Dom Juan Reconsidered

Howarth, W. D.

doi:10.1093/fs/xii.3.222

Cited by 1 publication

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“…40 The second time she confronts Dom Juan, just before she retreats to a convent, her clothing is disheveled, causing Dom Juan to perceive in her a new woman who exites him: "Sais-tu bien qui j'ai encore senti quelque peu d'e motion pour elle, que j'ai trouve de l'agrement dans cette nouveaute bizarre, et que son habit neglige, son air languissant et ses larmes ont reveille en moi quelques petits restes d'un feu eteint." (IV, vii, p. 76) In this instance Dom Juan does not see that her appearance dressed in somewhat disorderly fashion in nun-like robes 41 expresses the penitential nature of her desire to enter a convent; instead he chooses to see in it traces of passion's conquest.…”

Section: Landsprmcwv Ses Ridiculesunclassified

“…Item, a cassock (jupori) of golden yellow (aurore) satin, a linen camisole with gold decorations, a flowered-patterened satin doublet for the Festirt de pierre. two pouches (panetieres) one real, the other fake, a taffeta scarf, a shirt [a chemisette or shirt worn over the nightshirt] and sleeve [7] of rose-colored taffeta and green watered silk decorated with silver laces, a chemisette of red taffeta, two thigh-pieces of green watered silk decorated with silver, valued together at 20 livres. 49 This valet's livery is the most opulent and ostentatious of all of Moliere's Sganarelle costumes.…”

Section: Landsprmcwv Ses Ridiculesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…60 W. D. Howarth(1968)followsuponGendarmedeBevotte'ssuggestion of the prince de Conti, correctly asserting that Conti was "a prominent representative of the contemporary type whom Moliere had copied." 61 Georges Couton likewise believes that Conti, hated by his brother Conde and by Louis XIV, "had supplied the largest share of this synthetic portrait" and that Moliere could not have avoided thinking of Conti in particular. 62 We remember that Conti was the royal patron of Moliere's troupe in the provinces from the early 1650s to 1657 when, presumably to compensate for his former libertine ways, the prince embraced religion, renounced Moliere's troupe, and wrote a treatise against the theatre.…”

Section: Landsprmcwv Ses Ridiculesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…interrupted by Moliere's death." 7 Mysteriously, this highly-successful play disappeared from sight after its final run on 20 March 1665, just before Easter. It did not reappear on the French stage (or on any other stage to the best of our knowledge) for some 170 years.…”

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confidence: 98%

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The Petit Marquis, the Jeune Blondin, and the Monarch: Issues in Appropriate Costuming for Molière'sDom Juan

Dock¹

1989

Theat Surv

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Critics have long attested to the various irregularities of Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, one of Molière's most unusual plays. In its time, according to W. D. Howarth, it was regarded as “a curious freak.” Numerous mysteries surround the creation and production of Dom Juan. Molière wrote it to fill in a gap created by the recent interdiction of Le Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur at a time when he needed a successful play to dress up a somewhat limited and worn-out repertory. In searching for a success, it was natural that Molière should choose the highly popular Don Juan theme. Following the lead of Tirso de Molina in Spain and of Cicognini and Giliberto in Italy, the French were taking their turn: Dorimon's Le Festin de pierre ou le Fils criminel premiered in Lyon in 1658; the same year the Italian actors mounted their own commedia dell'arte version called Il convitato di pietra in Paris in the theatre of the Petit Bourbon which they shared with Molière; and the actor Villiers's version, which had the same title as Dorimon's, premiered at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1659. It is quite possible that all three played concurrently in Paris in the early 1660s, and Molière and his actors may well have gone to see their competitors' renditions.

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Section: Landsprmcwv Ses Ridiculesunclassified

Section: Landsprmcwv Ses Ridiculesmentioning

confidence: 99%