Molière in Context

The definitive guide to Molière's world and his afterlife, this is an accessible contextual guide for academics, undergraduates and theatre professionals alike. Interdisciplinary and diverse in scope, each chapter offers a different perspective on the social, cultural, intellectual, and theatrical environment within which Molière operated, as well as demonstrating his subsequent impact both within France and across the world. Offering fresh insight for those working in the fields of French Studies, Theatre and Performance Studies and French History, Molière in Context is an exceptional tribute to the premier French dramatist on the 400th anniversary of his birth.

• Includes work from a wide range of Molière scholars from France, the US and the UK, many of whom appear in English here for the first time
• Covers a huge range of topics related to the conditions within which Molière functioned and the influences that operated on him, offering an extremely thorough, expert-led survey of social, intellectual, and theatrical life in seventeenth-century France, is accessible to academics as much as to enthusiasts
• Answers the question of how Molière became the premier French dramatist and symbol of French national genius, showing how his influence developed over time and spread worldwide