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Les Plaideurs
''Les Plaideurs'', or ''The Litigants'', written in 1668 and published in 1669, is a comedy in three acts with respectively eight, 14, and four scenes, in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine. It is the only comedy he wrote. It was inspired by ''The Wasps'' by Aristophanes, but Racine removed all political significance. His play, which he wrote after ''Andromaque'' and before ''Britannicus'', was a farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ... that, surrounded in his work by tragedies, was unexpected. ''Les Plaideurs'' was first performed late in 1668 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Roles * Dandin ("ninny"), ''a judge.'' Dandin is senile and has been forced into retirement. His idée fixe is to keep holding trials, and he finally turns his own home into a court of ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Racine - Les Plaideurs, Barbin, 1669
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Pierre Corneille, Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a Tragedy, tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as ''Phèdre'', ''Andromaque'', and ''Athalie''. He did write one comedy, ''Les Plaideurs'', and a muted tragedy, ''Esther (play), Esther'' for the young. Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic (12 syllable) French alexandrine. His writing is renowned for its elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what American poet Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both plot and stage (theatre), stage. Biography Racine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Alexandrine
The French alexandrine (french: alexandrin) is a syllabic poetic metre of (nominally and typically) 12 syllables with a medial caesura dividing the line into two hemistichs (half-lines) of six syllables each. It was the dominant long line of French poetry from the 17th through the 19th century, and influenced many other European literatures which developed alexandrines of their own. 12th to 15th centuries Genesis According to verse historian Mikhail Gasparov, the French alexandrine developed from the Ambrosian octosyllable, × – u – × – u × Aeterne rerum conditor by gradually losing the final two syllables, × – u – × – Aeterne rerum cond (construct) then doubling this line in a syllabic context with phrasal stress rather than length as a marker. Rise and decline The earliest recorded use of alexandrines is in the Medieval French poem ''Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne'' of 1150, but the name derives from their more famous use in part of the '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as ''Phèdre'', ''Andromaque'', and ''Athalie''. He did write one comedy, '' Les Plaideurs'', and a muted tragedy, ''Esther'' for the young. Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic (12 syllable) French alexandrine. His writing is renowned for its elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what American poet Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both plot and stage. Biography Racine was born on 21 December 1639 in La Ferté-Milon ( Aisne) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wasps
''The Wasps'' ( grc-x-classical, Σφῆκες, translit=Sphēkes) is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War. As in his other early plays, Aristophanes satirizes the Athenian general and demagogue Cleon. He also ridicules the law courts, one of the institutions that provided Cleon his power. The play has been thought to exemplify Old Comedy. Plot The play begins with a strange scene—a large net has been spread over a house, the entry is barricaded and two slaves, Xanthias and Sosias, are sleeping in the street outside. A third man is positioned at the top of an exterior wall with a view into the inner courtyard but he too is asleep. The two slaves wake and we learn from their banter that they are keeping guard over a "monster." The man asleep above them is their master and the monster is his father—he has an unusual disease ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ... Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comedy, comic playwright or comedy-writer of Classical Athens, ancient Athens and a poet of Ancient Greek comedy, Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Ancient Greek comedy, Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries. Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His pow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andromaque
''Andromaque'' is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérèse, by the royal company of actors, called "les Grands Comédiens", with Thérèse Du Parc in the title role. The company gave the first public performance two days later in the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. ''Andromaque'', the third of Racine's plays, written at the age of 27, established its author's reputation as one of the great playwrights in France. Origins of the play Euripides' play ''Andromache'' and the third book of Virgil's ''Aeneid'' were the points of departure for Racine's play. The play takes place in the aftermath of the Trojan War, during which Andromache's husband Hector, son of Priam, has been slain by Achilles and their young son Astyanax has narrowly escaped a similar fate at the hands of Ulysses, who has unknowi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Britannicus (play)
