragicomedy and a comedy. The latter work, Iphis and Iante, is still the subject of considerable attention, owing to its treatment of the theme of female homosexuality. The critical edition seeks to make Benserade's plays more easily accessible and to provide explanations and comments to facilitate their reading. In addition to an introduction, the volume includes a critical analysis, in the form of Observations, which attempts to shed light on the richness and complexity of these dramatic works. Although they were never considered masterpieces, Benserade's plays are no less important from both a literary and a historical perspective.
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Guillaume Colletet. Cyminde ou les deux victimes (1642)
ISBN: 978-3-8233-8559-2
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Composed at the request of Richelieu, Cyminde ou les deux victimes (1642) is the only single-author play by Guillaume Colletet, one of the first members of the Académie française and one of the "five authors" chosen by the cardinal to collaborate in the composition of dramatic works. Although the work is the verse adaptation of a prose play by abbé d'Aubignac, it undergoes a transformation under the pen of Colletet, the poet giving himself carte blanche for the creation of dialogue. The work is the first critical edition of the play. This book aims to make this work more easily accessible and to offer explanations and comments to facilitate its reading. The edition will result in a better understanding of Colletet, known especially for his poems, in his brief career as a playwright. The edition includes an introduction and nearly 300 notes. A critical analysis, in the form of Observations, attempts to restore to this play its dramatic and historical value.
Jean Magnon. Théâtre complet
ISBN: 978-3-8233-8463-2
This book (presented in French) is the first critical edition of the complete dramatic works of Jean Magnon (1620-1662). Today, we have a tendency to consider Magnon as a minor French seventeenth-century dramatist who was a close friend of Molière and who was mysteriously murdered. The aim of this critical edition is to allow the eight plays of Magnon to become more easily accessible and to provide explanations and commentaries in order to facilitate their reading and study. Moreover, a better knowledge of these works will clarify our understanding of a writer who, in his day, enjoyed a solid literary reputation. The plays are presented chronologically based on the date of publication. The edition includes an introduction and close to 700 footnotes.
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Jean Chapelain
et la querelle de La Pucelle
ISBN: 978-3-8233-8370-3
This work is the first critical edition of the principle writings that constitute what we are calling the Quarrel of La Pucelle, in reference to Jean Chapelain’s widely criticized epic poem (1656) on Joan of Arc. Many of the writings have never been republished before since their first publication or circulation in seventeenth-century France. The critical edition makes these writings more easily accessible to scholars and students of French seventeenth-century literature and provides insight into Jean Chapelain and the many critics of his epic poem. The edition contains an introduction and more than one thousand notes.
One of the most striking aspects of abbé d'Aubignac's fictional output is that the principal focus of his work is women. D'Aubignac's attempt to articulate his philosophy about the female sex is very much an intricate balancing act. While he is clearly interested in women, placing them on a pedestal in many of his writings, the abbé imposes limitations on their perceived innate qualities and often embraces the notion of the female as a societal scapegoat. All the Abbé's Women explores how these ideas were influenced by the socio-political conditions of d'Aubignac's time, resulting in a complex interrelationship between the notions of power and misogyny in the author's fictional and critical works. The study also aims to contribute to the scholarship on d'Aubignac, painting a portrait of the abbé that has not been the focus of previous books. The work will appeal to students of French literature, gender studies and the cultural history of Early Modern France.
All the Abbé's Women: Power and Misogyny
in Seventeenth-Century France
ISBN: 978-3-8233-6974-5
Jean Donneau de Visé
et la querelle de Sophonisbe
ISBN: 978-3-8233-6894-6
This work is the first critical edition of the three Défenses by Jean Donneau de Visé (1638- 1710), in which the author ardently defends Pierre Corneille against the four dissertations published by Abbé d’Aubignac. The third of these Défenses (Défense d’OEdipe) is largely unknown and has never before been published since the original edition. The critical edition makes the three Défenses more easily accessible to scholars and students of French seventeenth-century literature and provides insight into Donneau de Visé’s role in the Quarrel of Sophonisbe.
Abbé d'Aubignac: Pièces en prose
ISBN: 978-3-8233-6748-2
This work is the first critical edition of the three prose tragedies of François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac: La Pucelle d'Orléans (The Maid of Orleans), originally published in 1642; La Cyminde ou les deux victimes (Cyminde or the Two Victims), also published in 1642; and Zénobie (Zenobia), published in 1647. Author of the celebrated La Pratique du théâtre (The Whole Art of the Stage), published in 1657, d'Aubignac is known primarily as a dramatic theoretician. The critical edition aims to make the three prose tragedies more easily accessible to scholars of seventeenth-century French drama, providing an opportunity for better understanding of this influential writer. The edition contains an introduction and more than 600 notes.
French Seventeenth-Century Literature: Influences and Transformations
ISBN: 978-3-0391-1537-2
This volume of essays explores influences from Antiquity onwards that shaped the literary and cultural output of the French seventeenth century and the developments to which this period – the so-called ‘classical’ period – gave rise in later centuries. The thirteen essays in English and French cover three major areas: the continuation in French seventeenth-century literature and cultural events of themes found in previous centuries; internal changes within the body of writings by French seventeenth-century playwrights; the influence of seventeenth-century French writers on later centuries. The collection celebrates the life and scholarly achievements of the eminent dix-septiémiste Christopher J. Gossip, Emeritus Professor of French, University of New England, Australia.