Iphigenia / Phaedra / Athaliah - Penguin Classics

Racine's plays sever all ties with the formal proprieties of Baroque drama, emphasizing instead that there is often nothing that can control the course of men's passion, assuage their suffering, or change their destiny. Writing under the auspices of France's radical and omnipotent king, Louis XIV, Racine created settings that reflect all the aura and majesty of his monarch's rule. But, within this framework, he developed themes of ruthless and unrelenting tragedy, and he did so in language of a force, vigour and eloquent simplicity that has never been equalled in French drama...