Jean Racine

Edward Forman (University of Bristol)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.03: French Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century: Classical and Baroque, 1600-1700.
Vol. editors: Heather Kirk (University of Western Ontario), Kathrina LaPorta (New York University), Polly Mangerson (DePaul University), Julia Prest (University of St Andrews), Allison Stedman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born Dec 1639
Died 21 Apr 1699
Activity 1667-1699

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist

Resources

The French playwright Jean Racine is the most significant author of tragedies in the classical tradition. Orphaned as an infant, he was brought up by relatives under the influence of the austere Jansenist strand in contemporary Christianity. The bleakly pessimistic view of human nature portrayed in his plays has been associated with that upbringing, even though at a conscious level he was rejecting Jansenist influence by his involvement in court life and theatre. His education at the Jansenist convent of Port-Royal gave him a grounding in Greek as well as Latin literature, and the influence of Euripides, alongside that of Seneca which dominated previous French tragic drama, may help to explain the element of cruelty and cynicism about …

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2493 words

Citation: Forman, Edward. "Jean Racine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 December 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3689, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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