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Moliere: The Complete Richard Wilbur Translations, Volume 1: The Bungler / Lover's Quarrels / The Imaginary Cuckhold, or Sganarelle / The School for Husbands / The School for Wives / Don Juan
For the 400th anniversary of Moliere's birth, Richard Wilbur's unsurpassed translations of Molière's plays--themselves towering achievements in English verse--are brought together by Library of America in a two-volume editionOne of the most accomplished American poets of his generation, Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) was also a prolific translator of French and Russian literature. His verse translations of Molière's plays are especially admired by readers and are still performed today in theaters around the world. "Wilbur," the critic John Simon once wrote, "makes Molière into as great an English verse playwright as he was a French one." Now, for the first time, all ten of Wilbur's unsurpassed translations of Molière's plays are brought together in two-volume Library of America edition, fulfilling the poet's vision for the translations. This first volume comprises Molière's delightful early farces The Bungler, Lover's Quarrels, and The Imaginary Cuckhold, or Sganarelle; the comedies The School for Husbands and The School for Wives, about the efforts of middle-aged men to control their young wives or fiancés, which so delighted female theater goers in Moliere's seventeenth-century France; and Don Juan, Molière's retelling of the Don Juan story, performed only briefly in the playwright's lifetime before pious censure forced it to close and not part of the repertoire of the Comédie-Française until 1847. This volume includes the original introductions by Richard Wilbur and a foreword by Adam Gopnik on the exquisite art of Wilbur's translations.
695 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 18, 2022
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About the author
Molière
4,627 books1,508 followersSophisticated comedies of French playwright Molière, pen name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, include
Tartuffe
(1664),
The Misanthrope
(1666), and
The Bourgeois Gentleman
(1670).
French literary figures, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, gathered at Auteuil, a favorite place.
People know and consider Molière, stage of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also an actor of the greatest masters in western literature. People best know l'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), l'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), and le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) among dramas of Molière.
From a prosperous family, Molière studied at the Jesuit Clermont college (now lycée Louis-le-Grand) and well suited to begin a life in the theater. While 13 years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his abilities, he also began to combine the more refined elements with ccommedia dell'arte.
Through the patronage of the brother of Louis XIV and a few aristocrats, Molière procured a command performance before the king at the Louvre. Molière performed a classic of [authore:Pierre Corneille] and le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), a farce of his own; people granted him the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon, a spacious room, appointed for theater at the Louvre. Later, people granted the use of the Palais-Royal to Molière. In both locations, he found success among the Parisians with les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), l'École des maris</i> (<i>The School for Husbands</i>), and <i>[book:l'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a pension and the title "Troupe du Roi" (the troupe of the king). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
Molière received the adulation of the court and Parisians, but from moralists and the Church, his satires attracted criticisms. From the Church, his attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations, while people banned performance of Don Juan . From the stage, hard work of Molière in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and forced him to take a break before 1667.
From pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière suffered. In 1673 during his final production of le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), a coughing fit and a haemorrhage seized him as Argan, the hypochondriac. He finished the performance but collapsed again quickly and died a few hours later. In time in Paris, Molière completely reformed.
French literary figures, including Molière and Jean de la Fontaine, gathered at Auteuil, a favorite place.
People know and consider Molière, stage of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also an actor of the greatest masters in western literature. People best know l'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives), l'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), and le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) among dramas of Molière.
From a prosperous family, Molière studied at the Jesuit Clermont college (now lycée Louis-le-Grand) and well suited to begin a life in the theater. While 13 years as an itinerant actor helped to polish his abilities, he also began to combine the more refined elements with ccommedia dell'arte.
Through the patronage of the brother of Louis XIV and a few aristocrats, Molière procured a command performance before the king at the Louvre. Molière performed a classic of [authore:Pierre Corneille] and le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), a farce of his own; people granted him the use of Salle du Petit-Bourbon, a spacious room, appointed for theater at the Louvre. Later, people granted the use of the Palais-Royal to Molière. In both locations, he found success among the Parisians with les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), l'École des maris</i> (<i>The School for Husbands</i>), and <i>[book:l'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a pension and the title "Troupe du Roi" (the troupe of the king). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
Molière received the adulation of the court and Parisians, but from moralists and the Church, his satires attracted criticisms. From the Church, his attack on religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations, while people banned performance of Don Juan . From the stage, hard work of Molière in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and forced him to take a break before 1667.
