Phedra ( NHB Drama Classics) - Softcover

Jean Racine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1854590944 ISBN 13: 9781854590947

Publisher: Nick Hern Books, 2001

Synopsis

Number fifty in NHB's Drama Classics Series, providing the world's great drama at a great price.

The introduction to this edition of Phedra includes: a short biography of Jean Racine; a guide to what happens in the play; a short history of the play and its context; and a brief guide to characterisation, structure, language and themes.

Consumed by an uncontrollable passion for her young stepson and believing Theseus, her absent husband, to be dead, Phedre confesses her darkest desires and enters the world of nightmare. When Theseus returns, alive and well, Phedre, fearing exposure, accuses her stepson of rape. Unable to see beyond her impassioned words to his own son's protestations, heartbroken and overcome, Theseus banishes Hippolytus and wishes him dead. But when the gods are always listening, you should be careful what you wish for...

About this title

About the Author

Jean Racine (1639 - 1699) was one of the most important of 17th-century literary figures in the Western tradition. Primarily a classicist and tragedian his most famous plays include Phedra and Andromaque. In 1677, when he had ten plays to his credit and was greatly admired by both the court and the public, he abandoned the theatre, which was regarded as far from respectable by the Church, and joined the Establishment as Royal Historiographer. It was only after a silence of twelve years that he wrote his last two plays (both on religious subjects), Esther and Athaliah. He died in 1699.

Edition details

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1854590944
• ISBN 13: 9781854590947
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128