Pierre de Ronsard. The Franciad (1572). AMS Studies in the Renaissance 44. Ed. and trans. Phillip John Usher. Brooklyn: AMS Press, Inc., 2010. lxviii + 272 pp. index. illus. bibl. $162.50. ISBN: 978–0–404–62344–9.
At the outset of the Franciade, Ronsard wastes no time placing Charles IX in the position Virgil had allotted Augustus. Yet, despite the daunting length of his poem’s epic prophecy, the vision of future monarchs breaks off with the first Carolingians. The priestess Hyante’s cryptic closing, emphasizing dynastic flux rather than translation of empire — “Princes, kings and their races die out / From their deaths others are created” (4.1895–96) — seems to negate the teleological raison d’être of most dynastic epic. Since Ronsard denied Francus such an explanatory framework and stranded him in a state of purposeless wandering, it is not surprising that his epic’s four enigmatic books have never been translated into English, remaining a footnote in many English-language studies of Renaissance epic. Now Phillip John Usher’s vibrant and highly readable translation, along with its wide-ranging notes and introduction, make the case that the poem as it stands merits a wider audience.
Despite the Franciade’s incompleteness, due perhaps to the untimely death of Charles IX or to religious turmoil, Ronsard continued to edit it throughout his life. Although the Pléiade edition uses the final 1584 text, Usher translates the longer 1572 edition, citing both the need to facilitate scholars’ access to the most complete version and his own preference for its richer language and imagery. He wisely refrains from attempting a rhymed translation, choosing to write in blank verse with a variable meter and including many short lines that evoke Ronsard’s decasyllables. This flexible scheme allows him to translate both the original’s meaning and its ambiguities as precisely as possible, while also communicating much of its verbal exuberance. Readers who wish to compare with the French will appreciate that it also allows for concurrent line references. It is a considerable achievement that Usher manages both to make the poem accessible to readers seeking merely a basic acquaintance with its plot, while nonetheless endowing it with a vigorous rhythm that lends itself to reading aloud. Although Ronsard’s distinctive feel is difficult to capture, especially in the case of his burgeoning present participles, the translator scores some notable successes. “Desja la fleur de son age croissant / Va d’un poil d’or son menton jaunissant,” thus becomes “No longer a boy, his age / Yellows his chin with golden whiskers” (1.147–48). Considering especially the editorial insistence on readability (lxvii), Usher handles Ronsard’s diction with a deft touch. More often than not, expressions that might initially seem overly idiomatic turn out to be on the mark (“Poor little me!” for “Pauvrete moy!” [3.885]).
While, to paraphrase Schleiermacher, Usher’s translation necessarily brings Ronsard to the reader, his introduction, notes, and bibliography do an outstanding job of bringing the reader to Ronsard. The introduction offers a series of brief essays that situate the Franciade within a wide range of historical and literary contexts, including the aspiration for a national epic, the publicity campaign surrounding the poem’s publication, the epic’s ambiguous relationship with the Valois monarchy, and its incorporation of the myth of France’s Trojan origins. Usher usefully relates the love plot involving the sisters Hyante and Clymène not only to epic tradition, but to Ronsard’s own earlier love poetry in the Amours. If the poet’s style often defies translation, Usher’s discussion of “Ronsard’s Mythology and Mannerism” splendidly evokes and explicates the luxuriant surface of his verse. Lucidly written and accessible to the general reader, these essays skillfully synthesize much recent scholarship as well. Well-chosen illustrations further contextualize the Franciade while also recalling the extent to which the poem influenced the art and iconography of its time. The abundant notes provide a wealth of information for scholarly and general readers alike, including numerous mini-essays clarifying usage or discussing textual echoes and parallels. A work of scholarship and a labor of love, this volume will deepen the appreciation of new and old readers alike for Ronsard’s “heady hybrid of aimless wandering and heroic teleology . . . of Petrarchan love motifs dovetailing with Homeric similes, of Ancient objects placed alongside Renaissance costumes, and of royal panegyrics and scrutiny of royal infirmity” (lxiii).
Kathleen Wine (Dartmouth College). Review in Renaissance Quarterly 64:3, Fall 2011, p.943-45.
Despite the Franciade’s incompleteness, due perhaps to the untimely death of Charles IX or to religious turmoil, Ronsard continued to edit it throughout his life. Although the Pléiade edition uses the final 1584 text, Usher translates the longer 1572 edition, citing both the need to facilitate scholars’ access to the most complete version and his own preference for its richer language and imagery. He wisely refrains from attempting a rhymed translation, choosing to write in blank verse with a variable meter and including many short lines that evoke Ronsard’s decasyllables. This flexible scheme allows him to translate both the original’s meaning and its ambiguities as precisely as possible, while also communicating much of its verbal exuberance. Readers who wish to compare with the French will appreciate that it also allows for concurrent line references. It is a considerable achievement that Usher manages both to make the poem accessible to readers seeking merely a basic acquaintance with its plot, while nonetheless endowing it with a vigorous rhythm that lends itself to reading aloud. Although Ronsard’s distinctive feel is difficult to capture, especially in the case of his burgeoning present participles, the translator scores some notable successes. “Desja la fleur de son age croissant / Va d’un poil d’or son menton jaunissant,” thus becomes “No longer a boy, his age / Yellows his chin with golden whiskers” (1.147–48). Considering especially the editorial insistence on readability (lxvii), Usher handles Ronsard’s diction with a deft touch. More often than not, expressions that might initially seem overly idiomatic turn out to be on the mark (“Poor little me!” for “Pauvrete moy!” [3.885]).
While, to paraphrase Schleiermacher, Usher’s translation necessarily brings Ronsard to the reader, his introduction, notes, and bibliography do an outstanding job of bringing the reader to Ronsard. The introduction offers a series of brief essays that situate the Franciade within a wide range of historical and literary contexts, including the aspiration for a national epic, the publicity campaign surrounding the poem’s publication, the epic’s ambiguous relationship with the Valois monarchy, and its incorporation of the myth of France’s Trojan origins. Usher usefully relates the love plot involving the sisters Hyante and Clymène not only to epic tradition, but to Ronsard’s own earlier love poetry in the Amours. If the poet’s style often defies translation, Usher’s discussion of “Ronsard’s Mythology and Mannerism” splendidly evokes and explicates the luxuriant surface of his verse. Lucidly written and accessible to the general reader, these essays skillfully synthesize much recent scholarship as well. Well-chosen illustrations further contextualize the Franciade while also recalling the extent to which the poem influenced the art and iconography of its time. The abundant notes provide a wealth of information for scholarly and general readers alike, including numerous mini-essays clarifying usage or discussing textual echoes and parallels. A work of scholarship and a labor of love, this volume will deepen the appreciation of new and old readers alike for Ronsard’s “heady hybrid of aimless wandering and heroic teleology . . . of Petrarchan love motifs dovetailing with Homeric similes, of Ancient objects placed alongside Renaissance costumes, and of royal panegyrics and scrutiny of royal infirmity” (lxiii).
Kathleen Wine (Dartmouth College). Review in Renaissance Quarterly 64:3, Fall 2011, p.943-45.
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