Le Sieur de La Ronce, un traduttore (quasi) sconosciuto del Tasso nella Francia del XVII° secolo

Abstract

In 1620, more than half a century after the publication of Tasso’s Rinaldo, the editor Toussaint du Bray published the first French translation of this brilliant juvenile poem, performed by Sieur de La Ronce, whose figure is still partially unknown to the literary critics. All we know about Sieur de La Ronce is that he belonged to the circle of the libertine poets gravitating around Théophile de Viau, a friend of Colletet and Claude de L’Estoile, and that he authors some pieces appearing in the Recueils satyriques of the period. Despite being considered by the literary critics as an exceptional exercise in preparation for that the Jerusalem Delivered, the original Tasso’s poem is able to charm the readers with fascinating poetic nuances. Instead, the prose translation by Sieur de La Ronce is nothing more than a finicky and verbose description of the characters’ love and military affairs.