Molière: A Playwright and his Audience

This study explores the evolution of Molière's comedy as a careful amalgamation of comedy and philosophical satire.

W. D. Howarth (Author)

9780521286794, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 1 July 1982

348 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.44 kg

Up until the last century there was a tendency, among directors in the theatre and academic critics alike, to stress the philosophical and satirical content of Molière's comedy and to overlook the fact that he was a professional man of the theatre. More recently, certain influential critics have tended to go to the other extreme and to emphasise the theatrical and aesthetic qualities of his plays at the expense of what they may have to offer as plays of ideas. This study seeks to reconcile the two approaches: while exploring the evolution of Molière's comedy as a vehicle for his own talents as an actor and for the resources of his company, the author also seeks to define the composition of the original audiences, both in the public theatre and at Court, and to assess the taste and attitudes of the spectators for whom the plays were written.

List of illustrations
General preface to the series
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. The Background: 1. The formation of an actor
2. A playwright and his audience
3. Comic drama before Molière
Part II. The Plays: 4. The legacy of farce
5. Comedy and character
6. Laughter and 'le rire dans l'ame'
7. From satire to comedy of ideas
8. Comedy and ballet
Part III. The Aesthetic of Comedy: 9. The playwright as poet
10. Molière's comic vision
Translation of French passages quotes
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK]