Literature · Scholarship · 1639–1699
Born: 22 December 1639 · Died: 21 April 1699 · Age at death: 59
Jean Racine died aged 59. He was born on 22 December 1639 and died on 21 April 1699.
French tragic playwright of Phèdre and Andromaque, a master of classical alexandrine verse at the court of Louis XIV
Did you know?After a successful career in the theatre, he retired from playwriting to serve as the official royal historian for King Louis XIV.
Jean Racine is the master of French classical tragedy. Orphaned young, he was educated by the austere Jansenists at Port-Royal. His plays follow strict rules, with few characters and a single day of action. Within those limits he created burning passions. Phèdre, about a queen's forbidden love for her stepson, is his masterpiece. He fell out with his teachers and with his rival Corneille. Later he became royal historian to Louis XIV.
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( rass-EEN, US also rə-SEEN; French:; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature.
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Profile
French playwright, 1639–1699
Jean Racine was born in La Ferté-Milon on 22 December 1639.
He was educated at Port-Royal.
Andromaque made him famous in 1667.
Phèdre appeared in 1677.
Career highlights
Did you know?His lines are written in twelve-syllable alexandrines.
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