This is a book about how Molière, France's most celebrated author
of comedies, made something strikingly new out of the traditional
comedy plot of thwarted courtship. Though justly celebrated for his
mastery of physical comedy and farce, one of Molière's key moves
was to pay attention to the way women could use language.
Seventeenth-century France was a time when speaking well became
exceptionally important, and in this arena women were the
trend-setters. Among the most important places to display taste and
social skills were the salons, gatherings presided over by women.
Yet women still enjoyed little in the way of rights, particularly
regarding a central decision in their lives: the choice of a
husband. French regulations of marriage contracts became
increasingly restrictive, largely to the detriment of women. To
draw attention to their plight, women novelists and essayists
presented case studies in how men and women misunderstood one
another, how women were coerced to wed, how marriages could become
nightmares, and how courtships could fail. Against this fraught
social background Molière showed women using one of the few assets
they had, their mastery of words, and in particular the rhetoric of
irony, to frustrate the plans of fathers, guardians, and other
authority figures. The comedies discussed here include very
well-known plays such as The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, The Learned
Ladies, The School for Wives and Don Juan, and also less known but
revealing and thought-provoking works such as The School for
Husbands, George Dandin and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac.
General
Imprint: |
Oxford UniversityPress
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
October 2023 |
Authors: |
John D Lyons
(Commonwealth Professor of French (emeritus))
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 153mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
272 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-19-888737-9 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-19-888737-X |
Barcode: |
9780198887379 |
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