Octave Mirbeau : selected plays

The French anarchist writer Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917) was renowned as a radical journalist and novelist producing masterpieces of fin de siecle decadence; two of his novels were filmed by Jean Renoir and Luis Bunuel, while several have recently been translated into English.

He was also a playwright of major significance - indeed, "Les Affaires sont les affaires" (1903), an acerbic satire on the business world - was one of the most popular plays in the first decade of the twentieth century throughout Europe.Mirbeau's plays have been neglected in English translation, despite the fact that they are vivacious examples of French comedy in the finest Moliere tradition and are also remarkable precursors to the subsequent achievements of Epic and Absurdist drama.

This volume redresses the neglect of Mirbeau and helps English-language readers reformulate their understanding of a towering achievement in early twentieth-century European theatre.

The translations are written with a view for use in the world of practical drama as much as by the academic.