In the seventeenth century, Molière raised comedy to the pitch of great art and, three centuries later, his plays are still a source of delight. He created a new synthesis from the major comic traditions at his disposal. This collection demonstrates the range of Molière's comic vision, his ability to move between the broad and basic ploys of farce to the more subtle and sophisticated level of high comedy. The Misanthrope appears along with Such Preposterously Precious Ladies, Tartuffe, A Doctor Despite Himself, The Would-Be Gentleman, and Those Learned Ladies.
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Molière was born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin in Paris in 1622. He began studying law but gave it up in favour of an acting career. A gifted actor, director and writer, he is remembered as the creator of French classical comedy. He died in 1673 aftera performance of The Hypochondriac. John Wood was involved with theatrical productions of Molière as a producer and translator. David Coward is a Professor of French at the University of Leeds. He has translated many French novels and plays.
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Such Foolish Affected Ladies, the first play Moliere wrote after his return to Paris, was staged as an end-piece to an undistinguished royal command performance of Corneille's tragedy, Cinna. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Such Foolish Affected Ladies, the first play Moliere wrote after his return to Paris, was staged as an end-piece to an undistinguished royal command performance of Corneille's tragedy, Cinna. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By I. M. Knight
Format:Paperback
This is a superb play which make slight of human folly and hypocrisy and holds some relevance today. It is written in the 17th century this is regarded as Molière's best work. The play is about a man who passes judgment on the hypocrisy of the other protagonists without seeing his folly and inconsistency of judgement.
The 1992 edition, of which I am writing, is the 1876 Henri van Laun translation and has a very basic introduction and no notes to text.
The 1992 edition, of which I am writing, is the 1876 Henri van Laun translation and has a very basic introduction and no notes to text.
7 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Martin Crimp has taken Moliere's the Misanthrope and turned it into a tale of whiners and one-dimensional characters. The entire play reeks of self-absorption. There is no arch to any of the characters. They each remain the same throughout the entire piece, and no one learns anything in the end of all of it. The play consists of one scene after another of characters who are out to get each other and genuinely do not like one another. It leaves the reader (or audience) with a feeling of hatred towards all of the characters. There is not a single character for a genuine feeling human being to identify with. They are all so self-obsessed and shallow that they do not even think to stop and deal with the problems they have with each other. Even Alceste, who claims to be fed up with all the hypocrisy, leads his own life in hypocrisy because he is too involved in himself to listen to his girlfriend and actually put a little faith in someone besides himself. Crimp needs to go back and revise to have at least one scene in which there is not a major argument. At the moment, there is not a single point at which the audience can relax. They are too caught up in all the tensions between all the characters.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
11 reviews
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Misanthrope is the ultimate in theatrical comedy
25 April 1999
By Dravedun@Aol.com or Brandon Dunn
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Moliere's "The Misanthrope" is the most humorous play written in any language. It centers around the character Alceste, who has a firm beleif in being brutally honest all the time. The habit of others to speak harshly behind other's backs and hypocritically praise them to their faces drives him to the brink of insanity. It irks him so much that his only wish would be to become a hermit in the mountains. If it weren't for his love of the beautiful Celimene. However, to make things more complicated, she happens to be the queen of duplicitous thought. Alceste hates himself for loving a woman who behaves in the manner that irritates him the most, but cannot bring himself to confront what troubles him. That, paired with the remarkably written exchanges between Alceste, his friend Philinte, the pompous Oronte, and the many social courtiers and French aristocracy make this the ideal story to bring you to tears with laughter. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of theater, humor, and excellent writing. It truly deserves all 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent version of the "Shakespeare of France"
14 April 1997
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Donald M. Frame's translations of fourteen Moliere comedies (seven in this volume and another seven in *Tartuffe and Other Plays*) are delightful. Not that Moliere's plays have lacked for translators; some versions have made the comedies leaden and dull, while others have added their own luster to the text in a way that distorts Moliere's intentions. Frame is more faithful to the original text than some earlier translators, while his verse does an admirable job of conveying the comic "thrust" that Moliere must have envisioned.
Any translation of this playwright must be compared against the sparkling verse renditions of Richard Wilbur. I personally find Frame to more than hold his own here, and in fact in *The Misanthrope* to do better in giving us the sense of the author stylishly, but without the translator "stealing the spotlight" as much as happens in Wilbur's brilliant version. Frame's version is excellent throughout and augmented by informative introductions and notes
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hysterical
30 May 2002
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
You might not think a play in verse written in the 17th century would be accessible and entertaining today, but this one's hilarious. Somehow the formal rhyming couplets make everything funnier. Get the Donald Frame translation - I've seen some others that weren't nearly as good.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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