Description
Book SynopsisCrafted with a wit and contemporary sensibility that make them playable half-a-millennium later, Jody Enders's translations of twelve medieval French farces take on the hilariously depressing-and depressingly hilarious-state of holy wedlock.
Trade Review"Scurrilous, sexy, stupid, satirical, scatological, side-splitting, and probably something else beginning with 's,' Jody Enders's translation of twelve French farces is a real discovery that goes a long way to readjusting our perception of the Middle Ages. Enders is a great champion of comedy at its most vulgar and hilarious. She points out that however silly or banal these farces may appear to us, they nonetheless confront the real controversies of their day over the law, politics, religion, social order, or the battle of the sexes. Thoroughly grounded in her academic approach to the subject, Enders nevertheless writes with liveliness and humor and wit. She is unafraid to reference modern comedy in her translations and insists on the primacy of performance in assessing these comedies from half a millennium ago." * Terry Jones, on Enders's
Farce of the Fart *
Table of ContentsOn Abbreviations, Short Titles, and Endnotes
Introduction, Part Deux: Seriously Funny
About This Translation
—Une Traduction engagée, a Feminist Appropriation
—On Anonymity, Naming, and Renaming
—Critical Apparatus
—Editions and Printed Sources
—Order of Presentation
—Stage Directions
—Money, Money, Money
—Grammar, Style, and "Foreign-Language" Materials
—Prose, Verse, Music, and Choreography
Brief Plot Summaries
THE PLAYS
Actors' Prologue
1. The Newlywed Game [Le Conseil au Nouveau Marié] (RBM, #1)
2. The Shithouse [Le Retraict] (RLV, #54)
3. Pots and Scams, or, The Farce of the Kettle-Maker [Un Chaudronnier] (RBM, #30)
4. For the Birds, or, Conjugal Birdplay [La Mauvaistié des femmes] (RC, #48)
5. The Jackass Conjecture, or, Animal Husbandry [Le Pont aux ânes] (RBM, #25)
6. Match, Point, Counterpoint, or, The Old Lover vs. the Young Lover [Le Viel Amoureulx et le Jeune Amoureulx] (RLV, #9)
7. Holy Deadlock, or, The Pilgrimage of Marriage [Le Pèlerinage de mariage] (RLV, #19)
8. Bitches and Pussycats, or, Peace of Ass [Les Deux Maris et leurs deux femmes dont l'une a male tête et l'autre est tendre du cul] (RBM, #10)
9. Wife Swap: A Musical Comedy, or, The Taming, Pas de Deux [Le Savatier, Marguet, Jacquet, Proserpine et l'Oste] (RLV, #74)
10. Husband Swap, or, Swap Meat [Le Trocheur de maris] (RLV, #60)
11. Extreme Husband Makeover, or, Lost and Foundry [Les Femmes qui font refondre leurs maris] (RBM, #6)
12. Marriage with a Grain of Salt [Les Hommes qui font saller leurs femmes] (published in Rouen, 1600)
Appendix: Scholarly References to Copyrighted Materials
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
* * * * *
