Description
Though much beloved and widely produced, Moli¨re's satirical comedies pose a problem for those reading or staging his works today: how can a genre associated with biting caricature and castigation deliver engaging theater? Instead of simply dismissing social satire as a foundation for Moli¨re's theater, as many have done, Larry F. Norman takes seriously Moli¨re's claim that his satires are first and foremost effective theater.
Pairing close readings of Moli¨re's comedies with insightful accounts of French social history and aesthetics, Norman shows how Moli¨re conceived of satire as a "public mirror" provoking dynamic exchange and conflict with audience members obsessed with their own images. Drawing on these tensions, Moli¨re portrays characters satirizing one another on stage, with their reactions providing dramatic conflict and propelling comic dialogue. By laying bare his society's system of imagining itself, Moli¨re's satires both enthralled and enraged his original audience and provide us with a crucial key to the classical culture of representation.
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