Molière in Context

Jan Clarke is Professor and Director of Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University. Her research centres on seventeenth-century theatre, with a particular focus on stage and theatre design, stage lighting, company organisation, and the role of women both on and off stage. As well as penning numerous chapters and articles, she published the first, three-volume history of the company that succeeded that of Molière, The Guénégaud Theatre in Paris (1998, 2001, 2007).

Biographical preface Georges Forestier; Part 1. Socio-political Context: 1. A Bourgeois at court Mathieu da Vinhae; 2. The religious climate Julia Prest; 3. Medicine Valerie Worth-Stylianou; 4. Family law Janine Lanza; 5. Women Wendy Perkins; 6. Gender, masculinity and cross-dressing Joseph Harris; Part 2. Intellectual and Artistic Context: 7. Philosophical influences Jean-Luc Robin; 8. Molière and classical theatre Michael Call; 9. The survival of medieval and renaissance professional practices Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès; 10. Commedia dell'arte Claude Bourqui; 11. The literary establishment Richard Maber; 12. Are the Précieuses only ridicules? Molière, salon culture and the shaping of France's collective memory Faith E. Beasley; Part 3. Theatrical Context (Paris): 13. Molière's theatres in Paris Philippe Cornuaille; 14. Stage design in Paris Philippe Cornuaille; 15. Company administration Jan Clarke; 16. The theatre industry and cultures of consumption Sabine Chaouche; 17. Acting style Sabine Chaouche; Part 4. Theatrical Context (Court): 18. Colbert, cultural policy and the propaganda of spectacle Georgia Cowart; 19. The decors of comedy-ballet: from the 'Songe de Vaux' to the 'Rêve de Versailles' Marie-Claude Canova-Green; 20. Court performances and their audiences Laura Naudeix; 21. Music Anne Piéjus; 22. The livrets of Molière's plays Marine Roussillon; Part 5. Reception and dissemination: 23. Audience laughter Coline Piot; 24. The triumph of publicity Christophe Schuwey; 25. Molière and his critics: the 'Querelles' Jeanne-Marie Hostiou; 26. Molière and his publishers Michael Call; 27. Molière In print Michael Hawcroft; 28. Early modern English translations of Molière Suzanne Jones; Part 6. Afterlives: 29. Molière at the hôtel Guénégaud and the Comédie-Française: the early years Jan Clarke; 30. Comedy after Molière Guy Spielmann; 31. Molière as national hero Mechele Leon; 32. Molière in performance: Twentieth- and twenty-first-century productions Noël Peacock; 33. Molière on the modern Anglophone stage Cédric Ploix; 34. Who and what is Molière? The film director's perspective Noël Peacock; 35. Molière in the Arab world Angela Daiana Langone; 36. Digital Molière Claude Bourqui.