"The Life of Monsieur de Molière": a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"The Life of Monsieur de Molière" is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, which was published only after the death of the author. Critics (contemporaries of the writer) appreciated the talent of a genius, but the historical information in the work, in their opinion, was covered from an outdated position. The life and love of Mr. de Molière, the great French comedian, turned out to be a topic that was irrelevant for Soviet society.

Bulgakov's novel was published in the sixties thanks to the assistance of the writer's widow. It should be said that there are no hints of the vices of Soviet society in this work. The novel was not published during the life of Mikhail Afanasyevich only because it lacked a Marxist position. What is the book The Life of Monsieur de Molière about? A summary of the individual chapters of the work is presented in the article.

Birth

The life of Monsieur de Molière Mikhail Bulgakov outlined from the day when the great comedian was born. The author talks about the birth of one of the geniuses who come into this world every few centuries.

Moliere's creations will be translated into all languages of the world. He will be imitated. Books will be written about him, plays will be created. But while hejust an unremarkable baby, the son of a court upholsterer. This is how the Russian writer talked about the birth of the founder of comedy.

Parent House

Father's name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. He lived in a huge house, which was located in the very center of Paris, near the Pont Neuf. There were rumors that the upholsterer was extremely stingy and lent money at high interest. Like it or not, it is not known for certain. But when his son became a famous theatrical figure, he put on a play about the miser Arpagon. There is an assumption that the prototype for this hero was none other than the father of the comedian.

Love for the theater

Mr. de Molière's life was overshadowed by the first loss that happened at a tender age. During the years when he was known among Parisians as Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Jr., his mother died unexpectedly. The father did not grieve for long and soon married a second time.

The early period in Molière's biography is not very remarkable. The future comedian graduated from the course of the parish school, where he learned the basics of arithmetic and Latin. Then he had to get acquainted with the case of his father, so that later he could pass it on to his son. But fate decreed otherwise.

One day a certain Cresse appeared in Poquelin's house. This respected husband was the court upholsterer's new father-in-law. Moliere himself is a like-minded person. The fact is that it was this person who infected the novice upholsterer with love for the theater. And whenever Cresset had a free evening, he took his young friend by the hand, and they went toside of the building, in which actors staged tragedies, comedies and even farce.

Disrespectful profession

It's worth saying that actors are people who have become delighted only in the last 100-200 years. In the old days, there was no more asocial phenomenon in society than acting. Mikhail Bulgakov did not fail to recall this in his novel. “The Life of Monsieur de Molière”, a summary of which is presented in this article, is a work dedicated to a difficult fate. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin went against his father's wishes. He abandoned the respected job of an upholsterer at the royal court and moved to the stage. Needless to say, the father did not approve of his son's wishes? But, alas, not everyone wants to be an upholsterer.

Lyceum

The future comedian spent several years at the Lyceum of Louis the Great. He flatly refused to work in the shop, and then his father sent him to study. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Jr. had an irresistible craving for knowledge. And therefore, day and night, he zealously memorized the texts of ancient Greek and Roman authors. From the walls of the lyceum, the son of an upholsterer emerged as an extremely educated person. I could become a lawyer. However, the dream of the theater did not leave him.

Disgraced comedian

"The Life of Monsieur de Molière" is a historical work in which Mikhail Bulgakov outlined the biography of the famous comedian with his characteristic humor. There is no political or any other subtext, as already mentioned, in the novel. But along with irony, there is tragedy in it. The author of plays that for three hundred yearsstaged in theaters around the world, during his lifetime he was alone and not understood by anyone.

There were ups and downs in Molière's life. His works were both praised and banned. The author of immortal comedies spent several months in prison. It is possible that the topic to which Bulgakov dedicated the novel "The Life of Monsieur de Molière" was extremely close to the author. After all, the Russian writer, like the French theatrical figure, was not recognized by his contemporaries.

Criticism

Everyone who is familiar with the work and biography of Mikhail Bulgakov knows what role prominent writers of Moscow played in his life. In particular, critics, two of whom became the prototypes of Latunsky and Lavrovich from the immortal "Master …". In the novel about Molière there is a chapter in which we are talking about a certain libel called "Hypochondriac". The author of this satirical work dedicated the life of a French comedian. At the same time, he distorted information from the biography of Moliere, but most importantly, he criticized all his activities. The comedian did not answer his offender. But the lampoon had a depressing effect on him. Oddly enough, there is something autobiographical in the novel that Bulgakov dedicated to Molière.

Molière was buried without honors. He was a hypocrite, which means that his place after death is outside the cemetery fence. They buried him at night. In a small funeral procession, however, one could see very famous people: La Fontaine, Boileau. And some woman, passing by, out of idle curiosityasked: “Who is being buried?” Another replied: “Some Molière…”