Corneille, Pierre, 1606-1684
Pierre Corneille was a French dramatist, namely of tragedy. As a young man, he worked as a magistrate while aspiring to be a playwright. In his early twenties, he moved to Paris in order to pursue this career. He soon gained the attention and patronage of Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), who endeavored to use drama in order to instill virtue. Following a brief collaboration with a demanding Richelieu, he worked independently, producing his best-known play Le Cid in the mid-1630s. Due to the unfavorable attention to Le Cid by Richelieu and his Académie française because of its construction and to a subsequent pamphlet war on morals, Corneille retreated from public life. His return saw the production of several plays—following more closely the prescriptive theory of classical unities, for which he was criticized by the Académie—and heightened popularity. Following a second break, during which time he engaged in a translation of Christian devotional works, he wrote numerous, less-successful tragedies amid rival playwrights Jean Racine (1639-1699) and Molière (1622-1673), with whom he most associated. He wrote his last play in 1674.
- HMML ID
- 632927111241
- PURL
- LC name
- Corneille, Pierre, 1606-1684
- HMML name
- Corneille, Pierre, 1606-1684
- Library of Congress
- VIAF
- Getty
Variants
- Corneile, Pierre
- Corneille
- Corneille, Monsieur (Pierre)
- Corneille, P., Pierre
- Corneille, Pedro
- Corneille, Peter
- Corneille, Pierre Palaprat
- Corneille, Pieter
- Corneille, Piotr
- Cornelio, Pietro
Name elements
- Given names
- Pierre
- Family names
- Corneille
Personal information
- Birth date
- 1606-06-06
- Death date
- 1684-10-01
- Centuries
- 17th century CE
- Gender
- Males
- Associated countries
- Associated places
- Occupations
- Fields of activity
- Languages
Preferred citation
Change notes
- Date added
- 2022-10-12
- Last edited
- 2022-10-12