Jean Racine

Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine (22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699), was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France , 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.