The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, by Molière
HarperCollins · Paperback · October 20, 1965
In brilliant rhymed couplets, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Richard Wilbur renders two of seventeenth-century French playwright Moliere's comic masterpieces into English, capturing not only the form and spirit of the language but also its substance.
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- Who it’s for
- Two Molière comedies arrive in brilliant rhymed couplets, with satire sharp enough to keep its edge.
- Themes
- Falsity and self-righteousness, Religious hypocrisy
- Genres
- French Plays
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In brilliant rhymed couplets, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Richard Wilbur renders two of seventeenth-century French playwright Moliere's comic masterpieces into English, capturing not only the form and spirit of the language but also its substance. The Misanthrope is a searching comic study of falsity, shallowness, and self-righteousness through the character of Alceste, a man whose conscience and sincerity are too rigorous for his time.
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In Tartuffe, a wily, opportunistic swindler manipulates a wealthy prude and bigot through his claims of piety. This latter translation earned Wilbur a share of the Bollingen Translation Prize for his critically-acclaimed work of this satiric take on religious hypocrisy. "Mr. Wilbur has given us a sound, modern, conversational poetry and has made Moliere's The Misanthrope brilliantly our own.”—The New York Times Book Review
Wit in Couplets
Two Molière comedies arrive in brilliant rhymed couplets, with satire sharp enough to keep its edge.
Come here for
- Verbal sparkle in Wilbur’s English translations
- Comedy with teeth: hypocrisy, shallowness, and self-righteousness
Expect
- A modern, conversational poetic voice
- Two comic masterpieces rendered in rhymed couplets
Where it sits
| French Plays | 97% |
|---|
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- French Plays
- Shakespeare
- Plays by Women
- Monologues & Scenes
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Film Guides & Reviews
- Film Reference
- Performing Arts Resources
- Theater
- Authors
- Richard Wilbur
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- October 20, 1965
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Falsity and self-righteousness · Religious hypocrisy
- Reading lane
- French Plays