From The Books Back Cover: Master of comedy, Moliere constructed his plays upon a foundation of laughter whose range and depth invested comedy with new dimension. His genius transformed the stereotyped comedy of his day into a highly developed form of artistic expression, in plays that are a superbly balanced orchestration of low comedy and elevated wit. Pillorying human vice, folly, and hypocrisy, these plays reveal beneath their high spirits and sunlit grace a vision often but a hair's breadth from the tragic. It is a vision and an art of enduring relevance and vitality, one that has exercised profound influence upon the modern theater, and enjoyed triumphant revival on the contemporary stage. These essays both define Moliere's role in the comic tradition, and explore the art and purpose of his individual works. Included among others are: The Actor/ Rene Bray; Moliere and Farce / Gustave Lanson; The Anit-Bourgeois / Paul Benichou; The Humanity of Moliere's Dom Juan / James Doolittle; Poquelin and Chaplin / Jacques Audiberti; Speech / Will G Moore