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Michael Hawcroft, Molière. Reasoning With Fools

Michael Hawcroft, Molière. Reasoning With Fools

Publié le par Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot (Source : Site web de la maison d'édition)


Michael HAWCROFT, Molière. Reasoning With Fools, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007, 256 p.
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-922883-6


RÉSUMÉ

Molière wrote, directed, and starred in comedies for public and courtaudiences in seventeenth-century France. He is perennially successful,but perennially subject to critical controversy: do his plays aim to domore than make audiences laugh? This book focuses on a group ofcharacters in the plays, the interpretation of whose role lies at theheart of any answer to this question. For over acentury critics have baptised them 'raisonneurs'. They are characterswho engage with some of Molière's most foolish protagonists, but theyhave been variously interpreted as exponents of wisdom or as ridiculousbores. This book argues that new light can be shed on the words andactions of these characters, and so on the tenor of the plays as awhole, by detailed contextual analysis of thedramaturgical and comic structures in which they operate. They havenever before been treated so exhaustively. They emerge neither as themouthpieces of common sense nor as pompous fools, but as thoughtful,witty, and resourceful friends of the foolish protagonists whom Molièrehimself played. The book takes into account what is known of theperformance styles of Molière's troupe of actors as wellas engaging closely with the text of the plays and the critical debateto date. Some of Molière's most teasingly problematic plays are held upto fresh scrutiny, including L'Ecole des femmes, Le Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope, and Le Malade imaginaire. The book is written with scholars, students, and interestedtheatre-goers in mind. This is the first book-length treatment of thetopic.


TABLE DES MATIÈRES

Introduction

1. The Raisonneurs and the Critics

2. L'École des maris: the raisonneur as brother and sparring partner

3. L'École des femmes: the raisonneur as friend and counsellor

4. Tartuffe: the raisonneur as brother-in-law and polemicist

5. Le Misanthrope: the raisonneur as friend and rival

6. Le Malade imaginaire: the raisonneur as brother and impresario

7. Conclusion


BIOGRAPHIE

Michael Hawcroft, Fellow and Tutor in French, Keble College, and Lecturer in French, University of Oxford