Biographical preface Georges Forestier; Part 1. Socio-political Context: 1. A Bourgeois at court Mathieu da Vinhae; 2. The religious climate Julia Prest; 3. Medicine Valerie Worth-Stylianou; 4. Family law Janine Lanza; 5. Women Wendy Perkins; 6. Gender, masculinity and cross-dressing Joseph Harris; Part 2. Intellectual and Artistic Context: 7. Philosophical influences Jean-Luc Robin; 8. Molière and classical theatre Michael Call; 9. The survival of medieval and renaissance professional practices Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès; 10. Commedia dell'arte Claude Bourqui; 11. The literary establishment Richard Maber; 12. Are the Précieuses only ridicules? Molière, salon culture and the shaping of France's collective memory Faith E. Beasley; Part 3. Theatrical Context (Paris): 13. Molière's theatres in Paris Philippe Cornuaille; 14. Stage design in Paris Philippe Cornuaille; 15. Company administration Jan Clarke; 16. The theatre industry and cultures of consumption Sabine Chaouche; 17. Acting style Sabine Chaouche; Part 4. Theatrical Context (Court): 18. Colbert, cultural policy and the propaganda of spectacle Georgia Cowart; 19. The decors of comedy-ballet: from the 'Songe de Vaux' to the 'Rêve de Versailles' Marie-Claude Canova-Green; 20. Court performances and their audiences Laura Naudeix; 21. Music Anne Piéjus; 22. The livrets of Molière's plays Marine Roussillon; Part 5. Reception and dissemination: 23. Audience laughter Coline Piot; 24. The triumph of publicity Christophe Schuwey; 25. Molière and his critics: the 'Querelles' Jeanne-Marie Hostiou; 26. Molière and his publishers Michael Call; 27. Molière In print Michael Hawcroft; 28. Early modern English translations of Molière Suzanne Jones; Part 6. Afterlives: 29. Molière at the hôtel Guénégaud and the Comédie-Française: the early years Jan Clarke; 30. Comedy after Molière Guy Spielmann; 31. Molière as national hero Mechele Leon; 32. Molière in performance: Twentieth- and twenty-first-century productions Noël Peacock; 33. Molière on the modern Anglophone stage Cédric Ploix; 34. Who and what is Molière? The film director's perspective Noël Peacock; 35. Molière in the Arab world Angela Daiana Langone; 36. Digital Molière Claude Bourqui.