Jean Anouilh

Jean Anouilh , 1910-87, French dramatist. Anouilh's many popular plays range from tragedy to sophisticated comedy. His first play, L'hermine, was published in 1932. During the Nazi regime he wrote plays about resistance to oppression in terms of subjects from classical mythology; Antigone (1944, tr. 1946) is the most celebrated of these. Several of his later plays have contemporary and historical settings. Anouilh's works frequently contrast the worlds of romantic dreams and harsh reality. He has also written film scripts, one of which, Little Molière (1959) was successfully produced as a play. His later plays include The Waltz of the Toreadors (1952, tr. 1957), Poor Bitos (1958, tr. 1964), The Lark (1953, tr. 1955), Becket (1959, tr. 1960), The Rehearsal (1963), Dear Antoine (1969, tr. 1971), and The Navel (1981).

Bibliography: See studies by J. Harvey (1964), E. O. Marsh (1968), M. Archer (1971), B. A. Lenski (1973), H. G. McIntyre (1981), and C. N. Smith (1985).

Anouilh, Jean (1910–87), playwright. Often called the leading French dramatist of his day, he observed both the lighter and darker sides of life with an essentially rueful wit. Unfortunately he was not always well served by his American translators and producers. Among the American mountings of his work were Antigone (1946), Ring around the Moon (1950), Mademoiselle Colombe (1954), Thieves' Carnival (1955), The Lark (1955), Waltz of the Toreadors (1957), The Fighting Cock (1959), and Becket (1960).

Anouilh, Jean (1910–87) French playwright and screenwriter. A major dramatist of the mid-20th century, influenced by neo-classicism. Often reinterpreting Greek myth as a means of exploring oppression, Antigone (1944) is perhaps his most celebrated play. Other works include Becket (1959).