Pagine1622–1673 · Paris, France · also known as Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Moliere
Molière (the stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) is France’s greatest comic playwright — French is even called “the language of Molière.” He spent years touring the provinces as an actor-manager before winning the patronage of Louis XIV. His comedies mock hypocrites, snobs, misers and quack doctors: Tartuffe (banned for years after its 1664 premiere), The Misanthrope, The Miser and The Imaginary Invalid. He collapsed on stage while playing the hypochondriac in that last play and died hours later.
Begin with Tartuffe.
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Voltaire · Stendhal · Honoré de Balzac · Victor Hugo · Alexandre Dumas · Gustave Flaubert · Jules Verne · Émile Zola · Guy de Maupassant · Marcel Proust · Albert Camus
Molière (the stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) is France’s greatest comic playwright — French is even called “the language of Molière.” He spent years touring the provinces as an actor-manager before winning the patronage of Louis XIV. His comedies mock hypocrites, snobs, misers and quack doctors: Tartuffe (banned for years after its 1664 premiere), The Misanthrope, The Miser and The Imaginary Invalid.
Tartuffe is usually considered Molière’s best-known work, followed by The Misanthrope, The Miser, The Imaginary Invalid.
Most readers start with Tartuffe.
Both refer to the same writer. Other spellings and names include Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Moliere.
Many of Molière’s works are in the public domain; we link to free editions below.