Jean Racine (1639-1699)

Jean Racine (French: [ʒɑ̃ ʁasin]), baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine (22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699), was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France (along with Molière and Corneille), and an important literary figure in the Western tradition. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as Phèdre, Andromaque, and Athalie, although he did write one comedy, Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy, Esther, for the young.

Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic alexandrine; he is renowned for elegance, purity, speed, and fury, and for what Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". The linguistic effects of Racine's poetry are widely considered to be untranslatable, although many eminent poets have attempted to do so, including Lowell, Ted Hughes, and Derek Mahon into English, and Schiller into German. The latest attempt to translate Racine's plays into English earned a 2011 American Book Award for the poet Geoffrey Argent. Racine's dramaturgy is marked by his psychological insight, the prevailing passion of his characters, and the nakedness of both the plot and stage.

Jean Racine Library Average
Circulation records from 1793-1799 are lost.
Books by subject area
As classified in the 1813 Library Catalog.

Check out duration
Circulation Activity
Books by subject area
Check out duration
Jean Racine Library Average
Back to Top

The New York
Society Library

53 East 79th Street
New York, NY 10075
212.288.6900
reference@nysoclib.org

Hours of Operation

Monday / Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday
9:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Saturday / Sunday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Holiday Closing:
Easter

The Library will be closed
Sun, 3/31.

Otherwise we observe normal hours.
 
© Copyright The New York Society Library | Privacy Policy