The Misanthrope and Other Plays

Nov 24, 2025 12:02 PM

Author:Jean-Baptiste Moliere,David Coward,David Coward,John Wood

In the seventeenth century, Molière raised comedy to the pitch of great art and, three centuries later, his plays are still a source of delight. He created a new synthesis from the major comic traditions at his disposal. This collection demonstrates the range of Molière's comic vision, his ability to move between the broad and basic ploys of farce to the more subtle and sophisticated level of high comedy. The Misanthrope appears along with Such Preposterously Precious Ladies, Tartuffe, A Doctor Despite Himself, The Would-Be Gentleman, and Those Learned Ladies.

Reviews

'Under the heat and the hammering of bombs, Rinaldi paints the essence of the Second World War in exciting miniature'

—— David Hughes , Mail on Sunday

'Much to enjoy...Rinaldi has tremendous fun evoking the rich cultural pudding that was Malta in 1942, its weird combination of superstition, fatalism and grafted-on anglophilia, of ricotta and stiff upper lip'

—— Patrick Gale , Daily Telegraph

'Funny, romantic, disturbing...A marvellous tapestry of war...Moving and satisfying'

—— The New York Times

'A beguiling, romantic story in an illuminating and surprising setting'

—— Joseph Heller

This is Elton at his best - mature, humane, and still a laugh a minute. At least

—— Daily Telegraph

Only Ben Elton could combine uncomfortable questions about gender politics with a gripping, page-turning narrative and jokes that make you laugh out loud

—— Tony Parsons

A very funny book about a sensitive subject ... Ben Elton the writer might even be funniter than Ben Elton the comic

—— Daily Mail

The selections from the greats are generous and well chosen

—— Guardian

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