Performing "imitatio": Bruscambille’s prologues and Cesare Rao’s "Lettres facetieuses" (1584)

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 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.