The Art of Jean Racine

1965 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Leo Weinstein ◽  
Bernard Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Henrietta Bannerman

John Cranko's dramatic and theatrically powerful Antigone (1959) disappeared from the ballet repertory in 1966 and this essay calls for a reappraisal and restaging of the work for 21st century audiences. Created in a post-World War II environment, and in the wake of appearances in London by the Martha Graham Company and Jerome Robbins’ Ballets USA, I point to American influences in Cranko's choreography. However, the discussion of the Greek-themed Antigone involves detailed consideration of the relationship between the ballet and the ancient dramas which inspired it, especially as the programme notes accompanying performances emphasised its Sophoclean source but failed to recognise that Cranko mainly based his ballet on an early play by Jean Racine. As Antigone derives from tragic drama, the essay investigates catharsis, one of the many principles that Aristotle delineated in the Poetics. This well-known effect is produced by Greek tragedies but the critics of the era complained about its lack in Cranko's ballet – views which I challenge. There is also an investigation of the role of Antigone, both in the play and in the ballet, and since Cranko created the role for Svetlana Beriosova, I reflect on memories of Beriosova's interpretation supported by more recent viewings of Edmée Wood's 1959 film.


PMLA ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 777-784
Author(s):  
George B. Watts
Keyword(s):  

Louis Racine, born in 1692, elder son of Jean Racine, believing, as he says in his preface to De la Grâce, that “plus les objets sont dignes de l'attention des hommes, plus la poésie est digne de les décrire,” wrote in poetry, while still a young man and a pensionnaire at the Oratoire de Notre Dame des Vertus, his views on Grace, that question which was so long the subject of bitter religious controversies. The date of the publication of De la Grâce has never been generally known, some literary historians such as Vapereau and Lanson having given the date as 1720, and others, such as Beuchot in a note to Voltaire's lines A Monsieur Louis Racine, as 1722. This study will establish the fact that, although the poem was printed in 1720 as most historians agree, there was no public distribution of it until two years later. Moreover, little has been known concerning the composition of the poem. The history of the writing of De la Grâce and of its lot during the period between its initial printing in 1720 and its circulation in 1722 is greatly clarified by evidence in four documents which seem to have been overlooked.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-110
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Tobin
Keyword(s):  

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