Molière
A Theatrical Life

This biography of Molière was first published in 2000 and will appeal to general reader and specialists in French and Theatre Studies.

Virginia Scott (Author)

9780521012386, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 May 2002

344 pages
22.7 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.47 kg

'As the first substantive English-language biography of Molière since 1930, this is a happy arrival for students of the theater and of French literature and culture …'. Publishers Weekly

In this biography, first published in 2000, Virginia Scott locates Molière's life and work in the social, literary and theatrical contexts of the period. She offers a narrative account of his life and an overview of his plays in the wider setting of the development of seventeenth-century French drama. Her research extends from Molière's boyhood and his Jesuit education at the Collège de Clermont, through the beginning of his theatrical career in Paris and as a vagabond actor in the provinces, to his days as a court dramatist under Louis XIV. He was a controversial playwright, striking out against hypocrisy in religion and medicine, and finally a cynical survivor of the literary, cultural, and marital wars. This full-length biography will appeal to the general reader as well as specialists in French and Theatre Studies.

Introduction
1. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin
2. Madeleine
3. The Illustre Théâtre
4. Exile
5. Return to Paris
6. Husbands and Wives
7. The Courtier
8. Enemies
9. Friends
10. Marriage (and Love)
11. Last Act
12. Envoi
Works consulted.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Biography: general [BG], Theatre studies [AN]