Philippe Quinault, dramatist
By: William Brooks.
Series: Medieval and early modern French studies -- v. 6
Publisher: Peter Lang
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 512
ISBN-13: 9783039115334
Subjects: Quinault, Philippe, -- 1635-1688 -- Criticism and interpretation
First sentence: Quinault's theatre is a treasure house of textual references that can be borrowed to support studies of over-arching or general themes.
Description: Much work has been done in recent years on Quinault's librettos, but no major study of his spoken plays has appeared since the monumental thesis by Etienne Gros, published in 1926. Moreover, he has never been the subject of a monograph in English. This book rejects the deterministic approach that sees his plays as apprentice pieces for the greater achievement that is his corpus of librettos, as well as the implicit comparative approach that pigeon-holes his work, in passing, by borrowing from the pithy judgements of Boileau. To what extent does Quinault's steady move away from comedy and light tragi-comedy to tragedies that combine love and menace go hand in hand with his search for greater integrity, better characterisation, and ever more credible plotting? How did he come to create and retain a tremendously faithful audience that even the withering mockery of Boileau failed to discourage? And is there any purpose in retaining the time-worn comparison between the author of Andromaque and the author of Astrate?
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.