The Serial Dramatization. Alexander Hardy’s Tragicomedy “Théagène et Cariclée”

Among the modern literary genres tragicomedy certainly shows a strong consonance with the stylistic and thematic universe of ancient narrative, especially because of its hybrid nature, and of its preference for metamorphosis, identity disguises and other spectacular techniques. Alexandre Hardy was a prominent writer of such a genre, which was at the core of his baroque poetics. His Chariclée is a very specific and interesting case, because it dramatizes the entire plot of the Aethiopica, refusing any classical concentration of the dramatic form, and even changing Heliodorean in medias res structure. This fascination for the linear succession of the plot, divided into 8 dramatic poems, reminds in a way the current adaptation of novels by the mini Tv series technique.