Orientalism in French Classical Drama

Mich le Longino examines the ways in which Mediterranean exoticism alters the themes in French classical drama through the exploration of such plays by Corneille, Moli re and Racine as Le Cid, M d e, and Le bourgeois gentilhomme among others. She considers the role that the staging of the near Orient played in influencing French colonial identity. Drawing on histories, travel journals, memoirs and correspondence, Longino depicts these dramatizations in the context of French-Ottoman relations at the time of their production.


About the Author
Longino, Michèle: - Michèle Longino is Associate Professor of French Studies in the Department of Romance Studies at Duke University. She is the author of Performing Motherhood: The Sévigné Correspondence (1991).