Edmond Rostand is best known for Cyrano de Bergerac, a verse drama that fictionalises the seventeenth-century writer and soldier Cyrano as a brilliant swordsman and poet convinced that his large nose makes him unlovable. Cyrano agrees to help the handsome Christian court Roxane by supplying the words Christian cannot produce himself, creating a triangle built on appearance, language and concealed authorship. The play moves between comedy, duels, romance and wartime scenes before turning towards regret and belated recognition. Rostand also wrote other plays, but Cyrano de Bergerac dominates his modern readership and has inspired numerous stage, film and literary adaptations. The work fits classic French drama, romantic drama and historical theatre. Readers should expect heightened rhetoric and theatricality rather than realistic conversation, with the central appeal lying in wit, verbal performance and the contrast between the man who can speak beautifully and the man who is seen. Read more Less
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