Abstract
The existcnce of two differentiated, even opposed, forms of expression in Racine has often been recognized, or suspected. Voltaire distinguishes between his prosaic simplicity and his poetic elegance:
On a trouvé une grande quantité de pareils vers trop prosaîques … Mais ces vers se perdent dans la foulc des bons; ce sont des fils de laiton qui servent á joindre des diamants.
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Notes
‘… l’emploi de la périphrase … n’est pas qu’une façon éloquente et noble de parler. Chez Racine, elle a presque toujours une valeur descriptive; elle évoque des attributs de l’objet, parmi les plus chargés d’émotion.’ (M. Cressot, ‘La Langue de Phèdre’, in Le Français moderne, X (1942) 172.) But, as we see, this does not exhaust the functions of periphrasis.
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© 1969 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Sayce, R.A. (1969). Racine’s Style: Periphrasis and Direct Statement (1952). In: Knight, R.C. (eds) Racine. Modern Judgements. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15297-1_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15297-1_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-06801-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-15297-1
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