Thanks Borges.
Posted on 01/15/2022 8:58:55 AM PST by Borges
During his lifetime, the French dramatist Moliere elevated comedy to a level of respect and importance once exclusively reserved for tragedy.
In 2022, the 400th anniversary of the year of his birth, his name is often mentioned in the same breath as William Shakespeare and other literary titans.
Moliere was the alias of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, born in 1622 to a upholsterer who served the royal household.
He wrote his numerous plays well before the French Revolution, at a time when the authority of the king and the church was intact.
Yet in his plays, which are still regularly performed today, he already challenged figures of authority like the church, nobles and even death — but always through the power of laughter.
The following four comedies allow us to meet the man who penned the words that have kept audiences laughing for centuries, right up to the present day.
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
Interesting. Thanks!
I had the experience of seeing two Moliere plays staged at La Comédie-Française in Paris. It was a test of my French language skills to understand the humor and nuances of Moliere’s plays, but his poetry is stunning. He was a master of the difficult alexandrin poetic style, the dominant long line of French poetry in the 17th century. I think Moliere’s masterpiece is Tartuffe.
Mo-lay really pumps my nads...
If you are going to read Tartuffe, try to get the translation done by Richard Wilbur who, at one time, was the poet laureate of the United States. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his translated Tartuffe in which he somehow managed to keep the rhymed couplets in French to their original meaning in English.
If you think you can’t enjoy something written three hundred and fifty years ago, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how clever and entertaining it is. Tartuffe is my favorite play besides Macbeth although I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing it actually produced on the stage.
I remember reading “Tartuffe” in college in my world lit class; it was Richard Wilbur’s translation and it was hilarious.
Delightful. It is in the old school of Greek tragedy that God is lowered in a basket to resolve the machinations of wicked players. The Prince is no less Deus Machina than this, to bring about justice where it could not be resolved by the players among themselves.
I sense in this a divine wish that the constraints of God be nourished in every soul. Surely there is no greater lesson in this our current evil age.
Thanks Borges.
That was so long ago that I can’t even remember whether we read Tartuffe for French class or in translation for Humanities. Unlike mother, I don’t have total recall of college classes. I do remember being totally entranced by Ionesco.
Miami Vice - Je Te Rechaufferai - Charles Aznavour
https://youtu.be/aXd04dKkrnE
:^)
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