if you know pierre corneille and his work, you will admire kushner for adapting a play of him so successfully. theater full of illusions. what is real what's not. 17th century and year 2000. many things have changed but the magic on and about stage still remains. kushner gives a great example of adapting a play. the characters may speak in poetry but 20th centuries flair is obvious.

The book combines plays/works from different time periods and offers a different perspective of Corneille's L'illusion comique, while adding a study of a stil not yet well know play by Fernando Arrabal.

This is a little book in more ways than one: its ninety small pages of 12-point type (with very generous leading) contain 14 essays. Each addresses political aspects of heroism in a tragedy by one of the two great French classical playwrights, though Auchincloss does not (and, given the material) cannot strive for balance: Corneille dominates Racine 7:1. At least a third to a half of each essay consists of quotation (and plain prose translation) of key extracts; the rest is plot summary, "common-sense" character analysis, and rapid thematic interpretation. Inaccuracies turn up now and again in the résumés and portraits, while the "readings" are seldom more than potted commentary, echoes of French school editions and baccalauréat manuals. In short, a disappointing performance by one of our premier fiction writers and judges of writing. David Lee Rubin, French Department, University of Virginia