La comedie a l'epoque d' Henri II et de Charles IX.

Luigia Zilli, et al., eds. (Theatre francais de la Renaissance, Premiere Serie, 6, 1541-1554). Florence: Leo S. Olschki, and Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1994. 538 pp. L89,000.

Access, it has been said, is the most difficult part of scholarship. For the Theatre francais de la Renaissance series (FTR), a group of primarily French and Italian scholars decided to tackle the issue of access to Renaissance theatrical texts. Their concerns included not only the publication of major play texts -- often dismissed in favor of their more literary counterparts in the seventeenth century -- but also the readability of the texts by modern interpreters. Since 1986, they have edited five volumes of tragedies written during the time of Henry II and Charles IX. This sixth volume inaugurates the comedies of the same period, and a seventh volume is planned as well. The forthcoming second series will consist of comedies and tragedies written during the time of Henry m; the third, during the time of Henry IV.

La comedie a l' epoque d' Henri II et de Charles IX contains six plays: L'Andrie and La comedie du sacrifice ou Les abuses by Charles Estienne, edited by Luigia Zilli; Comedie ou dialogue matrimonial by Barthelemy Aneau, also edited by Zilli; Jacques Bourgeois's Comedie tres elegante en laquelle vent contenues les amours recreatives d'Erostrate fils de Philogone de Catania en Sicile et de la belle Polymneste fille de Damon bourgeois d'Avignon, edited by Mariangela Miotti; Etienne Jodelle's L'Eugene, edited by Anna Bettoni; and Henri de Barran's Tragique comedie francaise de l'homme justifie par foi, edited by Regine Reynolds-Cornell.

Each play is introduced in French by a fairly standard format which includes a biography of the playwright, a description of the background sources, a performance history, a critical summary of the plot, and a bibliography of both early printed editions and scholarship. The texts are also standardized: normally, one early edition (as noted in the bibliography) is considered to be the definitive one. Spelling and punctuation are modernized within the confines of maintaining the original poetry of the piece; difficult vocabulary is glossed in footnotes below. Any additions made to the text, such as extra stage directions, are also noted. The typographic format of the script is the same for each play. The title page of the earliest extant edition is reproduced, as well as any introductory matter originally printed with the Renaissance text.

There are some disadvantages to the TFR series. For those interested in textual history, a facsimile edition would be more useful; for those interested in clarity, the TFR editions are more readable. Some of these plays have also been produced in highly critical editions in recent years (mostly through Textes litteraires francais), which usually contain variants and lengthy analyses, as opposed to the basic introductions found in TFR. For most readers, the advantages of this series far outweigh the disadvantages. The texts are first and foremost accessible, because they are produced in affordable, paperback volumes, with concise, user-friendly introductions and clear language. The general editors, Enea Balmas, Michel Dassonville, and Luigia Zilli, place a premium on the initial dissemination and readership of the texts, and include the bibliographic information necessary to pursue further studies.