Moli�re, pseudonym of Jean Baptiste Poquelin 1622-73
French playwright

Moli�re was born in Paris, the son of a wealthy upholsterer. He studied with the Jesuits at the Coll�ge de Clermont, and may have been called to the Bar. His mother died when he was young, and when he came of age he inherited some of her fortune. Instead of following his father's business, he embarked on a theatrical venture (1643) under the title of L'Illustre Th��tre, which lasted for over three years in Paris. The company then moved to the provinces from Lyons to Rouen, and had sufficient success to keep going from 1646 to 1658, eventually obtaining the patronage of the king's brother, Philippe d'Orl�ans.

In 1658 he played before the king, and organized a regular theatre, first in the Petit Bourbon, and later in the Palais Royal. As a theatre manager he had to perform tragedy as well as comedy, but he had little success with either Corneille's Nicom�de or with the works of Racine, despite their personal friendship. Moli�re soon realized his own considerable resources as a comic writer. Les Pr�cieuses ridicules was published in November 1659, and every year until his death he produced at least one of his comic masterpieces, including Tartuffe in 1667, Le Misanthrope in 1666, Amphitryon in 1668, and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme in 1671.

In the spring of 1662 he married Armande B�jart, a young actress in his own company and the sister of Madeleine, with whom Moli�re is said to have had a love affair. In August 1665 the king adopted Moli�re's troupe as his own servants. In 1667 symptoms of lung disease were apparent. He died in his home in the Rue de Richelieu the night after having acted as the Malade in the seventh representation of his last play, Le Malade imaginaire.

Bibliography: Moli�re's most important plays (with the conventional English titles) appeared as follows: in 1658 L'�tourdi (The Blunderers) and Le D�pit amoureux (The Amorous Quarrel, 1656 in the provinces); in 1659 Les Pr�cieuses ridicules (The Conceited Young Ladies); in 1660 Sganarelle (The Picture); in 1661 Don Garcie de Navarre (Don Garcia of Navarre); in 1662 L'Ecole des maris (The School for Husbands), Les F�cheux (The Impertinents) and L'Ecole des femmes (The School for Wives); in 1663 La Critique de l'�cole des femmes (School for Wives Criticised) and Impromptu de Versailles (The Impromptu of Versailles); in 1664 Le Mariage forc� (The Forced Marriage), La Princesse d'�lide (The Universal Passion) and Tartuffe (in part); in 1665 L'Amour m�decin (The Quacks); Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope); in 1666 Le M�decin malgr� lui (The Dumb Lady); in 1667 Tartuffe; in 1668 Amphitryon, George Dandin and L'Avare (The Miser); in 1669 Monsieur de Pourceaugnac; in 1671 Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Citizen turned Gentleman) and Les Fourberies de Scapin (The Cheats of Scapin); in 1672 Les Femmes savantes (The Female Virtuosos); and in 1673 Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid). He collaborated with Philippe Quinault and Pierre Corneille to write Psych� (1671), and wrote farces, a few court masques, and some miscellaneous poems.

Bibliography: F Lawrence, Moli�re: The Comedy of Unreason (1968).