Other Fiction Eliot, Charles W. (editor): Harvard Classics Volume 26 V1.0 10 Jan 2014

[GeorgeH]

The Harvard Classics Volume 26 (Continental Drama) Published 1910

Edited by Charles W Eliot LL D. (March 20, 1834 - August 22, 1926)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (17 January 1600 – 25 May 1681), was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. Born when the Spanish Golden Age theatre was being defined by Lope de Vega, he developed it further, his work being regarded as the culmination of the Spanish Baroque theatre. As such, he is regarded as one of Spain's foremost dramatists and one of the finest playwrights of world literature.

Life Is a Dream, a Spanish-language play, is a philosophical allegory regarding the human situation and the mystery of life. The story focuses on the fictional Segismundo, Prince of Poland, who has been imprisoned in a tower by his father, King Basilio, following a dire prophecy that the prince would bring disaster to the country and death to the King.

Pierre Corneille (6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. He has been called “the founder of French tragedy” and produced plays for nearly forty years.

Polyeucte is a drama set in ancient Armenia (in a city which is in present-day Turkey) during a time when Christians were persecuted there under the Roman Empire. Polyeucte, an Armenian nobleman, converts to Christianity to the great despair of his wife, Pauline, and of his father-in-law, Felix. Despite them, Polyeucte becomes a martyr, causing Pauline and Felix to finally convert as well.

Jean Racine (22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699), was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France (along with Molière and Corneille), and an important literary figure in the Western tradition.

Phèdre, a dramatic tragedy in five acts, is an adaptation of Greek mythology based on the acient Greek play, Hippolytus, by Euripedes. The play is set at the royal court in Troezen, a town in southern Greece on a large peninsula known as the Peloponnesus. The action takes place in a single day in a single location (Troezen) while centering primarily on Phaedra's forbidden love for her stepson, Hippolytus, and the way she deals with it.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, (baptized January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673) was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature.

Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite, first performed in 1664, is one of the most famous theatrical comedies by Molière. The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Valère are considered among the greatest classical theatre roles.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature.

Minna von Barnhelm is a comedy set in an inn in Berlin in 1763, months after the end of the Seven Years War (1756-63) between Prussia and Austria and their allies. Major von Tellheim is a Prussian officer who is suspected of misappropriating funds. As Tellheim explains in Act 4, Scene 6, having been charged with raising draconian taxes in Saxony during the war, he advanced the money from his own pocket. In return he received a written promise from the Saxons to pay back the loan at the end of the war. As a result he feels unable to marry Minna von Barnhelm, the Saxon woman he loves.

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

William Tell (German: Wilhelm Tell) is a drama written by Friedrich Schiller in 1804. The story focuses on the legendary Swiss marksman William Tell as part of the greater Swiss struggle for independence from the Habsburg Empire in the early 14th century.

[Extracts from Wiki and other sources]

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[Jellby]

The title page of this one has "Recine" for Racine and "Porquelin" for Poquelin

[GeorgeH]

I think my fingers have a mind of their own lol. Thanks!