This first biography of Racine in over half a century for an English-language readership also
traces the impact of Racine over three centuries in England as well as France. The plays and
their reception are reviewed using contextual approaches as part of each phase of Racine's
life-story with excerpts and quotations translated. Racine's upbringing and work as poet and
historiographer are related to the France of Louis XIV to audiences and to advancement for
this 'man from nowhere' with parallels in Britain and elsewhere. Changing attitudes to Racine
are traced across the centuries across literary movements and on stage including recent
productions. The book provides insights in the specialist field of Racine studies and
seventeenth-century French literature and theatre in comparative literary studies
particularly between France and Restoration England and to the interaction of Racine and
European cultural movements to the present day.
