French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Bontea, Les Origines de la Comédie Française Classique
Theatre and Performance
BONTEA, Adriana, Les Origines de la Comédie Française Classique, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / Bruxelles / New York / Oxford / Wien, Peter Lang (Medieval and Early Modern French Studies), 2007, 284 p.
ISBN 978-3-03911-123-7
ABSTRACT
Having served as a cornerstone of dramatic and literary history since the eighteenth century, Molière's comedy has remained a constant reference point for historians and practitioners of theatre alike. Although it has often been invoked to define the so-called classical aesthetic, it is widely agreed today—particularly in light of successive reassessments of the baroque phenomenon—that this classification obscures its meaning rather than clarifying it. Should we abandon this concept, which Romanticism had already dismissed with disdain? Or should we preserve it while challenging its original meaning and clichéd self-evidence? In seeking to answer these questions, this book traces the reception of Molière's comedy by his contemporaries and future generations, as well as the shifting perceptions that have accompanied it down to the present day. Its aim is to uncover, amidst historical discontinuities, the meaning of a classicism free from any pre-established doctrine, grafting the new onto an ancient desire. When applied solely to Molière's comic poetry, this blanket term conceals multiple origins while nonetheless allowing for the appreciation of works distinct from his own.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Comedy: A Public Stage
Comic Drama and Human Language
Rhythm and Performative Speech
Dramatic Composition
Sonorous Speech and Music: The Theories of Rousseau and Dubos
Molière’s Voice
Dramaturgy and Dramatic Notation
Dramaturgy and Dance
Secular Theatre and Entertainment
Baroque Entertainment and Pastoral
The commedia dell'arte Tradition
The Spirit of Farce and Spanish Theatre
Comedy and Marriage — Comedy and Props
The Moderns and the Poetic Genres of the Ancients
The French Terence
The Drama of the Mask
Scapin and the Law
Comedy and Freedom.
BIOGRAPHY
Adriana Bontea is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Sussex, Great Britain, where she teaches comparative literature. She has published several articles on French literature and painting in the classical age, as well as on baroque entertainment and the philosophical conceptualization of works of art.
This scholarly study examines how the comic drama associated with Molière came to define the classical aesthetic in French literature. Adriana Bontea investigates the reception of these works by contemporary audiences and later generations, questioning whether traditional labels adequately capture the complexity of seventeenth-century drama. By looking beyond rigid definitions influenced by the baroque phenomenon, the book reconsiders the historical roots of a theatrical tradition that has shaped dramatic theory for centuries.
Rooted in literary history and performance studies, the work will interest scholars, students, and practitioners of theatre exploring French literature. It addresses central questions regarding dramatic composition, staging, and the relationship between dramatic poetry and ancient models. Readers interested in Renaissance and early modern studies, as well as the evolution of theatrical genres, will find this a valuable resource for understanding the foundations of classical French comedy.