The Cid, Cinna, The Theatrical Illusion

The Cid, Corneille's masterpiece set in medieval Spain, was the first great work of French classical drama; Cinna, written three years later in 1641, is a tense political drama, while The Theatrical Illusion, an earlier work, is reminiscent of Shakespeare's exuberant comedies.

Pierre Corneille, the French dramatist, was born in Rouen in 1606. After a Jesuit education he worked as Crown Counsel in Rouen, and for many years kept playwriting as his leisure activity. He wrote tragedies and comedies, and his first success came in 1636 with Le Cid, a tragi-comedy which made Corneille’s reputation as a master of serious drama and established the genre known as French classical tragedy. During the next forty years Corneille produced over twenty-five plays. He died in 1684.