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Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606 - October 1, 1684) was one
of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine.
Corneille
Corneille was born at Rouen, and studied law. He then practiced law for 21 years,
meanwhile writing 20 plays. An amazing feat according to most.
He moved to Paris in 1629, with the beginnings
of a literary career, and soon became successful as a writer of sparkling comedies and plays written to order on behalf of
Cardinal Richelieu. He only began to realise his true potential
with the tragedy Medée, in 1635,
following it up with his masterpiece, Le Cid, in 1636. Corneille was more versatile than
Molière and Racine, but often considered less brilliant than either. He tended to concentrate on classical themes (and was
sometimes "copied" by Racine to the latter's advantage), though he did not write in the classic unities; those being Time, Place,
and Action. (Unity of Time stipulated that all the action in a play must take place within a twenty-four hour time-frame; Unity
of Place, that there must be only one setting for the action; and Unity of Action, that the plot must be centred around a single
theme, such as tragic love, war, honour, etc.) He did, however, enjoy a brief collaboration with Molière. Between 1653 and 1659, he retired from the theatre altogether, to
work on translation. Between 1640 and 1662, he lived
mostly at Rouen, but thereafter in Paris.
His writing on behalf of and quitting his position for Cardinal Richelieu caused Richelieu to attempt to exact revenge. This
attack was partly successful in his attack on Corneille's "Le Cid" which succeeded in driving Corneille from writing for three
years. But when he did return he wrote some of his best pieces; the tragedies Horace, Cinna, Polyeucte and the comedy Le
Menteur.
He died in 1684, having produced his last play ten years earlier.
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