Birth Marks: The Tragedy of Primogeniture in Pierre Corneille, Thomas Corneille, and Jean Racine

by Richard E. Goodkin

Overview

Through a study of the evolution of inheritance issues in seventeen tragedies written over the course of half a century the Corneille brothers, Pierre and Thomas, and by Jean Racine, Richard E. Goodkin questions the pervasive assumption that classical tragedy, a form written for the aristocracy, is informed exclusively by an aristocratic ethic.

Instead, a fresh reading of both canonical and noncanonical texts demonstrates that even the most formal body of literature produced by French classical writers expresses a conflict between a declining aristocratic hierarchy based on inherited privilege and a rising capitalistic ethic that favors competition and enterprise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812235500
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	07/06/2000
Series:	New Cultural Studies
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Richard E. Goodkin is Professor of French at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of The Tragic Middle: Racine, Aristotle, Euripides and Around Proust.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Introduction	1
Part I	The Tragedy of Primogeniture
1.	Primogeniture and Its Discontents in Early Modern France	9
2.	Psychological Primogeniture	29
Part II	The First Generation
3.	Medee: The Robe Is Mightier than the Sword, or The Clothier's Revenge	47
4.	Horacc, or How to Kill Friends and Influence People	62
5.	The End of an Era, or The Death of Pomp(ey)	78
Part III	Between the Generations
6.	A Sibling Rivalry over Sibling Rivalry: Pierre Corneille's Rodogunc and Thomas Corneille's Persec et Demetrius	99
7.	The Brother as Father, the Father as Brother: Pierre Corneille's Nicomede and Thomas Corneille's La Mort d'Annibal	124
8.	Degenerating Inheritance: Timocrate, Oedipc, and La Thebaide	145
Part IV	The Second Generation
9.	The Younger Brother Comes into His Own: Britannicus, Bajazet, and Mithridate	171
10.	An Older Brother's Loss: Pierre Corneille's Tite et Berenice and Racine's Berenice	194
11.	A Tale of Two Sisters: Thomas Corneille's Ariane and Racine's Phedre	220
	Notes	241
	Bibliography	271
	Acknowledgments	277
	Index	279

Editorial Reviews

"As Stephen Greenblatt has shown about purgatory for the Elizabethan Age, Goodkin argues that sibling rivalry, a vital and enriching element of tragedy, has been swept off our horizon. The book makes a strong and compelling case for dramatic motivations that we would prefer to forget. In the midst of many elegant and enduring studies of classical theater Goodkin offers compelling interpretation."

Harvard University Tom Conley

"As Stephen Greenblatt has shown about purgatory for the Elizabethan Age, Goodkin argues that sibling rivalry, a vital and enriching element of tragedy, has been swept off our horizon. The book makes a strong and compelling case for dramatic motivations that we would prefer to forget. In the midst of many elegant and enduring studies of classical theater Goodkin offers compelling interpretation."—Tom Conley, Harvard University

From the Publisher

Despite barriers to penetrating a sociocultural context so alien to our own, Goodkin (French, U. of Wisconsin) believes that a foray into 17th century French Classical tragedy written for the Versailles Court warrants the time warp. The author adopts primogeniture, the practice of the oldest son inheriting an estate, as a metaphor for the mentalities underlying the feudalism-to-capitalism transition. Psychological primogeniture, in which sibling rivalry haunts family relationships, is viewed broadly as a theme in French literature written and performed between the foundation of the Acad<'e>mie francaise in 1635 and 1677, the year Racine presented dre/>, a tale of sisters, as his theatrical swan song. The Corneilles' works reflect brotherly conflict. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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