"Pierre Corneille (1606-84), the great seventeenth century neoclassical dramatist, wrote over thirty plays during his long and varied career. Triumphant in both comedy and tragedy, his plays remain at the core of the repertory." "When the young Moliere saw The Liar (Le Menteur), a delightful chronicle of a pathological liar's adventures in love, he decided to become a playwright. The Illusion (L'Illusion Comique) is a fascinating and mysterious tragi-comedy, one of the first plays to explore consciously the relationship between theatre and the real world. Le Cid, Corneille's best known play, was controversial in its day, and led to a resurgence in French drama."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved