Book Description
The translation into English verse of one of Molière’s most masterful and most popular plays. “A continuous delight from beginning to end” (Richard Eberhart). Introduction by Richard Wilbur.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for those who love satire.......2007-02-08
For those who knows Shakespeare's story, "Othello", it's amazing how similar this is. The only difference is the knowledge of situation by the sharp-tongued maid. Oh, and the deus ex machina ending that abruptly steals the remainder of your breath away (after having laughed so hard at the ridiculous, satirical antics of the antagonist and the idiocy of the protagonist). If you enjoy French humor, this is for you. If not, or if you prefer to cross the thin line between comedy and tragedy, read Othello instead.
Dover is Not the Wilbur translation!.......2006-09-15
Beware! The Dover edition is NOT the wonderful Wilbur poetry translation. It is a lumbering, stilted prose translation based on an 18th century version. The play comes through, but barely. Since no translator was listed and so many reviewers indicated that this was the Wilbur version, I ordered this for my theatre class to read -- disaster! Spend the money on the Wilbur -- it's worth it.
Pleasant & Witty.......2006-08-20
This book satirizes the conventions of the time period it was written. It is extremely funny, if you can understand it. The translation is a bit difficult, not for the common reader. I had to truly concentrate to understand everything.
It is short and concise, for those who like a fast accelerating plot.
A simply delightful read!.......2006-07-24
I was required to read this book for a course I am taking at Univeristy. I found Tartuffe to be a simply delightful and fun read. The (rhyming) prose is translated well, although I question if the original meter was consistent throughout the play or not. The english meter is not. Tartuffe pokes fun at the neo-classical era religious hypocrite. Even today, hundreds of years after the writing of this book I still found myself laughing at Moliere's jokes and wit.
Witty and Truthful.......2005-12-25
Moliere's Tartuffe has been a great favorite of mine for years. It's just so witty and so truthful. Moliere's satire hits religious hypocrisy harshly, and that's such a valuable message, even several centuries later. Moreover, Moliere's play isn't anti-religious; there is instead an appeal to true religion and toward the development of virtue. So few writers have ever been as witty as Moliere either. There are so many hilarious scenes here, my favorite being the table scene. And the dialogue throughout it just extraordinarily clever as well, particularly during the exchanges between Orgon and either Cleante or Dorine.
Wilbur's masterful translation just enhances the joys of Moliere's classic play. It's a terribly difficult thing to make the couplets of Neoclassical France tenable to a contemporary audience, but of course, Wilbur has made them so. All of the sharpness, the liveliness of the lines is preserved, making Tartuffe accessible, intelligently, to today's audience. Of course, Wilbur's other translations of Moliere are excellent as well.
Wilbur's translation of Tartuffe is really one that can't be missed. The combination of the master French playwright Moliere with Richard Wilbur, a modern poetic master in his own right, is just superb. Wilbur's Tartuffe is a total pleasure.
Book Description
Two classic plays translated by a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet into English verse. In The Misanthrope, society itself is indicted and the impurity of its critic’s motives is exposed. In Tartuffe, the bigoted and prudish Orgon falls completely under the power of the wily Tartuffe. Introductions by Richard Wilbur.
Customer Reviews:
A CLASSIC!.......2007-03-22
Many people are turned off by the rhyming nature of Tartuffe. Personally I find myself so enthralled with the story that I often fail to notice that the story itself rhymes. Real belly laughs abound as we watch Orgon blindly walk through life, oblivious to the religious-hypocrite's misdeeds. It's an absurd story, but it's meant to be thus. It does miss something if you don't see it performed live but once you have, when you read it as it is presented here, you manage to get full enjoyment!
The Misanthrope exists in much the same credit. This work centers on the protagonist Alceste, whose wholesale rejection of his culture's polite social conventions make him tremendously unpopular. This manifests itself in the primary conflict of the play, which results from Alceste's refusal to compliment a sonnet by Oronte, a character who lacks Alceste's respect for unabashed sincerity.
I'm not as big a fan of The Misanthrope as of Tartuffe but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was very happy to be exposed to the text this way. This is an excellent rendering.
The misanthrope and the religious hypocrite .......2005-01-20
Moliere's leading characters often have one major negative trait which dictates their behavior throughout the play. In this they often seem to be mechanical stock characters and not flesh- and - blood living human beings. In 'The Misanthrope' Alceste believes he must tell the truth to everyone he sees. This is despite the advice of his best friend Philinte. Alceste alienates everyone. At the same time he is madly in love with with Celimene. He wants her to go away with him to retreat from hypocritical society. She however flirtatious and light - minded prefers society to him. The play closes with Philinte trying to persuade Alceste not to leave society completely.
In the second play in this volume the leading character is a religious hypocrite. He finds his way into the heart and mind of a wealthy gentleman Orgon and dominates his family life. Tartuffe steals his money , leads Orgon to disinherit his son and offer his daughter to Tartuffe in marriage. Tartuffe attempts to seduce Orgon's wife. Orgon is convinced to hide under a table where he overhears Tartuffe's entreaties. Orgon then decides to eject him from the family but cannot. It is only with the intercession of the king that the religious hypocrite is stopped. This play raised a furor in its day and the Church opposed its production. Moliere's patron Louis XIV allowed its production in private but only after five years allowed its public staging.
In both these plays Moliere viciously satires the human propensity to remain fixed and static in one's own character, and reaction to reality. He derides human folly but always with the redeeming grace of laughter.
For the contemporary reader of the work who does not feel the special force of the work in its original language there often may seem something forced and artificial in the work. Moliere's work it seems to me gain much from being staged and to know them truly reading alone is not enough.
"Sincerity in excess / Can get you into a very pretty mess".......2003-06-20
Here they are. The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, arguably Moliere's two most famous plays, translated by Pulizter Prize-winner Richard Wilbur, the crown jewels of his poetic output. These translations are performed all the time, and have proved themselves on the modern stage. But the effect of them is not lessened by reading, as this bookshelf-ready edition shows. They are packed with hilarious observations about the pretentions in us all.
The Misanthrope is about a man who tells the harshest truth to everyone but himself; Tartuffe about hypocricy in religion. They read fast and funny, the rhyming couplets of the original faithfully reproduced. The language seems so natural and witty that you think perhaps these plays weren't written in the seventeenth century. But they were, this species of farce being extinct these days, except in rare places like The Simpsons. I can not only unhesitatingly recommend these, but also all of Wilbur's translations of Moliere. It is rare for a comic author to get such a seriously worthy treatment. Hooray!
Brilliant Balletic Comedy & Translation.......2001-08-12
In both these plays, Wilbur brings Moliere's true genius to real life. Previous translations of Moliere's work pale by comparison to Wilbur's brilliant translations. It was my feeling, that would Moliere by alive today, and writing in American English, he would write the way Wilbur translated it.
In comparison to prose translations in the past, Wilbur, past US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, truly gives the reader the real feeling of Moliere's "Balletic Comedy" style, as Moliere used his poetry and comedy to make complex and serious points about life of "regular" people, as opposed to royalty such as Shakespeare concentrated on, and so many other playwrites of the past.
In reading Wilbur's translations, one can virtually imagine the cast prancing and mincing across the stage as they humorously render these rhyming couplets at each other, and the audience. The true genius of both Moliere and Wilbur is illustrated most profoundly and strikingly in these translations. Any true lover of Moliere, and even those who have never read him before, should treat themselves to Wilbur's translations for a Moliere experience, that is unparalleled in any other versions previously published.
500 years old and laugh-out-loud funny.......2000-09-23
It is amazing that a 500 year old rhyming play can be laugh-out-loud funny. Celimene is surely one of the most sharp tounged, wittiest feminine roles in the theater. I saw the very long legged Umma Thurman perform a modern adaption of this play off broadway. Tartuffe is also good but it does not rhyme. Neither does Moilière's "Don Juan".
Book Description
Moliere's prose plays demonstrate both his versatility as a playwright and the reasons for his enduring popularity from the France of Louis XIV to the present.
Customer Reviews:
excellent read!.......2005-10-26
great book! The English translations of the French are superb and enjoyable to read!
Average customer rating:
- ABSOLUTELY CAPTIVATING
- The Eighth Volume in The Story of Civilization!
- Sunrise, Sunset!
- Amazing masterpiece.
- Another masterful volume of the landmark series
|
The Age of Louis XIV: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Pascal, Moliere, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza: 1648-1715 (Story of Civilization)
Will Durant , and
Ariel Durant
Manufacturer: MJF Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1567310192 |
Book Description
(8th Volume of Civilization series)
In the eighth volume of their Story of Civilization, the Durants explore the apex of European civilization to that time, the years 1648 to 1715. It is the era of the "Sun King," Louis XIV, one of the most powerful rulers in Western history. It is also the pinnacle of Dutch culture, the heyday of Vermeer and William of Orange, later King of England. All this forms the backdrop for the Durants' real focus: the intellectual character of the age. Encompassing Newton and Leibniz, among others, THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV marks a momentous transition: the passage from superstition and intolerance to science and philosophy. This is the period on which the foundation for modernity rests.
"Informed and highly readable ... eloquently partisan for the dignity of man and the decencies of life." (Saturday Review)
Customer Reviews:
ABSOLUTELY CAPTIVATING.......2006-01-16
Will Durant continues his wonderful series with this volume covering and important era which is quite often overlooked by our educational system. Much of what we are today has it's origins during this era. The Durants bring history to like with their wonderful text and use of language. These volumes, this one included, read more like a novel than a dry and dusty book of forgetable facts. I hate to use the word "lyrical" is describing Durant's style, but it is certainly close. The expierence of reading this volume, along with the others has been a wonderful expierence, one I would have not wanted to miss. Recommend this one, quite highly as I do the others.
The Eighth Volume in The Story of Civilization!.......2004-09-02
In this, the eighth volume in the landmark acclaimed series, "The Story of Civilization, Dr. Will & Ariel Durant have recounted the history of Europe's great age of kings.
The reader will be treated to a masterly exposition of: France's King Louis XIV. The dawn of modern drama, letters, and philosophy from Moliere, Spinoza, Locke, Hobbes, Berkeley and others. King Charles II of England. Isaac Netwon. Russia's Peter The Great. The War of Spanish Succession. And much, much more including plates and maps.
Written to stand alone or within the series, the Durants have written a prose of smooth flowing narrative that is easy to read and understand. In short, this unparalleled work is for everyone, both professional and layperson. I rate this work at five stars. Well done!
Sunrise, Sunset!.......2003-06-07
Over the past year I have read extensively about the 17th century. "The Age of Louis XIV" is the best book which I have found on the period. Volume VII of Will and Ariel Durant's multi-volume "Story of Civilization", this book documents more detail of the era than any others which I have read.
The book begins with sections on France and England. The next section is "The Periphery" dealing with Russia, Poland, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, and Iberia. After the geographically oriented sections, the reader is treated to sections organized along intellectual topics, such as science, philosophy, and faith and reason, which contain chapters dealing with specific philosophers or scientists. The conclusion wraps it all up with the denouement of Louis XIV.
This book makes the 17th century understandable. The premier character of the era was Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. During his reign, the policies of he and his ministers established France's day in the sun. Absolute ruler of the most populous and powerful kingdom in Western Europe, Louis made France the center of Western Civilization. On these pages we learn about the Fronde, the revolt by the nobility at the rising of his Sun, from which Louis acquired his life long aversion to Paris, Louis' aggressive support of Catholicism, while at the same time maintaining illicit personal relationships, and his generous support for the arts. This era, rich in French literature and theatre, as represented in Moliere, is revealed.
The forces threatening to rend the Catholic Church further asunder, as well as the relationship between King and Pope, are dealt with in detail. I was surprised to learn that Louis exercised a power over the Church in France similar to that which Henry VIII had previously established over the Church in England.
England, meanwhile, endured Cromwell, The Stuart Restoration, and the Glorious Revolution, while spawning Milton, Dryden, Swift and other literary giants.
Interesting contrasts are illustrated. Whereas in France the monarchy was strengthened into absolutism, England was making hesitating steps toward democracy. Whereas Louis excluded much of the nobility from government and military service, essentially forcing them into the role of idle rich, the English nobility gradually gained power and responsibility for the governance of their country. We can see how these trends may have encouraged the resentment of the aristocrats on the part of the French peasantry, which may have contributed to the intensity of feeling during The Terror of the French Revolution. By contrast, the empowerment of the English nobility may have helped solidify the tradition of peaceful political maturation.
On the Periphery, Charles XII brought Sweden to the zenith of its international power, while Peter the great modernized Russia. Germany survived the onslaught of the Turks, while Italy and Iberia, the "Old Europe" of the day, slid through an era of decline.
Intellectually the era was one of giants. Many of the names with which we are familiar come alive as we read of Isaac Newton, Thomas Hobbes, John Lock, Spinoza, Leibniz and others.
The conclusion of the era was the sunset of the Sun King. Having exhausted his country with dynastic war, bled it with unequal taxation and incurred the enmity of the world, Louis negotiated a peace which left his kingdom a shattered hulk of its former greatness.
For anyone desiring an introduction to the history of the 17th century, this is a great place to start. It has me ready for other books in the Durants' "Story of Civilization".
Amazing masterpiece........2002-10-16
Though the central figure of this book is Louix XIV, this book is not about French history, but about European history as a whole.
The focus of this book is not on political and military history but on the history of religion, art, literature, science and philosophy. Or I can say politics is deeply involved in religion, art, literature and philosophy. I have never studied European philosophy before, and I thought it would be exttremely difficult to understand philosophy. But while I was reading this book, I found that phlosophy could be much easier when it was explained in a political context of the times.
And in this book English history was emphasized as much as French history. It is quite natural because Louis himself was deeply involved in and greatly responsible for the 17th century English history, and Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were Englishmen.
I believe that this book is the best book I've ever read. I'd like to read all 12 volumes of Will & Ariel Durant's "The History of Civilization" series.
By the way, I found 2 trivial mistakes in this book.
According to p 505, Halley identified another comet, seen in 1680, with one observed in the year of Christ's death; he traced its recurrence every 575 years, and from the periodicity he computed its orbit and speed around the sun. According to my own calculation, however, 575 x 2 + 33 = 1183, while 575 x 3 + 33 = 1758.
According to p 513, Mariotte amused his friends by showing that "cold" could burn: with a concave slab of ice he focused sunlight upon gunpowder, causing it to explode. To focus sunlight, however, we need a convex lens, not a concave lens.
Another masterful volume of the landmark series.......2002-03-08
The Durants succeed again in encapsulating the 17th century in Europe. They label it as the landmark century intellectually and scientifically and there is much truth to their assessment: the 18th Century, the "Enlightenment" and "Aufklarung" usually takes pride of place given the American and French Revolutions that dominated them and the general retreat of superstition and obscurantism that marred both Catholicism and Protestantism in the previous centuries. The Durants clearly show that all the 18th century did was develop themes initially sounded and expounded by 17th century thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, Newton, Leibniz, Spinoza and the English Deists. These writers, and others, laid the bedrock for the various revolutions that shook Europe in the 1700 and 1800s and which have culminated in our own day: The Industrial, Political and Scientific.
Thematically, the book is erected upon the scaffolding of the Le Roi Soleil's life. They present his wars, mistresses, patronage of art, political autocracy as well as murderous bigotry. In my opinion, in their conclusion they let Louis off far too lightly. He was a man who countenanced, nay, actually encouraged and gloried not only in wars to dominate Europe--a common enough failing amongst the crowned--but in the Persecution of the Huguenots he left a blot on his record that, in light of the deadly century we just left and the religious fanaticism of 11 September, should sink his record in the humanitarian sense.
His vanity and thirst for "la glorie" (which he admitted himself to have been his worst failing) bankrupted France and left the Peasants in a savage and degrading poverty they hadn't experienced since the calamities of the 14th century. His refusal to use his power to actually reform government and tax the nobility mark his reign as regressive and disastrous in many ways. Still his impeccable taste in the visual and plastic arts-as opposed to his love of second-rate playwrights and third-rate opera--make him the supreme art patron in history. And the prestige and admiration that accumulated acted as a sort of bank that his incompetent, worthless successor cruised upon. Only under sixteenth Louis did the credit of the Sun King's name finally run out...
Still, the Durants must credited for making this error sparkle and shimmer with life and the lovely prose still entrances and pleases regardless of how dull or recondite the subject might be. Again, they are two of the greatest of all American writers. Someday, I hope, they will be acknowledged as such.
Book Description
The School for Wives concerns an insecure man who contrives to show the world how to rig an infallible alliance by marrying the perfect bride; The Learned Ladies centers on the domestic calamities wrought by a domineering woman upon her husband, children, and household. “Wilbur...makes Molière into as great an English verse playwright as he was a French one” (John Simon, New York). Introductions by Richard Wilbur.
Customer Reviews:
My favorite of the Molieres by Wilbur.......2003-04-26
I've read all but one of Pulitzer-Prize winner Richard Wilbur's translations of French master playwright Moliere. This is my favorite. I was provoked to laugh out loud many times while reading it, something I rarely do with contemporary comedies, much less ones written in the 17th Century. The School for Wives I found more fresh and delightful than any present-day television sit-com and The Learned Ladies had its moments as well (especially the poetry reading by the pedantic Trissotin).
The School for Wives centers around a man, Arnolfe, who is afraid of being cuckolded. He has raised a girl from when she was very young to know nothing but praying and sewing, so that when she marries she will not have the wherewithal to cheat on him. Of course, a young man in the neighborhood happens to see her while Arnolfe is out. In a series of misunderstandings, the young man ends up enlisting Arnolfe's aid in wooing the girl. Arnolfe's every attempt to thwart their union is in turn thwarted by her. She may have been raised ignorant, but she is not stupid.
The Learned Ladies is, in present context, somewhat misogynist. Much of the comedy revolves around the matriarch of a family who rules her household "like a man." The plot again involves young lovers separated by a willful parent. The daughter of the matriarch wants to wed a young man who is equally in love with her but her mother wants her to wed the stuck-up court poet Trissotin. This is really just a pretext for a lot of the deflation of pomposity at which Moliere excels. For those who like the old battle-of-the-sexes screwball comedies, here is a likely progenitor.
The most famous of Moliere's plays are The Misanthrope, The Hypocondriac and Tartuffe. If you've already read them and like them, then I have no reservation recommending this delightful double-header.
Total Joy.......2000-05-14
Moliere and Wilbur, though they did not, of course, work together, are a match for Gilbert and Sullivan as a wedding of talents. Each of these plays is very funny and full of insights about human vanity.
Book Description
'Why does he write those ghastly plays that the whole of Paris flocks to see? And why does he paint such lifelike portraits that everyone recognizes themselves?' Moliere, The Impromptu at Versailles This volume brings together four of Moliere's greatest verse comedies covering the best years of his prolific writing career. Actor, director, and playwright, Moliere (1622-73) was one of the finest and most influential French dramatists, adept at portraying human foibles and puncturing pomposity. The School for Wives was his first great success; Tartuffe, condemned and banned for five years, his most controversial play. The Misanthrope is his acknowledged masterpiece, and The Clever Women his last, and perhaps best-constructed, verse piece. In addition this collection includes a spirited attack on his enemies and a defence of his theatre, in the form of two sparkling short plays, The School for Wives Criticized and The Impromptu at Versailles. Moliere's prose plays are available in a complementary Oxford World's Classics edition, Don Juan and Other Plays.
Customer Reviews:
Amusing.......2007-05-23
The book contains two of Moliere's best known works, "Tartuffe" (about a religious hypocrite) and "The Misanthrope." Clever and incisive, these works provoke commentary and poke fun at human qualities that everyone can relate to. Well worth reading for its humor and social commentary.
Average customer rating:
- Good Introduction to Moliere - A Comedy of Manners, A Light-Hearted Satire
- No comedy without truth and no truth without comedy
- "The Misanthrope" Review: An Annoying Play!
- Hysterical
- Very relevant
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The Misanthrope and Other Plays: A New Selection (Penguin Classics)
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The Miser and Other Plays: A New Selection (Penguin Classics)
ASIN: 014044730X
Release Date: 2000-09-05 |
Book Description
The Misanthrope, Moliere's richly sophisticated comic drama is accompanied in this volume by The Would--be Gentleman, another tale of a dangerously deluded and obsessive hero. Tartuffe dares to take on the subject of religious hypocrisy. Also included are Such Foolish Affected Ladies and Those Learned Ladies, both newly translated for this edition. Finally, The Doctor Despite Himself is a hilarious example of Moliere's long-standing vendetta against the medical profession.
Customer Reviews:
Good Introduction to Moliere - A Comedy of Manners, A Light-Hearted Satire.......2007-05-31
The Misanthrope (1666) is a short play, one that can be read in a single sitting. Moliere's humorous style has weathered the centuries quite well, and footnotes are not needed.
The protagonist is the misguided misanthrope, Alceste. His distaste for mankind does have one exception. He is enamored with the attractive, vivacious Celimene, but seemingly so is everyone else including Alceste's chief rival, Oronte, the two marquises, Acaste and Clitandre, and unnamed others in the background.
The first scene introduces Philinte, an avowed friend of Alceste, that is unsuccessfully trying to moderate Alceste's adamant refusal to adhere to any social convention, custom, or civility which involves any form of dissimulation or flattery. Philinte argues that Alceste should torment himself a little less about the vices of his period and be more lenient of human nature and foibles. Good sense avoids all extremes. And Philinte questions whether Alceste is perhaps inconsistent in that he applies a different standard to the coquettish Celimene. The more pragmatic Philinte suggests that Celimene's cousin, Eliante, is more sincere and stable, and would be a more compatible choice. With uncompromising honesty Alceste agrees: "It is true; my good sense tells me so every day; but good sense does not always rule love."
As the play proceeds, Moliere's misanthrope does become increasingly irritable with those about him, but I still found Alceste less mean-spirited than other misanthropes found in literature. Despite his sincere philosophical stance, Alceste remains in his awkward, humorous position relative to Celimene. It proves difficult to be a fully committed misanthrope while in love with a coquette.
I am reviewing a Dover Thrift edition reprint of Moliere's famous comedic satire.
No comedy without truth and no truth without comedy .......2005-01-20
Moliere said that ' there is no comedy without truth, and no truth without comedy'. And his plays are a scathing and humorous depiction of a simplified, and stylized human nature. Whether it is religious hypocrisy in ' Tartuffe' , miserliness in 'The Miser' or misanthropy in ' The Misantrhope' Moliere often focuses on one quality in order to satirize and society and mankind in general. In the Misanthrope the main character Alceste tells the truth to everyone ( except himself) and in so doing alienates everyone. This is against the advice of his best friend Philinte. At the same time he is in love with the frivolous Celimene who he attempts to change by constantly criticizing. He begs that she retire with him away from the corruption of society but she prefers society to him. The play ends with Philinte and his fiancee trying to persuade Alceste to remain.
Moliere writes in a clear, simple direct language and the surface sense of his work is readily understood. His view of human nature is harsh and critical , but redeemed by a comic laughter suggesting we are wiser if we do not take ourselves all that seriously.
"The Misanthrope" Review: An Annoying Play!.......2004-01-31
"The Misanthrope" - this is the only play I read. This play is superficial and degrades, as always, women. The woman in this play is stereotyped as a flirtatious girl with many suitors. I did not find this play at all a farce and found the rhyming childish and annoying. The play ends without a true ending and will leave you wanting the time you spent reading it back. I do not recommend.
Hysterical.......2002-05-31
You might not think a play in verse written in the 17th century would be accessible and entertaining today, but this one's hilarious. Somehow the formal rhyming couplets make everything funnier. Get the Donald Frame translation - I've seen some others that weren't nearly as good.
Very relevant.......2001-11-12
It is my blief that everyone should read this book. I am a high school senior and find it very insightful. In addition to that, it is also very ammusing. It is an accurate commentary on society.
Book Description
Don Juan, the "Seducer of Seville," originated as a hero-villain of Spanish folk legend, is a famous lover and scoundrel who has made more than a thousand sexual conquests. One of Molière's best-known plays, Don Juan was written while Tartuffe was still banned on the stages of Paris, and shared much with the outlawed play. Modern directors transform Don Juan in every new era, as each director finds something new to highlight in this timeless classic. Richard Wilbur's flawless translation will be the standard for generations to come, as have his translations of Molière's other plays. Witty, urbane, and poetic in its prose, Don Juan is, most importantly, as funny now as it was for audiences when it was first presented.
Customer Reviews:
Moliere Would Have Loved This Translation.......2006-02-15
This play is a treat to read, and I can't wait to see it performed. Moliere, however, must share the spotlight with the translator, Richard Wilbur, who shows an elegant flair for conversational prose. The contemporary American reader lives in a land of waning religiosity, yet one in which theocracy is ironically gaining influence in national politics. It is in this context that we have to smile, if not laugh, when Don Juan says,
"It's no longer shameful to be a dissembler; hypocrisy is now a fashionable vice and all the fashionable vices pass for virtues. The part of the God-fearing man is the best possible role to play nowadays, and in our present society the hypocrite's profession has extraordinary advantages. It's an art whose dishonesty always goes unchallenged...The hypocrite, by means of pious pretenses, attaches himself to the devout, and anyone who then assails him is set upon by a great phalanx of the godly...The true believers are easily hoodwinked by the false...I can't tell you how many men I know who, by means of a feigned devotion, have glossed over the sins of their youth, wrapped themselves in the cloak of religion, and in that holy disguise are now free to be the worst of scoundrels!"
Amazon's rules prohibit me from disclosing the ending, though it has been known for some 331 years, but I will tell you that it leaves Don Juan's valet, Sganarelle, wondering how he'll ever get his back pay.
A Jocular Portrayal of an Immoral Atheist.......2003-02-18
"What a fine creed that is! So far as I can see, your religion consists of arithmetic." --said to Don Juan by his valet, Sganarelle
Richard Wilbur won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and he has served as Poet Laureate of the United States. His translation of Moliere's once censored comedy, Don Juan (1665), successfully conveys to English readers not only the words but also the humor of the original. For his translation, Wilbur wrote an insightful Introduction explicating the play's moral subtleties.
The play's renowned French comic dramatist, Moliere (1622-1673), previously authored Tartuffe (1664), a comedy lampooning religious hypocrisy. However, Tartuffe offended pious sensibilities to the point that performances of it halted prematurely. As observed in Wilbur's Introduction, Moliere may have hoped to placate religious militants opposed to Tartuffe with a comedy about a young, wealthy, atheistic, amorous scoundrel that gets his just punishment in hell.
However, if placation of religious scruples partially motivated Moliere to select the Don Juan character, his intention failed. The comedy outraged the pious, forcing him to make cuts after the first performance. Like Tartuffe, Don Juan closed early although it was a box-office success. Wilbur suggests that the primary reason it offended is its moral ambiguity. For although Don Juan gets his just punishment for his wickedness, mockery of orthodoxy is just below the surface of the plot.
