Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Four Plays by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau is often called the Father of the Romantic Movement. Here, in one volume, are his four completed plays in lively, sparkling new English translations created for stage performance as well as reading pleasure and study.

NARCISSUS (One-act comedy): A young man obsessed with his good looks is tricked into falling in love with a most unlikely subject.

PRISONERS OF WAR (One-act comedy): A French soldier held prisoner in Hungary is torn between duty to his country and his love for the daughter of an enemy.

THE RECKLESS WAGER (Three-act comedy): A young widow, determined never to marry again, plays a dangerous game of love and jealousy with her would-be suitor.

PYGMALION (One-act lyric romance): A great sculptor, in the throes of despair, comes to realize that only by pouring his very soul into his art can it truly come to life.

Introductions to the volume and to each individual play trace Rousseau's personal and professional life, and the various ways in which it was reflected in his plays.