Four French plays

Boring course-work reading: Lesage's Turcaret and three plays by Marivaux: Harlequin poli par l'amour, La double inconstance, and Le jeu de l'amour et du hasard. Well, I say boring, but I don't mean that - the course is great and the plays are witty and fast-paced and fun, but I just can't get very excited about early 18th century sparkling wit. The unreality of it pisses me off: perhaps airlessness is a better word. Much like the rest of the rococo, I can admire the beautifully pacey dialogue and the intricacy of the plots, intrigue on intrigue, deception on deception, but it doesn't grab me, it doesn't move me (I know it's not supposed to be moving, but it doesn't particularly delight me either). Roll on next year and Hugo and Zola... [60] [61] [62] [63]