This is the second volume of a projected translation into English of all twelve of Jean Racinersquo;s playsmdash;only the third time such a project has been undertaken in the three hundred years since Racinersquo;s death. For this new translation; Geoffrey Alan Argent has taken a fresh approach: he has rendered these plays in rhymed ldquo;heroicrdquo; couplets. While Argentrsquo;s translation is faithful to Racinersquo;s text and tone; his overriding intent has been to translate a work of French literature into a work of English literature; substituting for Racinersquo;s rhymed alexandrines (hexameters) the English mode of rhymed iambic pentameters; a verse form particularly well suited to the highly charged urgency of Racinersquo;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; Racinersquo;s seventh play; first given in 1672; is based on events that had taken place in the Sultanrsquo;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 playrsquo;s four protagonists: Bajazet; the Sultanrsquo;s brother; Atalide; Bajazetrsquo;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 Racinersquo;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 Racinersquo;s most undeservedly neglected tragedy.
2015-10-25 2015-10-25File Name: B0175VVCGW
Review
