Lysandre by Edmond Geffroy (my collection)
A Short Book
There are indications I will not live eternally, but I have an unfinished project: publishing a book on Molière.
This goal may be unrealistic. However, I will not be given another chance. It will be a short book and I may not have reviewed recent literature on the subject as thoroughly as I would like to. Yet, I wrote a PhD thesis on Molière, and a PhD thesis is a scholarly venture. Moreover, I was expected to “dust it off,” a thesis is a thesis, and publish it.
Dusting it off is what I plan to do. In other words, it will not sound too scholarly. I will quote fellow moliéristes, but will focus on my findings.
L’Avare (www.gettyimages.fr)
Problematic Plays
- Tartuffe, 1664 – 1669
- Dom Juan, 1665
- Le Misanthrope, 1666
- L’Avare, 1668
Were it not for the intervention of a second father, the young couples in L’Avare (The Miser), 1668, could not marry. They would be at the mercy of Harpagon’s greed.
Matters are worse in Tartuffe, 1664 -1669. Were it not for the intervention of the king, not only would the young lovers not marry, but Orgon’s family would be ruined. In The Misanthrope,1666, Alceste is his own worst enemy. In Dom Juan, 1665, Dom Juan is removed by a deus ex machina and he has left Elvira, his wife.
Presentation
Chapters may resemble Molière’s “L’Avare:” Doublings, a post. This post is informative, but not too scholarly. It also illustrates my main finding. In Molière’s plays, the young lovers cannot marry without an intervention, or putting on a play (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme). In L’Avare, they are saved by a second father: doublings. Molière uses stage devices, such as a deus ex machina, to save the society of the play.
Therefore, if a blocking character is removed, he is a pharmakos (a scapegoat).
L’Avare, 1668, (The Miser) is rooted in Roman playwright Plautus‘ Aulularia. Plautus died in 184 BCE. Molière’s miserly father is a Shylock (The Merchant of Venice, c. 1600, by Shakespeare). There are misers in the commedia dell’arte, and Molière knew the stock characters of the commedia dell’arte. Comedy has a tradition. Greek playwright Aristophanes is considered its father. Molière also wrote farces. These date back not only to medieval France, but to the Atellane farces, which featured stock characters, as does the commedia dell’arte.
Conclusion & remerciements
I feel very young, but time goes by so quickly. It would please me to tell more about Molière, but it has to be now. It’s my last chance and there you are, supporting me.
I wish to thank a very kind gentleman who sent me images of Colette‘s La Chatte by Raoul Dufy.
Pierre-Loïc,
Je vous remercie bien sincèrement d’avoir pensé à moi. Ces dessins de Dufy me font plaisir. Votre générosité m’a beaucoup touchée.
Colette a eu une « dernière chatte », et j’ai, pour ma part, une dernière occasion.
Love to everyone 💕
—ooo—
Marc-Antoine Charpentier — Te Deum
Elmire (Tartuffe) by Tammy Grimes (my collection)
© Micheline Walker
16 February 2019
WordPress
Micheline's Blog 
It sounds like a book that, besides me, a lot of people would like to read, Micheline. Here’s to wish you to successfully complete, with laurels, not just this project but perhaps even the follow up to it. And more. Best of luck. Cheers
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I need to keep it simple, or it will impossible to write and difficult to read. It cannot be more complicated than L’Avare: doublings. Thank you for your encouragement. 🙂
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Love what you do.Take care. >
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I thank you very much. Between now and my expiry date, I will have done what I wanted to do. Best
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I wish you all the best with your short book.
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I thank you very much. I’ve no choice. It has to be short. 💛
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Just for your enjoyment (I hope), Micheline – a blog on my website that’s mostly photos of various Molière productions around the world:
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David, I thank you very much. That is very helpful and it is a form of encouragement. It is best I not postpone writing this book. 💕
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Micheline, literature is not exact science, so that if you don’t know the most recent research, you risk to rediscover, say, a recently discovered formula. What you have written on Molière and are going to write, is your unique view and published will be unique, unless someone has managed to “borrow” from your thesis to the extent of plagiarism. In a sense is rather better not to review others’ works too much, so that your genuine thoughts are not, or at least less influenced by “who said what” ….and Good Luck, of course! 🙂
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Dear S, I thank you very much. What I have to say is the product of my own careful reading of Molière. It is new. I have published articles on Molière, which have that have earned me considerable praise and support. Among my admirers were/are Anne Ubersfeld, Wolfgang Leiner, members of the Molière 21 group CNRS (France). David Hayne of the Canadian Royal Society and my thesis director, Harold Knutson are disappointed my work was not published. This is solid work. I thank you for writing. I will be very busy. 🙂
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