Jean Baptiste Racine
(1639 - 1699)
French dramatist. Born La Ferté-Milon December, 1639; died 21 April, 1699.
Stage Works
All plays are in verse. Unless otherwise noted, they were first performed in Paris.
- La Thébaide, ou Les frères ennemis (The Thebans, or The Enemy Brothers). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1664. Produced Palais-Royal, June 20, 1664.
- Alexandre le Grand (Alexander the Great). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1666. Produced Palais-Royal, Dec. 4, 1665 Hôtel de Bourgogne, Dec. 18, 1665.
- Andromaque (Andromache). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1668. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, Nov. 7, 1667.
- Les plaideurs (The Litigants). Comedy, 5 acts. Published 1669. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, late 1668. Based on Aristophanes's The Wasps.
- Britannicus. Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1670. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, Dec. 13, 1669.
- Bérénice (Berenice). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1671. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, Nov. 21, 1670.
- Bajazet. Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1672. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, Jan. 1, 1672.
- Mithridate (Mithridates). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1673. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, January, 1673.
- Iphigénie (Iphigenia). Tragedy, 5 acts. Published 1675. Produced Versailles, Aug. 18, 1674; Paris, Hôtel de Bourgogne, late 1674.
- Phèdre (Phaedra). Tragedy, 5 acts. Written 1676. Published 1677. Produced Hôtel de Bourgogne, Jan. 1, 1677.
- Esther. Tragedy, 3 acts. Written 1688. Published 1689. Produced Saint-Cyr, Mme. de Maintenon's school for young ladies, Jan. 26, 1689 Paris, Comédie-Française, May 8, 1721.
- Athalie (Athaliah). Tragedy, 5 acts. Written 1690/91. Published 1691. Produced Versailles, by students from Mme. de Maintenon' s school for young ladies, February, 1691 Paris, Comédie-Française, Mar. 3, 1716.
Criticism.
- M. B. de Bury, Racine and the French Classical Drama, London, 1845
- F. Hawkins, Annals of the French Stage from Its Origin to the Death of Racine, London, 1884
- D. F. C. Fisher, Corneille and Racine in England: A Study of the English Translations of the Two Corneilles and Racine, New York, 1904
- M. Cowley, Racine, Paris, 1923
- M. Duclaux, The Life of Racine, London, 1925, New York, 1926
- J. Giraudoux, Racine, tr. by P. M. Jones, Cambridge, England, 1938
- A. F. B. Clark, Jean Racine, Cambridge, Mass., 1939
- M. Turnell, The Classical Moment: Studies of Corneille, Molière and Racine, London, 1946
- V. Orgel, A New View of the Plays of Racine, London, 1948
- G. Brereton, Jean Racine, London, 1951
- K. Wheatley, Racine and English Classicism, Austin, Tex., 1956
- E. Vinaver, Racine and Poetic Tragedy, tr. by P. M. Jones, Manchester, England, 1955, New York, 1959
- K. Muir, Last Periods of Shakespeare, Racine, Ibsen, Detroit, 1961
- M.-H. Beyle, Racine and Shakespeare, tr. by G. Daniels, New York, 1962;
- B. Weinberg, The Art of Jean Racine, Chicago, 1963
- R. Barthes, On Racine, tr. by R. Howard, New York, 1964
- L. Goldmann, The Hidden God: A Study of Tragic Vision in the Penseés of Pascal and the Tragedies of Racine, tr. by P. Thody, London and New York, 1964
- J. C. Lapp, Aspects of Racinian Tragedy, Toronto, 1964
- J. A. Stone, Sophocles and Racine, Geneva, 1964
- P. France, Racine's Rhetoric, Oxford, 1965
- R. J. Nelson, Corneille and Racine: Parallels and Contrasts, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966
- O. de Mourgues, Racine, or The Triumph of Relevance, London, 1967;
- A. A. Tilley, Three French Dramatists: Racine, Marivaux, Mussel, reprint, New York, 1967
- B. L. Knapp, Jean Racine: Mythos and Renewal in Modern Theater, Alabama, 1971
- G. Brereton, Jean Racine: A Critical Biography, London and New York, 1973.
- L. Racine, Mémoire sur la vie de Jean Racine, 2 vols., Lausanne and Geneva, 1747
- M.-H. Beyle, Racine et Shakespeare, 2d ed., Paris, 1854
- F. Deltour, Les ennemis de Racine au XVlle siècle, Paris, 1859
- J.-J.-E. Roy, Histoire de Jean Racine, Tours, 1863
- P. Mesnard, Notice bibliographique de Racine, Paris, 1865-1873;
- P. Robert, La poétique de Racine, Paris, 1890;
- E. Deschanel, Racine, 2 vols., Paris, 1891
- P. Monceaux, Racine, Paris, 1892
- G. Larroumet, Racine, Paris, 1898
- J. Lemaître, Jean Racine, 18th ed., Paris, 1908
- G. Truc, Le cas Racine , Paris,1921
- L. Dubech, Jean Racine, politique, Paris, 1926
- E. Renan, Sur Corneille, Racine et Bossuet, Paris, 1926
- G. Truc, Jean Racine: L'artiste, l'homme et le temps, Paris, 1926
- F. Mauriac, La vie de Jean Racine, Paris,1928
- H. Bremond, Racine et Valéry, Paris, 1930
- J. Giraudoux, Racine, Paris, 1930
- J. Lichtenstein, Racine, poète biblique, Paris, 1934
- J. Talagrand, Racine, Paris, 1935
- M.-M.-L. Saint-René Taillandier, Racine, enl. ed., Paris, 1940
- J.-L.-P. Segond, Psychologie de Jean Racine, Paris, 1940
- E. E. Williams, Racine depuis 1885: Bibliographie raisonnée, Baltimore, 1940
- P. Brisson, Les deux visages de Racine, Paris, 1944
- O. Mornet, Jean Racine, Paris, 1944
- P. Moreau, Racine: L'homme et l'oeuvre, Paris, 1945
- A. Bailly, Racine, Paris, 1946
- P. Guéguen, Poésie de Racine, Paris, 1946
- P. de Lacretelle, La vie privée de Racine, Paris, 1946
- F. Lion, Les rêves de Racine, Paris, 1948
- G. C. May, Tragédie cornélienne, tragédie racinienne, Urbana, Ill., 1948
- M. Cambier, Racine et Madame de Maintenon, Brussels, 1949
- G. C. May, D'Ovide à Racine, Paris, 1949
- R. C. Knight, Racine et la Grèce, Paris, 1951
- E. Vinaver, Racine et la poésie tragique, Paris, 1951
- J.-J.-M. Pommier, Aspects de Racine, Paris, 1954
- L. Goldmann, Le Dieu caché: Etude sur la vision tragique dans les Pensées de Pascal et dans le théâtre de Racine, Paris, 1956
- id., Jean Racine, dramaturge, Paris, 1956
- J.-D. Hubert, Essai d'exégèse racinienne, Paris, 1956
- R. Picard, La carrière de Jean Racine, Paris, 1956
- M. Descotes, Les grands rôles du théâtre de Jean Racine, Paris, 1957
- C. Mauron, L'inconscient dans l'oeuvre et la vie de Racine, Gap, France, 1957
- R. Jasinski, Vers le vrai Racine, 2 vols., Paris, 1958
- P. Butler, Classicisme et baroque dans l'oeuvre de Racine, Paris, 1959
- L. Vaurois, L'enfance et la jeunesse de Racine, Paris, 1964
- M. Blom, Le thème symbolique dans le théâtre de Racine, 2 vols., Paris, 1962-1965
- J. Mercanton, Racine, Paris, 1966
- O. de Mourgues, Autonomie de Racine, Paris, 1967
- R. Picard, Racine polémiste, Paris, 1967
- B. C. Freeman, ed., Concordance de théâtre et des poésies de Jean Racine, 2 vols., Ithaca, N.Y., 1968
- J. J. Roubine, Lectures de Racine, Paris, 1971
- G. Borgal, Racine, Paris, 1974
- R. C. Night, Racine et la Grèce, Paris, 1974
- A. Niderst, Les tragédies de Racine. Diversité et unité, Paris, 1975
- E. Batache-Watt, Profils des héroïnes raciniennes, Paris, 1976;
- Racine: Mythes et réalités, W. Ontario, 1976.