Abstract
Unlike Euripides – the source that supposedly nurtures this tragedy – Racine portrays widowhood with an unprecedented intensity. Even though Andromaque aims at protecting her child (and therefore, as traditional legend interprets it, the crown of France), her deep grief holds her back. Such a ‘displacement’ was profusely criticized in Racine’s own time. The mourning of Andromaque impacts upon the aesthetic and dramaturgical meaning of the play. Andromaque might not be as weak as she seems: her power lurks in the dark. How does this ruling queen emerge from captivity? Racine provides us with a new interpretation of loss, mourning, and parenting.
"Racine's Andromaque: Absences and Displacements casts a new look at the dynamism, richness, and complexity of Racine's first major tragedy (first performed in Paris in 1667), through a collection of articles specially commissioned by the editors Nicholas Hammond and Joseph Harris. Challenging received opinions about the fixity of French 'classicism', this volume demonstrates how Racine's play is preoccupied with absences, displacements, instability, and uncertainty. The articles explore such issues as: movement and transactions, offstage characters and locations, hallucinations and fantasies, love and desire, and translations and adaptations of Racine's play. This collection will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of seventeenth-century French theatre"--
Includes bibliographical references and index.