Les Classiques Larousse by Jean Racine

Les Classiques Larousse by Jean Racine

This is the fifth volume of a projected translation into English of all twelve of Jean Racine's plays. Geoffrey Alan Argent's translations faithfully convey all the urgency and keen psychological insight of Racine's dramas, and the coiled strength of his verse, while breathing new vigor into the time-honored form of the heroic couplet.

Complementing this translation are the Discussion and the Notes and Commentary--particularly detailed and extensive for this volume, Britannicus being by far Racine's most historically informed play. Also noteworthy is Argent's reinstatement of an eighty-two-line scene, originally intended to open Act I, that has never before appeared in an English translation of this play.

Britannicus, one of Racine's greatest plays, dramatizes the crucial day when Nero--son of Agrippina and stepson of the late emperor Claudius--overcomes his mother, his wife Octavia, his tutors, and his vaunted three virtuous years in order to announce his omnipotence. He callously murders his innocent stepbrother, Britannicus, and effectively destroys Britannicus's beloved, the virtuous Junia, as well. Racine may claim, in his first preface, that this tragedy does not concern itself at all with affairs of the world at large, but nothing could be further from the truth. The tragedy represented in Britannicus is precisely that of the Roman Empire, for in Nero Racine has created a character who embodies the most infamous qualities of that empire -- its cruelty, its depravity, and its refined barbarity.

Jean Racine (1639-99) is widely regarded as the greatest seventeenth-century Frenc tragedian, both observing and transcending the conventions of classical tragedy. Robert David MacDonald (1929 - 2004) was born in Elgin, Scotland. After originally training as a musician, he worked as a Director, Playwright and Translator. As an Assistant Director, he worked at both the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and for the Royal Opera House. In 1971, he became Co-Artistic Director of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where he directed fifty plays and wrote fifteen for the venue before his retirement in 2003. The plays that he wrote for the Glasgow Citz include The De Sade Show (1975), Chinchilla (1977), Summit Conference (1978), also seen in the West End with Glenda Jackson and Gary Oldman, A Waste of Time (1980), Don Juan (1980), Webster (1983), Britannicus (2002) and Cheri (2003). As a translator, MacDonald translated over seventy different plays and opera from over ten different languages including The Threepenny Opera, Tamerlano, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, The Marriage of Figaro, Orpheus and The Human Voice, Conversation at Night, Shadow of Angels, The Balcony, The Government Inspector, Tasso, Faust I and II, Ibsen's Brand and Hedda Gabler, Lermontov's Maskerade, Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Moliere's School for Wives and Don Juan, Pirandello's Enrico Four, Racine's Phedre, Schiller's Mary Stuart, The Maid of Orleans and Don Carlos, Chekhov's The Seagull, Verne's Around the World In Eighty Days, Wedekind's Lulu and Goethe's Clavigo. His adaptation of War and Peace ran for two seasons on Broadway and received an Emmy award when shown on U.S television. The Finborough Theatre has previously presented Robert David MacDonald's versions of Rolf Hochhuth's Soldiers (2004) and The Representative (2006)

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9782070414390
ISBN 10	2070414396
Title	Les Classiques Larousse
Author	Jean Racine
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Editions Larousse
Year published	2000-06-15
Number of pages	222
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.