Medee

An English-language translation of Pierre Corneille's first tragedy, M d e (1635) Little remembered in the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece is M d e, the woman without whom his quest would have been a failure and his life forfeit. When Jason betrays his wife to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth, the very meanings of gratitude, indebtedness, criminality, and love-maternal, paternal, filial, romantic-are held up for scrutiny. M d e (1635) was Pierre Corneille's first tragedy; but perhaps because we assume it derivative of versions by Euripides and Seneca, it is little known in the English-speaking Americas. This volume offers readers a chance to explore the great seventeenth-century French dramatist's exploration of M d e's righteous prowess, his de-gendering of warriorhood and heroism, and his challenge to the purity of justice and human motivations.