From pulmonary tuberculosis, Molière suffered. In 1673 during his final production of le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), a coughing fit and a haemorrhage seized him as Argan, the hypochondriac. He finished the performance but collapsed again quickly and died a few hours later. In time in Paris, Molière completely reformed.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 18, 2023
Five stars for the translation, three for the selection
Richard Wilbur is nothing short of a genius. The way he makes 17th century French comedies sound absolutely natural in modern American English verse (and in rhyme!) is the envy of anyone who has ever studied the art of translation. I have read all of these plays in the French original before reaching for Wilbur’s version, and on a number of occasions, I thought he even managed to improve a bit on the original.
This was especially the case in the earlier Molière works, where the playwright is not yet in full command of his art. And this is my only issue with this volume. Instead of “The Imaginary Cuckold” (the worst of all), or “The Bungler” or “Lover’s Quarrels” (both of which have redeeming qualities), Wilbur might have given us versions of such masterpieces as “The Imaginary Invalid” (Le malade imaginaire) or “The Affected Ladies” (Les précieuses ridicules), or “The Bourgeois Gentleman” (Le bourgeois gentilhomme), or even “The Miser” (L’avare).
Yet I have no right to complain. What Wilbur gave us is magnificent, and all we have to do is hope for another talented translator in the Anglosphere to tackle the other Molière masterpieces. Let’s be grateful for what we have and agree with those who say that these translations are a major contribution to American literature. The Library of America is the right place for them.
Richard Wilbur is nothing short of a genius. The way he makes 17th century French comedies sound absolutely natural in modern American English verse (and in rhyme!) is the envy of anyone who has ever studied the art of translation. I have read all of these plays in the French original before reaching for Wilbur’s version, and on a number of occasions, I thought he even managed to improve a bit on the original.
This was especially the case in the earlier Molière works, where the playwright is not yet in full command of his art. And this is my only issue with this volume. Instead of “The Imaginary Cuckold” (the worst of all), or “The Bungler” or “Lover’s Quarrels” (both of which have redeeming qualities), Wilbur might have given us versions of such masterpieces as “The Imaginary Invalid” (Le malade imaginaire) or “The Affected Ladies” (Les précieuses ridicules), or “The Bourgeois Gentleman” (Le bourgeois gentilhomme), or even “The Miser” (L’avare).
Yet I have no right to complain. What Wilbur gave us is magnificent, and all we have to do is hope for another talented translator in the Anglosphere to tackle the other Molière masterpieces. Let’s be grateful for what we have and agree with those who say that these translations are a major contribution to American literature. The Library of America is the right place for them.
July 31, 2023
Without Moliere, there are no (good) sitcoms, no farce, none of the comedies that push boundaries and make your sides split. Frasier? Hilarious show that completely owes everything to Moliere. Same for I Love Lucy. The master of situational and dramatic irony. He WILL make you laugh out loud so don't read in a quiet public place like a library. The School for Wives is his first stone cold masterpiece. He even places rhythm in his dialogue that is impossible not to perform to laughs. He does write in rhyming couplets but the second line often produces a laugh with the rhyming word. And Richard Wilbur's translations here? They have been the gold standard for decades and always will be. He won a separate Pulitzer for these translations in addition to his own top notch poetry.
Essential for drama/comedy historians and enthusiasts.
Essential for drama/comedy historians and enthusiasts.
May 23, 2022
He's a funny guy.
April 14, 2024
Good to read these one per week.
Would go see on stage.
Would go see on stage.
February 19, 2025
3 stars for the selection (apart from the astounding Dom Juan), 5 stars for Wilbur’s translations. On to Volume II!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews