Jean-François Ducis, Hamlet

Joseph Harris

Jean-François Ducis, Hamlet

Edited by Joseph Harris

Click cover to enlarge

Buy hardback at:
Amazon
Amazon US
BarnesNoble
Blackwells

Buy paperback at:
Amazon
Amazon US
BarnesNoble
Blackwells

Booksellers & libraries:
ipage® at Ingram

Critical Texts 85

Modern Humanities Research Association

4 November 2024

ISBN: 978-1-839546-17-4 (hardback) • RRP £49.99, $63.99, €57.99

ISBN: 978-1-839545-45-0 (paperback) • RRP £16.99, $22.99, €19.99

ISBN: 978-1-839545-46-7 (JSTOR ebook)

Access online: Books@JSTOR

EnlightenmentFrenchDrama

The premiere of Jean-François Ducis’s Hamlet in 1769 marked Shakespeare’s first faltering steps onto the French stage. Within a couple of generations, his play had itself been translated so widely that it was better known than Shakespeare’s across most of Europe; it has thus aptly been called ‘one of the most important Hamlets of all time’. Ducis, who spoke no English, takes copious liberties with his Shakespearean source material, attempting to tap into the dramatic power of the English original without unduly shocking French sensibilities or transgressing ‘classical’ French dramatic conventions. Yet Ducis also returned to the play quite obsessively across his life, reordering scenes and sometimes changing the ending considerably.

Using the 1770 version as its base, this critical edition brings together variants from the heavily rewritten 1769 manuscript to the last version published in Ducis’s lifetime, in 1815. The introduction provides an overview of Ducis’s principal changes, reflecting on the aesthetic, dramatic, ethical, and political differences between these versions in the light of his evolving practice. Annotations direct the reader to key textual borrowings from, and changes to, Shakespeare’s original and its eighteenth-century scholarly adaptations. This edition should thus be of interest to scholars of Shakespeare and Shakespeare reception, eighteenth-century French theatre, and theories and practices of adaptation.

A French-language text accompanied by an introduction and editorial notes in English.

Joseph Harris is Professor of Early Modern French and Comparative Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Contents:

vii-vii	Acknowledgements Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.3	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
1-28	Introduction Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.4	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
29-94	Hamlet, Tragédie, Imitée De L’anglais; Par M. Ducis. Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.5	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
95-140	Appendix A: 1809 (ii. 3–v. 8) Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.6	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
141-144	Appendix B: 1815 (v. 5–v. 9) Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.7	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
145-154	Appendix C: C.-F. Ms267 (iv. 6–v. 8) Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.8	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
155-166	Appendix D: 1808 (v. 1–8) Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.9	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
167-169	Appendix E: C.-F. Ms265 (iii. 7) Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.10	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
170-183	Appendix F: C.-F. Ms265 (v. 1–9) Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.11	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
184-184	Appendix G: the 1813 Dedication Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.12	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
185-187	Bibliography Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.13	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.
188-188	Back Matter Jean-François Ducis doi:10.2307/jj.21275857.14	Cite
	To see how to cite this article in standard MHRA style, follow this link. To see how to cite this article in author-date MHRA style, follow this link.

Cite this volume in standard MHRA style

Bibliography entry:

Harris, Joseph (ed.), Jean-François Ducis, Hamlet, Critical Texts, 85 (MHRA, 2024)

First footnote reference: ³⁵ Jean-François Ducis, Hamlet, ed. by Joseph Harris, Critical Texts, 85 (MHRA, 2024), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: ³⁷ Harris, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Cite this volume in MHRA author-date style

Bibliography entry:

Harris, Joseph (ed.). 2024. Jean-François Ducis, Hamlet, Critical Texts, 85 (MHRA)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Harris 2024: 21).

Example footnote reference: ³⁵ Harris 2024: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

This title is distributed on behalf of MHRA by Ingram’s. Booksellers and libraries can order direct from Ingram by setting up an ipage Account: click here for more.

Permanent link to this title:

www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Jean-François-Ducis-Hamlet
www.mhra.org.uk/publications/ct-85