Racine, Jean << ruh SEEN, zhahn >> (1639-1699), ranks among the greatest French playwrights. Racine wrote during the French Classical Age. He followed the classical rules for composition, including the use of a single concentrated plot. The outstanding feature of Racine’s art is its simplicity. He used a limited vocabulary and his plots contain very little explicit action. He said his artistic ideal was “to construct something out of nothing.”
Almost all of Racine’s important plays are tragedies. Many of his tragic heroes and heroines follow the same pattern. They are victims of violent passions, and they try unsuccessfully to impose their wills on other people. In the process, most of them cause the death of those they love. They finally recognize their illusions and accept the misery of the human condition as unavoidable. In this respect, Racine is close in spirit to the Greek playwright Sophocles. Racine’s tragedies have much in common with the descriptions of tragedies in Aristotle’s literary essay, Poetics. Both Racine and his rival Pierre Corneille wrote in 12-syllable couplets, but Racine’s style often is more severe.
Racine was born in December 1639 in La Ferte-Milon, near Meaux. He was educated by the strict Jansenist religious sect. He showed promise of a literary career at an early age. In 1664, Racine staged La Thebaide, his first tragedy to be produced. It met with little success. His next play, Alexandre (1665), enjoyed considerable acclaim.
With the production of Andromache (1667), Racine became known as one of the greatest dramatists of his time. His next seven plays are masterpieces. They are Les Plaideurs (1668), his only comedy; and the tragedies Britannicus (1669), Berenice (1670), Bajazet (1672), Mithridate (1673), Iphigenie (1674), and Phaedra (1677). In 1677, Racine retired from the stage. Later, he wrote Esther (1689) and Athalie (1691), tragedies based on stories from the Old Testament. Racine died on April 21, 1699.
