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Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)

Author of Le Cid

266+ Works 3,410 Members 55 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Corneille is a part of the greatest period of French drama. His artistic model and theory of the drama were to be followed by successive generations of dramatists, including Racine. His plays deal with noble characters in closely defined situations of high moral intensity. After modest success as a show more writer of complex, baroque comedies, Corneille achieved fame with Le Cid (1636--37), adapted from Guillen de Castro's three-day comedy Las Moceddes del Cid. It vividly represents the dominant theme of his tragedies: the inner struggle between duty and passion. Corneille went on to dominate the French theater of his day with plays that reflect the changing relationships between the aristocracy and the new absolutist state. Some of Corneille's other major tragedies include Horace (1640), Cinna (1640), and Polyeuctus (1643). In his shaping of language and form to his dramatic purposes, Corneille had a great effect on the development of French literature; more specifically, it can be said that he gave form and aim to French neoclassicism. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: From Album littéraire de la France

Series

Works by Pierre Corneille

Le Cid (1636) — Author — 1,136 copies
L'Illusion comique (1636) 265 copies
Horace (1640) 255 copies
Cinna (1641) 177 copies
Polyeucte (1642) 171 copies
The Classic Theatre; Volume IV: Six French Plays (1961) — Contributor — 78 copies
Rodogune (1967) 58 copies
Nicomède (1960) 48 copies
Le Menteur (1883) 43 copies
Oeuvres complètes (1989) 32 copies
Théâtre choisi (1956) 31 copies
Médée (1635) 28 copies
Le Cid ; Horace ; Polyeucte (1636) 27 copies
Le Cid and The Liar (2009) 27 copies
La Place Royale (2001) 17 copies
Fransk klassisk drama (1976) 17 copies
Four classic French plays (1961) 15 copies
Théâtre (2014) 14 copies
Pompée (French Edition) (1936) 12 copies
Le Cid / Horace (1985) 11 copies
Attila (2011) 10 copies
Suréna (1993) 10 copies
Sertorius (1662) 9 copies
Theatre Complet I (1950) 9 copies
Corneille : Oeuvres complètes, tome 3 (1987) — Author — 9 copies
Thre complet, Comes (1999) 8 copies
Théatre complet - vol.2 (1934) — Author — 7 copies
Teatro (1974) 7 copies
Oeuvres completes (1963) 5 copies
Seven Plays (1969) 5 copies
Oedipe (2004) 5 copies
Clitandre (2011) 4 copies
La Veuve (French Edition) (2013) 4 copies
Classical French theatre — Contributor — 4 copies
Horace. Polyeucte (1998) 4 copies
Théâtre complet I (2011) 4 copies
Liar/The Illusion (1989) 4 copies
Corneille (1995) 3 copies
Othon (French Edition) (2015) 2 copies
Théâtre complet II (1950) 2 copies
POLYEUCTE (1969) 2 copies
Théâtre complet (1995) 2 copies
Teatru 2 copies
Chefs-d'oeuvre (1825) 2 copies
Polyeucte - Tragédie (1971) 2 copies
El Cid; Nicomedes (1991) 2 copies
Cid * Phaedra (1993) 2 copies
Polyeukt. Rodogyne (1962) 2 copies
O Cid 1 copy
O Cid 1 copy
Œdipe (2015) 1 copy
السيد 1 copy
Cyd albo Roderyk (1999) 1 copy
Drámák (1993) 1 copy
Théâtre tome 2 (1965) 1 copy
Thatre 1 1 copy
Thatre 2 1 copy
Teatro vol 1 1 copy
Teatro vol 2 1 copy
The Death of Pompey (2018) 1 copy
Theatre II 1 copy
Drame 1 copy

Associated Works

Critical Theory Since Plato (1971) — Contributor, some editions — 398 copies
Treasury of the Theatre: From Aeschylus to Ostrovsky (1967) — Contributor — 48 copies
Corneille par lui-même (1954) — Contributor — 9 copies
Profil D'Une Oeuvre: Corneille (2006) — Contributor — 1 copy

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Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

El Cid es un cantar de gesta anónimo que relata hazañas heroicas inspiradas libremente en los últimos años de la vida del caballero castellano Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar el Campeador. La versión conservada fue compuesta, según la mayoría de la crítica actual, alrededor del año 1200.
 
Flagged
AmicanaLibrary | 12 other reviews | Feb 1, 2024 |
The blank verse translation by John Cairncross has lots of energy, but I can only assume the French has more interesting imagery or something else that couldn’t be brought across, because I found these plays quite dull and one-dimensional. The characters just seem to take turns saying what they mean; there’s little subtext or double meaning here, just ideas being opposed and worked out to a formula. The Cid and Cinna are untragic tragedies; The Theatrical Illusion a mild and inoffensive comedy. Glad to have read some Corneille, I suppose.… (more)
½
 
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yarb | 1 other review | Aug 9, 2023 |
I just read Polyeucte from this collection.
 
Flagged
charlyk | Nov 15, 2019 |
I have only read El Cid by Corneille and Andromache by Racine, but I enjoyed both of them quite a lot. I think the translator did a fine job of making these readable, and I very much appreciated the insights which were in the Introduction by Paul Landis. I hope to read more of the works within in years to come.
 
Flagged
MrsLee | Apr 1, 2018 |

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Statistics

Works
266
Also by
7
Members
3,410
Popularity
#7,473
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
55
ISBNs
448
Languages
16
Favorited
2

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