The Life of Monsieur De Moliere [Paperback]

Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (May 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811209563
• ISBN-13: 978-0811209564
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Theatre

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very pro Moliere book that is a pleasure to read., July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Life of Monsieur De Moliere (Paperback)

Mikhail Bulgakov's book The Life of Monsieur de Moliere is a very biased book that is uncritical of the great French writer Moliere. Despite the author's unabashed love of Moliere, the book is a treat from beginning to end. Bulgakov feels an affinity with Moliere because he wrote under a totalitarian regime headed by Stalin in Russia and Moliere wrote during the reign of Louis XIV. Although Moliere certainly had much more freedom than Bulgakov did, he still felt the sting of censorship from religious zealots and was often persecuted by those whom he made fun of in his plays, ( nobles, doctors, the affected ladies of French society). Bulgakov praises Moliere as the greatest French writer and as one of the greatest comediens ever. Indeed history has proven him correct. Three centuries later Moliere's works are performed in almost every nation in the world. The great joy that Bulgakov feels towards Moliere infuses the entire book (sometimes to the point of unintentional farce.) But he paints a vivid and energenic portrait of the playwright, actor and director that captures the essence of his work. Many of the details of Moliere's life are unknown and Bulgakov does take Moliere's side wherever there is ambiguity. ( For example, many of his enemies have said that Moliere married his own daughter and knew that in fact she was his daughter.) Bulgakov refutes this charge as ridiculous and indeed, without proof, it should be discounted. Bulgakov takes us from Moliere's birth (a very funny telling of how the midwife who delivered him couldn't realize he was more important to history than any royal baby she may have delivered) to his tragically ironic death right after a performance of his play The Imaginary Invalid. Bulgakov wheres his love of Moliere on his sleeve and it works to perfection in this book. Moliere's plays have an energy that imbues every verse. This book is the same way. Most other biographies are staid in comparison. They rarely capture the true genius of the great writer and almost never convey the great fun embodied in his works. Mikhail Bulgakov's biography is the best book, even though it is biased, ever written about the great French playwright.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A genre of its own, December 26, 2005

By 

Frikle - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life of Monsieur De Moliere (Paperback)

I read this in the Russian so can't guarantee anything about this translation.

This is a biography, a novel and an experimental work all rolled into one. Bulgakov describes the life of one of the most famous and beloved French playwrights and indeed authors. He goes into the intrigue between him and his enemies, the controversies surrounding his satires, his times and personality. The end result is a magical picture of Moliere's France with the splendour and opulence of the period (the reign of Louis XIV). All this is done in a way that reminds me that common ideas about writing (eg. show don't tell) are just that: ideas. Bulgakov definitely tells more than he shows and the work ends up being a crossover genre piece rather than a straight novel. But this does not detract, in fact his intrusions into the text with respect to the evidence for certain periods in Moliere's life work well.

This may not be a masterpiece of world literature but it depicts Moliere in a very interesting way and it's from a writer who felt a special connection with him because of Bulgakov's own troubles with censorship and being ahead of his time. In fact, he refers to Moliere as a wolf of his time in the book, the same image he speaks of himself in one of his poems about how he was hounded; which makes this a splendid exposition of one literary wolf by another...