What could be more challenging than publishing a new scholarly edition of the complete works of Pierre Corneille, one of the most famous playwrights of the seventeenth century? Many distinguished scholars have already made a special contribution to this field, from Stegmann in 1963 (the Seuil edition is very handy because it consists of one single volume), to Couton (the Pléiade is still the reference edition) and Niderst (PUF) in the 1980s. Do we need another edition and is there anything new to be done?
This collaborative work started three years ago with Classiques Garnier. The first volume was published in 2014. For this second volume, a renewed team of established scholars (Florence Dobby-Poirson, Jean de Guardia, Liliane Picciola, and Laura Rescia) focuses on five consecutive plays (La Place royale, Médée, L’Illusion comique, Le Cid, and Horace). This volume logically follows the chronological order and stresses the versatility of Pierre Corneille’s art. From 1634 to 1641, Pierre Corneille gradually shifted from comedy to tragedy, transformed his art, and made himself a name in the world of theater in spite of or thanks to the querelles, pamphlets, and animosity his plays elicited.
This new edition aims at reflecting upon this evolution. Each play is scrutinized and benefits from its own introduction, bibliography, footnotes, and Variantes. Each contributor focuses on a play (except for Liliane Picciola who is editing the volume and is responsible for both L’Illusion comique and Le Cid). Thoroughly documented and well written, this edition represents a great amount of work (1,126 pages). However, we must deplore that the intended readership is not clearly defined.
On the one hand, this new edition seems to be meant for a broader audience than the Pléiade edition. Indeed, most footnotes define words fairly common in the plays of that time but whose meaning has evolved since the seventeenth century (such as cœur). In the same vein, a rich set of pedagogical tools nicely complements this new edition, especially the four indexes (that respectively list names, geographical spaces, mythological and biblical figures, and literary works). A glossary will be very helpful to students or amateurs who are yet not fully familiar with early modern vocabulary. On the other hand, this scientific edition also aims at contributing to the field of early modern studies. The mere length of some footnotes, the numerous analyses, and the rich paratext that goes along with each play are clearly designed for a seventeenth-century scholar, but they could easily overwhelm anyone else.
That said, these scholarly contributions are uneven. The establishment of the text, the care given to each new edition during Corneille’s time, the list of misprints, punctuation issues, and stage directions are all testimony to the contributors’ seriousness and knowledge. This essential work is a true progress in terms of both scope and depth. This impressive quest for exhaustivity becomes obvious when considering both the bibliographies listed after each play and the general bibliography. However, these references often overlap and they are not up to date. Some recent scholarly works are missing. A single bibliography with appropriate subdivisions would have been more useful. Furthermore, crucial information is frequently lost in the midst of lengthy introductions that sometimes compile an overwhelming work on primary sources (eighty pages for the Cid when a typical Pléiade’s notice consists of ten to fifteen pages). This scientific and well-documented work would more adequately fit a monograph on Corneille than an introduction whose primary goal is to introduce some content by suggesting primary sources, research topics, or debates the plays elicited. As a result, the book is huge and rather cumbersome.
This abundant material sharply contrasts with the little room dedicated to the history of reception. This edition does not provide us with new insights on the many querelles at Corneille’s time, nor does it present letters, Avis, or documents that would not be mentioned in the Pléiade edition. Surprisingly, these scholars barely pay attention to staging, although there was clearly some room to improve over the previous editions in this field. Indeed, Corneille is still very much present in our theaters and each year the Festival d’Avignon, for instance, gives a new representation on Le Cid. We could have expected these new mise-en-scènes to be emphasized in a 2017 edition of Pierre Corneille’s work.
