Jean Racine , baptismal name
Jean-Baptiste Racine (22 December 163921 April 1699), was a
French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century
France (along with
Molière and
Corneille), and an important literary figure in the Western tradition. Racine was primarily a
tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as
Phèdre,
Andromaque, and
Athalie, although he did write one comedy,
Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy,
Esther, for the young.