Deux Versions de 'Zénobie': imitation ou transformation?

The study disproves the assumption that Jean de Magnon's play Zénobie reine de Palmire (1660) is nothing more than a versified copy of Abbé d'Aubignac's prose tragedy Zénobie, published thirteen years earlier. Although evidently inspired by d'Aubignac's play, the adaptation is not faithful to the plot of the original work and reveals a number of changes regarding the internal and external structures of the play. The elements of this transformation include the choice of characters, the adaptation of the historical subject matter, as well as the introduction, the core and the denouement of the plot. Differences between the two works are also seen in the application of the unities of action, time and place, in the division of the play into scenes and in the various aspects and forms of the scene, including the use of narration, monologues, asides and stage directions.