The Miser And George Dandin

Harpagon, the most desperate, scheming miser in literature, starves his servants, declines to pay them, cheats his own children if he can save (or make) a few coins, and when his hoard of gold disappears, insanely accuses himself of being the thief. Dandin, in this rousing classic, not previously available in English for sixty years, is a man in a plight that everybody but him will find entertaining.

This collection covers the lyrical poetry of Mary Shelley, as well as her writings for Lardner's "Cabinet Cyclopaedia of Biography" and some other materials only recently attributed to her.

Was there more to medieval and Renaissance comedy than Chaucer and Shakespeare? Bien sûr. For a real taste of saucy early European humor, one must cross the Channel to France. There, in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the sophisticated met the scatological in popular performances presented by roving troupes in public squares that skewered sex, politics, and religion. For centuries, the scripts for these outrageous, anonymously written shows were available only in French editions gathered from scattered print and manuscript sources. Now prize-winning theater historian Jody Enders brings twelve of the funniest of these farces to contemporary English-speaking audiences in "The Farce of the Fart" and Other Ribaldries. Enders's translation captures the full richness of the colorful characters, irreverent humor, and over-the-top plotlines, all in a refreshingly uncensored American vernacular. Those who have never heard the one about the Cobbler, the Monk, the Wife, and the Gatekeeper should prepare to be shocked and entertained. "The Farce of the Fart" and Other Ribaldries is populated by hilarious characters high and low. For medievalists, theater practitioners, and classic comedy lovers alike, Enders provides a wealth of information about the plays and their history. Helpful details abound for each play about plot, character development, sets, staging, costumes, and props. This performance-friendly collection offers in-depth guidance to actors, directors, dramaturges, teachers, and their students. "The Farce of the Fart" and Other Ribaldries puts fifteenth-century French farce in its rightful place alongside Chaucer, Shakespeare, commedia dell'arte, and Molière—not to mention Monty Python. Vive la Farce!

This five-volume work consists in biographies of the most important writers and thinkers of their time, since 14th until 19th century. Most of them were written by the Romantic writer Mary Shelley. Her extensive knowledge of history and languages, her ability to tell a gripping biographical narrative, and her interest in the burgeoning field of feminist historiography are reflected in these works. She wrote in a style that combined secondary sources, memoir, anecdote, and her own opinions. Her political views are most obvious in the Italian Lives, where she supports the Italian independence movement and promotes republicanism; in the French Lives she portrays women sympathetically, explaining their political and social restrictions and arguing that women can be productive members of society if given the proper educational and social opportunities. Contents: Vol. 1: Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France (Part. I): Montaigne Rabelais Corneille Rochefoucauld Molière La Fontaine Pascal Madame de Sévigné Boileau Racine Fénélon Vol. 2: Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France (Part. II): Voltaire Rousseau Condorcet Mirabeau Madame Roland Madame de Staël. Vol. 3: Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal (Part. I): Dante Petrarch Boccaccio Lorenzo de' Medici, &c. Bojardo Berni Ariosto Machiavelli Vol. 4: Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal (Part. II): Galileo Guicciardini Vittoria Colonna Guarini Tasso Chiabrera Tassoni Marini Filicaja Metastasio Goldoni Alfieri Monti Ugo Foscolo Vol. 5: Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal (Part. III): Boscan Garcilaso de la Vega Diego Hurtado de Mendoza Luis de Leon Herrera Saa de Miranda Jorge de Montemayor Castillejo The early dramatists Ercilla Cervantes Lope de Vega Vicente Espinel; Esteban de Villegas Gongora Quevedo Calderon Early poets of Portugal Camoens