 French dramatist,
whose plays are masterpieces of classical French literature. Corneille
was born on June 8, 1606, in Rouen, Normandy, the son of a government
official. Educated in Jesuit schools and in law, he held minor public
offices in Rouen from 1629 to 1650. His career as a dramatist began when
Mélite, a comedy of love, was successfully produced in Paris in
1630. The tragicomedy Clitandre (1631), as well as other comedies and
his tragedy Médée (1635), an adaptation of classical Greek
and Roman plays, followed. In 1636 or 1637 Corneille produced the
tragedy Le Cid, based on a Spanish play about the legendary medieval hero.
Although critics bitterly condemned the play because it did not adhere
strictly to the classical rules of construction that require unity of
time, place, and action, it was a triumph. The theme, the conflict between
love and duty, characterizes many of Corneille's subsequent tragedies.
In them, however, he observed the classical unities. His finest tragedies,
after Le Cid, are Horace (1640), Cinna (1641), and Polyeucte (1643), all
set in ancient Rome. These four plays, imbued with strength, dignity,
and elegance, created the standards of French tragedy, which were further
developed by his younger contemporary Jean Baptiste Racine.
Corneille was also a master of comedy. Le menteur (The Liar, 1643) is
considered the best French comedy before those of Molière. Like
his earlier Mélite, it is a comedy of manners, a form he originated. In
1647 Corneille and his large family, including that of his brother Thomas
Corneille, who was also a successful play-wright, moved to Paris. Established
as a major dramatist receiving a government pension, Corneille was elected
to the French Academy in that year. His next productions, Don Sanche d'Aragon
(1649), Andromède (1650), and Nicomède (1651), were well
received. After Pertharite (1651) failed, however, he stopped writing
for the stage for eight years. Later, with government encouragement, he
wrote many plays, chiefly complex tragedies, which declined in quality.
He died in Paris on October 1, 1684. Corneille's best work won him
the approbation of his contemporaries Racine and Molière. He is
regarded as one of the greatest French playwrights; his dramas are maintained
in the repertoire of the Comédie Française. |