For example, in Act 1, Scene 1, orthodox beliefs are implicitly put on a par with superstition when Don Juan's valet, Sganarelle, reports that his master "doesn't believe in Heaven, or Hell, or werewolves even." In Act 3, Scene 1, Sganarelle asks if Don Juan believes in Heaven, Hell, and the Devil, to each of which he makes plain his disbelief. Finally, Sganarelle asks if he believes in the Bogeyman, and he answers, "Don't be an idiot." Sganarelle then objects, "Now there you go too far, for there's nothing truer in this world than the Bogeyman; I'll stake my life on that." Thus, Moliere casts a nincompoop as an apologist of orthodoxy.
Another offensive characterization is the pious Poor Man in Scene 2 of Act 3. He is an idiot living alone for ten years in the woods praying for the prosperity of those who give him alms while he himself lacks "a crust of bread to chew on." Don Juan suggests that he worry less about others and pray to Heaven for a coat. Offering him a gold coin, Don Juan says, "Here it is, take it. Take it, I tell you. But first you must blaspheme." The Poor Man replies, "No, Sir, I'd rather starve to death."
Perhaps most offensive is Don Juan's explanation of why he has decided to become a religious hypocrite in Act 5, Scene 2. Being a hypocrite will make it easier to hide his misconduct and make obtaining forgiveness easier by repentance if found out. Moreover, being the hypocrite will enable him to accuse his enemies of impiety, thereby stirring up against them "a swarm of ignorant zealots."
Thus, in Moliere's Don Juan, nothing is sacred, and Richard Wilbur's translation captures every outrageous bit of it. Buy it, read it and laugh!
Scrumptious.......2001-03-06
I had no intention of reading a romance type novel, I dont even read them and I happenned to pick this up , just to pass the time while I waited in line. I was mesperized and laughing by the time I was at the front of the line. I putt back the book I was going to buy and bought this. You wont be disappointed. Perfect reading for a cold snowy night!
Book Description
Wilbur is at the peak of his form in this stellar translation of an unusual Molière play-populated with Greeks and Greco-Roman gods and flavored with the essences of vaudeville, fan-tasy, high comedy, farce, and even opera. Afterword by Richard Wilbur.
Download Description
SOS. What the deuce of a fellow is this? My heart thrills with clutching fear. But why should I tremble thus? Perhaps the rogue is as much afraid as I am, and talks in this way to hide his fear from me under a feigned audacity. Yes, yes, I will not allow him to think me a goose. If I am not bold, I will try to appear so. Let me seek courage by reason; he is alone, even as I am.
Customer Reviews:
Wilbur scores again!.......2003-04-26
Wilbur faithfully reproduces some of Moliere's more experimental versification in this update of Plautus' Amphitruo, the story of Greek general who is impersonated by the god Jupiter-- so that Jupiter can share a bed with his wife! Moliere, a master of farce, plays this mistaken identity to its comic hilt.
Wilbur's translation here is peerless and his Afterword is wonderfully informative. This is not my favorite of his Moliere translations (I like The School for Wives and The Misanthrope) but I'd be hard-pressed to name a fault. Voltaire said of this play, "I laughed so hard that I fell over backwards." I didn't fall over backwards, but I got a good chuckle or two out if it.
Hilarious! Amazing translation.......2001-03-28
This is an extremely funny, well written (& translated) play; Wilbur does a terrific job with the English verse, which makes the play read like an original--rather than a translation. Finding a well translated version of non-english written plays can often be difficult (especially with so many translations available), but this one is truly terrific.
This was the first play I had read by Moliere, and it wasn't at all what I was expected. It is a very light, easy and hilarious read. I laugh out loud each time I read it.
Product Description
Molieres LEcole des femmes is a standard French drama appropriate as an introductory text for courses in college courses in French literature and culture. This edition has been prepared with non-native French speakers in mind. It includes an introduction (in French) to the author and the work, the complete novel with both linguistic and cultural notes (French-French), a current bibliography and questions in the AP format to facilitate study.
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