TY - THES ID - 136825516 TI - De stem van Maria de Wilde. Een studie over achttiende-eeuwse toneelbewerkingen van een Amsterdams kunstenaar. AU - Awouters, Jasmien AU - van Deinsen, Lieke AU - KU Leuven. Faculteit Letteren. Opleiding Master in de westerse literatuur (Leuven) PY - 2022 PB - Leuven KU Leuven. Faculteit Letteren DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:136825516 AB - Maria de Wilde (1682-1729) was an eighteenth century engraver and playwright. Her theatrical work consisted of two plays: the classical tragedy "Abradates en Panthea" ("Abradates and Panthea", 1710) and the comedic play "‘t Swervende portret" ("The wandering portrait", published posthumously in 1742). According to the historiographical research, these plays are based on French textual sources. "Abradates en Panthea" is supposedly modelled after François Tristan l’Hermite’s "Penthée" (1639) and a French translation of the "Cyropaedia" by the Greek author Xenophon. The main textual source of "‘t Swervende portret" is cited to be "Le portrait" by Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps (1727). This thesis intends to formulate a response to two questions relating to De Wilde’s plays. One of them is whether or not her plays are connected to the sources cited by the historiographical research. Are they strict translations, or loose adaptations of the original texts? Secondly, if they can be regarded as adaptations, is De Wilde’s own authorial voice present in her texts? What decisions has she made to make the textual material her own? A profound analysis of her theatrical oeuvre, compared to its original sources, is to provide some responses. The introduction to this thesis contains an overview of the life and complete works of Maria de Wilde. From the beginning, it becomes clear that her oeuvre has been defined in many ways, some researchers attributing more theatrical works to her name than others. After solving this historiographical question, the situation of women writers in the eighteenth century is briefly discussed, as well as De Wildes own position in her era’s literary landscape. The introduction ends with an outline of the questions mentioned above. The first chapter then turns to the analysis of her first play. Abradates en Panthea is confronted with and compared to its supposed sources of inspiration. Similarly, the second chapter is devoted to the comparison between ‘t Swervende portret and Beauchamps’ Le portrait. The thesis concludes with an overview of the results of the analysis presented in the chapters, so as to provide responses for the questions posed in the introduction. It becomes clear that De Wilde’s plays are indeed affiliated to the texts mentioned in the historiographical research. However, her works are not meant to be strict translations of the original sources. While she has incorporated certain key elements of these sources in her own oeuvre, De Wilde has not taken to word-by-word translation. Therefore, her plays are characterised as loose adaptations rather than translations of the original texts. Her plays are also influenced by eighteenth-century French classicism as introduced in the Dutch Republic. Furthermore, De Wilde has inserted her own authorial voice in her theatrical work. She has done so by accentuating character development in her first play, as well as elaborating on storylines and characters in her second play. More so than the original texts, De Wilde focuses on the roles of and relationships between her female protagonists. Her authorial voice is especially palpable in the second play. There, she allows herself to divert more from the original textual material, in order to create a story of her own. In this way, she claims authorship over her theatrical work. The development of her authorial voice throughout her works proves the growing presence of an authorial conscience in De Wilde’s mind. ER -