Pierre-René Lemonnier

La Matronne Chinoise is a new critical edition of a two-act comedy by Pierre-René Lemonnier, first performed in paris in 1765. Lemonnier adapted a theme which dates back to the Latin writer Petronius, and is also present in an old Chinese story, which had recently been taken up by Voltaire, that of the apparently inconsolable widow who rapidly finds consolation in the arms of another. The edition is accompanied by a full introduction setting out the play’s historical and thematic context, along with an analysis of its versification, and by an appendix reproducing earlier versions of the tale from Petronius to Voltaire.