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Business Is Business (album)
''Business is business'' (french: Les affaires sont les affaires) is a French comedy in three acts, by the novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, performed in April 1903 on the stage of Comédie-Française, in Paris, and worldwide acclaimed, especially in Russia, Germany and United States. An English-language adaption by Sydney Grundy was produced in London in 1905. An English translation, by Richard J. Hand, was published by Intellect Books in ''Two Plays: "Business is Business" and "Charity"'', January 2012, 147 pages (). Comedy of manners The work is a classical comedy of manners with characters, in the tradition of Molière, in which Mirbeau criticizes the French society of the Third Republic and the world of business as a legal kind of gangsterism. When the play was presented in Paris during the 1994-5 season (400 performances), it was commented that business and scandals are no different today than they were 100 years ago. Main character The fable is built around the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde with highly transgressive novels that explored violence, abuse and psychological detachment. His work has been translated into 30 languages. Biography Aesthetic and political struggles The grandson of Norman notaries and the son of a doctor, Mirbeau spent his childhood in a village in Normandy, Rémalard, pursuing secondary studies at a Jesuit college in Vannes, which expelled him at the age of fifteen. Two years after the traumatic experience of the 1870 war, he was tempted by a call from the Bonapartist leader Dugué de la Fauconnerie, who hired him as private secretary and introduced him to ''L'Ordre de Paris''. After his debut in journalism in the service of the Bonapartists, and his debut in li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also substratum, influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic languages, Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Franks, Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's French colonial empire, past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole language, Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing '' agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state theatre in France to have its own permanent troupe of actors. The company's primary venue is the Salle Richelieu, which is a part of the Palais-Royal complex and located at 2, Rue de Richelieu on Place André-Malraux in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre de la République and popularly as "La Maison de Molière" (The House of Molière). It acquired the latter name from the troupe of the best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française, Molière. He was considered the patron of French actors. He died seven years before his troupe became known as the Comédie-Française, but the company continued to be known as "La Maison de Molière" even after the official change of name. Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Michel
Pierre Michel (born 11 June 1942), is a professor of literature and a scholar specializing in the French writer Octave Mirbeau. Michel was born in Toulon, the son of the historian Henri Michel. After defending his doctoral dissertation on the works of Octave Mirbeau at the University of Angers in 1992, Michel founded a year later, the "Société Octave Mirbeau", a literary society he is currently presiding. He is also the founder and editor in chief of ''Cahiers Octave Mirbeau ''Cahiers Octave Mirbeau'' is a French literary journal founded in 1994 by French scholar and Octave Mirbeau specialist Pierre Michel. The journal is based in Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is ...'' (1993). A biographer and indefatigable authority of Mirbeau's work, Michel has published critical editions of all his work: novels, plays, articles and correspondence. Pierre Michel was awarded the Sévigné prize in October 2003 for his edition of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Grundy
Sydney Grundy (23 March 1848 – 4 July 1914) was an English dramatist. Most of his works were adaptations of European plays, and many became successful enough to tour throughout the English-speaking world. He is, however, perhaps best remembered today as the librettist of several comic operas, notably ''Haddon Hall''. Life and career Grundy was born in Manchester, England, the son of Alderman Charles Sydney Grundy. He was educated at Owens College, Manchester, and studied law at the Middle Temple. He was called to the bar in 1869 and practised law until 1876. Early career His early one-act farce, ''A Little Change'', was produced at the Haymarket Theatre in 1872 by the Kendals. This was followed by ''All at Sea'' in 1873, also starring the Kendals. In 1876, Grundy published ''The Days of His Vanity''. He wrote ''Mammon'' for W. H. Vernon at the Strand Theatre in 1877 and ''After Long Years'' for the Folly Theatre in 1879. Early comedies included ''The Glass of Fashio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Of Manners
In English literature, the term comedy of manners (also anti-sentimental comedy) describes a genre of realistic, satirical comedy of the Restoration period (1660–1710) that questions and comments upon the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, artificial society. The satire of fashion, manners, and outlook on life of the social classes, is realised with stock characters, such as the braggart soldier of Ancient Greek comedy, and the fop and the rake of English Restoration comedy.George Henry Nettleton, Arthu''British dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan''p.149 The clever plot of a comedy of manners (usually a scandal) is secondary to the social commentary thematically presented through the witty dialogue of the characters, e.g. ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1895), by Oscar Wilde, which satirises the sexual hypocrisies of Victorian morality. The comedy-of-manners genre originated in the New Comedy period (325–260 BC) of Classical Greece (510–323 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière". Born into a prosperous family and having studied at the Collège de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped him polish his comedic abilities while he began writing, combining Commedia dell'arte elements with the more refined French comedy. Through the patronage of aristocrats includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cahiers Octave Mirbeau
''Cahiers Octave Mirbeau'' is a French literary journal founded in 1994 by French scholar and Octave Mirbeau specialist Pierre Michel. The journal is based in Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ..., France. Its periodicity is annual. Between May 1994 and March 2016, 23 installments were released, totaling more than 8 300 pages. Volumes comprise between 304 and 440 pages and are lavishly illustrated. The circulation is 500 to 600 copies. Each volume divides into at least three major parts. The first is devoted to studies on Octave Mirbeau's literary or aesthetic and political battles. The second includes unpublished or little known documents (unpublished articles by Mirbeau such as correspondence, judgments, testimonies, and translations). The third is a bibliograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidore Lechat
Isidore Lechat is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the play ''Les affaires sont les affaires'' (''Business is business'') (1903) by French writer Octave Mirbeau. A businessman Isidore Lechat, nicknamed "Lechat-Tigre", is a ruthless businessman, a predator without any scruples. Rather than specializing in just one branch of trade, industry or finance, he has invested in everything, for instance into the press, modern agriculture and electricity. Due to his extortion, he becomes rich and powerful in the French society of the French Third Republic. Because of the newspaper that he created and his 50 million francs, he seems untouchable and above the law, which is made only for the poor. Lechat enjoys impunity from both the government and the Catholic Church. For the playwright, Isidore Lechat is the product of an era of economic upheaval and global expansion of capitalism and the first phase of economic imperialism. However, Octave Mirbeau recognizes that this pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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