Jean Racine
1639-1699 17th century
Willingness to abandon fame for conscience, a return to childhood faith after years of glittering distance, mastery of language turned finally toward humbler ends.
Who was Jean Racine?
Orphaned young and raised by the austere nuns and scholars of Port-Royal, he left that world for the glittering stage of Paris and became its greatest tragic playwright, then, in a crisis of conscience over the moral weight of theater, abandoned it entirely at the height of his fame. He returned to the faith of his childhood, married, raised a family, and wrote no more plays for the public for over a decade, until a request from a former student drew him back one last time.
In their own words
My God, what a war is a war within oneself!