Moliere: Le Misanthrope

Description

Widely regarded as Moliere's masterpiece, Le Misanthrope has nevertheless unsettled audiences and critics for the time of its publication in 166. Moving away from traditional models of comedy where characters have an unambiguous function it focuses on the figure of the misanthrope whose role is challengingly double - his unsparing social critique suggests both the incisiveness of the satirist and the bad humour of the misfit. In its representation of a society where no character has absolute authority the comedy involves the audience in a serious reconsideration of its own values and assumptions. This new edition explores Le Misanthrope as a text and play. In his introduction, Jonathan Mallinson examines the interlocking levels of comedy apparently both in the play's literary texture and in the original performance. It then discusses the history of its reception and shows how the play has been constantly adapted to the different moral social or aesthetic values of changing times. A detailed critical commentary offers another method of reading the text, analysing the sophistication of Moliere's comic writing and the theatrical possibiltieis it embodies.

Jonathan Mallinson is Fellow and Tutor in French at Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK. He is the author of The Comedies of Corneille: Experiments in the Comic, and Moliere: L'Avare.

Altogether this is an impressive contribution to Moliere studies. -- French Studies The analysis that supports his interpretation might held up as a model of close textual reading. -- Modern Language review