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The author examines comedies based on a structure first used by Menander in the fourth century B.C. and brought to its precise formulations and brilliance by Marivaux in the eighteenth century A.D.
This study breaks with traditional readings in terms of tragic model and tragic hero in the works of Racine and Corneille. It departs from the critical tradition of examining the tragic hero as an isolated figure, defined by autonomy; it approaches the behaviour of Médée, Clytemnestre, and Phèdre from a relational perspective. It argues that these female characters belong to the tragic hero category, hold valid and valuable ethical positions and deserve to be treated as equal to their male counterparts. It also redefines the way we look at the tragic dynamic. The characters are no longer antagonists but inadvertent collaborators working towards the tragic outcome in order to satisfy desires and beliefs about themselves and the world that are deeply rooted in their psyche. This book shows that alternative interpretations of the behaviour of Médée, Clytemnestre and Phèdre can be obtained and must be obtained by applying modern methodologies in order to challenge the biased readings from the past and to see these characters in a new light.
A revelatory study of how composers and dramatists of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France criticized and trivialized independent women in their portrayals of them in works of theater and opera.
Presents an alphabetical reference guide detailing the lives and works of authors associated with Gothic literature.
Marivaux and Moliere are, respectively, the greatest comedy writers of the eighteenth and seventeenth centuries. Whereas a library of critical material exists on Moliere, Marivaux has benefited from less commentary, and many questions concerning this eighteenth-century playwright remain unanswered. Among these, of primary importance is his relationship with Moliere. The present study represents an illuminating discussion of this relationship. It devotes a chapter to each of Marivaux's plays that recalls any aspect of Moliere's comedies. Without detracting from Marivaux's basic originality, Dr. Cismaru shows that Marivaux's alleged scorn for his illustrious predecessor did not prevent him from using molieresque scenes, tone, and vocabulary.The first book-length study of the relationship between Moliere and Marivaux is lucidly written and free from technical jargon. It should benefit both the student of the two playwrights and the specialist.
This study takes the theme of alienation as the research nucleus of analysis. Alienation is a classificatory device rather than an ideological or philosophical idea; it serves as an «architheme» which is broken up into concrete manifesting units. These units are semantically and syntactically investigated. The study also exemplifies possible methods of criticism, it is thus critical and metacritical.