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Five Plays
Includes:
- The Misanthrope
- Tartuffe
- The School for Wives
- The Miser
- The Hypochondriac
This volume brings together five of Moliere's finest and best-known plays. The three verse plays, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe and The School for Wives, have been skilfully turned into sparkling English couplets by Richard Wilbur's 'brilliant rhymed translation' Sunday Telegraph; while the playwright Alan Drury has translated the two prose comedies, The Miser and The Hypochondriac ('a cherubically funny translation' Independent).
- The Misanthrope
- Tartuffe
- The School for Wives
- The Miser
- The Hypochondriac
This volume brings together five of Moliere's finest and best-known plays. The three verse plays, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe and The School for Wives, have been skilfully turned into sparkling English couplets by Richard Wilbur's 'brilliant rhymed translation' Sunday Telegraph; while the playwright Alan Drury has translated the two prose comedies, The Miser and The Hypochondriac ('a cherubically funny translation' Independent).
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1668
3 people are currently reading
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About the author
Molière
4,565 books1,499 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 18, 2020
? ... except of the last play (which i didn’t understand at all) the remaining felt to me very similar. First a love affair, than conflict with father followed by reconciliation after realizing, that the loved one is actually the one the father want his kid to be married to.. or gave up marrying himself as in the Miser.. the “endless” love often happened even before the lovers met each other :D
Many boring dialogues and monologues.. it may be funny seeing the plays in a theater.. with all the drama, but as a book, it was boring
Many boring dialogues and monologues.. it may be funny seeing the plays in a theater.. with all the drama, but as a book, it was boring
January 16, 2016
I'm only rating Tartuffe in this collection of plays because that is the play that I had to read for my course.
I rate it a 3.5 stars, it was funny and entertaining and easy to breeze through. Though it probably helps that the entire play is in verse, especially considering that it was translated from French.
I rate it a 3.5 stars, it was funny and entertaining and easy to breeze through. Though it probably helps that the entire play is in verse, especially considering that it was translated from French.
April 27, 2016
funny stuff, very enjoyable, but certainly better on stage I'm sure. People haven't changed much since the 17th century!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews