Eighteenth-century France produced only one truly international theater star, Beaumarchais, and only one name, Figaro, to combine with Don Quixote and D'Artagnan in the ranks of popular myth. But who was Figaro? He was quickly appropriated by Mozart and Rossini who tamed the original impertinent, bustling servant for their own purposes. On the eve of the French Revolution Figaro was seen as a threat to the establishment and Louis XIV even banned The Marriage of Figaro.
Was the barber of Seville really a threat to aristocratic heads, or a bourgeois individualist like his creator? The three plays in which he plots and schemes chronicle the slide of the ancien régime into revolution but they also chart the growth of Beaumarchais' humanitarianism. They are exuberant theatrical entertainments, masterpieces of skill, invention, and social satire which helped shape the direction of French theater for a hundred years. This lively new translation catches all the zest and energy of the most famous valet in French literature.
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David Coward is the author of studies of Marivaux, Marguerite Duras, Marcel Pagnol and Restif de le Bretonne, and of A History of French Literature. For OWC he has edited eight novels by Alexandre Dumas and translated Dumas fils' La Dame aux camelias', two selections of Maupassant short stories, Sade's Misfortunes of Virtue and Other Early Tales and Diderot's Jacques the Fatalist. He reviews regularly for the TLS and the London Review of Books.
`'Coward's introduction is a small masterpiece, weaving information and interpretation into a compelling narrative in a way which makes it alone worth the modest price of the volume.' 'David Coward's translations cope admirably with Beaumarchais' wide range of tones and registers in three
very different plays, and are as speakable as they are readable.' 'this excellent volume provides an admirable introduction for the English-speaking reader to Beaumarchais' greatest creation''
Times Literary Supplement
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Softcover. Condition: As New. No Jacket. The Barber of Seville * The Marriage of Figaro * The Guilty Mother Eighteenth-century France produced only one truly international theatre star, Beaumarchais, and only one name, Figaro, to put with Don Quixote or D'Artagnan in the ranks of popular myth. But who was Figaro? Not the impertinent valet of the operas of Mozart or Rossini, but both the spirit of resistance to oppression and a bourgeois individualist like his creator. The three plays in which he plots and schemes chronicle the slide of the ancien regime into revolution but also chart the growth of Beaumarchais' humanitarianism. They are also exuberant theatrical entertainments, masterpieces of skill, invention, and social satire which helped shape the direction of French theatre for a hundred years. This lively new translation catches all the zest and energy of the most famous valet in French literature.Beaumarchais[title should link to the catalogue entry][insert cover image 2804138] Unopened. Moderate shelf wear. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item. Book. Seller Inventory # 123493263
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