Théâtre Classique

Abstract

This review concerns a collection of French dramatic texts called Théâtre classique, edited by Paul Fièvre since 2007 and available at http://www.theatre-classique.fr. Over the years, the collection has grown continually and currently provides access to 1,080 French plays, the large majority of which have been written or published between 1630 and 1800. In addition to the plays’ full-text in several file formats, the site provides contextual information on the plays and their authors as well as a number of statistical and analytical perspectives on the textual data. Clearly, the site would benefit from a stronger focus on current standard data formats and from increased transparency regarding editorial principles. It is debatable whether it is a strength or a weakness for a digital resource to interweave data, analysis and contextualization as closely as Théâtre Classique does. However, given the focus, size and quality of the text collection as well as the additional functionality provided by the site, it is clear that there is no comparable or directly competing resource available today for French drama. In fact, Théâtre classique has without a doubt been an essential enabling force for recent, quantitative approaches to French drama.

Keywords

• 17th century
• 18th century
• classical age
• drama
• enlightenment
• tei