L'Orphelin de la Chine

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First reading in 1755 of Voltaire's L'Orphelin de la Chine in the room of Madame Geoffrin, by Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier

L'Orphelin de la Chine (transl. The Orphan of China) is a 1753 French play by

Ji Junxiang
.

Voltaire reworked the structure of the play in order to fit the classical model of French drama. L'Orphelin de la Chine adheres to the theory of

Comédie-Francaise in 1755.[1]

Background

Voltaire's source of inspiration was a translation of the traditional Chinese play

Jesuit missionary who lived in China. Prémare translated a portion of the original play for Étienne Fourmont, a French orientalist.[2] Jean-Baptiste Du Halde included Prémare's translation as part of his Description de la Chine, a compilation of European reports on China, under the name Le petit orphelin de la maison Tchao, tragédie chinoise. Europe's sinomania and chinoiserie fad was at its height and works about China were in high demand. The success of Halde's book brought the play to the attention of French playwrights such as Voltaire.[3]

Voltaire's adaptation was also written as a response to the

Great Wall coinciding with Mongol conquest of the Southern Song dynasty.[3] He deliberately chose the Mongols as an analogue to the contemporaneous Manchus who ruled 18th-century China.[1]

Voltaire himself acted in an amateur production of the play in June 1763, playing the role of Genghis Khan.[4]

Synopsis

The play takes place in a palace located in Pekin.

Reception

The play premiered on 20 August 1755, with a run of seventeen performances. It was a popular success,

Madame Geoffrin (above right), which shows a roomful of Parisian intellectuals listening to the reading.[4]

Adaptations

In 1759 The Orphan of China, an adaptation of the original play by the Irish writer Arthur Murphy, was staged at London's Drury Lane.

Published editions

The play has been translated into Danish, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.[6]

  • Critical edition by Basil Guy with the participation of Renaud Bret-Vitoz, in Les Œuvres complètes de Voltaire volume 45A, published 2009 by the
    ISBN 9780729409421

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Hsia 1988, p. 337
  2. ^ West & Idema 2015, p. 55
  3. ^ a b West & Idema 2015, p. 56
  4. ^
    ISBN 9780729409421
  5. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  6. ISBN 9780729409421

Sources
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