Scan barcode
A review by eb00kie
Andromaque by Jean Racine
3.0
Recommended in [b:Landmarks in French Literature|1965502|Landmarks in French Literature|Lytton Strachey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348049656s/1965502.jpg|1968627] and my first Racine play, Andromaque is a robust play. Succinct and fast-paced, it is nonetheless very vibrant and the emotions its characters express are varied and follow seamlessly one after another.
One of its main advantages is that it builds upon [a:Homer|903|Homer|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1390672749p2/903.jpg]'s [b:The Iliad|1371|The Iliad|Homer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388188509s/1371.jpg|3293141] working with famous character and a renowned backstory. This spares this piece the drawbacks of exposition.
However, the most paradoxically delightful, yet unpleasant, element is that Racine fleshes out his characters; no more predestination, prophecies, hybris, disaster due to the unchanging human nature, no more human moonliths. His Andromache, for example, often praised as a model for all women, is still dignified, frigid and loyal, but conniving enough to bluff and outsmart both her captor and his country. Pyrrhus, the supposed barbarian driven by lust is still quite restrained in his behaviour to someone who is basically a slave, another personality anachronism.
Now, coming to the paradox, I like likeable characters (especially those you can always forgive and redeem). Their rise to fame was fed by the great Hollywood myth that the key to someone "taking control of his life" more or less instantly is changing his decisions and his perspective (or hers) after one usually day-long look at their respective selves. However most of them aren't real people. It is probably why monolithic characters are out of favour today - because they rose out of the art of writing "how badly life can suck, no can do" pieces.
These Andromaca and Pyrrhus act as a mix between who they were created to be and two members of the Ludovic court at the time of the play's premiere. This could almost read like fanfiction, except that there's no shipping and fanfiction isn't usually moralizing its audience. Don't misunderstand, this is still a light, pleasant read (the vocabulary is limited and it is a drama, not a tragedy) but the higher the degree of artistic license you take, especially for a published author, the more the reader is entitled to expect. We only have one theme here: how lucidity should dissect passion. That's not enough for me.
One of its main advantages is that it builds upon [a:Homer|903|Homer|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1390672749p2/903.jpg]'s [b:The Iliad|1371|The Iliad|Homer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388188509s/1371.jpg|3293141] working with famous character and a renowned backstory. This spares this piece the drawbacks of exposition.
However, the most paradoxically delightful, yet unpleasant, element is that Racine fleshes out his characters; no more predestination, prophecies, hybris, disaster due to the unchanging human nature, no more human moonliths. His Andromache, for example, often praised as a model for all women, is still dignified, frigid and loyal, but conniving enough to bluff and outsmart both her captor and his country.
Spoiler
I would have enjoyed the poetic justice element in the possible ending: he kills her husband, she would have killed his wife, how... cathartic. And what a red herring that was!Now, coming to the paradox, I like likeable characters (especially those you can always forgive and redeem). Their rise to fame was fed by the great Hollywood myth that the key to someone "taking control of his life" more or less instantly is changing his decisions and his perspective (or hers) after one usually day-long look at their respective selves. However most of them aren't real people. It is probably why monolithic characters are out of favour today - because they rose out of the art of writing "how badly life can suck, no can do" pieces.
These Andromaca and Pyrrhus act as a mix between who they were created to be and two members of the Ludovic court at the time of the play's premiere. This could almost read like fanfiction, except that there's no shipping and fanfiction isn't usually moralizing its audience. Don't misunderstand, this is still a light, pleasant read (the vocabulary is limited and it is a drama, not a tragedy) but the higher the degree of artistic license you take, especially for a published author, the more the reader is entitled to expect. We only have one theme here: how lucidity should dissect passion. That's not enough for me.