The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, by Molière

In brilliant rhymed couplets, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Richard Wilbur renders two of seventeenth-century French playwright Moliere’s comic masterpieces into English, capturing not only the form and spirit of the language but also its substance.

The Misanthrope is a searching comic study of falsity, shallowness, and self-righteousness through the character of Alceste, a man whose conscience and sincerity are too rigorous for his time.

In Tartuffe, a wily, opportunistic swindler manipulates a wealthy prude and bigot through his claims of piety. This latter translation earned Wilbur a share of the Bollingen Translation Prize for his critically-acclaimed work of this satiric take on religious hypocrisy.

“Mr. Wilbur has given us a sound, modern, conversational poetry and has made Moliere’s The Misanthrope brilliantly our own.”–The New York Times Book Review

Author: Richard Wilbur
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 10/20/1965
Series: Harvest Book
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.6lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.30w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780156605175
Language: English