Andrew Calder - Böcker

This book provides a practical and historical analysis of Moliere's comedies. Andrew Calder presents evidence and analysis to help modern readers to share the perspectives of the playwright's contemporaries. Chapter 1 to 10 define the mechanisms of comic drama, and offer answers to such questions as : what is a comic character? how does it function dramatically? how does it differ from a tragic character? what comic uses does Moliere make of domestic settings, of family relationships, of "raisonneurs", servants, tyrannical parents and young lovers? what is the relationship of the character on stage to the world outside the text...to reader and audience? The nature and functions of plot and action, of reason, the ridiculous, judgment, laughter and excessive self-love are explored. Later chapters describe the satirical and historical settings of the major plays. All of Moliere's plays are discussed, but "L'ecole des femmes", "Le tartuffe", "Don Juan", "Le misanthrope", "L'avare", "Le bourgeois gentilhomme", "Les femmes savantes" and "Le malade imaginaire" are analyzed in particular detail.

A detailed introduction to Molière and his plays, this Companion evokes his own theatrical career, his theatres, patrons, the performers and theatre staff with whom he worked, and the various publics he and his troupes entertained with such success. It looks at his particular brands of comedy and satire. L'École des femmes, Le Tartuffe, Dom Juan, Le Misanthrope, L'Avare and Les Femmes savantes are examined from a variety of different viewpoints, and through the eyes of different ages and cultures. The comedies-ballets, a genre invented by Molière and his collaborators, are re-instated to the central position which they held in his œuvre in Molière's own lifetime; his two masterpieces in this genre, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and Le Malade imaginaire, have chapters to themselves. Finally, the Companion looks at modern directors' theatre, exploring the central role played by productions of his work in successive 'revolutions' in the dramatic arts in France.