L'avare by Moliere
Harpagon thinks that his children are costing him too much money and must be married off. He has found an old man who won't demand a dowry for his daughter, Elise, and a rich widow for his son, Cleante. Unfortunately Elise is already in love with Harpagon's servant, and his son is in love with the penniless Mariane, whom Harpagon has already decided to take as his own wife. While seeking rest from daily care, I learned that Monsieur Moliere, The darling of the muses nine, Whose blessings flow on him like wine, Is now presenting on the stage yes, he's the idol of the age A Miser who diverts us all; And not a little bit. His thrall Encompasses; his scope is vast; He makes us laugh from first to last. He speaks in prose and not in verse; But the effect is none the worse. His prose is so theatrical; Its essence is dramatical. This Miser, then, whose praise one sings, Is prodigal in comic things. What's more, the acting's excellent. Your time could not be better spent. -Charles Robinet, Letters in Verse, Paris, 15 September 1668
Molière, born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin in1622, began his career as an actor before becoming a playwright who specialized in satirizing the institutions and morals of his day. In 1658, his theater company settled in Paris in the Théâter du Petit-Bourbon. The object of fierce attack because of such masterpieces as Tartuffe and Don Juan, Molière nonetheless won the favor of the public. In 1665, his company became the King's Troupe, and the following year saw the staging of The Misanthrope, as well as The Doctor in Spite of Himself. In 1668, he produced his bitterly comic The Miser and, in the remaining years before his death, created such plays as The Would-Be Gentleman, The Mischievous Machinations of Scapin, and The Learned Women. In 1673, Molière collapsed onstage while performing his last play, The Imaginary Invalid, and died shortly thereafter. Donald M. Frame was Moore Professor of French at Columbia University and an acclaimed scholar and translator of French literature. Among his notable works of translation are The Complete Essays of Montaigne, The Complete Works of Rabelais, and the Signet Classics Tartuffe & Other Plays and Candide, Zadig, and Selected Stories. Virginia Scott is Professor Emerita in the Department of Theater of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the author of Moliére: A Theatrical Life, The Commedia Dell'Arte in Paris, and Performance, Poetry and Politics on the Queen's Day: Catherine de Medici and Pierre de Ronsard at Fontainebleau (with Sara Sturm-Maddox).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9782035834157 |
| ISBN 10 | 2035834155 |
| Title | L'avare |
| Author | Moliere |
| Series | Petits Classiques Larousse Texte Integral Ser |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Editions Larousse |
| Year published | 2007-08-22 |
| Number of pages | 175 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |