Volume 48, Number 8 · May 17, 2001
Molière Imaginaire
By John Weightman
Molière: A Theatrical Life
Virginia Scott
Cambridge University Press, 333 pp., $54.95
I sometimes think it a blessing that we know next to nothing about Shakespeare, the man, and so are forced to concentrate almost entirely on the works, without getting involved in the difficult business of explaining the works by the life, or deducing the life from the works. Of course, biographers will go on speculating endlessly about the Dark Lady, the Onlie Begetter, and the second-best bed, but we know before we read them that they, and we, are indulging in fiction. Molière, a parallel figure to Shakespeare in theatrical history, belonged entirely to the following century, the seventeenth, and being nearer to the modern world, might have been expected to leave tell-tale details about himself in letters or diaries. Surprisingly, this is not the case. There is traditional gossip about Molière, but none of it can be confirmed or denied from any record left by the playwright himself, so again the field is left wide open.
Review, 1728 words
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