Oedipe was not only the first play of Voltaire’s to
be performed, it was also the first work of any kind which he
had published. It is of interest as it is the first literary
milestone in the career of this author whom many believe to
be the embodiment of the spirit of his century, and whose output was both copious and varied. Furthermore Oedipe was the
most successful first play of any French playwright and its
first run brought Voltaire more money than any previous French
playwright had ever received for the first run of any tragedy.
Therefore the play is of interest as an example of its genre,
and in it can be seen some faults the accentuation of which
was to lead to the death of classical French tragedy. The
following is an examination of some of the more interesting
aspects of Voltaire’s Oedipe. Considerations of time, space
and available material preclude any attempt at an exhaustive
treatment of the subject, but it is hoped that the general
outline has teen sketched.
Throughout this work “Oedipus” is used to refer to
the play’s main character in general and when dealing with
the Greek and Latin versions οf the legend; "Oedipe” is used
to refer to the main character in French plays. The text
used is that of the Moland edition of Voltaire’s Oeuvres
complètes; arabic numbers in references to this text refer
to the number of the lines concerned, the lines having teen
numbered from. 1 to 1408.1 Frequent reference has teen made
to the Lettres sur Oedipe” which precede, and the "Variantes”
which follow the text in the Moland edition. References to
Voltaire’s correspondence are also numerous and refer to the
Besterman edition. The editor's name is abbreviated to Best.
in footnotes. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/28629 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Jory, David Hugh |
| Contributors | Conlon, P-M., Romance Languages |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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