On Racine (A Dramabook)

"On Racine" is a brief, fascinating tome by Roland Barthes on the philosophies underlying Jean Racine's tragedies. Barthes delves into symbols, mythology, and mysticism. He skillfully delves into Racine's underlying themes- from the exoticism of the East embodied in Berenice to the solar element in Phaedra. Jean Racine's neo-classical plays were very spare to the point of being Zen. They took place in the daylight hours, set in one place, no onstage sex or violence, with very few characters. Racine, unlike the Greeks, didn't have a chorus (till his final two plays set in ancient Israel) Roland Barthes unpacks the baggage of Racine's philosophy. A fascinating read.

I love Barthes. This is by far my favorite of his books. It's one of those rare books that literally turns the world inside out. The subject, Racine, is almost incidental. The real subject is the patterns of tragedy, and how a small set of predicates as it were have become the backbone of western letters for thousands of years, and show no sign of losing their thrall. Blood, blackmail, the double, reversals. Barthes lays these out not so much as themes, as they are parts of a pattern language that is deeply rooted not only in humanity, but in our ability to understand ourselves. Philosophy, literature, anthropology, all disappear into this wonderful stew. How on earth can this be out of print?