This volume contains four representative French comedies of the period from the death of Molière to the French Revolution: The Absent-Minded Lover by Jean-François Regnard, The Conceited Count by Philippe Néricault Destouches, The Fashionable Prejudice by Pierre Nivelle de la Chaussée, and The Friend of the Laws by Jean-Louis Laya. 

Translated in a poetic form that seeks to capture the wit and spirit of the originals, these four plays suggest something of the range of the Molière inheritance, from comedy of character through the highly popular sentimental comedy of the mid-eighteenth century, to comedy that employs the Molière tradition for more contemporary political ends. 

In addition to their humor, these comedies provide fascinating social documents that show changing ideas about such perennial social concerns as class, gender, and politics through the turbulent century that ended in the revolutions that gave birth to the modern era.

Translator/Editor: Marvin Carlson

Table of Contents

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