Three Masterpieces: The Liar / The Illusion / Le Cid

by Pierre Corneille, Ranjit Bolt (Translator)

"The Liar" is a hilarious comedy of the impossible situations which arise when a compulsive and incorrigible liar falls in love. "The Illusion" is a fascinating play within a play within a play with a strong mystical element. "Le Cid, " his most famous play, is a tragicomedy that caused a furious controversy between Corneille and his fellow-writers.

Genres: Plays

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Pierre Corneille était l'un des trois grands dramaturges français du XVIIe siècle , avec Molière et Racine. Il a été appelé «le fondateur de la tragédie française» et était productive pendant près de quarante ans.

Vous pouvez lire son oeuvre sur:
- http://www.poesies.net/corneille.html
- http://gallica.bnf.fr/Search?ArianeWi...

Pierre Corneille was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. He has been called "the founder of French tragedy" and produced plays for nearly forty years.

You can read his works (in French) on:
- http://www.poesies.net/corneille.html
- http://gallica.bnf.fr/Search?ArianeWi...

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cid

Ximena is totally into Rodrigo, but Ximena's dad and Rodrigo's dad are both wack old assholes, and her dad humiliates his dad in a wack old asshole fight, so in order to save his family's honor Rodrigo is all

Spurious pity mixed with monstrous pride!
Quick to insult, are you afraid to fight?

and kills Ximena's dad, because good plan, dude - dads sound like such a hassle, man, seriously - so then Ximena is super pissed, and she's like

From all your knights I now demand his head
Whoever brings it me, I'll share his bed.

And then guess what happens? I am not going to tell you! You should find out by reading this play, because it's total balls. It's awesome, man. Rollicking plot with great momentum, and gorgeous flourishy Shakespearean language.

And Bolt's translation is on par with Richard Wilbur's brilliant Moliere. It's that good. Beautiful lines, in effortlessly rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. It's so smooth!

For love - sweet source of all my bitter pain
Breeds subtlety in every lover's brain.

Right? This whole thing is just the shit, man.

The Illusion
Almost as good; it's apparently sometimes called Corneille's The Tempest, and I understand why. It's sortof a meta examination of the nature of the stage, and there's a magician. Again a very satisfying plot, with twists and terrific speeches. More of a straight comedy.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pierre Corneille: 1606 – 1684
پیر کورنی، همراه با مولیر و راسین، سه نمایش نامه نویس بزرگ قرن هفدهم فرانسه است. کورنی را پدر تراژدی فرانسوی می خوانند. اغلب تراژدی های او بر مبنای زندگی شخصیت های اساطیری یونان و رم قدیم نوشته شده است.

سینا و سورنا از این مجموعه همراه با "سید" توسط عیسی سپهبدی به فارسی برگردانده شده و توسط انتشارات دانشگاه تهران در 1335 منتشر شده است