Les Esprits

This is the first critical edition of Pierre de Larivey’s Les Esprits, a French Renaissance comedy which not only influenced Molière, but also inspired Camus to write an adaptation for the modern stage. In his introduction, Donald Stone discusses how Les Esprits itself is indebted to Lorenzino de Medici’s L’Aridosio and, in examining how Larivey’s play departs from its Italian source, raises some interesting questions about the morality of French Renaissance comedy and the period’s conception of the genre. Besides ample notes and a glossary, this edition of Les Esprits also includes variants from editions of the play produced during Larivey’s lifetime.