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Full-Text Articles in Modern Languages
The Portrait On Stage In Molière's Theater, Nina Ekstein
The Portrait On Stage In Molière's Theater, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Literary portraits, while common in a wide variety of genres, are not often thought of in connection with the stage. Discussions of dramaturgy make little mention of portraits, which is perhaps not surprising when one considers that theater is the domain of action, movement, and conflict; the portrait, on the contrary, is primarily descriptive. Verbal portraiture would not seem to be terribly effective in a theatrical context: it is unlikely to advance the action of the play, nor would it lend itself readily to gesture and movement. Theater requires the physical presence of its object, portraiture depends on a certain …
Le Misanthrope And Tartuffe: Two Critiques Of Verbal Portraiture, Nina Ekstein
Le Misanthrope And Tartuffe: Two Critiques Of Verbal Portraiture, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Portraiture is a deeply rooted and characteristics feature of seventeenth-century France. Verbal portraits abound in the literature of the period. By the time Molière wrote Le Misanthrope and Tartuffe (1664-1669), the «gallant» portrait had already known a great vogue, first with Mlle de Scudéry's Grand Cyrus (1649-53) and Clélie (1654-61), and then in the salons of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, as reflected in the Divers Portraits (1659) and the Recueil de Portraits et Eloges (1659). Adaptations of the verbal portrait would later appear in memoirs, letters, sermons, novels, and «caractères», remaining an important force in literature to the end …