Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1991. British and American Philologycal Studies (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 20)

Tibor Tóth: William Shakespeare's Reception in France and Germany

72 De la Roche's ideas are perpetuated over by Voltaire. Voltaire's aesthetic position can be easily understood considering his classicist taste and orientation: "How can an eminent nation appreciate such monstruosities?!" exclaims Voltaire in an essay following a French adaptation of Julius Caesar in 1764. Here are two lines in which Voltaire's attitude in this matter is fully revealed: "He had a genius full of power and a fertility natural and sublime, without the less sparkle of good taste and lacking knowledge of the rules." 5 So Voltaire attacks Shakespeare in the name of "La béauté réguliére" and his position in the "Shakespeare battle" is mainly based on this concept, as the following quotation shows:" and had he attached to this quality (viz. to the fine action) a simple style, order and decency, the English may have surpassed the Greeks and the French." 4* Voltaire's ideas influenced Abbé Prévost, who continued the attacks against the English dramatist, in his MémoiresJ he reproaches Shakespeare las ignorance and not obeying the rules set forth by the classicist school. Not only was Shakespeare accused of disregarding the classicist concept of drama, but later French criticism blamed him for "not reflecting the truth" and for the fact that he "creates a chaos which does not reflect the soul of the English nation.^ If we take a closer look at the reasons given by these critics, we can easily draw the conclusion that their arguments stem from certain important misinterpretations. Prévost and Riccoboni invoke the lack of "truthfulness", a statement based on the fact that Shakespeare does not use, accept and follow the classicist rules. But the debate goes on, and as early as 1756 Le Blanc makes the first step towards a new interpretation of Shakespeare in France, Le Blanc admires the blending of grace and frustrated sensuality in Shakespeare's dramas. His contribution was later used by the romantic school of writers as an effective weapon in defending the new concept concerning Shakespeare's originality. A few years later Delaplace's enthusiastic declaration in this matter resulted in the French translation of a number of Shakespearean dramas. The diligent translator of Fielding and Shakespeare remarked: "All those who want to force these dramas into French patterns are definitely wrong, Shakespeare is the creator of dramatic art in Britain.^ If Delaplace called attention to Shakespeares's genuine and original technique and the psychological approach, Baulard d'Arnoud stressed the excellent scenic effect stemming from the Shakespearean dramatic vision. By then Shakespeare's works had come to be well known to the French public through Letouneur's and Delaplace's translations and the adaptations of Ducis.

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