Description
Book SynopsisPrize-winning theatre historian Jody Enders brings twelve of the funniest legal farces to English-speaking audiences in a refreshingly uncensored but philologically faithful vernacular. This repertoire and its stock characters come vividly to life as they struggle to negotiate the limits of power, politics, class, gender, and, above all, justice.
Trade Review“Introduces a new readership to a virtually unknown body of dramatic texts from continental Europe . . . Enders perfectly guides readers through the difficult and arcane world of law and order À la FranÇaise, and her modern rapprochements between the legal world in contemporary America versus Medieval and Renaissance France are simply delightful.”—Mario Longtin, Western University
Table of Contents
- Foreword
- A Special Note to Actors and Directors
- Abbreviations and Short Titles
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction: Judgment Calls
- Farce to Farce with the Law
- On the Boundaries of Humor
- About This Translation: Le Mot Juste, l’Acte Juste
- Translational Politics and the Politics of Translation
- The Language of Farce
- Legal Players and Legalese
- Editions and Printed Sources
- Critical Apparatus, Stage Directions, Composite Editions
- Money Math
- Prose, Verse, and Music
- Brief Plot Summaries
- The Plays
- 1. Not Gettin’ Any [La Farce du MariÉ qui ne peult fournir À l’appoinctement de sa femme] (Le Nouveau MariÉ) (RBM, #2)
- 2. Default Judgment Day, or, In Arrears [Une Femme qui demande les arrÉrages À son mari] (RBM, #8; Rousset, #6)
- 3. The Washtub: A New Translation [La Farce du Cuvier] (RBM, #4)
- 4. Basket Case [La Farce de la Femme qui fut desrobÉe À son mari en sa hotte et mise une pierre en son lieu] (RC, #23)
- 5. Who’s Your Daddy? [Jenin, Filz de Rien] (RBM, #20)
- 6. Interlude: Beauballs, a Charivari [L’Esbatement de Coillebaut] (Ms. 25, BibliothÈque de Berne)
- 7. Poor Bastards [Les Batars de Caulx] (RLV, #48)
- 8. Talking Turkey, or,A Pilgrim’s Progress [La Farce de Colin, filz de ThÉvot le maire, qui vient de Naples et amaine ung Turc prisonnier] (RC, #5; RBM, #47; Rousset, #2)
- 9. Okay, Cupid [Le ProcÈs d’un jeun moyne et d’un viel gendarme] (RT, #29; Rousset, #7)
- 10. Witless Protection [La MÈre, la Fille, le Tesmoing, L’Amoureulx, et l’Oficial] (L’Official) (RLV, #22)
- 11. The Trial of Johnny Slowpoke [Jehan de Lagny] (RLV, #31)
- 12. Runaway Groom: A Final Number [Le Porteur d’eau] (Paris, 1632)
- Appendix: Scholarly References to Copyrighted Materials
- Works Cited
