Seventeenth-Century French Drama

by Jacques Guicharnaud (Introduction)

This book contains the following plays in English: The Cid (Corneille), The Precious Damsels (Molière), Tartuffe (Molière), The Would-Be Gentleman (Molière), Phaedra (Racine), Athaliah (Racine) with an introduction by Jacques Guicharnaud of Yale University.

Genres: Drama

349 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1967

Reviews

[Jeffrey Falk · Rating 4 out of 5]

French classicism (especially Racine) is more like poetry than theater. This edition of plays by Corneille, Molière, and Racine (in descending order of quality) has an informative general introduction and specific introductions to Racine's plays (which are a bit too derivative of Greek drama). Corneille's "The Cid" is a majestic precursor of romanticism, and Moliére's satires are neigh on uproarious.

[Mshelton50 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the three Moliere plays, and Racine's "Phaedra." All good reads. I especially liked "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" and "Phaedra."