MATI Newsletter Nov, 2008-Bulletin mensuel de MATI, le 8 novembre, 2008
A Critical Edition of “The Comical History of Francion”
by Dr. Daniel A. Gajda
In 2005 I published A Critical Edition of “The Comical History of Francion” (1655) which I compared to l’Histoire comique de Francion (1633) by Charles Sorel. One of my aims was to make the original (a rare book, mostly found on microfilm) available to the public. To help the reader with the older English I modernized the font and included a glossary and index at the end. I also made a line by line comparison with the French text of Sorel. Fortunately, I was able to find out who the anonymous author (a “Gentleman of Honor”) was and some reasons why he may have written it. The book is divided into 12 other “Books.” Some of the superficial highlights: Book 1-Francion’s adventures with Valentin, Lauretta and Olivier (“Catherine”); Book 2-Francion’s famous “dream” and Agatha’s bio of Lauretta; Book 3-Francion’s early childhood, his stint at school with the infamous Hortensius; Book 4-School days, outmoded studies and Francion’s “education sentimentale”; Book 5-The great Don Juan, Francion, courts Diana and Lucy among others, his residence with Clerantes; Book 6-A local wedding in the village and Bajamond’s story; Book 7-Among many other adventures, Francion’s search for the elusive Nais; Book 8-Collinet, the fool and Francion’s song; Book 9-Francion’s peripaties with Du Buisson, Nais, Ergaste and Valerius; Book 10-Francion, the peasant, his trip to Rome to seek Nais; Book 11-Hortensius is back; Book 12-The many obstacles to Francion’s marriage to Nais, his public trial and eventual marriage to Nais. The work is interesting as an early form of the novel in picaresque style. Scholars have pondered over the multiple levels of meaning in this book (mostly in the French) for many years. Volumes, studies, etc. have been written about it. It would be most useful in a French, Comparative or English Literature class. The book can be found at amazon.com and www.comicalhistoryoffrancion.blogspot.com
by Dr. Daniel A. Gajda
In 2005 I published A Critical Edition of “The Comical History of Francion” (1655) which I compared to l’Histoire comique de Francion (1633) by Charles Sorel. One of my aims was to make the original (a rare book, mostly found on microfilm) available to the public. To help the reader with the older English I modernized the font and included a glossary and index at the end. I also made a line by line comparison with the French text of Sorel. Fortunately, I was able to find out who the anonymous author (a “Gentleman of Honor”) was and some reasons why he may have written it. The book is divided into 12 other “Books.” Some of the superficial highlights: Book 1-Francion’s adventures with Valentin, Lauretta and Olivier (“Catherine”); Book 2-Francion’s famous “dream” and Agatha’s bio of Lauretta; Book 3-Francion’s early childhood, his stint at school with the infamous Hortensius; Book 4-School days, outmoded studies and Francion’s “education sentimentale”; Book 5-The great Don Juan, Francion, courts Diana and Lucy among others, his residence with Clerantes; Book 6-A local wedding in the village and Bajamond’s story; Book 7-Among many other adventures, Francion’s search for the elusive Nais; Book 8-Collinet, the fool and Francion’s song; Book 9-Francion’s peripaties with Du Buisson, Nais, Ergaste and Valerius; Book 10-Francion, the peasant, his trip to Rome to seek Nais; Book 11-Hortensius is back; Book 12-The many obstacles to Francion’s marriage to Nais, his public trial and eventual marriage to Nais. The work is interesting as an early form of the novel in picaresque style. Scholars have pondered over the multiple levels of meaning in this book (mostly in the French) for many years. Volumes, studies, etc. have been written about it. It would be most useful in a French, Comparative or English Literature class. The book can be found at amazon.com and www.comicalhistoryoffrancion.blogspot.com
posted by Francion at 1:46 PM
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