Performing "imitatio": Bruscambille’s prologues and Cesare Rao’s "Lettres facetieuses" (1584)
Roberts, H; Tomarken, A
Date: 1 June 2020
Journal
Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance
Publisher
Librairie Droz
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Abstract
The comic actor known as Bruscambille (fl. 1608-34), who performed and published
theatrical prologues in early seventeenth-century France, drew on a range of sources for his
best-selling works. In the dedication to one of his major collections he includes a lengthy
justification of imitatio. Appropriately enough, Bruscambille has ...
The comic actor known as Bruscambille (fl. 1608-34), who performed and published
theatrical prologues in early seventeenth-century France, drew on a range of sources for his
best-selling works. In the dedication to one of his major collections he includes a lengthy
justification of imitatio. Appropriately enough, Bruscambille has in fact adapted the passage
on imitation from L’argute et facete lettere (1562) of Cesare Rao (1532-88?), which he knew
through a French translation by Gabriel Chappuys (1546?-1613), the Lettres facetieuses
(1584). We have identified these letters as Bruscambille’s most prominent source, yet, as
detailed discussion of prologues on folly and pedantry reveals, the comedian’s creativity is
enhanced by his imitatio. This article is therefore a case-study that sheds light on the status of
this rhetorical practice in the late Renaissance as well as on broader issues of plagiarism and
adaptation.
French
Collections of Former Colleges
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