The Mémoires and Their Legacy

This chapter considers how the whole Parisian period is presented in the Mémoires . It examines which elements of Goldoni’s French career are discussed, and identifies a refrain of failure despite the grand claims of the preface; a refrain that seems to stem from a blinkered focus on the weight of Comédie-Française success, born of the misunderstandings identified in Chapter 6. It then considers plays written about Goldoni since his death, and by analysing their relationship to the Mémoires , suggests that the genius myth he set out to create was unsuccessful in the French context due to a lack of published evidence of successful authorship to counterbalance his misdirected autobiographical writings.

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology) · Genealogy · Literature · Mythology · Period (music) · Classics · Historical and Literary Analyses · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History