什麼是拉辛

Racine, Jean(-Baptiste)

法國劇作家、法國古典悲劇大師。早年父母雙亡，成爲孤兒。在詹森派女修道院受的教育，但他不顧他的撫養環境而選擇了戲劇。1664年他的第一部戲是莫里哀演出的。當拉辛把他的下一個劇本《亞歷山大大帝》（1665）交給競爭對手劇院，並且誘姦了莫里哀的情婦和女主角後，他與莫里哀之間的友誼就終結了。那位女主角在拉辛的《安德羅瑪克》（1667）中擔任主角，該劇取得了成功，反映出他悲劇性的狂熱愛情的主題。《訟棍》（1668）是他唯一的喜劇。接下來是兩部偉大的悲劇《布里塔尼居斯》（1669）和《貝蕾尼斯》（1670）。這兩部戲導致拉辛與高乃依絕交。高乃依原是老戲迷們的偶像，但聲望正在下降。接着，拉辛又推出了《巴雅澤》（1672）。根據希臘神話悲劇寫完他的傑作《菲德拉》（1677）後，他退出寫作而成爲路易十四的史官。他最後的兩個劇本《愛絲苔爾》（1689）和《阿達莉》（1691）是奉國王的妻子曼特農侯爵夫人之命而寫的。

1639～1699年

Racine, Jean(-Baptiste)

French playwright and master of French classical tragedy. Orphaned at an early age, he was educated in a Jansenist convent, and he chose drama in defiance of his upbringing. His first play was produced by Molière in 1664. Their friendship ended when Racine took his next play, Alexandre le grand (1665), to a competing theater and seduced Molière's mistress and leading actress. She starred in Racine's successful Andromaque (1667), which explored his theme of the tragic folly of passionate love. His only comedy, The Litigants (1668), was followed by his great tragedies Britannicus (1669) and Bérénice (1670)—which together led to a breach with Pierre Corneille, the declining idol of older playgoers—and Bajazet (1672). After writing his masterpiece, Phèdre (1677), a tragedy drawn from Greek mythology, he retired to become official historian to Louis XIV. His final plays, Esther (1689) and Athalie (1691), were commissioned by the king's wife, Mme. de Maintenon.