The 17th century dramatist Jean Racine was considered, along with Moliere and Corneille, as one of the three great playwrights of his era. The quality of Racine's poetry has been described as possibly his most important contribution to French literature and his use of the alexandrine poetic line is one of the best examples of such use noted for its harmony, simplicity and elegance. While critics over the centuries have debated the worth of ...
The Faustian legend has captured the imagination of readers and writers for centuries and in Goethe's «Faust» we find one of the greatest tellings of this old German tale. It is the story of man who makes a deal with the devil and pays with his soul. The influence of this theme on literature cannot be understated. In Goethe's «Faust» we find what is probably the most famous version of the story and one of the greatest works of literatu ...
This edition of comedies by Moliere includes: «The School for Wives,» a comedy of infidelity and his first great success, «The Critique of the School for Wives,» «Don Juan,» «The Miser,» and «The Imaginary Invalid,» the play that Moliere appeared in only hours before his death. Renowned for his comedic genius and ability to portray a true sense of humanity in his characters, Moliere has been delighting and intriguing audiences since the seventee ...
This collection of plays by Swedish playwright and writer, August Strindberg, are a testimony to his title as «the father of modern literature» in Sweden, as well as to his distinction as one of the most important playwrights of the 20th century. Beginning with two of his popular, early plays, «The Father» and «Miss Julie,» this edition explores Strindberg's crucial transition from Naturalism to Modernism, concluding with «The Dance of Deat ...
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an instrumental figure in the «Irish Literary Revival» of the 20th Century that redefined Irish writing. His father's love of reading aloud exposed him early on to William Shakespeare, the Romantic poets and the pre-Raphaelites, and developed an interest in Irish myths and folklore. Yeats was a complex man, who struggled between beliefs in the strange and supernatural, and scorn for modern science. He wa ...
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is revered as one of the great British dramatists, credited not only with memorable works, but the revival of the then-suffering English theatre. Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, left mostly to his own devices after his mother ran off to London to pursue a musical career. He educated himself for the most part, and eventually worked for a real estate agent. This experience founded in him a concern for social injus ...
Widely known as the play that gave the American dramatist Eugene O'Neill international acclaim, «The Emperor Jones» is a one-act play that follows the complete disintegration of Brutus Jones. This protagonist, formerly a Pullman porter in the United States, has escaped his criminal activity there by establishing himself as a ruler in the West Indies. O'Neill, in an experiment with Expressionism, then leads Jones through a series of hal ...
"Pillars of Society" is the story of Karsten Bernick, a prominent businessman in a small Norwegian coastal town. Karsten comes from a wealthy shipping and shipbuilding family yet he has aspirations for an even greater enterprise. When he begins secretly buying up land in the valley between the town and the main rail line, which he is backing a new rail connection to, his scandalous past suddenly comes back to him in the form of Johan Tonnes ...
George Chapman's «The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois» is a sequel to his earlier work, «Bussy D'Ambois,» and was first published in 1613. The play is one of Chapman's dramas based on recent political and historical events in France. Specifically the play draws upon Edward Grimeston's «A General Inventory of the History of France» as a primary source and revolves around historical events that occurred in 1588, during the reign ...
