Includes the plays The Liar, The Illusion, Le Cid Pierre Corneille (1606–84), the great seventeenth-century neoclassical dramatist, wrote over thirty plays during his long and varied career. Triumphant in both comedy and tragedy, his plays remain at the core of the repertory. When the young Molière saw The Liar (Le Menteur), a delightful chronicle of a pathological liar’s adventures in love, he decided to become a playwright. The Illusion (L’Illusion Comique) is a fascinating and mysterious tragi-comedy, one of the first plays to explore consciously the relationship between theatre and the real world. Le Cid, Corneille’s best known play, was controversial in its day, and led to a resurgence in French drama. Ranjit Bolt’s version of The Liar finds a way of rendering rhyming couplets which ‘no one else from the history of translating for the theatre has ever done...with some style and without sacrificing the sense of gallantry that is so essential to the original text.’ (BBC Radio3’s Critics Forum.) Both The Liar and The Illusion recently enjoyed critical and box office success at the Old Vic, reaffirming Ranjit Bolt as one of the world’s foremost translators of drama.
Well translated by Lacy Lockert, who provided an excellent critical introduction, this is a valuable selection of the plays of the great French Neo-Classicist. Included are Horace, The Cid, Cinna, Polyeucte, Rodugune, Nicomede."—Library Journal. Originally published in 1952. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
This volume compiles three of Corneille's most lauded plays: The Cid, Corneille's masterpiece set in medieval Spain, was the first great work of French classical drama; Cinna, written three years later in 1641, is a tense political drama; and The Theatrical Illusion, an earlier work, is reminiscent of Shakespeare's exuberant comedies. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Noel Clark's stylishly crafted verse translations of three of Corneille's finest plays are brought together here in one volume. Le Cid is perhaps Corneille's most famous play and derives from his reading of Spanish literature - the play provided him with a triumph and signalled a resurgence in French drama but it provoked much enmity amongst fellow writers. Cinna and Polyeuct both belong to the series of 'Roman' plays which established Corneille as the foremost tragedian of his day."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Le Cid is a five-act French tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille, first performed in December 1636 at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris and published the same year. It is based on Guillén de Castro's play Las Mocedades del Cid. Castro's play in turn is based on the legend of El Cid. An enormous popular success, Corneille's Le Cid was the subject of a heated polemic over the norms of dramatic practice known as the Querelle du Cid (Quarrel of The Cid). Cardinal Richelieu's Académie française acknowledged the play's success, but determined that it was defective, in part because it did not respect the classical unities.
The Death of Pompey (La Mort de Pompée) is a tragedy by the French playwright Pierre Corneille on the death of Pompey the Great. It was first performed in 1642, with the role of Julius Caesar played by Molière. Born in London on or about 1 January 1631/2, Katherine Philips attended a boarding school where she developed an appreciation of French literature. In 1662 in Dublin, where she had gone in connection with her husband's claim to certain Irish estates, she completed her translation of Corneille's Pompée. To the play she added songs to be performed after each act. It was produced with success at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin in 1663, and was printed that year in both Dublin and London. Her translation is considered the first English play written by a woman to be performed on the professional stage. This edition is based on the text published in 1663. The editor has changed some spelling and punctuation to conform with modern usage, but has retained the unusual capitalization of many words.
Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy Le Cid is based on the legend of the same name. It tells the story of Rodrigue and Chimene, whose fathers' feud violently interrupts their love. Though they never disavow their love for one another, revenge is deemed more important to each. Corneille's play sparked much dispute about dramatic method.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Cinna, his beloved Emilia, and his friend Maximus are participants in a plot to assassinate the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar. What will happen to them when Augustus learns of the plot? The first performance of Cinna occurred either late in 1640 or early in 1641, most likely at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris, where Le Cid and Horace had previously been performed. The text of Cinna was printed and published in 1643. The subject matter of the play was derived from a chapter in Seneca's De Clementia. The present volume is a translation of Corneille's French alexandrine verse into English iambic pentameter. Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606 - October 1, 1684) was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
Pierre Corneille was a 17th century dramatist who produced plays over a 40 year span. Along with Moliere and Racine he is considered to be the founder of French tragedy. He is best known for El Cid which was a 1636 tragic/comedy. Written in 1641 Polyeucte was based on the life of the martyr Saint Polyeuctus. Polyeucte is a tragic drama in which Polyeucte, son-in-law to the pagan governor of Armenia, converts to Christianity, an act for which he is condemned to death. His wife, Pauline, who has never loved him, now finds her admiration for him turning into true love.
Richard Wilbur's translations of the great French dramas have been a boon to acting troupes, students of French literature and history, and theater lovers. He continues this wonderful work with two plays from Pierre Corneille: Le Cid is Corneille's most famous play, a tragedy set in Seville that illuminates the dangers of being bound by honor and the limits of romantic love; The Liar is a farce, set in France and dealing with love, misperceptions, and downright falsifications, which ends, of course, happily ever after. These two plays, together in one volume, work in perfect tandem to showcase the breadth of Corneille's abilities. Taking us back to the time he portrays as well as the time of his greatest success as a playwright, they remind us that the delights to be found on the French stage are truly ageless.
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