La "langue de Molière?"

La "langue de Molière"? “Molière’s language”? Although Molière was one of the most modern authors of his time, this expression refers to a classical version of the French language. In this course, we will study five of Molière’s plays while examining spelling reforms and considering the events that celebrated the 400th year of Molère’s birth in 2022 and the 350th year of his death in 2023. We will read the following plays: a farce (Le Médecin volant), a short comedy (Les Précieuses Ridicules), a great comedy in prose (Dom Juan), a great comedy in verse (Tartuffe) and a comedy ballet (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme) in which we will analyze the diversity of theater genres that Molière invented and the linguistic and societal issues that he raised. No specific book purchases are necessary: any edition will be fine. Molière’s plays are accessible online, and all essential critical bibliographical sources are available at the Davis library.

No Required texts.