''Britannicus'' is a five-act tragic play by the French dramatist Jean Racine. It was first performed on 13 December 1669 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. ''Britannicus'' is the first play in which Racine depicted Roman history. The tale of moral choice takes as its subject Britannicus, the son of the Roman emperor Claudius, and heir to the imperial throne. Britannicus' succession to the throne is however usurped by Lucius, later known as Nero, and the son of Claudius' wife Agrippina the Younger. Racine portrays Nero's true nature as revealed by his sudden desire for Britannicus's fiancée Junia. He wrests himself free from his mother's domination and plots to assassinate his adoptive brother. Nero is driven less by fear of being overthrown by Britannicus than by competition in love. His desire for Junia manifests itself in sadism towards the young woman and all that she loves. Agrippina is portrayed as a possessive mother who will not accept the loss of control over both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense; satire, parody, and mockery of real-life situations, people, events, and interactions; unlikely and humorous instances of miscommunication; ludicrous, improbable, and exaggerated characters; and broadly stylized performances. Genre Despite involving absurd situations and characters, the genre generally maintains at least a slight degree of realism and narrative continuity within the context of the irrational or ludicrous situations, often distinguishing it from completely absurdist or fantastical genres. Farces are often episodic or short in duration, often being set in one specific location where all events occur. Farces have historically been performed for the stage and film. Historical context The term ''farce'' is deri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hôtel De Bourgogne (theatre)
Hôtel de Bourgogne was a theatre, built in 1548 for the first authorized theatre troupe in Paris, the Confrérie de la Passion. It was located on the rue Mauconseil (now the rue Étienne Marcel in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris), on a site that had been part of the residence of the Dukes of Burgundy (the former Hôtel de Bourgogne). The most important French theatre until the 1630s, it continued to be used until 1783,Forman 2010, p. 134 ("Hôtel de Bourgogne"). after which it was converted to a leather market and eventually totally demolished. The Confrérie performed farce and secular dramas, but lacking great success, began renting the theatre to itinerant acting companies, including Italian ''commedia dell'arte'' troupes, who introduced the characters Harlequin and Pantalone, as well as burlesque. In 1628, a French company, the Comédiens du Roi, became permanently established and performed many of the classics of French theatre, including ''Andromaque'' and ''Phèdre'' by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idée Fixe (psychology)
In psychology, an ''idée fixe'' is a preoccupation of mind believed to be firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation. The name originates from the French ''idée'' , "idea" and ''fixe'' , "fixed." Background The initial introduction of the term ''idée fixe'', according to intellectual historian Jan E. Goldstein, was as a medical term around 1812 in connection with monomania.Quoting from "''Idée fixe'' was also originally a medical term, probably coined by the phrenologists Gall and Spurzheim in connection with Esquirol's delineation of monomania; see their ''Anatomie et physiologie du système nerveux en général et du cerveau en particulier'', Vol. 2 (Paris: F. Schoell, 1812), p. 192. It also was transferred to nonmedical culture, most notably by the composer Hector Berlioz..." The term ''leitmotif'' refers to the same musical device as ''idée fixe''. As originally employed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ''idée fixe'' was "a single patho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plays By Jean Racine
Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Play Mobile, a Polish internet provider * Xperia Play, an Android phone * Rakuten.co.uk (formerly Play.com), an online retailer * Backlash (engineering), or ''play'', non-reversible part of movement * Petroleum play, oil fields with same geological circumstances * Play symbol, in media control devices Film * ''Play'' (2005 film), Chilean film directed by Alicia Scherson * ''Play'', a 2009 short film directed by David Kaplan * ''Play'' (2011 film), a Swedish film directed by Ruben Östlund * ''Rush'' (2012 film), an Indian film earlier titled ''Play'' and also known as ''Raftaar 24 x 7'' * ''The Play'' (film), a 2013 Bengali film Literature and publications * ''Play'' (play), written by Samuel Beckett * ''Play'' (''The New York Times' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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