FOR FURTHER READING
OTHER WORKS BY EDMOND ROSTAND
Le Gant rouge (The Red Glove), 1889
Les Romanesques (The Romancers), 1894
Chantecler (1910)
La Dernière Nuit de Don Juan (The Last Night of Don Juan), published posthumously in 1921
WORKS BY THE HISTORICAL
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Le Pédant joué (The Pedant Imitated), 1654
Histoire comique des états et empires de la lune (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon), 1657.
Histoire comique des états et empires du soleil (Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon), 1662
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Translated by Lowell Bair. New York: New American Library, 1972. With an afterword by Henry Hewes. Excellent unrhymed translation; commentary in the afterword on various stage productions and translations of Cyrano into English.
Translated by Anthony Burgess. New York: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 1998. This version by the British novelist was used by Derek Jacobi for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Cyrano in 1983, as well as for the subtitles in Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s French film version.
Translated by Christopher Fry. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Introduction and notes by Nicholas Cronk. A rhyming—more precisely, “chiming”—verse translation. The excellent introduction places Rostand in his literary and historical context.
Translated by Brian Hooker. New York: Bantam Classics, 1981. Good verse translation made at the request of American Shakespearean Richard Mansfield; used on stage and in film by such fabled Cyranos as Walter Hampden and José Ferrer.
Translated by Edwin Morgan. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1992. A verse translation into the native Glaswegian of this talented Scots poet; a tour de force.
Translated by Louis Untermeyer. 1954. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2000. Blank verse translation.
FRENCH EDITIONS OF
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
Edited by Claude Aziza. Edition revue et augmentée. Paris: Pocket, 1998. Includes a “Dossier Historique et Littéraire” with contemporary reviews of Cyrano as well as analyses of the work’s structure, characters, etc.
Edited by Patrick Besnier. Paris: Gallimard, 1999. Includes a chronology, well-chosen critical materials, and a fine introduction by Besnier.
Edited by Pierre Citti. Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990. Contains excellent notes and a preface. Le Bret’s Life of Cyrano is included in the Annexes.
Edited by Patrice Pavis. Paris: Classiques Larousse, 2000. Designed for use by French students, this edition contains many useful lexical and historical footnotes.
Edited by Jacques Truchet. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1983. The definitive edition of Cyrano, exhaustively researched, contains a wealth of material relating to the play’s composition as well as extensive historical information on the historical Cyrano.
CRITICISM IN ENGLISH
Outside of scholarly journals, there is not a great deal of literature in English about Edmond Rostand and Cyrano. The play is discussed in the following works:
Amoia, Alba della Fazia. Edmond Rostand. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978.
Eliot, T. S. “‘Rhetoric’ and Poetic Drama.” In Selected Essays. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1950.
CRITICISM IN FRENCH
Much more is available in French. Readers may consult the following: Andry, Marc. Edmond Rostand: Le Panache et la gloire. Paris: Plon, 1986.
De Margerie, Caroline. Edmond Rostand; ou, Le baiser de la gloire. Paris: B. Grasset, 1997. The most thorough biography to date.
Garcia, Carole, and Roland Dargeles. Edmond Rostand: Panache et Tourments. Paris: Editions Jean Curutchet, 1997.
Gerard, Rosemonde. Edmond Rostand. Paris: Fasquelle, 1935. Memoirs of Rostand’s wife, including of the opening night of Cyrano.
Ripert, Emile. Edmond Rostand. Paris: Hachette, 1968.
