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M. Call, The Would-Be Author. Molière and the Comedy of Print

M. Call, The Would-Be Author. Molière and the Comedy of Print

Publié le par Marie Minger

Michael Call, The Would-Be Author. Molière and the Comedy of Print, [Lafayette]: Purdue University Press, coll. «Purdue Studies in Romance Literatures», 2015.

EAN13: 9781557537089

302 pages

45 $ / e-pub 38.99 $

 

Présentation de l'éditeur

This book is the first full-length study to examine Molière’s evolving (and at times contradictory) authorial strategies, as evidenced both by his portrayal of authors and publication within the plays and by his own interactions with the seventeenth-century Parisian publishing industry. Historians of the book have described the time period that coincides with Molière’s theatrical activity as centrally important to the development of authors’ rights and to the professionalization of the literary field. A seventeenth-century author, however, was not so much born as negotiated through often acrimonious relations in a world of new and dizzying possibilities.

The learning curve was at times steep and unpleasant, as Molière discovered when his first Parisian play was stolen by a rogue publisher. Nevertheless, the dramatist proved to be a quick learner; from his first published play in 1660 until his death in 1673, Molière changed from a reluctant and victimized author to an innovator (or, according to his enemies, even a swindler) who aggressively secured the rights to his plays, stealing them back when necessary. Through such shrewdness, he acquired for himself publication privileges and conditions relatively unknown in an era before copyright.

As Molière himself wrote, making people laugh was “une étrange entreprise” (La Critique de L’École des femmes, 1663). To an even greater degree, comedic authorship for the playwright was a constant work in progress, and in this sense, “Molière” the stage name that became a pen name, represents the most carefully elaborated of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin’s invented characters.

 

A propos de l'auteur

Michael Call received his PhD in French from Yale University and joined the Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature at Brigham Young University in 2006. His research focuses on the theater of seventeenth-century France.

 

Table des matières

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Death of the Author

Chapter One: Molière’s Writers

Chapter Two: The Early Plays and the Pirates Who Loved Them

Chapter Three: Comedic Authorship and Its Discontents

Chapter Four: “Je veux qu’on me distingue”

Chapter Five: The School for Publishers

Chapter Six: Collaboration’s Pyrrhic Triumph

Afterword: The Death of the Actor

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Book

About the Author

 

L'ouvrage est disponible sur la plate-forme Project MUSE