As I’d mentioned in French Classical Literature, it was by pure accident that I’d picked up William Wilkins Cleaver’s Classic French Course in History. I thought it to be a book on elementary French. Instead, it turned out to be a historical account of French literary giants up until the nineteenth century. After almost two weeks, I’m done with the book. And now in retrospect, I must say that picking up this book was a happy accident.
A very admirable feature of the book was that it gave excerpts from the works of the person it was focusing on in a particular chapter and allowed the reader to form an opinion of the work himself. This way, I came to know of books that I’d have greatly enjoyed but would have never probably come across had it not been for this book; Le Rochefaucald’s Maxims, Montaigne’s Essays and Racine’s Polyeucte, for example.
Although the book was diverse in its choice of its Frenchmen who have made contributions to a wide variety of fields including politics, history, science and religion, the ones I enjoyed reading the most was about the French dramatists Corneille and Racine. Hence, the title of this post.
The English speaking world is, I feel, largely ignorant about French drama. We’re accustomed to limiting ourselves to the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare. Not that it is without good reason. The two schools of drama are probably the greatest there are. Like French poetry, French drama has also been largely overshadowed by its English counterparts. But after reading the book, I found myself wondering why. The little excerpts I read of Corneille’s and Racine’s plays were delightful reads.
A characteristic of French tragedy is its grandeur, something like a Yash Chopra or Karan Johar movie. And the French dramatist like to overflow their dramas with heroic characters. For instance, the play Polyeucte involves a love triangle where all three are willing to make supreme sacrifices of their love for the sake of their beloved and their country. You actually find yourself at a loss as to who to empathize with and root for. Personally, I find this to be a delightful quality in a play and would love to see one in action.
Being a part of the Dramatics Section here at IIT Roorkee, we are to host two plays in the next semester. I was incredibly keen on trying Shakespeare, something which our section has never done in three decades of its existence. But as has been pointed out to me several times, such an undertaking is implausible. I’m now considering looking into these French dramas. It’s highly unlikely that they be plausible either but if its translated versions are lucid and simple enough, I’d definitely like to pitch it in as a nominee for the stage play script.
The Black Swan 