Four French Plays pdf

让-巴蒂斯特·波克兰（Jean-Baptiste Poquelin，1622 年 1 月 15 日至 1673 年 2 月 17 日），艺名莫里哀，是法国剧作家、演员和诗人，被广泛认为是法语和世界文学界最伟大的作家之一。 他现存的作品包括喜剧、闹剧、悲喜剧、喜剧芭蕾等。 他的剧本已被翻译成各种主要的活生生的语言，并且比当今任何其他剧作家的作品更频繁地在法国喜剧剧院上演。 他的影响如此之大，以至于法语通常被称为“莫里哀的语言”。

莫里哀出生于一个富裕的家庭，曾就读于克莱蒙学院（现为路易乐大学校），非常适合在剧院开始生活。 十三年的巡回演员生涯帮助他在开始写作的同时磨练了自己的喜剧能力，将 Commedia dell'arte 元素与更精致的法国喜剧相结合。

Four French Plays pdf 莫里哀

Four French Plays: Cinna, The Misanthrope, Andromache, Phaedra

This new Penguin volume includes the 'greatest hits' of French classical theatre, in vivid and acclaimed English translations.

The plays in this volume - Cinna, The Misanthrope, Andromache and Phaedra - span only thirty-seven years, but make up the defining period of French theatre. In Corneille's Cinna (1640), absolute power is explored in ancient Rome, while Molière's The Misanthrope (1666), the only comedy in this collection, sees its anti-hero outcast for his refusal to conform to social conventions. Here also are two key plays by Racine: Andromache (1667), recounting the tragedy of Hector's widow after the Trojan War, and Phaedre (1677), showing a mother crossing the bounds of love with her son.

John Edmunds' translation of Phaedra was originally broadcast on Radio Three with a cast including Prunella Scales and Timothy West, and was subsequently praised by Harold Pinter. This is the first time it has been published.

Often hailed as the father of French tragedy, PIERRE CORNEILLE made his name with the tragicomedy Le Cid in 1637. His best-known works include the tragedies Horace (1640) and Cinna (1641). MOLIÈRE founded the 'Illustre Théâtre' troupe and wrote numerous comedies, including Tartuffe (1664), which was banned, Le Misanthrope (1666) and L'Avare (1668). JEAN RACINE became known as one of the period's leading playwrights, with such tragedies as Andromaque (1667), Britannicus (1669) and Phèdre (1677).

After a varied career as an actor, teacher, and BBC TV national newsreader, JOHN EDMUNDS became the founder-director of Aberystwyth university's department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies.

JOSEPH HARRIS is Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Hidden Agendas: Cross-Dressing in Seventeenth-Century France (2005).