How should we read a text that does not exist, or present a play
the manuscript of which is lost and the identity of whose author
cannot be established for certain?
Such is the enigma posed by Cardenio – a play
performed in England for the first time in 1612 or 1613 and
attributed forty years later to Shakespeare (and Fletcher). Its
plot is that of a ‘novella’ inserted into Don Quixote,
a work that circulated throughout the major countries of Europe,
where it was translated and adapted for the theatre. In England,
Cervantes’ novel was known and cited even before it was
translated in 1612 and had inspired Cardenio.
But there is more at stake in this enigma. This was a time when,
thanks mainly to the invention of the printing press, there was a
proliferation of discourses. There was often a reaction when it was
feared that this proliferation would become excessive, and many
writings were weeded out. Not all were destined to survive, in
particular plays for the theatre, which, in many cases, were never
published. This genre, situated at the bottom of the literary
hierarchy, was well suited to the existence of ephemeral works.
However, if an author became famous, the desire for an archive of
his works prompted the invention of textual relics, the restoration
of remainders ruined by the passing of time or, in order to fill in
the gaps, in some cases, even the fabrication of forgeries. Such
was the fate of Cardenio in the eighteenth century.
Retracing the history of this play therefore leads one to wonder
about the status, in the past, of works today judged to be
canonical. In this book the reader will rediscover the malleability
of texts, transformed as they were by translations and adaptations,
their migrations from one genre to another, and their changing
meanings constructed by their various publics. Thanks to Roger
Chartier’s forensic skills, fresh light is cast upon the
mystery of a play lacking a text but not an author.
Cuprins
Introduction READING A TEXT THAT DOES NOT EXIST
Chapter I CARDENIO AT COURT
LONDON, 1613
Spain in England
Don Quixote in translation
Why Cardenio?
Dorotea’s story
Happy ending
Chapter II CARDENIO AND DON QUIXOTE
SPAIN, 1605-1608
Don Quixote as he is depicted in his book
Double marriages
Don Quixote ‘gracioso de comedia’
The madman, the poet and the prince
Seeming and being: an exchange of sons
Chapter III A FRENCH CARDENIO
PARIS, 1628 AND 1638
Don Quixote in France
Luscinde’s marriage
The mad fits of Cardenio
The mad fits of Don Quixote
Guérin de Bouscal: the queen of Miconmicon
The bearded dueña and the wooden horse
Novel, novellas and theatre
Chapter IV CARDENIO IN THE REVOLUTION
LONDON, 1653
Writing in collaboration. Fletcher and Shakespeare
The famous history of the life of King Henry VIII
The two noble cousins
A play never published
Don Quixote in the revolution
From Shelton to Gayton. Cardenio in verse
Chapter V CARDENIO REDISCOVERED
LONDON, 1727
The miracle of the Theatre Royal
Publishing and politics
Theobald, editor and author
Preliminaries, dedications and privilege
Theatrical enthusiasm. An authentically Shakespearean play
Editorial prudence. A play excluded from the canon
Chapter VI REPRESENTATIONS OF CARDENIO
ENGLAND, 1660-1727
Images and words. The illustrated Spanish text
The engravings of translations
Don Quixote without Cardenio. The booklets sold by peddlers
Cardenio abridged
Don Quixote in serial form
Cardenio in the theatre. First D’Urfey, then Theobald
Chapter VII CARDENIO ON STAGE
LONDON, 1727
The double betrayal
The interrupted marriage
Ruses and a denouement
1727, 1660, 1613
Double Falshood, a mystification or an adaptation?
Epilogue. CARDENIO FEVER
The manuscript recovered
How should a lost play be staged?
Cardenio published
The discrepancy between different periods
Postscript THE PERMANENCE OF WORKS AND THE PLURALITY OF
TEXTS
APPENDICES
Notes
Index of names
Tables of Illustrations
Despre autor
Roger Chartier is Professor of History at the Collège de
France, Directeur d’Études at the École des Hautes
Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and Annenberg Professor
of History at the University of Pennsylvania.
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