ANDROMACHE AND OTHER PLAYS by Racine

With the three plays in this volume Jean Racine (1639-99), France's greatest tragic poet, challenged and surpassed Corneille.  Two years after the success of Andromache, his first great drama, in which Hector's widow becomes the guiltless victim of a fatal chain of love, Racine successfully invaded Corneille's own territory of political intrigue with Britannicus, set at Nero's court.  The following year both dramatists, perhaps unwittingly, produced versions of the story of Berenice, Queen of Palestine, and her unhappy love for the Roman Emperor Titus.  By its realism and passionate simplicity, Racine's Berenice easily triumphed.

Soft cover, fairly good condition.  The cover shows some signs of wear.  286 pages.