Aristophanes in Renaissance and Early Modern Literature

Malika Bastin (répondant M. Ferrand)
Aristophanes in Renaissance and Early Modern Literature

Greek Drama has had an important though complex influence on European Drama in the Renaissance and this was to a large extent due to the circulation of Latin translations of Greek Drama, but also of Neo-Latin tragedies or comedies inspired by Greek Drama, which can be considered as translations in a broader sense : not of the text, but of the genre, structure, themes and main characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is thus to determine the importance of interactions between Latin translations of Greek Drama and Neo-Latin creations inspired by Greek Drama.

A focus on Greek comedy, and especially on Plutus, which have been early and abundantly translated into Latin and, to a lesser extent, adapted and imitated, may help us understand better the complex relation between Latin translations and Neo-Latin creation during the Renaissance–and in turn to define those moving and evolving concepts better.

The study of the specific case of Alciatus, who translated Clouds into Latin c. 1517 and wrote c. 1523 Philargyrus, a Neo-Latin comedy inspired by Aristophanes, should shed a new light on the interaction between translation, imitation and creation of Ancient Greek Comedy in the Renaissance.