Pierre De Larivey

R impression inchang e de l' dition originale de 1882.

R impression inchang e de l' dition originale de 1882.

These pieces betray a belated conception of the comedy genre: there are tears and smiles in La Constance and Le Fidelle; Plautus rubs shoulders with commedia dell'arte in Les Tromperies. The goal remains correcting vices with laughter, but the language is less finely wrought than in the first collection.

These pieces betray a belated conception of the comedy genre: there are tears and smiles in La Constance and Le Fidelle; Plautus rubs shoulders with commedia dell'arte in Les Tromperies. The goal remains correcting vices with laughter, but the language is less finely wrought than in the first collection.

Pierre de Lavirey was born in the east of France in 1541 and died in 1619 in Troyes. Little is known about him or his life, but, in addition to his translations of various Italian books, he has left behind him adaptations into French of nine Italian plays which make him one of the most prolific writers of comedy in the sixteenth century. These adaptations are a valuable source for the study of the language of the theatre and of the techniques of creative translation in the period. Les Tromperies formed part of the second collection of adaptations written by Lavirey. It was first published in Troyes in 1611 by Pierre Chevillot. Its source is Nicolò Secco’s Gl’Inganni, first performed in Milan in 1548. This title is Volume 100 in the series Exeter French Texts/Textes littéraires. It includes an introduction, select bibliography and essential notes, all in French.