Barbara Marczuk-Szwed

La Judit by Guillaume Du Bartas (1574) and a paraphrase by Rafał Leszczyński (1620): genre form and ideological contexts

The objective of the article is a comparative analysis of the biblical epic La Judit (1574) by Calvinistic poet Guillaume Salluste Du Bartas and the Polish paraphrase written by Rafał Leszczyński (1620), who was the leader of Polish Protestants in Greater Poland. The current state of research on both poems is very modest: the works were discussed exclusively in introductions to the critical editions cited above. In the present article, the two versions have been compared on three aspects: epic poetics, confessional tinge and references to regicide, which was a contemporary issue in both countries in those times. The French poem is composed of six books and comprises 2,837 lines of 12 syllables each, rhyming AABB. The biblical narration was enriched with numerous allusions to contemporary events as well as digressions on both moral and political issues. It is written in a high style enriched with Homeric comparisons, characters’ speeches, descriptions and erudite catalogues. Leszczyński’s adaptation is shorter than the French original: it is composed of five books comprising 1,640 lines of 13 syllables each, rhyming AABB. This reduction owes to the removal of the digressions and contemporary allusions, without touching the qualities of the epic style.
The present analysis highlights the great independence of Leszczyński as a translator, in comparison to the original text, as well as du Bartas’ ideological intentions. The French oeuvre is an epic poem of high literary ambition as well as an expression of the author’s irenic views with regard to France’s destructive religious wars and his distance in relation to regicide concepts. Leszczyński moves away from the epic convention to the benefit of the genre form called biblical poetic tale. He coloured his version Polish, and due to the more condensed narration, he emphasizes the theological message of the poem and its Calvinistic character. The question of regicide is effaced in his paraphrase and replaced with a patriotic message. Due to its liberal attitude towards the French text, Leszczyński’s version may be classified as imitation rather than a translation of the French original.

L’Illustre philosophe by Sœur de La Chapelle (1663): Saint Catherine or Hypatia?

The paper focuses on one of the five tragedies that were dedicated in the 17th century to the character of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, martyred around 307. Some modern scholars dispute the existence of the saint and suggest that her legend was based on the life and murder of Hypatia, a Neoplatonist philosopher from Alexandria, who was massacred by Christians in 415. The author of the article proposes to demonstrate that in the tragedy L’Illustre philosophe the resemblance between these two martyrs – one pagan, the other Christian – becomes particularly flagrant. As a result, Soeur de La Chapelle’s work, while remaining an apology for the saint, also becomes a great plea for women’s access to education and participation in intellectual life.

Maciej Rybiński in quest for sermo humilis. The Book of Psalms by Marot-Bèze in Polish (1605)

The Book of Psalms – translated in Polish by Maciej Rybiński, preacher of the Bohemian Brothers (Hussites linked with Polish Calvinists) – was the fourth Psalter of the Reformed Church in Poland. These psalms were sung with the melody of the French psalms by Marot and Bèze, and were used in liturgy until the end of 18th century.
The article tracks a method which the translator adopted while adapting the French texts for the Polish language as well as Rybiński’s reliance on an earlier Catholic paraphrase of the Psalter completed by Jan Kochanowski (1579). The intention of the Polish translator was to work out his own poetics in accordance with the Calvinist principles sermo humilis.

Morbus melancholicus: uwagi wstępne (Pseudo-Arystoteles, Marsilio Ficino, AndréDu Laurens)

Od czasów Hipokratesa aż do XVIII wieku lekarze uważali melancholię za przewlekłą chorobę spowodowaną nadmiarem czarnej żółci (atra bilis), mitycznego „humoru”, którego istnienie obaliła medycyna naukowa. Artykuł opisuje etiologię, nozografię i terapię tej choroby przedstawione w traktacie André Du Laurensa Second discours auquel est traicté des maladies melancoliques et des moyens de les guerir (1597), a także koncepcje Marsilia Ficina wyrażone w De vita triplici (1489). Odwołując się do idei zawartych w Problemie XXX, przypisywanym Arystotelesowi, florencki filozof rozwija ideę związku między melancholijną predyspozycj ąhumoralną a geniuszem twórczym. Ficino proponuje zamianę szkodliwej siły melaina chole w twórczą energię – melancholia generosa. „Kapłani Muz” mogą uciec przed złym wpływem swojego patrona Saturna poprzez aktywność intelektualną i artystyczną. 

ABSTRACT

Morbus melancholicus: A Preliminary Overview (Pseudo-Aristotle, Marsilio Ficino, AndréDu Laurens)

Since Hippocrates until the 18th century, physicians considered melancholy a chronic disease caused by the overabundance of black bile (atra bilis), mythical ‘humour’ whose existence is refuted by scientific medicine. The article describes the aetiology, nosography, and therapy of this disease, presented in André Du Laurens’ treatise Second discours auquel est traictédes maladies melancoliques et des moyens de les guerir (1597), as well as the conceptions of Marsilio Ficino expressed in De vita triplici (1489). Referring to the ideas contained in Problem XXX attributed to Aristotle, the Florentine philosopher develops the idea of the relationship between the melancholic humoral predisposition and the creative genius. Ficino proposes the conversion of the harmful force of melaina chole into creative energy: melancholia generosa. The ‘priests of the Muses’ can escape the evil influence of their patron Saturn through intellectual and artistic activity.