Historical Dictionary of French Theater

The term _French theater_ evokes most immediately the glories of the classical period and the peculiarities of the Theater of the Absurd. It has given us the works of Corneille, Racine, and Moliere. In the Romantic era there was Alexander Dumas and surrealist works of Alfred Jarry, and then the Theater of the Absurd erupted in rationalistic France with Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, and Jean-Paul Sartre. The Historical Dictionary of French Theater relates the history of the French theater through a chronology, introduction, bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, trends, genres, concepts, and literary and historical developments that played a central role in the evolution of French theater.

Edward Forman is senior lecturer in French in the School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol. He has collaborated with Merlin Thomas as musical director for a number of his French-language productions (Le Cid and Le Mariage de Figaro) and has continued involvement with such performances at Bristol.