Birth Marks: The Tragedy of Primogeniture in Pierre Corneille, Thomas Corneille, and Jean Racine

By Richard E. Goodkin

Book Overview

Through a study of the evolution of inheritance issues in seventeen tragedies written over the course of half a century the Corneille brothers, Pierre and Thomas, and by Jean Racine, Richard E. Goodkin questions the pervasive assumption that classical tragedy, a form written for the aristocracy, is informed exclusively by an aristocratic ethic.

Instead, a fresh reading of both canonical and noncanonical texts demonstrates that even the most formal body of literature produced by French classical writers expresses a conflict between a declining aristocratic hierarchy based on inherited privilege and a rising capitalistic ethic that favors competition and enterprise.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812235509
• ISBN13: 9780812235500
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"