PIERRE CORNEILLE, (1606-1684) Playwright

Pierre Corneille, generally regarded as the first great French dramatist, was born in Rouen into a family of wealthy lawyers and administrators. His early education was at home with Jesuits, after which he studied law (and began writing verse) in Parlement in Rouen from 1624-28. He then began a twenty-five year career with the Department of Waterways and Forests as a lawyer and administrator.

His first comedy, Mélite, was produced at Rouen by Charles Lenois' company in 1629 with Montdory as the star. In 1630, they took Mélite to a tennis court theatre near Porte-Saint-Denis in Paris. It was not an immediate success as it departed from traditional stock characters and farcical situations. It eventually won over the audience and so encouraged Corneille to experiment with playwrighting. Sensitive to critical commentary from Jean Mairet, he wrote a tragicomedy Clitandre (1631), four more comedies and finally his first tragedy, Médée (1635).

In 1633, he was presented to Cardinal Richelieu who persuaded him reluctantly to join the Cardinal's cinq auteurs (Society of Five Authors). This august group was to collaborate on plays for the Cardinal, each member being assigned the task of writing that part of the play which was his "specialty." One would write the exposition, another the climax, etc. Corneille was far too independent to do as he was "supposed to do" and changed parts of the plot he was given, thus disrupting the work of the cinq auteurs and incurring the wrath of Cardinal R. Unrepentant, Corneille stomped back to Rouen and began Le Cid (1637).

Based on Spaniard Guillen de Castro's Las mocedades del Cid, Corneille's version proved to be enormously popular. Its central, dashing figure--the Cid--conquers a city, killing the father of his inamorata in the fray and then proceeds to woo and win her--all within the space of twenty-four hours.The play adhered to many of the "rules" of Neoclassicism especially the three unities of time, place and action, but clearly the play strained credibility. Its immense popularity, however, prompted the so-called Le Cid Controversy. Attacked by George de Scudéry in 1637 as pleasing only the "vulgar effluvia of the pit," Corneille responded with three Discours sur le poéme dramatique. He opens the work with the assertion that "... according to Aristotle, the sole end of dramatic poetry, let us say, is to please the spectator... ". Some see this play as the beginning of "modern French drama," It is no exaggeration to see it as a progenitor of the spectacular, swashbuckling and audience pleasing melodramas that are still with us.

Corneille followed The Cid with other plays in a similar style, among them Horace, Cinna, and Polyeucte, and by the end of his career a Senecan treatment of Pompée. Despite Richelieu's open hostility, Corneille was eventually admitted into the Académie Francaise. Sadly, he outlived his popularity, eclipsed by Racine and Molière and, despite a small and irregularly paid pension, he died in poverty.