Le Dom Juan de Molière : qui a lancé la première pierre ?
Molière’s Dom Juan: Who Cast the First Stone?

Summary/Abstract: After experiencing trouble with Tartuffe, in 1665 Molière offered the French audience a “pièce à machines”, Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre, which was enthusiastically received on the opening night, only to be almost immediately withdrawn afterwards. Critics have long argued about the real reasons of such an awkward course of action. Some believe that the performances were discontinued largely because of the virulent Observations sur une comédie de Molière intitulée Le Festin de pierre, contained by a libellous booklet obscurely signed “sieur de Rochemont”. Others say Dom Juan itself is an attack aimed to the critics of Tartuffe. Is then Molière’s antihero masked as a real hero just a character on stage? Or is he conveying the author’s fierce response to earlier criticism?

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