Racine and Shakespeare - Miniature Classics

Author: Stendhal
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: The Century Humanistic Series includes five series: "The Century Library," "The Century Frontier," "Miniature Classics," "University Classics," and "Open Humanities." Each series is distinct yet complementary. "Clarifying the lineage of Western thought and renewing the academic tradition of China" serves as the editorial principle of "The Century Library." The library is divided into two major book series: the Chinese Studies series, which began in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic era, comprehensively compiles academic works since modern China, aiming to provide a progressive path for contemporary reflection on the social and spiritual conditions of modern China; the Western Studies series aims to systematically translate and introduce classic texts from ancient Greece and Rome onwards, starting from the overall process of Western civilization, thereby showcasing the emergence and evolution of Western thought traditions and laying a solid textual foundation for addressing the core issues of modern China. Racine and Shakespeare is one of them. Stendhal's Racine and Shakespeare is a collection of two pamphlets published in 1823 and 1825, which were a rebuttal to the academic classicism debate. It is an important theoretical work by Stendhal and one of the classics of French realism. The 1823 part includes three chapters: "Should one take the path of Racine or Shakespeare to create a tragedy that interests the audience in 1823?" "Laughter," and "Romanticism." The second part of 1825 is a direct rebuttal to the official representative of the old regime and old ideas of the French Restoration period, the classical faction of the Collège de France, attacking Romanticism. Shakespeare and Racine, as representatives of Romanticism and classicism respectively, symbolize the opposition between the aesthetic views of the rising bourgeoisie and the old art of the feudal aristocracy. In this work, Stendhal proposes the artistic principles of realism, opening the way for the development of French literary realism in the 19th century. Additionally, it includes selected excerpts from Stendhal's Notes from a Traveler, the preface to A History of Italian Painting, the preface to Armance, and the preface to an unfinished novel by Stendhal, Lucien Leven, as well as the introduction to the second part of Lucien Leven, a letter to M. and Mme. Hauvette, and a will written for this book.
The Century Humanistic Series includes five series: "The Century Library," "The Century Frontier," "Miniature Classics," "University Classics," and "Open Humanities." Each series is distinct yet complementary. "Clarifying the lineage of Western thought and renewing the academic tradition of China" serves as the editorial principle of "The Century Library." The library is divided into two major book series: the Chinese Studies series, which began in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic era, comprehensively compiles academic works since modern China, aiming to provide a progressive path for contemporary reflection on the social and spiritual conditions of modern China; the Western Studies series aims to systematically translate and introduce classic texts from ancient Greece and Rome onwards, starting from the overall process of Western civilization, thereby showcasing the emergence and evolution of Western thought traditions and laying a solid textual foundation for addressing the core issues of modern China. This book is one of them.