Moliere: the theory and practice of comedy

The history of ideas provides an important means of understanding and reinterpreting the literature of the past.

In this study, Calder demonstrates this by applying the approach to the comedies of Moliere.

The author outlines a new theory of classical comedy, which also applies to the works of other French writers, and provides an historical reinterpretation of Moliere's two most difficult plays: "Le Tartuffe" and "Don Juan".