MOLIÈRE'S LES FEMMES SAVANTES EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY ALCÉE FORTIER, D.LT. PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES IN TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA BOSTON, U.S.A. D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS PREFACE. LES FEMMES SAVANTES is one of the most widely read of Molière's comedies, and it is believed that a new edition of this great work will be favorably received in America. The editor has given a brief but accurate life of the author, and called attention to some of his best plays. It is impossible to understand thoroughly one of Molière's comedies without knowing something about the life of the celebrated writer. It is only after we have seen what a wide field for observation Molière had in his wanderings all over France that we are enabled to understand how it is that his comedies present such deep philosophy, such wonderful knowledge of the human heart. Les Femmes Savantes being the continuation of Molière's attacks in les Précieuses Ridicules on the pedantry and affectation of a certain class of French society in the seventeenth century, a short analysis of les Précieuses Ridicules is given in the Introduction. In the Notes the student will find comparatively few translations. The aim of the editor has been principally to explain the difference between the language of the seventeenth century and the French of to-day, and also to give a correct appreciation of the comedy as a work of consummate art. |