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    The Litigants
    The Litigants
    The Litigants
    Ebook65 pages31 minutes

    The Litigants

    By Jean Racine

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    The 17th century dramatist Jean Racine was considered, along with Molière and Corneille, as one of the three great playwrights of his era. The quality of Racine's poetry has been described as possibly his most important contribution to French literature and his use of the alexandrine poetic line is one of the best examples of such use noted for its harmony, simplicity and elegance. While critics over the centuries have debated the worth of Jean Racine, at present, he is widely considered a literary genius of revolutionary proportions. In this volume of Racine's plays we find "The Litigants", the fourth of twelve plays by the author. Inspired by Aristophanes' "Wasps", Racine removes all political significance in this farce. As the only comedy by Racine "The Litigants" stands apart from his other works. The action of the story revolves around Judge Dandin, who in his old age has begun to go crazy. Hilarity ensues as Leander, Dandin's son, and Petit Jean, a house porter, attempt to wrangle the out of control patriarch of the family.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2013
    ISBN9781420949100
    The Litigants
    Author

    Jean Racine

    Jean Racine, né le 22 décembre 1639 à La Ferté-Milon et mort le 21 avril 1699 à Paris, est un dramaturge et poète français. Issu d'une famille de petits notables de la Ferté-Milon et tôt orphelin, Racine reçoit auprès des « Solitaires » de Port-Royal une éducation littéraire et religieuse rare.

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      Book preview

      The Litigants - Jean Racine

      cover.jpg

      THE LITIGANTS

      BY JEAN RACINE

      TRANSLATED BY ROBERT BRUCE BOSWELL

      eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4910-0

      ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4909-4

      This edition copyright © 2013

      Please visit www.digireads.com

      CONTENTS

      INTRODUCTION TO THE LITIGANTS.

      CHARACTERS.

      ACT I.

      ACT II.

      ACT III.

      THE LITIGANTS.

      A Comedy.

      INTRODUCTION TO THE LITIGANTS.

      This play, which is neither a comedy nor a farce but has elements in common with each, was first performed in 1668 at Paris, and afterwards at Versailles. Its humour in a great measure depends upon the mock gravity which masks its ridiculous features; the language and style are those of comedy, while the tone of exaggeration and the absurdity of the situations belong more fitly to burlesque. It is a French adaptation of The Wasps of Aristophanes, to which the wit of Rabelais and of Furetière (author of the Roman Bourgeois) have contributed not a little. Racine's own experience of law and lawyers was derived from the suit in which he had been involved about the Priory of Epernay, during the course of which he picked up a number of barbarous terms, which, to quote his own words, neither my judges nor I ever properly understood.

      Les Plaideurs, though it fell rather flat at first, has proved to be by far the most popular of all Racine's plays.

      CHARACTERS.

      DANDIN, a judge.

      LEANDER, son of Dandin,

      CHICANEAU, a citizen.

      ISABELLE, daughter of Chicaneau.

      A Countess.

      PETIT-JEAN, a house porter.

      L'INTIMÉ, a clerk.

      A Prompter.

      The scene is laid in a town of Lower Normandy.

      THE LITIGANTS.

      A COMEDY.

      ACT I.

      SCENE I.

      PETIT-JEAN. [hauling along a big bag full of raw-papers.]

      Oh, what a fool is he who trusts the future:

      Who laughs at morn will cry before the night.

      A judge took me, last year, into his service,—

      Fetch'd me from Amiens to be Swiss porter.

      These Normans thought to laugh at my expense:

      When we're with wolves, one learns to howl, they say.

      I played a wily hand, tho' a poor Picard,

      And crack'd my whip loudly as any other.

      All the fine gentlemen would, hat in hand,

      Call me good Mr. Petit-Jean, with flatteries

      Long as your arm. But honours without coin

      Are naught. I acted like a play-house porter;

      In vain they knock'd, and bow'd with heads uncover'd,

      Save with the silver key, they might not enter.

      No money,—then no Swiss, to unlock the door.

      'Tis true my master's pocket took a scantling;

      Sometimes there came a reckoning. 'Twas my charge

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