Foreword / by Adam Gopnik -- The bungler -- Lovers' quarrels -- Sganarelle, or The imaginary cuckold -- The school for husbands -- The school for wives -- Don Juan -- An interview with the translator / by Dana Gioia.
Summary:
"One of the most accomplished American poets of his generation, Richard Wilbur was also an accomplished translator of French and Russian literature. His acclaimed verse renderings of Molière's plays -- 'among the finest translations of anyone by anyone that we possess' in the words of New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik -- are still enchanting audiences around the world. Library of America's deluxe two-volume edition brings together for the first time all ten of Wilbur's Molière translations, a project Wilbur always envisioned. It features Wilbur's original introductions to the plays, a new foreword by Adam Gopnik on the miraculous convergence of Wilbur's 20th-century American and Molière's 17th-century French sensibilities, and a fascinating interview with Wilbur about translating Molière conducted in 2009 by Dana Gioia. This first volume collects Molière's early farces The Bungler, Lover's Quarrels, and The Imaginary Cuckhold, or Sganarelle; the comedies The School for Husbands and The School for Wives, about the efforts of middle-aged men to control their young wives or fiancés, which so delighted theatergoers in Moliere's seventeenth-century France and continue to do so today; and Don Juan, Molière's retelling of the story of the legendary seducer, performed only briefly in the playwright's lifetime before pious censure forced it to close."-- Provided by publisher.
Series:
Library of America special publication Molière, 1622-1673. Plays. Selections. English (Wilbur) ; v. 1.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.