Jean Racine

Jean Racine was raised by the Jansenists of Port-Royal, broke with them for the theatre, and in twelve years wrote the tragedies that are the summit of French classical drama: Andromache, Bérénice, whose whole action is a parting, and Phaedra, whose heroine is destroyed by a love she cannot stop confessing. In 1677, at the height of his fame, he gave up the stage, married, became the king’s historiographer, and made his peace with Port-Royal. The plays observe the unities with a severity that makes their passion more unbearable, and they are nearly impossible to translate.